Guild Wars 2

So I periodically go through the wardrobe and see if I can find a look for a character I like better. Then I find an item (like Glint’s Gaze Mask) that fits a look and I go to buy it ..but…alas it isn’t available. The other colors are, but not blue…for some reason.

I humbly suggest that rather than removing an item from the store entirely (unless it is removed from the game entirely) it be left in the store. Rather than running limited time only to purchase offer limited time only discounts to encourage sales.

Margonite outfit…..just saying.

It’s in A-net’s best interest to remove items periodically.

1) Artificial scarcity. People find out that an item is leaving the gem store in X days, so will rush to buy it even if they otherwise wouldn’t. It pressures people into buying the item as it arrives and as it is taken off the shelves.

2) Reducing choice in the gem-store. It’s been shown that too many products/a cluttered shop (in real life or online) is enough to drive away a potential customer. If there’s too much choice, decision-making and comparison becomes much more difficult for the subconscious (and conscious) mind, meaning that a customer is more likely to put off a purchase or not purchase at all.

3) Changing the gem-store frequently gives extra incentive to frequently log-in. Changing the gem-store also means that there will be extra “news” regarding the gem-store, meaning more advertising about it on various social media. It’s all about pulling people into the game, resulting in a higher in-game population and more chances to sell things.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

It’s in A-net’s best interest to remove items periodically.

1) Artificial scarcity. People find out that an item is leaving the gem store in X days, so will rush to buy it even if they otherwise wouldn’t. It pressures people into buying the item as it arrives and as it is taken off the shelves.

2) Reducing choice in the gem-store. It’s been shown that too many products/a cluttered shop (in real life or online) is enough to drive away a potential customer. If there’s too much choice, decision-making and comparison becomes much more difficult for the subconscious (and conscious) mind, meaning that a customer is more likely to put off a purchase or not purchase at all.

3) Changing the gem-store frequently gives extra incentive to frequently log-in. Changing the gem-store also means that there will be extra “news” regarding the gem-store, meaning more advertising about it on various social media. It’s all about pulling people into the game, resulting in a higher in-game population and more chances to sell things.

1) steep discounts offer this same thing. On sale 50% off, 2 days only. However by leaving it up for sale at a higher rate catches people that will pay any price to have it now. The downside is that high prices might scare off customers. Both models have benefits and detractions. Finding the balance between what you need to make, what you’d like to make, and the most you can ask is the talent of economists. Certainly A-Net has access to a lot more data to perform analytics on their customer base than I do, however the game is constant advertisement that a product exists but is ultimately unattainable.

2) Advertising a product and then not having it available has also been shown to drive away customers. If what I want is item A but I have no idea if it’ll ever come back there are a number of people that will give up, and a number that will hold on to their $10 waiting for it to be available…rather than spending 3x that.

3) See response to #1. No advertisement ability is lost

Ultimately A-Net has source data they use to help make decisions. I’m simply using this public form to add to that data for consideration. If you feel like you’d like to see gem store items retain more permanence or not, you too can add to the data. Defending the status quo like it isn’t changeable isn’t adding to the data, or the conversation.