Guild Wars 2

Thought of a fun cosplay idea needing Belinda’s Sword while at work today.
Came home and prepared to buy gems for a character slot and the sword.
Sword is no longer available for sale.
Logged out of game.
Spent $0.

By the time the sword comes back around, will have lost interest in the cosplay idea.

Everyone loses.

I completely understand your sentiment, but it is very likely that the data supports ANet’s apparent belief that time restricted availability actually increases revenue. Not everyone loses.

I know how you feel. I was/am in the same position because back before Christmas I decided I’d buy the Strider’s armour next time it was available. By the time it was back in the gem store I couldn’t remember why I wanted it, so I didn’t buy it.

Unfortunately this technique (it’s called artificial scarcity) has a lot of evidence to show it works, not just in games but with all kinds of products. It’s part of the reason clothing stores rotate their stock throughout the year, why Amazon tells you there’s only X items left in stock etc. If someone is on the fence – thinking about buying an item but not quite sure they want it yet the threat of missing out can persuade them to buy it.

Was Belindass’ sword put back in the TP? snap it i didnt realize that, i woudlve bough it

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

In the case of much sought after items like the wizard’kitten, aviator sunglasses etc, scarcity definitely builds hype and supports the sales by increasing the amount of people who buy it “just to have it” and not necessarily because they need it. These people wouldn’t buy the skins if they were always available, as they would only buy the skins once they were needed, which is probably never.

This is a very good business strategy and 100% definitely works. This strategy also explains why some of the skin packs and outfits are always available. There is no hype factor behind them (as far as I understand), hence just letting people buy them whenever they want to is the best idea in order to prevent missing possible sales from the people who do need them, like OP.

Idk having what ever you want there at all times for who ever want to buy seems far superior than removing and re adding items. I wanted the crystal dragon wing but i didnt know where or if they would come. Real life obligations keeped me away from the game for like 2 weeks… sbam wing come and gone…. At least if the wings and the zodiac armor was at all times there i would have bought them and be done with it and anet would have my money. But hey imsure impart of a minority and everyone loves the limited time system.

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

If they don’t believe that it is the best way to achieve some goal — possibly “maximum profit”, but it could also be “enhance the sense of ‘only I have’ for buyers”, or something else.

Just look at the “legendary means nothing now everyone can get one” folks, and the “I want raid-only bling so I can be known to be an awesome raider” folks, and recognise: some people really, really feel something is special if, and only if, they can see other people who can’t get it.

Ashen.2907:

I completely understand your sentiment, but it is very likely that the data supports ANet’s apparent belief that time restricted availability actually increases revenue. Not everyone loses.

Correction: Everyone but Anet loses.

Neural.1824:

Ashen.2907:

I completely understand your sentiment, but it is very likely that the data supports ANet’s apparent belief that time restricted availability actually increases revenue. Not everyone loses.

Correction: Everyone but Anet loses.

That is one way of looking at it.

On the other hand, more income for ANet means (potentially) more development resources. More for us.

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

But revenues have been down the past year, is it really more profitable?

XenesisII.1540:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

But revenues have been down the past year, is it really more profitable?

Gem store revenues have not slipped down, so yes, however much you hate how the gem shop works, it seems to be profitable.

Sales of the game are lower, which is expected for an older game and long after an expansion releases. HoT & GW2 didn’t do poorly, they just haven’t done as well as NCSOFT investors expected. (Which isn’t good, it’s just not as dire like various rumors have suggested.)

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

XenesisII.1540:

But revenues have been down the past year, is it really more profitable?

Gem store revenues have not slipped down, so yes, however much you hate how the gem shop works, it seems to be profitable.

Sales of the game are lower, which is expected for an older game and long after an expansion releases. HoT & GW2 didn’t do poorly, they just haven’t done as well as NCSOFT investors expected. (Which isn’t good, it’s just not as dire like various rumors have suggested.)

Where did I say how much I hate how the gem shop works?

You’re saying that the revenue is down because the sales of the game is lower than past years, and yet HoT didn’t do poorly. Ok.

XenesisII.1540:

But revenues have been down the past year, is it really more profitable?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Gem store revenues have not slipped down, so yes, however much you hate how the gem shop works, it seems to be profitable.

Sales of the game are lower, which is expected for an older game and long after an expansion releases. HoT & GW2 didn’t do poorly, they just haven’t done as well as NCSOFT investors expected. (Which isn’t good, it’s just not as dire like various rumors have suggested.)

XenesisII.1540:

Where did I say how much I hate how the gem shop works?

I meant “you” in the generic sense — other people posting in this thread are describing that they don’t like how the gem shop operates. My point is that it is effective.

XenesisII.1540:

You’re saying that the revenue is down because the sales of the game is lower than past years, and yet HoT didn’t do poorly. Ok.

Sales are always lower after the peak buying period, when the game launches, when there’s an expac, and when there’s a discount or other hype. So “lower sales” by itself isn’t meaningful in understanding how well a game is doing.

HoT sold a lot of games when it launched; that makes it a success. It’s selling less well now, which means nothing good. that isn’t the same as saying it’s done poorly overall.

People who didn’t like HoT point to the sales numbers to demonstrate that their opinion is validated by facts. That’s an unfortunate example of people reading data to see what they want to see.

So again, the point is that sales of HoT didn’t meet investor expectations — they expected more F2P and core owners to pony up another US$50; under the circumstances, that seems to be have been foolish.

On the other hand, by all accounts (including recent revenue reports), Gem Shop sales have been steady. That’s unlikely to be true if the game weren’t still popular among its current population, which suggests (although doesn’t prove) that the game isn’t doing poorly.

The trick will be how well ANet does on the 2nd expac. Did they learn from HoT? If so, did they learn the right lessons in terms of getting F2P to buy? Can they bring back some of the disgruntled masses who rejected HoT (whether for reasons good or bad)?

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

zealex.9410:

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

Already answered when you posed this exact same question just a few posts up. Here I will copy it for you “It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.”

Killdozer.5731:

zealex.9410:

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

Already answered when you posed this exact same question just a few posts up. Here I will copy it for you “It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.”

But there’s no proof of this when there is no opposing situation for comparison.

We have never had a long period where everything was available, which may in fact be more profitable but untested by ANet.

Hopefully at the bare minimum they learned not to make easily obtainable promises then break them and ship another half finished product like last time.

Killdozer.5731:

zealex.9410:

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

Already answered when you posed this exact same question just a few posts up. Here I will copy it for you “It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.”

Its not the exact same question its a follow up question. There a visible difference.

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Hopefully at the bare minimum they learned not to make easily obtainable promises then break them and ship another half finished product like last time.

W8 how does this connect with the subject of this thread?

zealex.9410:

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Hopefully at the bare minimum they learned not to make easily obtainable promises then break them and ship another half finished product like last time.

W8 how does this connect with the subject of this thread?

Mostly only in response to Illconceived’s last post.

Ezrael.6859:

Killdozer.5731:

zealex.9410:

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

Already answered when you posed this exact same question just a few posts up. Here I will copy it for you “It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.”

But there’s no proof of this when there is no opposing situation for comparison.

We have never had a long period where everything was available, which may in fact be more profitable but untested by ANet.

The point is that this is not unique to Arenanet and Guild Wars 2. This is a well known psychological marketing tool that has been proven to work in many other situations. There is no need for them to test what their sales would be like if they left everything in the gem store at all times. I can find sources for this, but honestly I explained how this entire thing works a few posts up.

Ezrael.6859:

Killdozer.5731:

zealex.9410:

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

Already answered when you posed this exact same question just a few posts up. Here I will copy it for you “It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.”

But there’s no proof of this when there is no opposing situation for comparison.

We have never had a long period where everything was available, which may in fact be more profitable but untested by ANet.

Ugh did you even read the post?

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

zealex.9410:

Murdyr.9204:

zealex.9410:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

So did the gemstore ever had all the items on stock? Without items come and go?

It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.

yes but we never had a gemstore with constand suply or everything how do we know it works better?

Already answered when you posed this exact same question just a few posts up. Here I will copy it for you “It doesn’t matter if they ever had all items in stock. This is psychological marketing that has been proven to work.”

Its not the exact same question its a follow up question. There a visible difference.

It is the same question not sure how you can say it is not, it is even answered the exact same way. I understand you have an emotional investment in getting this changed but let’s not be obtuse.

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

Some players will. I’ve given up on waiting for things to come on the gem store. if I want something that is for sale in a game, as a consumer I expect it to be available. Not on some time lock. I know ANet have them as the reason they do it is simple. really when you think about it.

If the items where there all the time, some people would just grind out the gold to gems. where as with ANet locking them up they can spring them on us, and if we don’t have the gold on hand, we have to spend money to get the items we want.

So yes they are doing it to make as much money as possible. They are a business after all, not our friends. the need money to keep the lights on and pay staff.

But I will say this. Anet will also lose money by doing what they are doing. If I have some cash to spend, I’m not going to keep it for months on end just incase that one item I want goes on sale. No I’ll spend it on something else. ANet has lost a lot of money off me by doing this. But I’m one guy, there can’t possible be more people out there like me………

BrotherBelial.3094:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

Some players will. I’ve given up on waiting for things to come on the gem store. if I want something that is for sale in a game, as a consumer I expect it to be available. Not on some time lock. I know ANet have them as the reason they do it is simple. really when you think about it.

If the items where there all the time, some people would just grind out the gold to gems. where as with ANet locking them up they can spring them on us, and if we don’t have the gold on hand, we have to spend money to get the items we want.

So yes they are doing it to make as much money as possible. They are a business after all, not our friends. the need money to keep the lights on and pay staff.

But I will say this. Anet will also lose money by doing what they are doing. If I have some cash to spend, I’m not going to keep it for months on end just incase that one item I want goes on sale. No I’ll spend it on something else. ANet has lost a lot of money off me by doing this. But I’m one guy, there can’t possible be more people out there like me………

Yes you are correct you are just one guy, one guy that has a hard time seeing things large scale. Unless someone can point out how GW2 changes basic human psychology to cause this tried and true tactic to not work this argument just seems like a healthy amount of confirmation bias with a side of tunnel vision.

Killdozer.5731:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Killdozer.5731:

Nikal.4921:

I have to think #FakeScarcity works against sales as much as it works for them. I have moved on from wanting and waiting for an item to re-appear in the store way more than I have wanting, waiting, & buying. That is substantial lost sales from me.

Again they wouldn’t continue doing this if it was not more profitable. Do you really think they are doing this to be obtuse, lose money, and anger players?

Some players will. I’ve given up on waiting for things to come on the gem store. if I want something that is for sale in a game, as a consumer I expect it to be available. Not on some time lock. I know ANet have them as the reason they do it is simple. really when you think about it.

If the items where there all the time, some people would just grind out the gold to gems. where as with ANet locking them up they can spring them on us, and if we don’t have the gold on hand, we have to spend money to get the items we want.

So yes they are doing it to make as much money as possible. They are a business after all, not our friends. the need money to keep the lights on and pay staff.

But I will say this. Anet will also lose money by doing what they are doing. If I have some cash to spend, I’m not going to keep it for months on end just incase that one item I want goes on sale. No I’ll spend it on something else. ANet has lost a lot of money off me by doing this. But I’m one guy, there can’t possible be more people out there like me………

Yes you are correct you are just one guy, one guy that has a hard time seeing things large scale. Unless someone can point out how GW2 changes basic human psychology to cause this tried and true tactic to not work this argument just seems like a healthy amount of confirmation bias with a side of tunnel vision.

Read what I said again. I do see the big picture. I tell you what, I’llsay it again save you reason my post again.

They have done it this way so that if people want it bad enough they will pay for it, over converting gold to gems. That’s the point to them being as random as they are. Just because I don’t like it, dose not mean I don’t understand.

Ashen.2907:

I completely understand your sentiment, but it is very likely that the data supports ANet’s apparent belief that time restricted availability actually increases revenue. Not everyone loses.

I have to disagree on that, everyone does loses. It is a bad anti-consumer tactic that in the long run, creates ill will and resentment on the consumer side. Just like those crappy gambling boxes aka Black Lion Chests. Sometimes it works in the short run, but to savvy consumers, they take their time and money someplace else. I know I did. I like the game, but there is a limit and the gemstore, the way it is run, is where the buck stops for me.

TheMagickDoll.7594:

Just like those crappy gambling boxes aka Black Lion Chests.

That’s true. If you know you tend to gamble, this game is not for you. There are several gambling aspects, mystic forge, Skritt Ectoplasm gambler, those things you can buy from some karma vendors that have an item in it or not.

I have 33 Black Lion Chests and no key. Of course those chests drop more often than keys…

I’m not a gambler, so I’m not even tempted to buy keys. I will never gamble with Skritt and never drop exotics into the mystic toilet and hope for precursors, or buy salvagable stuff and hope for good drops after salvaging. The people who sell those instead of salvaging themselves are no gamblers either, they will win and the buyers lose.

But this is different from the controlled scarcity that ArenaNet uses to distribute dye or skins. Those are rather gold sinks. And when they notice that there is too much currency, they put them up for sale. In a way, the Skritt is also a gold sink, but when you buy dye or a skin, you get what you pay for guaranteed.

It’s all part of Marketing 101. What they do with the TP is exactly what real stores do. It works and has worked since selling things began thousands of years ago. Why mess with what works?

Arenanet don’t need to do their own tests to prove that it works because the evidence is already out there. That’s like saying you don’t know that eating nothing but sugar is bad for you because you’ve never tried it – you can be reasonably sure your body is similar enough to other people’s that what’s been proven for them is also true for you. And likewise Anet can be sure their customers are susceptible to the same marketing techniques that work on other customers because people are people regardless of what product they’re actually using.

For example here’s an article about a clothing brand built entirely on a fairly extreme example of this technique – releasing a few items each week, for 1 week only (so effective that many items actually sell out in minutes): http://thembsgroup.co.uk/internal/the-drop-a-lesson-in-artificial-scarcity-and-cool/

There are many, many other articles out there about the pros and cons of the system and how it works, what kind of products/audiences it works for and both good and bad examples.

Also while I’ve been typing this comment my other MMO has released a new house which is available for 4 days only and which costs $109 / £65. I knew before it was released that I didn’t want it, but I still went to look at it and I can guarantee that while I’m typing this their forums are full of people talking about it. (Mostly complaining but hey, any publicity is good publicity as they say.) People have already stated their intention to get it purely because it’s limited, which in their eyes makes it special.

For another current example there’s Starbucks unicorn frappuccino. It’s not even sold in my country but people won’t stop talking about it, and a big part of that is the “OMG get it now” factor of it being limited. There is no reason they couldn’t keep making them, but by limiting it people feel like they need to get on and get one instead of thinking they’ll maybe order it next time they happen to go there anyway.