Guild Wars 2

I completely understand why Anet periodically remove items from the gem store and then bring them back later, and I accept that it does work as a marketing technique even if it is frustrating.

But there are downsides too.

Back before Christmas I decided that next time the Strider’s armour was on sale I’d buy it. Now it’s come back, some 4 months or so after I made that decision and I cannot remember why I wanted it. I tried previewing it on all my characters and it doesn’t look any better than it did back when it first came out and I decided not to buy it. I can’t remember which character/s I was planning to give it to or what pieces I was planning to combine it with. It’s possible I’ve come up with a whole new look for them since then.

And as a result Anet has lost out on a sale. Sure it’s only 800 gems but I’m sure I’m not the only one to do something like this.

Perhaps, but by the “artificial scarcity” logic Anet uses for almost all gem store items, one lost sale is far outweighed by the multitudes of people who DO buy it because of its limited-time availability.

I agree it’s annoying, as I’ve been waiting for Kasmeer’s staff skin, as it’s my favourite looking staff skin in the game, but from what I gather it was only on the gem store a few years ago and I missed it (don’t think I was active on the game the the time).

I assume through they keep to the rotation as it freshens things up and by limiting times things are available it encourages people to buy there and then, which no doubt is effective.

I actually contacted support last week to see if I could buy Kasmeer’s Staff Skin as a one off (have them take the gems out of my account and credit the item), but sadly this doesn’t work as they said no They basically said although it’s not available it may be available again in the future, but I can’t buy it out of rotation.

It’s annoying, but it does cause us (the players) to constantly check back with the gem store, especially if there is something you are looking to “come back”. In my case, I’m waiting for the Jungle Explorer Outfit to return

I’ve been looking at the BDO cash shop and they do the same thing. Some things aren’t around a lot of the time, some stuff gets discounted periodically.

What’s different is that they have probably 10-50 times more things available in the shop. Now, there are numerous reasons why, not the least of which is that the level of animation is drastically lower, so it’s a lot easier to have a gazillion skins and minis and so on.

On the other hand, with 1000s of offerings (instead of 100s), it means that there will be tons of stuff available all the time, with plenty of opportunities for artificial scarcity, to fit special events.

So maybe ANet should consider hiring a ton more people to work on releasing skins just for the cash shop. (I have no idea if they can afford the 6-12 months it would take for people to get up to speed, and probably 18+ months before that turns into a profit. I suspect they’ve already considered it and rejected it as too risky.)

If we look at the more successful F2P models (ie: league of legends), Anet gem store needs a full revamp.

1) Gem store should be the best looking UI in the whole game and faster and easier to use than anything else.
2) Gem store items should be relatively cheap so that people make lots of impulse purchases.
3) Allow people to buy gems in smaller denominations than $10
4) Because of #2, gold to gem conversion should be nerfed to encourage people to buy gems and gem to gold should be buffed to encourage people to buy gems.
5) Should be a full time staff that just makes skins for everything and very very few items should be seasonal or limited time. The vast majority should be in the gem store at all times so that people will impulse buy things constantly.
6) Get rid of stupid crap like getting black lion tickets from the chest and make the chest worth buying. If i want a skin, let me give you my money. I want to give you my money, take my money. Sell me the skin I want, not a chance to get the skin I want.

TorsoReaper.8530:

If we look at the more successful F2P models (ie: league of legends), Anet gem store needs a full revamp.

1) Gem store should be the best looking UI in the whole game and faster and easier to use than anything else.
2) Gem store items should be relatively cheap so that people make lots of impulse purchases.
3) Allow people to buy gems in smaller denominations than $10
4) Because of #2, gold to gem conversion should be nerfed to encourage people to buy gems and gem to gold should be buffed to encourage people to buy gems.
5) Should be a full time staff that just makes skins for everything and very very few items should be seasonal or limited time. The vast majority should be in the gem store at all times so that people will impulse buy things constantly.
6) Get rid of stupid crap like getting black lion tickets from the chest and make the chest worth buying. If i want a skin, let me give you my money. I want to give you my money, take my money. Sell me the skin I want, not a chance to get the skin I want.

2) For some people they are cheap. For others they are not. Anet must also recoup the cost of making the items. Setting a price-point is a highly involved process.
3) Each purchase of gems costs Anet some money, and it may not be percentage based. Allowing smaller denominations would equate to them making less profit per gem.
4) The conversion of gems to gold is player driven, and needs to remain so. If the value of gems change, then players will change the market themselves; no need for Anet to step in.
5) They have full time artists, and are currently hiring.
6) You have the ability to directly purchase a skin you want. Buy gems —> Get gold --> Go to the TP. The ticket scraps are an alternate route for players who don’t want or aren’t able to do the route you prefer.

I don’t know, I think the gem store usually has a pretty good range of stuff, and I would be very reluctant to say they should put more time and effort into it because I’d worry that other areas of the game will suffer as a result.

It’s just frustrating when I decide I want something and it’s gone, especially when by the time I can buy it I can’t even remember what I was going to do with it.

I have to agree, this cycle system is frustrating to say the least.

Danikat.8537:

I don’t know, I think the gem store usually has a pretty good range of stuff, and I would be very reluctant to say they should put more time and effort into it because I’d worry that other areas of the game will suffer as a result.

It’s just frustrating when I decide I want something and it’s gone, especially when by the time I can buy it I can’t even remember what I was going to do with it.

I agree, if I have to wait till December to get the ice encasement outfit and crystal dragon wings I will be very very sad….

Danikat.8537:

And as a result Anet has lost out on a sale. Sure it’s only 800 gems but I’m sure I’m not the only one to do something like this.

Only 800 Gems? That’s ten bugs for a mere cosmetic thing. I think that’s a lot.

And as mentioned before, because of its time limitations people are more likely to buy.

Danikat.8537:

I don’t know, I think the gem store usually has a pretty good range of stuff, and I would be very reluctant to say they should put more time and effort into it because I’d worry that other areas of the game will suffer as a result.

I think they said that they have a decent “firewall” between the gem shop team and the game team, only sharing resources when there’s a dire emergency. So in my imagination, doubling or tripling the size of the gem shop designers wouldn’t have any impact on the game, except the initial cost to get them up & running. In the scenario, they would generate a lot more revenue for the game.

Although, as I’ve also speculated above, I imagine that they have already considered & rejected this as being too risky.

The gem shop generates a huge chunk of the game’s current income now. Tinkering too much might be counterproductive.

TorsoReaper.8530:

If we look at the more successful F2P models (ie: league of legends), Anet gem store needs a full revamp.

1) Gem store should be the best looking UI in the whole game and faster and easier to use than anything else.
2) Gem store items should be relatively cheap so that people make lots of impulse purchases.
3) Allow people to buy gems in smaller denominations than $10
4) Because of #2, gold to gem conversion should be nerfed to encourage people to buy gems and gem to gold should be buffed to encourage people to buy gems.
5) Should be a full time staff that just makes skins for everything and very very few items should be seasonal or limited time. The vast majority should be in the gem store at all times so that people will impulse buy things constantly.
6) Get rid of stupid crap like getting black lion tickets from the chest and make the chest worth buying. If i want a skin, let me give you my money. I want to give you my money, take my money. Sell me the skin I want, not a chance to get the skin I want.

1) Agree but I’ve haven’t seen any that are significantly better than another.
2) Gems are the primary income source six months out of initial and expansion releases. Cheaper items means they either have to sell more and/or create more if many of those items are account bound.
3) Likely the reason has to do with limits and charges with the company they contract to handle processing. There may be another reason I list below.
4) The exchange rate is determined by player use of the exchange. The more players buy gems with gold, the higher the exchange rate because there are less gems relative to gold in the exchange’s vaults. The opposite is true as players sell gems for gold, the exchange rate drops. Also their is a gold sink both ways.
5) Developers of skins cost money they need to recover quickly so additional sales will finance the game’s content development. Even tougher if you also insist that the items need to be cheaper in the gem shop.
6) Chests were originally in the game as simple sample boxes of gem shop utility items. Only after you could acquire exclusive skins from them that they became “worth while” in many players eyes. But at their core they are still a misc. Gem Shop sampler.

Another possible reason for the limited ranges of gem packages. Not sure if the packages are the same size in the EU but in the US it’s 800/1600/2800/ 4000/8000 and Gem Cards in the US are either 1200/2000. Now take those sizes and look at gem shop prices. 1000 gem tools, 700 gem outfits, 700 gem backpack/wing combos, 400-500 gem glider skins, 250 gem “mounts”, 350-400 gem minis. This looks like an intentional case of hot dogs vs buns, left over gems is expected. And it’s human nature to spend rather than save any excess and in this case we have the exchange for turning those left over gems into gold.

I think most players don’t understand the true purpose of the exchange. It wasn’t ANet being nice and provide a way for players to be able to buy “cash shop” items with in game gold. The exchange lets ANet get in on the RMT market, since MMOs haven’t been able to stop this 3rd party practice in decades, without the worry of injecting “new” gold into the game, as players are simply exchanging in game gold for gems other players had already paid cash for. The automated nature hides this trading unlike other games like EVE where trading PLEX is on an open market.

I just want all the weapon skins to become direct purchase without a very big price rather than keep them for a while with ticket purchase then remove them and see the price go sky high.

Same for me, i never understood this weird cycle thing, like most other games with a cash shop will keep all their items so players buy them all time, not take em away so players dont even know they exist.

Especially personal is that i want white feather wings glider and backpack and have no idea when it will come back, only to hope anet feels like theyre going to put it in coz i was taking a break the other times when they put them, which was what like 3-4 weeks total in 2-3 YEARS.