Guild Wars 2

So kind of curious about gem store rotation. Since I took a year break from the game a while back, I’ve missed a lot of stuff that came out in the gem store. Before I left, the whole infinite gathering tool things were just starting and more things added. Now there’s a bundle of them.

What I want to know though is about some of the skins and outfits. Have they rotated stuff like the rabbit ears or Braham’s weapon skins? Since being back, it seems like what’s been in the gem store has been the same since January (I think they added the Imperial outfits, the airship ticket, a set of new gathering tools, some dyes and now the Balthazar outfit since I’ve been keeping track). But when will I be able to get Braham’s Shield? Or Belinda’s sword? Is it just never going to come back? Or is Anet going to be a butt and release that stuff in June when I’ll be gone again to Korea?

There doesn’t seem to be a schedule for when items return other than ones tied to specific yearly events like Halloween and Wintersday. Skins like Braham’s Shield comes when it seems like ANet wants to run up the gold price of gems. Some times it’s only for a day or a weekend, sometimes it’s for longer.

As the bunny ears, they were a victim of the removal of Town Clothes ahead of the introduction of the wardrobe. They weren’t one of the skins turned into a headgear armor skin.

Sorry.

So have they rotated the DE 2.0 gear in after they’ve been introduced? It’s sad to hear about the bunny ears. Seems simple to me to rework them though.

Some of the stuff has been in the gem store since the beginning and yet other things seems to have appeared once and never again? A bit annoying on my part. I can only play the game in seasons (long blocks of play and long blocks of non-play)…I’m not sure to suggest they rotate stuff out/in more often or wait longer.

Oh yeah, several times.

Yes, the stuff that has disappeared forever (for now) are elements of town clothes that they didn’t make into skins. Bunny Ears, several pairs of glasses, boxing gloves.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gem_Store/historical

These are the items currently not in the store but like I said, the ones marked as town clothes seem to be gone for good, for now. Pretty much everything else listed there has been back more than once, including retired mini sets.

This game seems to have artificial scarcity down to a science. It’s one thing to make items seasonal if tied to an event, but there’s a point with other items where the desire just begins to fade when players plead for a return and see nothing. The bunny ears were begged for and yet a no show at Easter. Players are trying to throw money at the game, but it doesn’t seem like Anet wants it.

Prototypemind.4026:

This game seems to have artificial scarcity down to a science. It’s one thing to make items seasonal if tied to an event, but there’s a point with other items where the desire just begins to fade when players plead for a return and see nothing. The bunny ears were begged for and yet a no show at Easter. Players are trying to throw money at the game, but it doesn’t seem like Anet wants it.

I don’t think that’s an accurate picture. With a tiny number of exceptions, everything that has been in the gem store returns. Those exceptions are mostly about things that existed before the wardrobe changed some of the mechanics. Admittedly, it’s annoying that we’re missing a pair of spectacles, bunny ears, etc, but there are far more items that do return, including the DE weapons, all the dye sets, etc

The other big exception is BL weapon skins, which technically were never available in the gem shop (only via BL tickets).

Just browsing around lately it seems to be much more common to Western MMOs that items outside of seasonal ones do not remain reliably available for purchase. It’s interesting because certain Western versions of Eastern MMOs claim that they can only have so many available at a time, yet the entirety of the catalog is available in game in Asia.

The black wings were something highly requested by players for use with the Lich set apparently; they were in the store for a day, with some unknown return date. We know that Anise’s outfit and Balth’s were both ready in the same timeframe, but it seems their release has been separated to in theory max returns from both. I’m not a marketing major, so I don’t pretend to know all things in relation to U.S. and UK markets. I also understand that for whatever reason the design of the BL interface only allows for so many items at once. That said, there could certainly be a better rotation for items.

At this point I don’t have a dog in the fight. I’m spending most of my time in other games currently and also spending my money in said titles. In a game where cosmetics come so heavily into play, though, and players are begging you to take their money, it doesn’t seem like they’re really maximizing their returns to me.