Anniversary Sales end today, what are your thoughts on it?

Our final sale item in the #GuildWars2 anniversary sale is the Shared Inventory Slot–take 30% off until August 31!

According to their Facebook and twitter, the anniversary sales ends today, making it the shortest in years. Past years the sales went a week longer after the 31st.

Nothing I wanted went on sale (in my case: templates, instruments, equipment expansions). I saved enough money in anticipation for this but I guess Anet doesn't want my support.

Well, I was waiting for a sale of Shared inventory slots so I can not complain.

Hmmm I forgot the shared storage. Hope it’s on sale when I get home tonight

@Tyncale.1629 said:Well, I was waiting for a sale of Shared inventory slots so I can not complain.

Same, so no complaints here!

I needed some storage expanders but I guess I will wait

@aaron.7850 said:

Our final sale item in the #GuildWars2 anniversary sale is the Shared Inventory Slot–take 30% off until August 31!

Over the past years they never place templates/equipment expansions on anniversary sale. How did you come up with that idea?

@Roche.7491 said:

@aaron.7850 said:

Our final sale item in the #GuildWars2 anniversary sale is the Shared Inventory Slot–take 30% off until August 31!

Have we even had templates/equipment expansions over a year?

tl;dr (details, below)

• 2020 was actually "typical" in terms of how many days the anniversary sales lasted
• it was, however near the bottom in terms of total number of items on sale
• and yet (on the "third hand"), it also had the least fluff of recent years

@"aaron.7850" said:making it the shortest in years.Three anniversaries were half as long, two were about the same, and only the last two years were substantially longer

! 2020 = 20 days (12 Aug – 31 Aug)! 2019 = 40 days (2 Aug – 10 Sep)! 2018 = 33 days (7 Aug – 8 Sep)! 2017 = 21 days (9 Aug – 29 Aug)! 2016 = 11 days (19 Aug – 29 Aug)! 2015 = 25 days (21 Aug – 14 Sep)! 2014 = 11 days (22 Aug – 1 Sep)! 2013 = 11 days (23 Aug – 2 Sep)

Alternative benchmark: how many things went on sale? 2020 is near the bottom of the pack for this: 27 distinct items, which is second least (worst was 2014, with only 15). In contrast, 2018 saw 71 distinct items/packages sold at a discount.

! 2020: 27! 2019: 61! 2018: 71! 2017: 52! 2016: 61! 2015: 40! 2014: 15! 2013: 31

Another alternative benchmark is what sorts of things went on sale? For example, in 2017, while there were 52 different items, 15 of those were Minis, which have a very niche value to the community. Over the last few years, the emphasis has been on Utilities, MountFits, & Gathering Tools, with "fluff" decreasing as a fraction of total number of things on sale.

As it turns out, 2020 does well (perhaps even "best") in this benchmark: it has no minis, no gliders (except as packages), no finishers, no dye kits. So while there are only 27 items on sale, the bulk are utility (shared slots, character slots) or coveted (salvage or gathering tools) or MountFits (which some love, some hate).

Why? Each year, ANet has also gone big on the latest and greatest and/or whatever was going out of fashion. For example,

! 2013: weapon|armoir skins (13) out of 31 sales, leaving 18 for everything else! 2015: weapon|armor skins (15) & minis (13) out of 40 sales, leaving 12 for everything else! 2016: gliders (12) & weapon|armor skins (8) & mail carriers (9), leaving 32 for everything else (still a diverse year)! 2017: mail carriers (10) & minis (15) & weapon|armor skins (10), leaving 27 for everything else! 2018: finishers (12) & minis (13) & novelties (13), leaving 33 for everything else! 2019: wardrobe packages (19), leaving 42 for everything else! * 2020: evenly distributed: no minis, no gliders (except as packages), no finishers, no dye kits

@Linken.6345 said:

@Roche.7491 said:

@aaron.7850 said:

Our final sale item in the #GuildWars2 anniversary sale is the Shared Inventory Slot–take 30% off until August 31!

Nope but both went on sale last march.

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:tl;dr (details, below)

• 2020 was actually "typical" in terms of how many days the anniversary sales lasted
• it was, however near the bottom in terms of total number of items on sale
• and yet (on the "third hand"), it also had the least fluff of recent years

@"aaron.7850" said:making it the shortest in years.Three anniversaries were half as long, two were about the same, and only the last two years were substantially longer

!

2020 = 20 days (12 Aug – 31 Aug)!

2019 = 40 days (2 Aug – 10 Sep)!

2018 = 33 days (7 Aug – 8 Sep)!

2017 = 21 days (9 Aug – 29 Aug)!

2016 = 11 days (19 Aug – 29 Aug)!

2015 = 25 days (21 Aug – 14 Sep)!

2014 = 11 days (22 Aug – 1 Sep)!

2013 = 11 days (23 Aug – 2 Sep)

!

2020: 27!

2019: 61!

2018: 71!

2017: 52!

2016: 61!

2015: 40!

2014: 15!

2013: 31

!

2013: weapon|armoir skins (13) out of 31 sales, leaving 18 for everything else!

2015: weapon|armor skins (15) & minis (13) out of 40 sales, leaving 12 for everything else!

2016: gliders (12) & weapon|armor skins (8) & mail carriers (9), leaving 32 for everything else (still a diverse year)!

2017: mail carriers (10) & minis (15) & weapon|armor skins (10), leaving 27 for everything else!

2018: finishers (12) & minis (13) & novelties (13), leaving 33 for everything else!

2019: wardrobe packages (19), leaving 42 for everything else! * 2020: evenly distributed: no minis, no gliders (except as packages), no finishers, no dye kits

Welcome back :)Missed your recent thread, idk how that happened, but haven't seen you post in ages!

What?!? There was a sale?There wasn't anything I really needed so it didn't help/hurt me a bit.

I hope everyone else was able to support the company through buying those things they were looking for.

In my opinion the equipment template expansions should be permanently 20-30% off if you buy 5-10+ in bulk rather than a seasonal sale. That's how quite a few things work including Black Lion Keys.Build templates aren't that attractive for most players but with a 30% discount (210 gems) they are slightly more palatable.Build storage needs more help, it needs be about 3x more templates per purchase. 3 templates for 500 gems is rather high for the majority of players. Even when it was 40% off I suspect the uptake was not high. If it had high uptake it would not have been 40% off when the rest of the templates items were 30%.

The best thing that could be done is making permanent 1 per customer "packages" of those for WvW players (which are more likely to use their WvW template outside of PvE) such as :

• 3 equipment templates + 3 build storage slots for 25% off (current = 2000 gems , so ~1500 gems essentially you get build storage for free) ... which is still more costly than what it was during the prior sale , add box of WvW supplies or something that has no gem value to sweeten it--> the alternative is 2-3 character slots so this needs to be below 1600 gems ($20) ideally--> people using copy-paste / guild message / whatnot would normally pay 1500 gems for 3 equipment templates--> for WvW players this would partially cover longstanding class archetypes: guardian (stability), scrapper/tempest (cleanses) , spellbreaker/scourge/chrono/condi rev (boon rip)
• 5 equipment templates + 6 build storage slots for 35% off (current = 3500 gems , so ~ 2275 gems is a very minor discount on equipment templates + build storage is essentially free) ... if you bought everything in the prior sale it would have been 2350 gems since build storage was 40% off but equipment templates were 30%--> the alternative is 3-5 character slots so this should be below 2400 gems ($30) to be practical--> people using copy-paste / guild message / whatnot would normally pay 2500 gems for 5 equipment templates ; the lowest increment of gems is 2800 gems ($35) as 2400 gems ($30) is not enough to cover it--> for PVE-only players this would cover the major current support classes: quickness guardian/mesmer , alac renegade , druid, banner warrior (berserker)
• 3 equipment templates + 3 build templates for ~20% off (current= 2400 gems , so ~1920 gems) ... which is still more than what it was during the prior sale--> this is only attractive weighed against 3 extra characters, against 2 extra full priced characters it still is more pricey
• 5 equipment templates + 5 build templates for 30% off (current = 4000 gems , so ~2800 gems) ... basically the prior sale all year round--> this is only attractive weighed against 4-5 extra characters , against 3 extra full priced characters it still is more pricey--> 2800 gems is a $35 purchase in the store and a standard gem incrementand so on

The best option in the current schema is to essentially give out build storage with equipment template purchase when in bulk (3+). Why? Equipment templates when weighed against bag slots are reasonable. Build storage is only reasonable if you are too lazy to copy-paste a chat code. Build templates at least have hot key functionality and a default based on game mode. However, build templates aren't as attractive in PvP since builds are locked once the match starts so essentially you can reduce the amount of build templates you could prospectively need by one.

The other way it could be done is rolling them into a deluxe edition of the next expansion. Have a WvW-oriented / competitive deluxe edition add templates instead of offering discounted gems.

If you look at existing offerings the increment of discount is 20% for 5 of a shared inventory slot ; 28% for 5 of a BL Key and ~32% for 25 BL keys.

If you look at what was in the package at template launch there's a clear disconnect with what people use templates for: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Build_and_Equipment_Expansion_Package

• Build Template Expansion (2)
• Equipment Template Expansion (2)
• Build Storage Expansion ---- 3 slots
• Heroic Booster (5)
• Makeover PackThe net savings is 100 gems (of 2100 gems normally , so ~5% at best) unless you count makeover pack and heroic booster as value adds. People are mostly getting templates for level 80 characters so the heroic booster isn't of much use in my opinion ; makeover pack is very situational.

Had converted and saved gems for templates for this anniversary sales. Bummed they never were offered.

I wanted a bank tab and 4 mistborn mount select licences. I was hoping the mining flute tools would be on sale too, but that seemed highly unlikely since they're very rarely discounted.

I got the bank tab, didn't get the select licences but did end up buying the requisition drop so I'll get 2 mount skins from that when I get back home. (Only one from the mistborn set of course, but I'm sure I'll like one of the new ones and it may replace one of the mistborn ones in my plans.)

So overall not bad. Nothing amazing but they discount different things throughout the year now so I think the anniversary sale is less of a big deal. Theres a chance whatever I'm hoping for will go on sale at any time, so I'm not too worried if it's not in this sale.

This is why I was saying before the sale that if you're getting gems with real money it's better to hold onto the money and only buy gems when the items you want go on sale. That way if they don't you've still got the money to spend on something else, with more options than if it had already been converted into gems.

@aleron.1438 said:Had converted and saved gems for templates for this anniversary sales. Bummed they never were offered.

maybe wait for the march sale? usually they have gemstore sales at march. i wanted discounted equipment templates too! (but i can live without them)

I was really hoping the Unicorn and Choya finishers would have ben included. In the two years of playing. I have never seen them in the gem store. What is the point of not selling or trading an item for Black Lion Statues? I know there way a 24 hour window; however, I had a family emergency and expected them to come back by now...

@Josiah.2967 said:I was really hoping the Unicorn and Choya finishers would have ben included. In the two years of playing. I have never seen them in the gem store. What is the point of not selling or trading an item for Black Lion Statues? I know there way a 24 hour window; however, I had a family emergency and expected them to come back by now...

Choya Finisher - available March 2, 2020 (available a total of 4 times in Gems Store)Unicorn Finisher - available March 11, 2020 (available a total of 8 times in Gem Store)

How often are Character Slots on offer? Been waiting for it to be a bit cheaper was hoping this would have been on offer!

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@Josiah.2967 said:I was really hoping the Unicorn and Choya finishers would have ben included. In the two years of playing. I have never seen them in the gem store. What is the point of not selling or trading an item for Black Lion Statues? I know there way a 24 hour window; however, I had a family emergency and expected them to come back by now...

Don’t bother me with facts man!!!!!!

@Soital.9482 said:How often are Character Slots on offer? Been waiting for it to be a bit cheaper was hoping this would have been on offer!

Character slots did go on sale a week ago or two

I was saving my gems for these since they were on sales before in previous years:

1) Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey2) Storage Expander x 43) Mount Select License for Skyscale

I'm sad that it ended rather early. I was waiting for the additional crafting licence and the lightbinder blade wings combo to go on sale, guess I'll just keep waiting. Good things that I'm not desperate for any of them, if it never goes on sale, I'll prob just forget about its existence XD

I saved up 6000 gems, spent all but 5 of them on things I actually wanted and anticipated being discounted. Good year for me.

@"Josiah.2967" said:I was really hoping the Unicorn and Choya finishers would have ben included. In the two years of playing. I have never seen them in the gem store. What is the point of not selling or trading an item for Black Lion Statues? I know there way a 24 hour window; however, I had a family emergency and expected them to come back by now...

You can request them here. Expect to wait 2-4 weeks for it to pop up in store after making a request if they listen.https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/348/gemstore-requests-new-items-items-offered-again-merged#latest

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@Josiah.2967 said:I was really hoping the Unicorn and Choya finishers would have ben included. In the two years of playing. I have never seen them in the gem store. What is the point of not selling or trading an item for Black Lion Statues? I know there way a 24 hour window; however, I had a family emergency and expected them to come back by now...

Where are you able to see these dates?