Gem store rotation

If the gem store curator will not put everything in the store, can there at least be an expansion to how many items are up at a time, and a speed up of what gets swapped in and out?Can we have everything put on sale at some point for the birthday gem store sale?It's very bothersome when you want something and you have to wait half a year for it to show up again.

I would think over the course of this month, most everything will cycle through.

It's intended to keep us guessing. That's an age-old mechanic for generating more sales. It also keeps the items feeling more valuable to us — if all the things were available all the time, we'd grow complacent about their worth.

Just bookmark the thread that keeps track of what's entering/leaving the gem shop and check regularly.

It could rotate faster. They frequently have days where there are no new or no returned items added. These gaps where they could be putting returned items back up for sale means that items take a long time to rotate back into the gemstore. Considering it can take months for an item to cycle back in means lost sales as people forget they wanted the item, miss them when they come back or lose interest/stop playing as the months go by.

And some things that aren't even seasonal only show up for 3 days a year. It makes no sense, and it doesn't really get more sales if everyone that wants it just misses it anyway.

@SmirkDog.3160 said:And some things that aren't even seasonal only show up for 3 days a year. It makes no sense, and it doesn't really get more sales if everyone that wants it just misses it anyway.

I totally get it. The thing I wanted was up for only 7 days and I didn't even know.

@narwhalsbend.7059 said:I totally get it. The thing I wanted was up for only 7 days and I didn't even know.

I've wanted the God-slayer bow pack for an entire year now. It was available a few weeks before PoF was announced, so I wasn't interested in it because I never used bows. Then Renegade was shown and I wanted a cool short bow skin, and that's the one I decided on. Naturally, as far as I can tell it was only available once since then during like January? And I wasn't currently playing at the time. If it was available more often I would have bought it by now.

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:It could rotate faster. They frequently have days where there are no new or no returned items added. These gaps where they could be putting returned items back up for sale means that items take a long time to rotate back into the gemstore. Considering it can take months for an item to cycle back in means lost sales as people forget they wanted the item, miss them when they come back or lose interest/stop playing as the months go by.

Agreed. Though, it's much, much better than it was in the early years. Admittedly, there were fewer things, but there was relatively little rotation at all. Things would remain for 6, 9, or 12 months then suddenly disappear, while others would show up for a month never to be seen again. While I've yet to see anyone spot patterns (outside the obvious that festival-themed items return during festivals), I don't feel that I need to wait that long before stuff shows up again.

I think the least they could do is put everything up for sale during their August birthday sale, so that everyone knows they have a time to look for the things they were missing over the year. It's not much, but it's something.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:There certainly is no logic at all.

@narwhalsbend.7059 said:There certainly is no logic at all.

On the contrary, the system is designed to get us to part with more of our money (and also to increase the value we hold for the items that show up).

@narwhalsbend.7059 said:I think the least they could do is put everything up for sale during their August birthday sale, so that everyone knows they have a time to look for the things they were missing over the year. It's not much, but it's something.That would defeat the purpose of using artificial scarcity in the first place.

Yep. I know the reason they're doing this, but it doesn't work on some people. I don't buy things just because I see the "discount" tag or the "limited time only" tag. I see how much an item is worth to me and whether I really want or need it. If I want to buy something and it's not available for purchase, well... no money for Anet.

I'm really waiting for the anniversary sale, but I really am not a fan of this flash sale tactics. There will be days I can't log on, which means if an item goes on sale for a price I find acceptable during this time, I simply won't buy that item.

It sort-of works on me. I'm the type of person who can easily end up going "Yeah I like that, I'll buy it one day" and then never actually get to the point of buying it. But if it's going away soon I need to get on and make a decision. Sure, sometimes that decision is not to buy it, but other times I do and that's more than Anet would get if they allowed me to keep being indecisive forever. There's also items I've bought when they were discounted because the normal price is slightly more than I'm willing to pay - like character slots, bank tabs and the monk outfit (which I actually use a lot more than I thought I would).

Although at least once it's backfired - I wanted to buy the Striders armour for some reason, but it wasn't available and by the time it came back I couldn't remember why I wanted it so I never did buy it.

Of course I'd prefer them to keep everything available all the time, or at least to cycle it regularly and predictably so I know what to expect and when, but I understand why they don't. It's annoying but it works.

I hate this system. It takes me months, even years before buying stuff. It makes me appreciate stuff more. Whenever something is on sale, I get on red alert and avoid buying it because I have this weird instinct there might be something wrong with it or why would have they put it on sale? I wish they put a catalogue with every gem items I can ever buy so whenever I make my decision, it's there. If not, their loss.

Wouldn't it be beneficial to all, (including ANET) if all items were always available and discounts cycled? This way, you could either wait for something to go on sale or buy it immediately if it was needed?

@"jezebel.7054" said:Wouldn't it be beneficial to all, (including ANET) if all items were always available and discounts cycled? This way, you could either wait for something to go on sale or buy it immediately if it was needed?

It turns out, no, that's not as effective. It reduces income and players value the items less. In effect, it's a marketplace version of "familiarity breeds contempt" and "you don't miss your water until your well runs dry."

Also, the Gem Store isn't set up to offer every item all the time. Would probably necessitate a complete overhaul.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Also, the Gem Store isn't set up to offer every item all the time. Would probably necessitate a complete overhaul.

I doubt there's a strict limit to how many items can be offered at a time.

According to Mike O'Brien, there is.

Maybe not a strict limit but the gem store is basically a series of web pages within a custom browser built into the game. It may be that if they try to put too many items on at a time it stops loading or runs very slowly.

@SmirkDog.3160 said:And some things that aren't even seasonal only show up for 3 days a year. It makes no sense, and it doesn't really get more sales if everyone that wants it just misses it anyway.

I don't know about you but it worked on me.I immediately bought 4000 gems just to get those weapons.

Impatient people who are waiting for a specific item to buy usually settle on something that is in the store, only to find the item they actually did want return and spending money on that too. Exploitation makes bank.

I just want an Incarnate Armor that's last been available in Mai rolls eyes

@"lifeshoutslive.4163" said:I just want an Incarnate Armor that's last been available in Mai rolls eyes

Put in a request here and maybe it'll come around sooner?