Why do we keep getting notifications of items when there are none?

[Daddicus.6128]

I got yet another notification that there was an item to pick up in the Black Lion Trading Company. I went, no item. This is around the fifth or sixth time in the last couple of months.

What's going on? Am I missing the item, or is the message just bogus?

[Donari.5237]

I'm not sure that the icon means there is a free thing, only that there is a new thing. In today's case, the new Dragon's Watch Regalia stuff.

[Linken.6345]

No the free item is a gift box, this was a light blue hue to it only meaning something new never seen in the store before got added.

[Astralporing.1957]

The blue hue is nothing more than a not-so-subtle ad saying "we have something new for you in the store".

[Tukaram.8256]

I keep getting the gift box icon, but have already picked up all the free stuff. I think my icon is stuck... :)

[Daddicus.6128]

I thought sure it said I had an item to pick up (and items to pick up, and coins). But, the "item" one disappeared as soon as I went into the BLTC.

[Danikat.8537]

There's now 3 different notifications the Black Lion icon can have:

• Blue glow = new item in the gem store (genuinely new, not old stuff returning)
• Gift box = free item in the gem store
• Red exclamation mark = something to collect from the trading post

If you hover the cursor over the icon it will give you text notifications for all 3 as well. I can't remember exactly what they say but I remember thinking all 3 are very similar at first glance (at least to me) and all have the word item in them.

[Daddicus.6128]

Yeah, Danikat, it could be that I'm misinterpreting it. I've been watching the last few times (since I wrote this), and haven't seen it again. So, I could just have imagined it.

[Blindefender.9834]

They just want us to look in the store. It's a marketing trick. It worked on me the other day. I bought another character slot because they were on sale; I never would have looked except there was an icon glowing, so I clicked it.

[Daddicus.6128]

Oh, I appreciate the notifications. I try hard to only buy things only when they're on sale, to make the best use of my limited dollars (I almost always use real money). So, when I see the notification, I look.

This was different. There were three items listed right-clicked it, but one just vanished when I clicked it. It reminded me of a bug they had a month or two ago where there was a phantom item "available". But, everybody saw that one while it was going on, and they fixed it. This LOOKED like that, so I thought I would ask. Since it was only me, I'll just assume I had too much chocolate that day or something.