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Again with the US only Gem Sale? - [Merged]


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We have been able, from the start, to purchase gems from the in-game gemstore.

So why can't we buy them discounted? The same taxes etc apply on the full-cost ones.

Edited: removed emphasis I added on the first line, as it looked like I was quoting someone else, rather than pointing out, well, my point.

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@Fire Attunement.9835 said:We understand the frustration from players who aren't able to take advantage of this promotion, and we want to let you know that a similar promotion for players outside the US is coming soon. We always make an effort to offer special promotions to as many players as we can, and will continue to bring opportunities to our community outside the US.

I think the frustration from players could have been avoided if both special promotions had been launched at the same time..... Amazon for the US and ??? For everyone outside the US. Or like many others already said: Give a discount in the Gem store itself.

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@"Fire Attunement.9835" said:We understand the frustration from players who aren't able to take advantage of this promotion, and we want to let you know that a similar promotion for players outside the US is coming soon. We always make an effort to offer special promotions to as many players as we can, and will continue to bring opportunities to our community outside the US.

The key phrase in this response is that "coming soon" part. That could mean anytime: maybe this month, maybe next month, maybe in 6 months, or maybe next year. By the time it actually does happen, US players will more than likely complain that they aren't getting the same "special promotion" so A-net will quickly push out another "special promotion" just for the US players within a week! There's nothing new here, those of us outside the US have known for years that US game companies consider us as "lesser" than our counterparts in the US! Complaining about it won't change anything, it is what it is. /shrug

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@Mystflower.7319 said:

@Fire Attunement.9835 said:We understand the frustration from players who aren't able to take advantage of this promotion, and we want to let you know that a similar promotion for players outside the US is coming soon. We always make an effort to offer special promotions to as many players as we can, and will continue to bring opportunities to our community outside the US.

I think the frustration from players could have been avoided if both special promotions had been launched at the same time..... Amazon for the US and ??? For everyone outside the US. Or like many others already said: Give a discount in the Gem store itself.

This, exactly. Even something in-game for those outside the US would have taken the sting out of being left out again if it had happened at the same time. Instead we're left guessing as to when and what it might be, or if it actually exists since the delay could also mean nothing was planned for non-Americans until players outside the US started calling Anet out on it.

Silence here is not a good look, especially when there's been so many cases of promotions being US-only without anything for those outside of the US.

(Also I got an email today to my Canadian email address with my IP showing that I do in fact play in Canada with a US-only promotion. Emailing people about promotions and getting their hopes up because you can't be bothered to filter regional email addresses at the very least is not fun. Thankfully I knew it was US-only ahead of time but there's undoubtedly going to be people who get excited only to learn that they can't get the deals even though they got a big fancy email telling them that there was an online discount on gems and PoF with zero mention in the email that it's US-only, so the only time you learn of it is when you try to check out.)

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Hello.

One day, I saw in the launcher a very good information:

'Stock up on gems and save big! From April 2 until April 4, get 20% off digital Guild Wars 2 Gem Cardsvalued at 2,000 gems and 50% off Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ Standard or Deluxe editionswhen you purchase them through our Amazon store.Don’t miss this great sale—and keep an eye out for skritt when you bring home your stash of shinies.'

I wanted to save big. I didn't want to miss this great sale.I clicked the link, which magically opened the browser and I saw it:

'Guild Wars 2, Gems - 2000 - [Online Game Code]Brand: NCSOFT'

Below was the additional, comforting information:

'List Price: $25.00 DetailsPrice: $20.00You Save: $5.00 (20%)'

'That's it !' - I said to myself - 'I won't be spending pathetic amount of money, as usual, like 50 or 100EUR anymore !I'm gonna spend A LOT this time'.

As I have accounts in a few different Amazon shop instances (like Spanish or German)I knew that I have to register/create/make a new one for a .com.So I did. Then I choose one of my prepaid cards, which is billed in USD and prrrecharged it hard.

Then, something weird happened.I added this digital code to a digital cart in a digital shop aaand...saw this:

'Important MessageThere was a problem with some of the items in your order (see below for more information):Guild Wars 2, Gems - 2000 - [Online Game Code]We are sorry. Something went wrong with your purchase of this product.Any bundle discounts associated with this product will not be applied in this purchase.'

I was shocked, terrified and ready to contact with the customer support.So I asked the chat bot politely if I can speak 'with associate'.And 'the associate' appeared and we spoke.And 'the associate' said, that they can give me a $5 discount (for anything, I assume, for the inconvenience, I assume).And I said, 'I just want the shop to be working, not giving me errors without any meaningful information'.And 'the associate' told me to wait, and that I'll be speaking with 'the specialist'.And 'the specialist' appeared, and told me to wait. So I did.And 'the specialist' asked me in which country I am at the moment,and I replied that I'm in my little European country at the moment.

I won't bring up the name, but it's the very same country in which most people got the monthly income below $700,but in many cases we're paying in Euro, as the rest of European Union, but we don't have Euro (as a currency).And the rest of EU, which have 3-4 times bigger minimum wages (for example) got the same prices as we have.Unfortunately, we're not poor Russia or China, so no one cares about... anything.So, the people learned to cope with the problem in a different manner. But we'll get to that.

So... back to our fascinating story.Why should anybody care where physically I am ? Think about it.I stressed that I don't expect any physical delivery of a digital code from the digital shop,and just for a second I was thinking about the country that gmail servers are located in(the ones that the mail with digital code will be send to). Nevermind.And 'the specialist' sent me something very, very funny. At first, I thought it is a joke, so I send him a smiling emoticon.It was a link to the website with title 'Countries & Territories Eligible to Shop for Digital Games & Software'.I told him, that I got the link from the game, so there must be a mistake.

And I told him, that in XXI century we got temporary mails, VPNs, fake address generators, proxy credit cards,and we even don't need a deepweb for all these toys, they can be easily googled up, installed, used... so what's the point ?To filter out some random guys, a small percentage, to make shopping less convenient, to show the gap between civilized worldand the poor countries with a communities with gross inequalities in earnings ?

Don't you think it is weird, anyway, that in fact, shop doesn't want money from poor people ?Because poor people need to pay more (among other reasons, to stay poor).

So far, I agreed to pay 15-20% more than Americans, and a few times more than the price for my country should be.But advertising in 'global channel' info about discount which comes out to be a poor America exclusive(well, thinking about Guatemala and Puerto Rico which are eligible, of course) is just... great.

This post is also about the wasted time, in these few hours I could earn a lot of dollars (and the majority in my country couldn't,that reminds me, once, I did a poll, in an official forum of CS:GO, how many hours you need to work to open 100 boxes, grouped by countries,it magically disappeared few times).But that's not the point.

English is not my main language, so... apologies, etc.

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@Fire Attunement.9835 said:We understand the frustration from players who aren't able to take advantage of this promotion, and we want to let you know that a similar promotion for players outside the US is coming soon. We always make an effort to offer special promotions to as many players as we can, and will continue to bring opportunities to our community outside the US.

That is good to hear. When I saw this announcement, I was happy. I wanted to gift PoF to my friend, but then noticed that oh it is US only. So hopefully upcoming promotion will have game itself on sale.

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@Follyfoot.2803 said:Do you think this whole promotion thing was a April fools that went terribly wrong and has back fired on them?

They more than likely had a goal in mind when they chose US Amazon for the promotion. They've probably achieved that goal, but now the outrage of Americans saving 20% off has made players more aware of this sale and future sales. I don't believe they were thinking this meta, but if so, ?.

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The real problem is that in years the marketing department often did errors like this and even after management changes they still do, they seems not to understand the impact of such superficial decisions on engagement and sells, btw let's hope for the future....

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@"nargilli.6987" said:The real problem is that in years the marketing department often did errors like this and even after management changes they still do, they seems not to understand the impact of such superficial decisions on engagement and sells, btw let's hope for the future....

Which should lead one to believe that it isn't an error. You can't make an "error" 10 times in a row by accident.

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@cobbah.3102 said:

@cobbah.3102 said:I can buy gem cards in New Zealand for $25.00 nzd for 2000 gems happy when i need to get some .

Where are you buying the gem cards from? I used to get them from EB but haven't seen them in there for over a year.

EB in Bayfair in Tauranga still has some

They're not replacing them, so buy them while you can :(

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@Fire Attunement.9835 said:We understand the frustration from players who aren't able to take advantage of this promotion, and we want to let you know that a similar promotion for players outside the US is coming soon. We always make an effort to offer special promotions to as many players as we can, and will continue to bring opportunities to our community outside the US.

seen that before, it never happens the right way.last time you guys did the same with the destroyer mini, the US got it completely for free while europe had to win one of 5........

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I've taken for granted that the only promotions I can enjoy as a European are those directly from the Gem store ingame. As long as I have been playing, all the out of game promotions (except sales on the games themselves) have been US centric. I mean, that's their choice, there are likely legal ramifications that prevents or make it more of a hurdle to do that elsewhere, but indeed, it is generally broadly advertised, and some people always miss the cue that their country is not on the whitelist.

Learn to ignore those promotions I'd advise, if it isn't worth it for the company to go through the legal and financial loops of hosting it internationally, it probably isn't worth it for you to go through the legal and financial loops of trying to benefit from it.

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When I checked Amazon for the gem sale, this was on that page

Available now.Ships from and sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.Note: After purchase, you can access the item in Your Games Library.By placing your order, you agree to our Terms of Use.This product is non-returnable and non-refundable.Note: Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United States.

You might want to check your site to see if the limitation is there. If not you should contact Amazon support to discuss it with them.

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@sorudo.9054 said:

@Fire Attunement.9835 said:We understand the frustration from players who aren't able to take advantage of this promotion, and we want to let you know that a similar promotion for players outside the US is coming soon. We always make an effort to offer special promotions to as many players as we can, and will continue to bring opportunities to our community outside the US.

seen that before, it never happens the right way.last time you guys did the same with the destroyer mini, the US got it completely for free while europe had to win one of 5........

Agree 100% I'll believe it when I actually see it.

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