I think a major problem is the bundle price. I've seen a lot of players agree that $5 for a given mount skin is fair. Maybe the nicer skins are worth more ($10?), and the plainer skins less, but $5 is a good ballpark for a standard skin - updated model, texture, and multiple dye channels. The problem is that if you want to forego the gamble and buy all the skins, you are asked to pay $120 and that is called a discount. I do not think that 30 mount skins provide $120 of value, and I find it a little insulting that ArenaNet has that point of view. That's more than the price of a collector's edition game. The marginal value/utility of additional skins for a given mount goes down quickly. If I don't have any Jackal skins, buying one is exciting. I'll use it and be happy. Buying a second skin gives me more options, but I can only use one at a time. Once I have 3, or 4, or 10, is each subsequent skin providing me $4-5 of value? I don't think it does. The bundle price should reflect that more closely. Frankly, I think charging more than $50 for the bundle is absurd and already pushing the line. And I say that as someone who can afford the $120 price and buys gems regularly whenever I am actively playing. Getting random rewards is "exciting", but so is going to a casino. It feels bad if you are hoping to get a fiery mount and get a plainer one. It seems clear that you have priced the adoptions based on this stratification of quality. You could have a "plain" gamble for $3 and a "cool" gamble for $10, but didn't go that route, and I am having trouble coming up with an explaantion that isn't based on preying on customer psychology. This is compounded by the fact that you can't even choose the mount you're getting a skin for. If I am secretly hoping for the shiny griffon skin (who isn't?) and get a plain skimmer skin, I'm out $5 for something I will only rarely use and I feel bad. If each raffle ticket was $2 (so max $60 individually), or even $3 ($90) with a $50 bundle, I think you would have seen a lot fewer complaints and a lot more sales. Is that more profitable than the current prices? Who knows, maybe not. But it wouldn't feel like you were trying to fleece your players. I love this game. I want to support this game. Please don't make it hard to justify supporting this game by leveraging hostile business practices.
Let's talk about the audience/customer base for mount skins - and let's keep in mind anyone buying a mount skin is already a paying customer, because they bought Path of Fire. Completionists will be unhappy because $120 for all 30 skins is a very high asking price for a single purchase. Can you even buy that many gems at once through the UI? Maybe that's fine because being a completionist in this game is already a quick route to bankruptcy. Folks who want a cheap/plain skin to match their armor will be unhappy because the cost of the raffle ticket has to account for the chance of pulling a "chase" skin, and even then they might not get the particular skin they want. They might not even be happy if they end up with a flashy skin because it doesn't match their aesthetic - the particle effects are not for everyone. Folks who want a "chase" skin with shiny particle effects will probably be unhappy because they're forced to keep rolling dice until they get the one they're after. A select few will only spend $5 and have a great time, everyone else gets to sulk - it has the potential to make the 2000 gem jackal look generous in comparison. Folks who just want something new and don't care what it is are happy, I guess. They pay $5 and get to use a single new mount. Maybe it's a mount they use a lot, maybe it isn't. Is this a large segment? I imagine the previous three buckets are much larger. Who "wins" here except for ArenaNet? Are any of the customers truly satisfied except the ones that are already accustomed to huge gem store purchases and can rationalize $120 to themselves, or those with enough gold to buy it outright with ingame currency? Usually when I spend money on gaming I walk away feeling happy and like I got good value for my dollar. With this price structure I walk away feeling like I just got out of a car dealership - ultimately maybe I bought something but it was an unpleasant experience and I'm not in a hurry to go back.