No new SAB gemstore items - and some even missing?

[Thundabolt.8541]

It is really confusing to me that there weren't any new SAB-themed gemstore items in the store this year, as there have been every year - and even moreso confusing that there's no infinite continue coin, or any of the gliders... did something go wrong here? I know that there's an overly-vocal minority who hate SAB, and will most definitely read this despite that and even reply to it just to state their hatred for it, but... honestly? Who cares about them?

 

If I could wager a guess, I'd say it'd be because the new items were dependent on actually participating in SAB - that I can understand (even though the armor is very deliberately designed to look nothing like SAB). But even then, that still doesn't explain the lack of SAB-themed gemstore items that haven't even been put on sale for the entirety of SAB... so what's going on here exactly?

[Funky.4861]

I'm pretty sure i saw the gliders and raptor in a recent gemstore sale- possibly one of the march flash sales which had terrible timing for non-americans.

[AgentMoore.9453]

Unfortunately you're right OP; they didn't tailor the contents of their shop to line up with the festival this year.

It's also not the first time they've done that. They seem to have an incredibly random stock rotation, which is wild to me. Any retail place I've ever worked or shopped at would capitalize on the time of year and run sales and specialized stock to get the most bang for their buck with customers anticipating these things. Yet ArenaNet offers Wintersday items months too late and Mad King's offerings in early summer. It's the equivalent of Spirit Halloween appearing all over the place - in February.

As a matter of fact, the rotation is so random that I'm genuinely surprised when the stuff in the gem shop actually does match something that's going on in the game. But then again, even a broken clock is right twice a day, isn't it? I'm mad curious to know if this tactic has been holding back their sales.

[Zebulous.2934]

I was shocked, shocked I tell you, when I saw that they aren't selling the bunny ears hat skin this close to Easter!  So many new players can't wear rabbit ears for bunny day this year!  The cat ears are in the gemstore however.  It makes no sense.

[Labjax.2465]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:42 AM, AgentMoore.9453 said:

Unfortunately you're right OP; they didn't tailor the contents of their shop to line up with the festival this year.

It's also not the first time they've done that. They seem to have an incredibly random stock rotation, which is wild to me. Any retail place I've ever worked or shopped at would capitalize on the time of year and run sales and specialized stock to get the most bang for their buck with customers anticipating these things. Yet ArenaNet offers Wintersday items months too late and Mad King's offerings in early summer. It's the equivalent of Spirit Halloween appearing all over the place - in February.

As a matter of fact, the rotation is so random that I'm genuinely surprised when the stuff in the gem shop actually does match something that's going on in the game. But then again, even a broken clock is right twice a day, isn't it? I'm mad curious to know if this tactic has been holding back their sales.

I feel this, after that cheap tactic to get people to click more with the highlighted icon I started checking their promotions more and seeing just how... unappealing their store setup is. Idk how else to put it. They call returning items that aren't even on sale "sales." They cycle stuff in and out seemingly at random. They have all sorts of things unavailable for no apparent reason just because with no clear pattern as to when they will return and for how long. For example, I've been wanting to get the Synergetics Gyrocycle beetle skin, but I have no idea when it will show up or if I will even be paying attention then. I might miss it and thus they will miss my money.

Then there's just plain inconsistent stuff like how some unbreakable gathering tools have glyphs and others don't. Some armor is sold as a full set and others are broken down into overpriced individual pieces. Promotions almost never have much of anything that's actually on sale (like one item or something), mostly stuff that's "returning" is supposed to be considered a promotional item.

It's just bizarre and comes across like the shop is running on a randomized algorithm without anyone even curating it.