Gem store items should always be available

[justsoelmo.7068]

I have no idea if I'm in the minority or not, but I'm of the persuasion that all Gem store items should always be available, especially if they're QoL items.

Sales on a rotating schedule? Sure. But players being locked out of convenience items year-round, with the exception of a few windows a year, feels restrictive.

[Dante.1763]

Burst sales(im sure theres a better term for it) but more people buy items if they know they can only get them one a year than would otherwise, at least thats the concept. I dunno if it works or not.

[Raknar.4735]

Apparently artificial scarcity does work to sell items.It would be more consumer friendly to allow everything at once, and I doubt you're in the minority to think everything should be available, but it's just one of many market strategies.

[kharmin.7683]

@Raknar.4735 said:Apparently artificial scarcity does work to sell items.It would be more consumer friendly to allow everything at once, and I doubt you're in the minority to think everything should be available, but it's just one of many market strategies.

Yep. So much this. It is an effective marketing strategy that has proven itself. If it didn't work, then they wouldn't use this strategy.

[Danikat.8537]

It would be much nicer for players if they were available all the time and could potentially lead to some people spending more money. I just got home from visiting family today, and I was planning to buy the white feather wings, which I thought had come back recently, but they were gone again. This is sort-of an impulse purchase for me, I don't want them for any of my permanent characters but do want them for a few I keep making tempoarily, deleting and then end up re-making, so I feel like it's a bit of a waste of money and there's a good chance that by the time they're back in the gem store I'll be back to thinking I shouldn't buy them. This isn't unique for me, at one point I was going to buy the Stider's armour set, I had the gems, opened the gem store...found it wasn't available and had to give up. By the time it was available I couldn't remember why I wanted it and didn't buy it.

On the other hand there have been times I've bought things I wasn't 100% sure I wanted because it was only available for a short time and I didn't want to miss out on it, and that's what Anet's going for. Apparently it makes them more money than having things available all the time. (And not just Anet, it's a fairly common business model - pop-up shops for example are built around this idea.)

[Fueki.4753]

Sadly, artificial scarcity is a working business practise.

[Lambent.6375]

At this point gw2 artificial scarcity doesn't really work on me, unless it's something really exclusive, which they haven't done in years.

I basically use it as a means to save money now. (if I ignore, it will go away eventually)

Also, I think one of the mean reasons they don't sell everything is to avoid clutering the gem store.

It would be nice if they could just archive these items instead, but still make them accessible if the person knows what they want, and does a search for it in the gem store.

[GW Noob.6038]

@ the OP: I'm not disagreeing just to be disagreeable, here, but I kinda like the "artificial scarcity" of certain items...it's kinda pleasant to see an item in the gem store that you've had your eye on for quite a while. Which items are you looking for? Personally, I want the Golden Wings , the Lahtenda Bog Hunter skin , and the Dajkah Lantern skin or, maybe, the Arid Hammerhead skin. But, yeah, I agree: the QoL stuff should be available all the time.

[justsoelmo.7068]

@GW Noob.6038 said:@ the OP: I'm not disagreeing just to be disagreeable, here, but I kinda like the "artificial scarcity" of certain items...it's kinda pleasant to see an item in the gem store that you've had your eye on for quite a while. Which items are you looking for? Personally, I want the Golden Wings , the Lahtenda Bog Hunter skin , and the Dajkah Lantern skin or, maybe, the Arid Hammerhead skin. But, yeah, I agree: the QoL stuff should be available all the time.

Honestly? Just the Runecrafter's Salvage-o-Matic. That's all I want.

[justsoelmo.7068]

Also, I get artificial scarcity. If it were just for skins and stuff, I would have nothing to say on the matter.

But putting it on QoL items is obnoxious.

[Cyninja.2954]

Let's put it this way:

Since artificial scarcity obviously works, and it leads to more revenue, the opposite would also be true: revenue would drop without artificial scarcity.

Now if we assume this decrease in revenue needs to get compensated somewhere else, it would mean other methods would need to be used (more items put on the gem store, more required sales and overall a less optional approach) to achieve revenue goals.

Given this assumption: how many are still in favor?

[Randulf.7614]

I've worked in sales and retail for twenty years and have not seen any proof that artificial scarcity works as flawlessly as so many claim it to do so, especially on these forums. If anything quite the opposite. There is some value to the strategy with physical items for various reasons. There is much less so with digital.

I have no access to their metrics, but my experience with comparable metrics, with sales and with items both physical and digital, mainstream and collectors - I am pretty confident they'd make more in a change in strategy. The burst they see in returning items is unlikely to be due to scarcity, but driven by the featured highlight of an items, often combined with a sale.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Randulf.7614 said:I've worked in sales and retail for twenty years and have not seen any proof that artificial scarcity works as flawlessly as so many claim it to do so, especially on these forums. If anything quite the opposite. There is some value to the strategy with physical items for various reasons. There is much less so with digital.

I have no access to their metrics, but my experience with comparable metrics, with sales and with items both physical and digital, mainstream and collectors - I am pretty confident they'd make more in a change in strategy.

That might be true, but it would not explain why this approach is mirrored across many platforms and games, developers and publishers (nor the spikes in gem-gold exchanges during sales of desired items). We can only assume that given there are people dedicated to only revenue generation, that they know what they are doing. Thus, if they are not changing their approach, they must assume it makes them more money.

[Randulf.7614]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:I've worked in sales and retail for twenty years and have not seen any proof that artificial scarcity works as flawlessly as so many claim it to do so, especially on these forums. If anything quite the opposite. There is some value to the strategy with physical items for various reasons. There is much less so with digital.

I have no access to their metrics, but my experience with comparable metrics, with sales and with items both physical and digital, mainstream and collectors - I am pretty confident they'd make more in a change in strategy.

That might be true, but it would not explain why this approach is mirrored across many platforms and games, developers and publishers. We can only assume that given there are people dedicated to only revenue generation, that they know what they are doing.

Various reasons prevent it which I could list, but I'm fairly tired to wade through the myriad ways businesses utilise sales metrics (often inaccurately) to produce strategies and the changing spending habits of customers these days which can invalidate doing it this way. Since I don't know the internal reasons why they choose this method over a potentially better model (I have my suspicions), it is moot anyway.

I don't like it, I don't agree with it, but I've largely accepted this is how Anet choose to do things. It comes down to players adapting - Anet are not going to change their way of doing business in this regard no matter what the community feedback so the best advice is to simply store the gems and wait it out.

[Super Hayes.6890]

This tactic is effective but it doesn't feel good. I'm with the OP on this one. I would prefer it if they didn't use it. I will not, however, be disowning them over it.

[kharmin.7683]

@Randulf.7614 said:I've worked in sales and retail for twenty years and have not seen any proof that artificial scarcity works as flawlessly as so many claim it to do so, especially on these forums.In what industry? It may not work in the retail field in which you work.