Who think every single existing outfit should be available during Halloween in the Gem Store?

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

~~I'm not saying this because I want my bloody Jungle Explorer Outfit... honest...~~

Halloween is about dressing up, being in costume, looking like something else or whichever. What better way than to cosplay as everything available as an outfit?

I think this would be the best time in the year to have it all up and probably more sales as people would be quicker to want to swap out outfits every so often during halloween than another time in the year.

[SmirkDog.3160]

Personally I think every gem store item should be available all the time anyway. There's literally no reason to make things be available for limited times. It doesn't actually make them sell more, because they're never in there when people actually want to buy them.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

> @SmirkDog.3160 said:

> Personally I think every gem store item should be available all the time anyway. There's literally no reason to make things be available for limited times. It doesn't actually make them sell more, because they're never in there when people actually want to buy them.

 

And it doesn't make people just decide to buy something else. It would just either

1. Make them wait out until what they want comes back

2. They lose interest in what they wanted to buy and just buy nothing.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

If we accept that the gem shop (like many, many other businesses) uses artificial scarcity methods to maintain interest in some items, then I can see no reason why they'd want there to be any particular time in which people would know, in advance, that all skins (or a subset) would be available. Outside of Wintersday-themed stuff being available during Wintersday, I'd think they'd want to keep it as mysterious as possible.

 

Still, there's probably some sort of happy medium that errs more on the side of more things being available more often... and, as it turns out, recently, they seem to be doing just that. This last 12 months or so has seen a lot more days when the inventory has something new than I remember in the past.

 

I realize that's no consolation to the OP (or many others) waiting for Cat Ears or, to take a random example, the Jungle Outfit. Still, it suggests ANet's headed in the right direction.

[Panda.1967]

> @"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:

> > @SmirkDog.3160 said:

> > Personally I think every gem store item should be available all the time anyway. There's literally no reason to make things be available for limited times. It doesn't actually make them sell more, because they're never in there when people actually want to buy them.

>

> And it doesn't make people just decide to buy something else. It would just either

> 1. Make them wait out until what they want comes back

> 2. They lose interest in what they wanted to buy and just buy nothing.

 

Indeed... it's quite honestly a poor business practice. Seasonal items being available for limited time is one thing, but the rest of the cosmetics being on a completely random rotation is absurd. If it's not seasonal, it should be available year round. There is absolutely no good reason for them to keep the shop as it is. They will absolutely make more money off the gemstore if they just leave items in it year round instead of this random rotation.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

It would likely make no difference if items were available year-round, other than making the Gem Store harder to navigate. Just like the items that _are_ offered all the time, they sell really well only when on sale. Players would likely just wait for sales, just as they do now.

[Panda.1967]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> It would likely make no difference if items were available year-round, other than making the Gem Store harder to navigate. Just like the items that _are_ offered all the time, they sell really well only when on sale. Players would likely just wait for sales, just as they do now.

 

That may be, but for those of us who don't care to wait for sales, or have the misfortune of never having the money to buy anything when sales do roll around... having the items available year round gives us an option to buy them when we have the chance instead of hoping that circumstances will line up with an opportunity just once...

 

Additionally, someone who's waiting for a certain item to return to the store may give up on it if there is no defined schedule for said item, and even with a schedule it's still quite possible for them to forget about it or give up before the item returns to the store resulting in lost sales for ANet. For example: I'm currently waiting for the Viper's Armor set to return so I can get the legs for my Sylvari Ranger to finish her outfit, however since the set was just in the shop a few months ago it could be over a year before it returns again, It's quite possible that by the time it returns I'll have completely forgotten I was even wanting it in the first place since I only actually want the legs since they are the only medium leg armor that effectively shows off a Sylvari's bioluminescence on their legs, and don't actually like the look of the armor itself... And if LS4 adds a new armor set that can give me the same effect before the set returns to the store then I'll likely never even buy the set at all and opt for the option I could get in game for free by then.

 

These sorts of considerations happen all the time for millions of players. A lot of players may look at the cash shop and see something they might like but can't get right now and think "I'll get that later". When later comes around and they go to get it, it's no longer available. They then have to decide, "do I just buy something else? or do I spend my money somewhere else?" more often than not the later is chosen, unless there is something else they actually wanted that is still available or something new that they actually want. Artificial scarcity may work to pull some players into buying things they might not have otherwise, but it pushes more players away from buying things they would have otherwise bought eventually. It's a system that plays on the assumption that everyone has the money to buy anything at any given time, as opposed to the truth that not everyone always has money. Periodic and random sales actually do just as good of a job at drawing in buyers as artificial scarcity, but without pushing eventual buyers away in the process.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

Absolutely, this would bankrupt me but still.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> It would likely make no difference if items were available year-round, other than making the Gem Store harder to navigate. Just like the items that _are_ offered all the time, they sell really well only when on sale. Players would likely just wait for sales, just as they do now.

 

That doesn't seem to make people not shop at Amazon or EBay.

[killermanjaro.5670]

I can sort of see the logic in having things on rotation at random. In that if everything was always available then I'd most likely buy all I want in one go and then forget that Gemstore was there unless I heard some new item had been made. Not being able to buy everything in one go means that I keep checking the Gemstore on a regular basis to see if what I want has come back, which has sometimes led to me just buying some things while I'm there.

 

Also having items only appear for a limited time does make people buy when they see an item as they don't want to miss out. Otherwise they might just think "I'll buy it tomorrow", but that day won't ever happen as they'll keep putting it off.

 

In retail people always want what they can't have, so you'd be surprised how many people will see an item somewhere which they find out isn't currently available, and that will make them want it enough to buy it when it comes around. It gives them the perception that it's rare and worth having. Where as if they saw it knowing it was something available every day they would perceive it as a common item and not be too bothered about buying it.

 

I'm sure Anet will have looked at various numbers, figures, retail psychology, and will have no doubt have had cleaver business people analysing weather a permanent store or store rotation was the best business model for them. Anet do want to make money, so I'm sure if having the items in the store permanently would increase their revenue then they would have opted for / changed to that model.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

> @Panda.1967 said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > It would likely make no difference if items were available year-round, other than making the Gem Store harder to navigate. Just like the items that _are_ offered all the time, they sell really well only when on sale. Players would likely just wait for sales, just as they do now.

>

> That may be, but for those of us who don't care to wait for sales, or have the misfortune of never having the money to buy anything when sales do roll around... having the items available year round gives us an option to buy them when we have the chance instead of hoping that circumstances will line up with an opportunity just once...

>

> Additionally, someone who's waiting for a certain item to return to the store may give up on it if there is no defined schedule for said item, and even with a schedule it's still quite possible for them to forget about it or give up before the item returns to the store resulting in lost sales for ANet. For example: I'm currently waiting for the Viper's Armor set to return so I can get the legs for my Sylvari Ranger to finish her outfit, however since the set was just in the shop a few months ago it could be over a year before it returns again, It's quite possible that by the time it returns I'll have completely forgotten I was even wanting it in the first place since I only actually want the legs since they are the only medium leg armor that effectively shows off a Sylvari's bioluminescence on their legs, and don't actually like the look of the armor itself... And if LS4 adds a new armor set that can give me the same effect before the set returns to the store then I'll likely never even buy the set at all and opt for the option I could get in game for free by then.

>

> These sorts of considerations happen all the time for millions of players. A lot of players may look at the cash shop and see something they might like but can't get right now and think "I'll get that later". When later comes around and they go to get it, it's no longer available. They then have to decide, "do I just buy something else? or do I spend my money somewhere else?" more often than not the later is chosen, unless there is something else they actually wanted that is still available or something new that they actually want. Artificial scarcity may work to pull some players into buying things they might not have otherwise, but it pushes more players away from buying things they would have otherwise bought eventually. It's a system that plays on the assumption that everyone has the money to buy anything at any given time, as opposed to the truth that not everyone always has money. Periodic and random sales actually do just as good of a job at drawing in buyers as artificial scarcity, but without pushing eventual buyers away in the process.

 

One can always buy Gems when one has the funds, and wait to spend them when the items become available.

 

Good luck.

[zombyturtle.5980]

Id like the outfits and other gem store items that are tied to specific holidays to be available during those holidays, so all halloween themed outfits available during halloween ect. But other than that I can accept having the random ones come and go.