Black Lion Statuette items changed with the newest patch

[Suicu.2549]

With the new patch a lot of items disappeared from the black lion statuette vendor without notice. I was working towards a jackal pup backpack that I missed when it was in the BL chests, and now it is gone from the vendor. There also was no notice that they would be temporary when the statuettes were introduced.

 

I would rather not go into a lengthy post, but there is no point for removing items, at least not this quickly after introducing them to the statuette vendor. Most of the "special items" are quite expensive, and someone trying for say a specific skin (usually cost around 30-60 tickets) might need to really buy the 30-60 boxes to get statuettes to get the item. So quick math, 2x25 keys = 2x2100 gems = 4200 gems, which would amount to 50+ Euro or USD or other currency depending on your region. Of course you get a lot of other stuff from the boxes as well, but if you're not dropping the item you want, it makes it rather a long-term goal, which again would make sense if there was a longer time to be able to get the item you want.

Besides, I would think a lot of exclusive items available at the statuette merchant would make the black lion keys a bit more valuable all year round, and more lucrative.

 

Anyways, the thing that bothers me the most is that there was no notice beforehand that the vendor will change his inventory. This should definitively had been communicated somewhere.

[ProverbsofHell.2307]

I have to agree with you actually, you absolutely should have been given notice. Even though the items were under a "special" category, and I personally assumed the items therein would be rotated out... I still agree that it wasn't made clear enough when they would change over. A timer and notice saying "Available until... Xth of [Month]" would be good to have at the top of this category.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

They (indirectly) mentioned it

 

[Game update notes](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/27216/game-update-notes-february-6-2018#latest)

_The items available for Black Lion Statuettes have been updated with a new set of special items. Black Lion Statuettes are redeemable by using the statuette itself, or by redeeming it at any of the Black Lion Chest Merchants located in every major city._

 

_An entirely new series of mount miniatures is available, which includes the Mini Resplendent Avialan Raptor, Mini Reforged Warhound Jackal, Mini Umbral Demon Skimmer, Mini Summit Wildhorn Springer, and Mini Grand Lion Griffon.

Exclusive items like the Feathers of the Zephyr Package and the Mini Celestial Rooster are available.

Additional items include the Wedding Attire Outfit, Pink Quaggan Backpack, and other available selections._

 

Updating with a new set of special items here would mean that the old set of special items were taken out. Also that minis and other exclusive items were swapped out.

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I am sorry, OP, that your attempt to reach your goal has been delayed. I just don't see it as unexpected.

 

In ANet's shoes, I would have done two things differently. (1) Been explicit when the statuettes were unveiled: the offerings will change without warning. (2) Waited another cycle before removing items. However, this seems entirely consistent with past practices in the BLTC: ANet adds & removes drops from BL chests, adds & removes offerings from the gem shop, adds & removes BL skins that can be purchases via tickets. There's never been any warning.

 

 

 

[TheGrimm.5624]

Black Lion chests are always a gamble. That said they are getting worse. Never recommended to people to try their hand even if I have quite a bit over time. That said at their current rate they are going to lose more supports when they proceed with practices like this and others. For every customer that bring these up on the forums there are more likely 10 not posting their issues. For the OP probably a little warning would have gone a long way.

[Astralporing.1957]

If the black lion statuette item options are not permanent, but temporal, then i'll have to withdraw everything good i said about that system.

[artemis.6781]

Yes, I know someone who was saving up for the pup also. I hope it comes back soon. I don't mind things being temporary. But can you add the new things and leave in the most recent? Even if you just leave in the most recent for a couple of weeks, that would be awesome. Or, you can do like you do the gem store. Have a countdown when things are going to change.

[Linken.6345]

I thought they said they would add to the selection in the future never said anything about removing.

 

Well I guess its like the store items will come and go for the statues aswell.

[Suicu.2549]

> @"Linken.6345" said:

> I thought they said they would add to the selection in the future never said anything about removing.

>

> Well I guess its like the store items will come and go for the statues aswell.

 

Yes, this is actually what they communicated. I seriously don't think they can expect you to read between the lines that adding stuff means removing others.

I would have been happy with the old items being left in for a bit longer, as long as they would have just said somewhere that they will be gone at the next update. Or something. More communication!

[Zaklex.6308]

> @"Suicu.2549" said:

> > @"Linken.6345" said:

> > I thought they said they would add to the selection in the future never said anything about removing.

> >

> > Well I guess its like the store items will come and go for the statues aswell.

>

> Yes, this is actually what they communicated. I seriously don't think they can expect you to read between the lines that adding stuff means removing others.

> I would have been happy with the old items being left in for a bit longer, as long as they would have just said somewhere that they will be gone at the next update. Or something. More communication!

 

Wrong, they explicitly stated that items would come and go from the Black Lion Statuette offerings, but I think people glossed over that part and just honed in on the fact that you could now select what items you wanted from something that came out of the BLTC's. It was stated when they made the announcement about the changes to the BLTC's on the forums introducing the Statuettes.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I think it's a reasonable expectation to assume that the items available via statuette would change. That's how ANet has handled everything in the past, making use of artificial scarcity. However, I think it's also easy to see why folks had different expectations.

 

> Wrong, they explicitly stated that items would come and go from the Black Lion Statuette offerings,

I can't find anything that mentions that anything would be removed. If there's a citation, I'd love to see it.

 

****

Here's what I found (**emphasis** added):

 

> [Original blog post](https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/how-does-your-garden-grow-you-decide-with-a-black-lion-garden-plot-deed/)

> Clicking on a statuette will open a vendor window, where you can redeem the item for Black Lion Trading Company goods such as Total Makeover Kits, home instance gathering nodes, a selection of skins, and much more! **We’ll update the vendor periodically with some new item choices**.

 

 

"New item choices" is ambiguous; it's not explicit.

 

> [From the release notes on 9 January 2018](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2018-01-09)

> The Black Lion Statuette has arrived! Get a statuette with every Black Lion Chest.

> * Black Lion Statuettes are redeemable directly using the statuette itself or at any of the Black Lion Chest Merchants located in every major city.

> * Many items from the Black Lion Chest are available, **as well as some special offerings**. Seek out the Black Lion Chest Merchants or just acquire a Black Lion Statuette.

 

"Special offerings" is also ambiguous. It's hard to know if they mean that some stuff is permanent and some isn't... and if that's true, it's hard to know what would be temporary anyhow.

 

[Suicu.2549]

Thanks for taking the time to look it up, this is what I meant by "reading between the lines" that stuff is about to disappear!

[Zohane.7208]

This is a delicate matter; on the one hand it would seem that Anet could generate a win-win if they announce what items will be removed in the next gem store update. On the other hand, however, there's a high risk that there would be a backlash on the forum where players might accuse them of "shady business practices" since these items will likely come back in the future.

 

Personally I think there's a good balance here. Anet will vary what's in the gem store but it's almost guaranteed that the items will return. In your case I would just hang on to the statuettes and wait for the next time it's there.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"TheGrimm.5624" said:

> Black Lion chests are always a gamble. That said they are getting worse. Never recommended to people to try their hand even if I have quite a bit over time. That said at their current rate they are going to lose more supports when they proceed with practices like this and others. For every customer that bring these up on the forums there are more likely 10 not posting their issues. For the OP probably a little warning would have gone a long way.

 

The Op is referring to the Statuettes trader not the BL chests.. BL chests still drop statuettes.. but the vendor no longer sells the items needed to complete lengthy, time consuming and expensive collections.

What's the point in buying keys to open chests to get the statuettes if the items are no longer there.. it becomes a waste of money and an outright money grab. The collections are not something the average joe can complete in a few days, they take time and a heck of a lot of rl money to buy gems, to buy keys to get the new currency... another reason for some like me to not even contemplate trying to complete these kind of money grab collections if they are just going to kill them when your only some way in to it... ANET should be refunding players the money they spent getting the statuettes.. no wonder there is rumblings around loot boxes in the gaming world these days.. this takes it to another moneygrab level imo.

 

 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

It's really no different to saving up Gold to exchange for Gems for something in the Gem Store. Many of those items are only available for a period of time, as well. Those who plan ahead fare best.

[Suicu.2549]

You couldnt really plan ahead on these, since they had jsut added the statuettes. You couldnt have any of them from beforehand. Which again would have been fine, if they had said that they are leaving, like everything in the gemstore. You always know that it's leaving soon, which wasn't said ANYWHERE on the statuette items.

[crashburntoo.7431]

I'm not opposed to cycling the available rewards for the statuettes, but I think notice would be very much appreciated. When we consider that significant rewards would take a considerable investment of time and/or money to attain, it would also make sense that the cycling should be slower than anything in the Gem store, at least at the beginning. I believe this is what @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" was eluding to a few weeks ago; it may have been wiser to leave the original selection for a longer period of time. This doesn't mean that new items couldn't be made available. It would be additive for 6-12 months before it became replacement based (new items coming on board at the same rate as the older ones are coming off - similar to current BLT weapon skins without the sliding prices).

 

I have a handful of statuettes and had some aspirations. However, I didn't know about this change until 10 minutes ago and honestly don't know if what I'm interested in was removed. Given how passive I am, I think I'll hold onto a statuette purchase goal loosely and re-evaluate regularly.

[Willowfalls.9814]

**I completely agree with the OP.** In fact, I was just about to post on this topic myself. I was saving up for the Zephyr wings package. Finally got enough, and lo and behold, they've switched out the contents. This really bothers me for a couple of reasons...

 

1. The black lion statuettes are still relatively a new thing. I didn't notice them until a few weeks ago, and **haven't had time to save up the hefty sum required** to buy something like the Zephyr package. (60 statuettes, if I recall correctly)

2. Sufficient notice was not provided that the contents even _would_ be changing, let alone that they would change so quickly.

3. Other items that open a "merchant" window like the **mini eggs, black lion commemorative sprockets, etc., are NOT subject to their contents changing**, so I expected this to work the same way.

 

I guess I can live with this if at least the items will rotate and become available again soon, but I have no idea if this is the case. Frankly, the sudden change was bait and switch for the more expensive items that it takes some time to save up for.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Black Lion Tickets' and Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets' 'merchants window' offerings _do_ change their contents, so it could be expected the Black Lion Statuettes would work the same way. Especially since, when first released, they talked about 'special' offerings.

 

They probably will cycle around, much like the Gem Store and other things that have cyclic offerings.

 

Good luck.

[Dondarrion.2748]

I sure hope the special items will cycle and come back in. I was working towards the Sworn Zaishen Helm Skin (60 statuettes) and now it's taken out, like the jackal pup... I hope Anet will cycle all the special items so it comes back, and that it won't be too long... pretty annoyed that I've dished out lots of Euros towards one skin only to suddenly discover it wasn't any longer under the Special Items tab... :(

[Desense.3527]

Hey. I asked ingame but nobody answers. I wanted black wings and when I farm enough of statuetes I go to the trader and noticed that they not sell them anymore...Feels like a cheap trick. Can anybody tell me pls it's appears again or no?

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Desense.3527" said:

> Hey. I asked ingame but nobody answers. I wanted black wings and when I farm enough of statuetes I go to the trader and noticed that they not sell them anymore...Feels like a cheap trick. Can anybody tell me pls it's appears again or no?

 

Items cycle in and out with no set pattern. Sadly, you'll just have to wait and watch for it to return.

[Desense.3527]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Desense.3527" said:

> > Hey. I asked ingame but nobody answers. I wanted black wings and when I farm enough of statuetes I go to the trader and noticed that they not sell them anymore...Feels like a cheap trick. Can anybody tell me pls it's appears again or no?

>

> Items cycle in and out with no set pattern. Sadly, you'll just have to wait and watch for it to return.

 

Oh, it's realy sad. Thank you.

[artemis.6781]

I believe the statue vendor changes inventory when BLC do??