Announcements & News

Nooooo, not my rainbow flair scarf! I guess I'm snagging a few before they get booted.

@arawoods Only for a week sadly :(

[quote name="ToasterOnTop" date="2022-11-28 08:46:22" ] @arawoods Only for a week sadly :( [/quote] that's okay, I just thought they were being like actually retired (I guess that only applies to like downtime reward items and the old fest ones)

[quote name="Undel" date="2022-11-28 08:22:38" ] We've talked it over and agree that not knowing when items will return from cycle is not great for our game or our players. We will be adding in a predictable May cycled item return for a week to go alongside the predictable Cyber Monday cycled item return and gem sale. When our items return should not be a mystery. The update post has the next gem cycle information added to the bottom, which will be May 8-15th. [/quote] Are we going to see items removed during the May cycle as well? What's the process and decision making going into which items get removed? Are you able to see the raw stats of which items get bought more often than others (outside of the Hot Items tab?) And if so, that opens up the can of worms as to why the team is choosing items that [i]are[/i] popular, and why there is the decision to treat the player base with really cruel business tactics. Fewer people are going to purchase these items overall, and it only encourages spending habits to prey upon. The gems saved up for one item becomes the funds for limited run accents, ongoing dragon projects, gifts, and art shop sales. If not for the most base mechanic: buying items off the Auction House.

are the items that are cycling out permanently gone? or will they come back on the said "week of May 8-15"?

[quote name="Marmite" date="2022-11-28 05:32:45" ] [quote name="Undel" date="2022-11-28 01:49:20" ] Our apparel tabs are 20 pages deep in the gem marketplace, and we decided to add some of the apparel from the first year of FR to the cycle this year so that we can keep things fresh. We targeted the apparel tab specifically because of how many items are in it. [/quote] Genes tab is so crowded that it's getting harder and harder to navigate. Any chance of separating modern and ancient scrolls since this is apparently a concern now? [/quote] Good point.

[quote name="Spuk" date="2022-11-28 08:41:14" ] Glad there's a new sale cycle, still think its a rather questionable decision to pull popular apparel items from cycle yet again. That doesn't feel like "keeping things fresh". That just feels irritating. It would make more sense to cycle out things no one uses instead of popular apparel items even from a business stand point. [/quote] Except these are mostly incredibly niche older items I rarely see used. From my experience, outside people yelling here, these aren't hugely popular outside certain groups. By my point of view, they are doing exactly what you suggest. The issue is, you want them to apply an incredibly subjective metric in a way you expect, and when it doesn't match your view, it's wrong. For all we know, they are actually applying it as suggested based on real item sale rates.

gonna miss the borbs and gay scarf though :(

[quote name="Undel" date="2022-11-28 08:22:38" ] We've talked it over and agree that not knowing when items will return from cycle is not great for our game or our players. We will be adding in a predictable May cycled item return for a week to go alongside the predictable Cyber Monday cycled item return and gem sale. When our items return should not be a mystery. The update post has the next gem cycle information added to the bottom, which will be May 8-15th. [/quote] Thank you!! Two gem mp cycles a year will be so much nicer. :) This just removed a lot of stress from my day and my general play style. Really appreciated that you guys took everyone's feedback into consideration! ^^ Edit for extra thoughts: Still a bit miffed about random popular apparel being pulled to add to the cycle, but the twice a year predictable cycle is still really nice. I don't really know how to read the 'generate interest and buzz' comment other than as a confirmation that this is basically taking advantage of FOMO for cash grab purposes. So, in summary: not completely happy but a twice a year cycle eases a lot of my anxieties about it, so I'm a lot less salty now and willing to consider buying gems again.

[quote name="Empyreal" date="2022-11-28 08:54:29" ] [quote name="Spuk" date="2022-11-28 08:41:14" ] Glad there's a new sale cycle, still think its a rather questionable decision to pull popular apparel items from cycle yet again. That doesn't feel like "keeping things fresh". That just feels irritating. It would make more sense to cycle out things no one uses instead of popular apparel items even from a business stand point. [/quote] Except these are mostly incredibly niche older items I rarely see used. From my experience, outside people yelling here, these aren't hugely popular outside certain groups. By my point of view, they are doing exactly what you suggest. The issue is, you want them to apply an incredibly subjective metric in a way you expect, and when it doesn't match your view, it's wrong. For all we know, they are actually applying it as suggested based on real item sale rates. [/quote] The biggest difference between the items getting cycled out versus the ones that aren't is that items like the Daredevil covers do not have a treasure marketplace equivalent. Exclusively popular items like swords and pets would create too much outrage amongst the userbase. There is still a steady community that [i]does[/i] buy these items (edit: being cycled out.) Not the least of which, that community consists of g1 collectors. Which, regardless of how they acquire their funds (either through gameplay or purchase,) it is a userbase that frequently uses the gem currency. This still doesn't answer the question as to why the team feels it necessary to pull items, other than to create false scarcity. At best, it only has the interest of the site's funding in mind, and at worst it's a blatant disregard for community concerns. edit addition: why alienate [i]any[/i] % of the userbase for the sake of trying to grab more funds for the site? There should be other solutions to trying to generate more funds put into the website. Watching people confess that they refuse to purchase gems because of tarnished trust in the website should dash the idea that this remains a permanent feature.