The Peril of the 2-Hour Sales

Discussion in 'Feedback' started by Tahru, Feb 25, 2023.

  1. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

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    I have been contemplating for a very long time if I would even bother to provide this feedback. I have no factual basis for understanding the overall market forces and I 100% support the game doing what it needs to do to keep the lights on.

    So, all I want to do is share my personal experience with the 2-hour cycling crown shop sale store. I have had stuff on my shopping list which I would have paid full price for except that there is this constant tease to wait in case it is on sale (sometimes for years). And that tease is serious as I had given up and bought things at full price only to see them on sale in the next hour or day. I can't help but feel swindled in those cases.

    More times than not I find myself logging in just to see the next discounts so I can finally go forward with my decoration plans. And one thing that is SUPER ANNOYING is that the "sale ends in" time is a complete lie and when you log in on the hour, you have to wait for the shop to update for up to 15 minutes. I can't count how many nights I stayed up waiting for the next cycle to be let down (this is a serious negative in game experience).

    Of course my preference is to end the 2 hour sales altogether. But I do have a more constructive recommendation. Can you please consider doing something like most retail shops do, if you buy something that ends up on sale in the next 2-3 days, refund the difference. That would certainly help people like me that just sit and wait for sales to come around because they don't want to feel screwed after paying full price.
     
  2. ConjurerDragon

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    You want to be rewareded for a lack of patience on your part by having a sale that runs for a set time extended in case you buy early, at a time when there is no sale for the product you purchased?
    And what about those who buy late? Or sleep through the sale of a product? Or simply don´t want to pay full price generally but can´t be bothered to check the sales on a regular basis?

    Other onlinestores where you place an order to price X may give you the lesser price if they deliver the product later in a sales time but few stores will grant you sale prices when you buy outside the sale.

    I´m not in favour to that.
     
  3. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

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    I think you are misinterpreting my post. I am NOT BUYING AT ALL because of the current scheme. A limited price guarantee is a common practice in retail business. And nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody is going to sit around 24 hours a day, day after day waiting for a sale. They just wont buy at all. And if they get frustrated, they will leave the game as I have multiple times.

    Edit: Finally I can't understand how anyone can consider paying real money for something as a reward. A reward for me is if they just keep doing what they are doing and I keep my money. Thank you very much!
     
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  4. ConjurerDragon

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    Absolutely nobody? Please, don´t try to speak for all people in the world.
    Yes, I´m of coursee not sitting 24 hours in front of the sales page as I got a job and some other obligations besides onlinegaming. Sure, I may miss not some, but more than half of the sales, but I´m not here to get everything at once, right now. I´m exploring the game, building a little herbgarden, put one or the other thing in or around the house I got ingame. And when I happen to look occasionally at the sales and something interests me, then I buy it and smile for the sale to happen for me when I looked. Did that with several items during the Valentines sale - buying reduced items on sale with COTO´s bought on reduced sales price is just like extra icing on my cake.

    That the item I bought did cost more before and will cost more after I bought it - sure, that is the nature of a sale with a start and an end.

    "NOT BUYING AT ALL" only punishes yourself when you would want to buy something but don´t. I don´t see how that would frustrate you less than missing one of the many, many ongoing sales once and still being able to just wait until it is on sale some time later again.

    For a store that actually keeps solid items on storage and takes a few days or longer if not in store, to deliver them - sure, they might be more generous with granting the lower sales price for a purchase that was made before the sale, *but delivered during the sale*. Else they might risk that someone who has already ordered, cancels the old purchaces and places a new order for the lesser sales price.

    An onlinestore delivering software, games or virtual items onilne will obviously be faster in delivering and has less need to extend lower prices, lest they deliver during a sale what was ordered before.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2023
  5. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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    I'd be happy with longer sale windows. 4, 12, or even 24 hour sales would give more time for people to catch a sale. If something big happened to be on sale, they'd have more time to gather the needed funds for it.
     
  6. Tirrag

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    i would really like to see the sales also be online at the same time as they are in-game and purchasable online. i would have many more opportunities to purchase things on sale if they were and im sure many other players would too. in the least, seeing what is on sale online would prompt me to enter the game (if i was able to) and purchase an item i have had my eye on.
     
  7. Baratan

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    The sales actually stop me from buying a lot of stuff. If its not on sale, I wont buy it.
     
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  8. Aurelius Silverson

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    I've given up planning ahead what I might want to buy for deco in my houses, it's at the point where if something interesting happens to be in a sale at the limited times I can get to log in, I might buy it, but often don't. I looked back on my coto buying and spending pattern over the years, and I find that since the 2-hour rapid sales came in, I have gradually spent less and less, in real money and in coto. So I suppose I have decided I should like the 2-hour sales system, it's saving me money, but I doubt that is the intention of the scheme.
     
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  9. Aurelius Silverson

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    Yep. Being able to see what I want to buy at times when I am not able to be in the game would be an incentive to plan out purchases and designs, but hiding the store entirely within the game only limits people - we have a 'shop' that decided never to advertise to it's non-player audience so new items in game are never attracting attention to game content, and makes it harder for the people actually playing to catch items they may want at better prices. There were probably 'good' reasons to make this system, but I can';t see it being any advantage to the player - who are the people who use and thus pay for the shop.

    Then again, the concept of 'sales' for pixel items has a few problems.... presumably the bigger items that need more pixels 'cost' more so we need to buy more coto with real money to get them? :)
     
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  10. Baratan

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    I think its because COTO are an in-game item and you need to be logged in to remove them from your inventory or something.
     
  11. Margaritte

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    When I'm playing the game, I'm usually actually playing and not wanting to or thinking about stopping every 2 hours to check what's on sale. If there was a list of things that would be going on sale on a given day, or maybe only one sale a day then I would be much more likely to even look at what's on offer.
     
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  12. ConjurerDragon

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    For me it´s the complete opposite - when I´m butchering 59 fishes to fillet is the ideal time to look up the crown store instead of waiting for 59 animations to end.
     
  13. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    I am all for 24 hour sales and not 2 hour sales. I
    Missed lots of stuff on sale.
     
  14. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    we tried switching it to 8 hours during release 104. i don't recall it getting a big reaction, positive or negative.

     
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  15. Sean Silverfoot

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    I remember a bit of back and forth, to me whatever path taken is always going to be a bit uncomfortable for some. Personally if it's not a huge purchase, I'll just get it. For things like lot upgrades (size, tax free) and such I'll wait for coto sales and upgrade discounts. For me it's a balance of wise/controlled spending and still supporting the game.
     
  16. Tahru

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    Perhaps as a bit of karma for posting this thread, lol, I woke up this morning just about 9AM EST and logged on the game to water some plants. I checked the store first thing to see if those darn long planting areas were on sale and they were! So I hastily clicked Buy... which failed because my crowns were locked in my inventory. I promptly unlocked them and went to purchase again, only to have the sale selection rotate. Maybe I should be happy, because I wanted 50 of those. So the 2-hour shop just saved me 8,000 COTOs. But I would have happily bought them.
     
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  17. Tahru

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    Dear developers and product owners, I have another suggestion that should both provide the 2-hour cadence incentives and still not drive the players like me absolutely nuts like it is doing now every freaking 2 of my waking hours.

    How about continue the 2-hour cadence of a new page of sales, but also maintain all sales for 24 hours by simply extending the number of pages?

    To be completely honest this feature is seriously frustrating me as is and Catnip is not getting my COTOs as well. It is creating tension where none needs to exist.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2023
  18. Baratan

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    Same thing happened to me this morning with a winged helm. I logged in and saw it while I was waiting for my recall scroll to cast. After the loading screen it was gone lol.
     
  19. Tahru

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    I am happy to report that some good karma came my way. I got up early to work on a network issue and logged in just to check to see if the large planting areas were on sale, and they were. So making me wait all this time at least saved me an extra 1000 COTOs for the holiday. Thank you
     
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  20. Gwendolyn Obscuro

    Gwendolyn Obscuro Bug Hunter

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    I personally like the two hour sales. Yes I miss most of them, but items go on sale way more often. So if I only catch three rounds of sales in a day then that is still 3x more items I see for sale than I used to when they were 24 hour sales. Sure I end up with bad luck sometimes but on average I have a much shorter wait to catch that item on sale than the old days. And while I do have a running list of items I only plan to buy if they go on sale if there is something I really want right now then I will buy it now.
     
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