Last year's vs. this year's summer "sales"

[slarden]

Last year: Traveller Trunk available at 75% off
This year: Traveller Trunk available at full price

[PsychoBlonde]

Every year: they are not obligated to put any specific item on sale just because you want it.

[slarden]

Every year: they are not obligated to put any specific item on sale just because you want it.

I thought they were obligated to do what I wanted until you straightened me out. Thank you.

Truth is very plain. Looking at the history of the sales the past few years they offered things at a deep discount that would also strongly appeal to VIPs. This year the deep discounts are primarily things included in VIP.

This trunk is just one example. I haven't found anything of interest yet this year.

[AbyssalMage]

I thought they were obligated to do what I wanted until you straightened me out. Thank you.
lol, thanks for the smile.


Truth is very plain. Looking at the history of the sales the past few years they offered things at a deep discount that would also strongly appeal to VIPs. This year the deep discounts are primarily things included in VIP.

This trunk is just one example. I haven't found anything of interest yet this year.
My guess they need to "right the ship" Turbine was trying to sink. Well more accurately, sunk.

[Kza]

Still also hoping for a nice sale on 50% pots.

One week left :-)

[Xgya]

I got my secondary account a cheap access to two adventure packs, and friends got Gnomes!

Nothing to complain about.

[C-Dog]

Well more accurately, sunk.
Sank. (Sinked?)

English is hard.

[Ausdoerrt]

It only makes sense to make sales that appeal to new players / returnees if you want them to stick around.

I got Dragonborn at 50% off, nothing to complain. Would've gotten Gnome to, but already got it last time there was a deep discount.

[Hobgoblin]

Sank. (Sinked?)

English is hard.

well either is correct, but the way he used it sunk was better. :)

[PsychoBlonde]

well either is correct, but the way he used it sunk was better. :)

Sank is past tense. "Turbine sank the ship" "I sank the ship" "you sank the ship" etc. It indicates that the action occurred in the past. Sunk is the past participle, used for present or past perfect tenses: "Turbine had sunk the ship, SSG brought it back". It indicates that the action happened BEFORE another action (or the present moment, for present perfect). "Sunk" is also the adjective form of the verb: "The ship is sunk" although you add "en" for . . . no particular reason (basically, it sounds better) if it directly appends the noun that it modifies "Sunken ship".

"Perfect" tenses in English are a pain. Quite a few other languages don't even bother with this kind of tense structure, there's no difference for WHEN the thing happened, so you don't have the subtle difference between "I have walked" "I am walking" "I did walk", etc.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Every year: they are not obligated to put any specific item on sale just because you want it.

They're not obliged to put any specific item on sale just because we want it.

We're not obliged to buy what they're offering.

If they want us to buy things, they need to offer something that we're interested in buying.

[SerPounce]

Last year: Traveller Trunk available at 75% off
This year: Traveller Trunk available at full price

Didn't they have it 50% of in December also? Deals do seem to be getting worse.

Sure they're under no "obligation" to offer deals, but I'm starting to regret buying points at the beginning of the month. As a subscriber I can't even buy most of the stuff that's been on deep discount.

I guess they're moving away from a "discounting" sales model so people are more inclined to buy stuff at full price (or at least at 20% off)? Their call, but a discount model typically works better when marginal costs are low (which as a digital product they are). People love the feeling of getting a deal and will buy things they otherwise wouldn't so they don't "miss out." Without discounting you can charge a higher price per unit, but people will typically only buy what they think they "really need."

There was a car dealership where a friend of mine worked that tried moving to a fixed price sales model where there was no negotiation because people often report that they dislike negotiating car prices. It ended up being a disaster though and sales plummeted and they went back to a traditional car pricing system with some wiggle room so everyone felt like they were getting a deal even though in most cases they were paying more.

[Memnir]

It's like they said in Olden Times: One man's 'meh.' is another man's 'yay!'.


I will say that I certainly haven't been tempted to spend money on this year's sale. So for me, it's a 'meh'. Maybe next year will bring the 'yay' again.

[Dorian]

Didn't they have it 50% of in December also? Deals do seem to be getting worse.
If they had it at 50% off, I would consider buying. They advertised "DEEP" discounts for the summer sale and I don't see them.



It's like they said in Olden Times: One man's 'meh.' is another man's 'yay!'.
It's a "meh" for me as well.


I wish I didn't buy the points like someone else said earlier. Is that the goal for this summer sale... for people to be underwhelmed and wish they didn't buy points?

[C-Dog]

"Perfect" tenses in English are a pain...
Living around the water, one of my personal favs is "to dive", which I hear all over the place:


Today I dive.
Yesterday I dived1 or dove1.
In the past, I have dived / have dove2 / have diven3 (and rarely "have doved"4 )

1) Both are seen as "correct" (but "dived" is original, w/ "dove" being more recent)
2) Not correct, but close enough that few ever blink
3) Not correct, copying Drive/Drove/Driven (which is correct), but a diff (but similar to us) root language construction.)
4) Understandable, but just wrong.

Ah, English - the idiot bastard child of incestuous European cousins. :rolleyes::p;):cool:

[thedip]

I want to know if they have a virtual warehouse full of Bigby's pointing digits? I get them from both silver and gold rolls and now they are on sale!

There have been some nice items for newbies - my son got vault of night, sands and dragonborn.

[CSQ]

If they made Bigby's hands an permanent item (with cooldown, or something) I'd buy them and use them to help friends. As is, they're gross consumables that I'll never use because Discord and the wiki are better for conveying information anyway.

I do feel that this year's sales have been a bit disappointing, especially with the full price Traveller's Trunks. Don't get me wrong, they're still a decent deal- the experience elixirs alone cost 2499 points, so it's not terrible. But, compared to just putting those elixirs on sale, it's not really exciting, and quite frankly nothing this year has been spectacular- Summer Sail has been something that I usually get excited for, add some points to my account, and spend the points I've been saving up from VIP on. This year... well, I don't remember if I've purchased anything. There's still a week left, but quite frankly it's not that the deals are "bad"- for non-VIPs, there are some pretty solid content bargains. It's just that it's not "special" for VIPs or really even that compelling to a player who has been around for a while and has purchased content regularly. Outside of secondary accounts and newbies, there simply isn't much for veterans to spend points on, and that's a shame. Shards are nice, I guess, but even that's only been 25% (or 20%? I forget) off this sale, and that's kind of sad. I'm not saying that SSG is obligated to put stuff on sale, but if you're going to advertise it as a great sale and try to get players excited, maybe throw the whales a bone too?

Also, if they fixed the store so that VIPs could buy the content packs for if we ever unsubscribed or had our sub lapse (money problems are a thing, you know) then I would be a lot more sympathetic to those sales, but as is they just make me regret being stuck into VIP when there are packs I'd love to buy for the "future" that I'll probably never need with VIP but I'd regret not having should my sub lapse.

[Cordovan]

The Traveller's Terrific Trunk is not part of the Summer Sails event this year, but is rather back for a limited time. The Summer Sails event for the week is:

35% Supreme +7 Tomes
50% Dragonborn Race & All Bigby's Guiding Hands
75% Hall of Heroes

[SpartanKiller13]

If they made Bigby's hands an permanent item (with cooldown, or something) I'd buy them and use them to help friends. As is, they're gross consumables that I'll never use because Discord and the wiki are better for conveying information anyway.

Please. I've been asking for this for a while now. I know I'm an outlier, but I'd pay 2k DDO points for a 5x per rest Bigby's Hand clicky. It's not gamebreaking, but it would really help out guiding new players etc. If you're concerned about trolling, give the party leader the ability to dismiss them (ideally via the map).

I hate using consumables. I'm working on it, but I'll pay quite a bit for reusable versions of something, even if it's easily available as a scroll/potion etc.

[SerPounce]

Please. I've been asking for this for a while now. I know I'm an outlier, but I'd pay 2k DDO points for a 5x per rest Bigby's Hand clicky. It's not gamebreaking, but it would really help out guiding new players etc. If you're concerned about trolling, give the party leader the ability to dismiss them (ideally via the map).

I hate using consumables. I'm working on it, but I'll pay quite a bit for reusable versions of something, even if it's easily available as a scroll/potion etc.

Yeah, consumables are tough. Classic RPGer psychology.

All my daily dice boosts go to an alt where they are safely stored away. I will never use any of them because someday I might need them.

[cdbd3rd]

Sink, Sank, Sunk...

+others... (intended for :)'s)

I once tried that Sink/Sank/Sunk logic on an English test in H.S. Past tense of Think should be Thunk. Teacher didn't see it that way. :D

But it did make her giggle, and she was cute, sooo.... was worth the missed point. ;)



Topic: Sales have helped my alt accounts so far.

[slarden]

The Traveller's Terrific Trunk is not part of the Summer Sails event this year, but is rather back for a limited time. The Summer Sails event for the week is:

35% Supreme +7 Tomes
50% Dragonborn Race & All Bigby's Guiding Hands
75% Hall of Heroes

And again to my point which you completely missed. What value is this to a VIP? You offer +7 tomes and yet +8 tomes are available and the upgrade path sucks bad. You are effectively tricking people into buying +7 tomes and then they will later realize they would have been better off buying +8 tomes at full price because that is cheaper than buying +7s at 35% and then upgrading. Bigby hands? Eh, not exactly the same appeal as the stuff from the past few years but at least for a VIP it is worth considering.

Dragonborn and hall of heroes is part of VIP.

In the past you had many things that appealed to VIPs at 50% or 75% off such guild elixirs, renown pots, xp pots, trunks, etc. This year there is nothing like that.


but I'm starting to regret buying points at the beginning of the month. As a subscriber I can't even buy most of the stuff that's been on deep discount. my thoughts exactly. It most likely means I won't need to buy points for a while which is not a big deal.

[Hakushi]

If they made Bigby's hands an permanent item (with cooldown, or something) I'd buy them and use them to help friends. As is, they're gross consumables that I'll never use because Discord and the wiki are better for conveying information anyway.

I agree with you, it would make the item a lot more desirable and more used.

[SpartanKiller13]

Yeah, consumables are tough. Classic RPGer psychology.

All my daily dice boosts go to an alt where they are safely stored away. I will never use any of them because someday I might need them.

One of these days I'm going to do a Sorc life with metamagics on from level 1-20 and just use all the SP pots I have lol.

[HastyPudding]

I like this summer sails! I got gnome for 323 DDOpoints. I'm hoping half-orc will be on sale, as well. Those are the last two races I didn't own.

[Arch-Necromancer]

I like this summer sails! I got gnome for 323 DDOpoints. I'm hoping half-orc will be on sale, as well. Those are the last two races I didn't own.

Half orc was on sale last summer. Half elf and warforged/bladeforged were not on sale since 2014...

[Alled78]

Last year: Traveller Trunk available at 75% off
This year: Traveller Trunk available at full price

Sincerely i am awaiting for hal elf race discount for long time. They should add teleport options for sand it is really not fun running 50 times through wilderness (rest of sands contect is perfect imho)

[CSQ]

Please. I've been asking for this for a while now. I know I'm an outlier, but I'd pay 2k DDO points for a 5x per rest Bigby's Hand clicky. It's not gamebreaking, but it would really help out guiding new players etc. If you're concerned about trolling, give the party leader the ability to dismiss them (ideally via the map).

I hate using consumables. I'm working on it, but I'll pay quite a bit for reusable versions of something, even if it's easily available as a scroll/potion etc.

In a similar vein, gold seal hirelings. I understand that they're powerful and helpful- I have that level 3 cleric hireling from the Catacombs pack- but I can't bring myself to buy one for store points when I know they just expire in an hour. Since most hirelings are available normally, and there's (most of the time) no reason to bring more than one (since I only use them for healing, really) the only way that they can get more money from me is selling permanent ones. If the logic behind it is that they're more convenient than ordinary hirelings, wouldn't it be more convenient to never have to worry about contract duration? Right?

Currently, Gold Seal hirelings run from 10-40 points per contract- a measly sum. If you multiplied that by 20 or even 50, for a range of 200-800 or even 500-2000, you could probably make more selling gold seal hirelings that are permanent than by selling them for their current hourly rate- I doubt that there are too many people buy gold seal hirelings, and I would probably invest in a few healing and rogue hirelings at meaningful level ranges- at least four or five of each. Let's say one 500 point hireling (Elieri from the catacombs pack covers 1-4), two 1000 point hirelings (5-8), two 1500 point hirelings (9-12), and four 2000 point hirelings (13-20). Not even counting epic (at least for the level 24 rogue hireling, also probably 2000 points) that would be 13,500 points, or at least half that for rogue hirelings if I'm willing to put up with the inconvenience of buying healing hirelings normally. Toss in 595 for a huge hireling folder and that's a pretty 14000 points, about what you would get for $100 on double bonus points. It would also give something to put on sale that both veterans and newbies can appreciate- even after filling up my ranges with rogues and healers, there might be times when I want to add a particular hireling- what if I'm playing a 'forged and need a repair spell? It could even turn into gotta catch them all- that would easily be, even with huge sales, over a hundred thousand store points. Think of all the money SSG could make from whales like me. Compare that to what they make with the current, temporary system- I'm certain even just from a more conservative estimate, it's still a pretty hefty sum.

[TitusOvid]

/meh so far

[Dulcimerist]

/meh so far

/meh so far for me as well

The 75% off Gnome got me to spend some points, though! I made a gnome barbarian to quest with my daughter, who just joined the game. We both started those characters during the Veteran 3 weekend.

I was hoping for the Summer Sails to entice me into purchasing more, but the final week might be the blockbuster that will put me on a spending spree! :)

[Ausdoerrt]

I get that some people want what isn't on sale to be on sale, but cmon, it's pretty simple logic. We've seen somewhat of an influx of new players and returnees lately, so it only makes sense to direct most of the sales at them. It's for the longer-term good of the game rather than pushing the p2w bull**** like Turbine used to.


Half orc was on sale last summer. Half elf and warforged/bladeforged were not on sale since 2014...

Oh, I'd totally splurge on a war/bladeforged sale, never played a robot toon in DDO...

[CaptainPurge]

In a similar vein, gold seal hirelings. I understand that they're powerful and helpful- I have that level 3 cleric hireling from the Catacombs pack- but I can't bring myself to buy one for store points when I know they just expire in an hour. Since most hirelings are available normally, and there's (most of the time) no reason to bring more than one (since I only use them for healing, really) the only way that they can get more money from me is selling permanent ones. If the logic behind it is that they're more convenient than ordinary hirelings, wouldn't it be more convenient to never have to worry about contract duration? Right?

Currently, Gold Seal hirelings run from 10-40 points per contract- a measly sum. If you multiplied that by 20 or even 50, for a range of 200-800 or even 500-2000, you could probably make more selling gold seal hirelings that are permanent than by selling them for their current hourly rate- I doubt that there are too many people buy gold seal hirelings, and I would probably invest in a few healing and rogue hirelings at meaningful level ranges- at least four or five of each. Let's say one 500 point hireling (Elieri from the catacombs pack covers 1-4), two 1000 point hirelings (5-8), two 1500 point hirelings (9-12), and four 2000 point hirelings (13-20). Not even counting epic (at least for the level 24 rogue hireling, also probably 2000 points) that would be 13,500 points, or at least half that for rogue hirelings if I'm willing to put up with the inconvenience of buying healing hirelings normally. Toss in 595 for a huge hireling folder and that's a pretty 14000 points, about what you would get for $100 on double bonus points. It would also give something to put on sale that both veterans and newbies can appreciate- even after filling up my ranges with rogues and healers, there might be times when I want to add a particular hireling- what if I'm playing a 'forged and need a repair spell? It could even turn into gotta catch them all- that would easily be, even with huge sales, over a hundred thousand store points. Think of all the money SSG could make from whales like me. Compare that to what they make with the current, temporary system- I'm certain even just from a more conservative estimate, it's still a pretty hefty sum.

TLDR someone likes GS hires and walls of text

[CaptainPurge]

TLDR someone likes GS hires and walls of text

Fun fact: If you make a hire tread water for 3 hours in 3BC that hire gets a piracy bonus to all stats

[nayozz]

The Traveller's Terrific Trunk is not part of the Summer Sails event this year, but is rather back for a limited time. The Summer Sails event for the week is:

35% Supreme +7 Tomes
50% Dragonborn Race & All Bigby's Guiding Hands
75% Hall of Heroes

dragonborn discount ? wow, i do not plan to use it for a long while... but 50% ? count me in :D

*logging atm in game and buying it*

i am not playing ddo or any other videogames for the next week, but i can always use an extra discounted race.

done ! thanks for reminding us what was on discount, from the day you changed the location of discount news i hardly am aware of them :P

[CSQ]

TLDR someone likes GS hires and walls of text

Actually, I despise temporary GS hirelings. I am mostly apathetic towards hirelings in general, partly because they seem to love traps (and particularly running into them and dropping stones) more than me. But GS hirelings are on my list of things to never buy right now because they function like consumables that you only get to use once.

As for walls of text, I love walls of text. I would marry walls of text if it were legal here. I would move somewhere where it was legal to marry walls of text if that was possible anywhere. Alas, I am doomed to never be with my beloved in the eyes of the law.

[Dulcimerist]

As for walls of text, I love walls of text. I would marry walls of text if it were legal here. I would move somewhere where it was legal to marry walls of text if that was possible anywhere. Alas, I am doomed to never be with my beloved in the eyes of the law.

Hey! Walls O'Text was an Irish foreign exchange student at my school! You know her, too? She is a very beautiful gal, indeed!

[LightBear]

Bought the hall pass at 75% off.

Any news on what will be on sail next week?

[cru121]

Bought Gnome for alt account.
Atm 50 DP short to buy Dragonborn. Need to do some favor farming.

[Dulcimerist]

Bought the hall pass at 75% off.

Any news on what will be on sail next week?

How handy is the Hall Pass? My characters seem to not make it out to ES until epic play, and I get the teleport key pretty quickly. At the current price, I'm tempted. I've only just recently become active again, so I'm a reborn noob. ;)

[Thrudh]

Yeah, consumables are tough. Classic RPGer psychology.

I also hate any boost or ability that only works 1/rest. I always end up not using it, because I always think I might it need more in the NEXT room.

(Takes me back to the days of PnP when my wizard first got a 3rd level spell, and was always scared to use that one and only fireball spell he had... :)