Free minis for valued customers <3

[Karizee]

I just recieved this ingame mail:

The Guild Wars 2 Team
Thank You!

Because you purchased gems through our Gem Store or via a Guild Wars 2 Gem Card between the launch of Guild Wars 2 and June 9, 2013, please enjoy the attached gift from ArenaNet. These minis are available in the Gem Store for a limited time to celebrate Dragon Bash but we wanted you to have a set for free. We really appreciate your continued support!

Attached was a Dragon Bash Mini Pack. In the pack was:
Mini Holographic Branded Minotaur
Mini Holographic Axe-Wielding Destroyer
Mini Holographic Corrupted Wolf

I tell you, I feel positively spoiled by this company

[Fhi]

A few people were talking about it on /map today too. We had a lot of fun comparing gifts (I didn't get one obviously) and seeing what others got.

[Harnace]

Good guy Arenanet Also got the mini pack!

[Edge-]

That's a nice little reward. I do like when companies reward customers for supporting them.

[Razael]

I got them too =p, so i decided to buy another 800 gems to buy some chests. No weapon tickets tho, but no biggie.

[Gray_Matter]

Yes and no. It actually p'd me off quite a bit. I have bought and used over 20k gems with in game gold. That's $250 worth of gems that someone paid A/Net yet it doesn't count because I bought them with in game gold. A/Net got the money because someone wanted some gold. Without people like me buying gems, those people wouldn't have bought the gems in the first place.

[Zilong]

Yes and no. It actually p'd me off quite a bit. I have bought over 20k gems with in game gold. That's $250 worth of gems that someone paid A/Net yet it doesn't count because I bought them with in game gold. A/Net got the money because someone wanted some gold. Without people like me buying gems, those people wouldn't have bought the gems in the first place.

Eh, but you didn't support them -directly-, which I think it's the deal here. I mean yes you helped but you didn't "want" to support them with your money, so all in all seems fair to me.

--

I already got 3 skins, Colossus mini pet and all the other minis ! Wooooo

[Gray_Matter]

Eh, but you didn't support them -directly-, which I think it's the deal here. I mean yes you helped but you didn't "want" to support them with your money, so all in all seems fair to me.

--

I already got 3 skins, Colossus mini pet and all the other minis ! Wooooo

The point is that it makes no sense to buy gems with real money if I have enough gold to buy them and I do support them by buying stuff on the gem store. A/Net would loose a lot of additional money if there wasn't people who sold their gold for gems.

[Fencers]

They only make profit off the gem sales. Buying stuff in the store is not actually "supporting" Anet.

Buying gems for actual money to spend in the gem store or to trade does support Arena.net.

Seems fair enough.

[Gray_Matter]

They only make profit off the gem sales. Buying stuff in the store is not actually "supporting" Anet.

Buying gems for actual money to spend in the gem store or to trade does support Arena.net.

Seems fair enough.

Without people selling gold they would lose out on a lot of revenue because people buy gems specifically to get gold. A/Net put things in the gem store to sell them. They don't sell them for money, they sell them for gems which allows them to benefit from the gems<->gold exchange. Ultimately, they make their money from the gem store by selling things for gems. Until that point, they can't really realize the income.

[Fencers]

They create the need for gold too.

Anet only profit from the gem sales. Whether players sell items in the cs or trade gems for gold is not the point of sale. That would be paying the cost of gems in real dollars.

Anet likely value non-gem buyers less so than gem buyers [The companies I worked for certainly did.]. Because Anet can create any virtual money sink they wish on a whim.

[worprz]

I wish I would have bought some gems now :/

That is really cool of them though, congrats on the minis!

[Smitzelplix]

Yes and no. It actually p'd me off quite a bit. I have bought and used over 20k gems with in game gold. That's $250 worth of gems that someone paid A/Net yet it doesn't count because I bought them with in game gold. A/Net got the money because someone wanted some gold. Without people like me buying gems, those people wouldn't have bought the gems in the first place.

Like it's been said they profit more from people who buy the gems directly. Also it would probably be to big of a profit loss for them, in their opinion, if they gave everyone who has done gold to gems conversion, plus it's probably easier to track who buys gems directly than it is those who use the exchange.

[Deleted]

This is a great thing. I didn't buy gems myself from them directly, but I love the idea of them giving something to valued customers, it's a nice idea.

Yes and no. It actually p'd me off quite a bit. I have bought and used over 20k gems with in game gold. That's $250 worth of gems that someone paid A/Net yet it doesn't count because I bought them with in game gold. A/Net got the money because someone wanted some gold. Without people like me buying gems, those people wouldn't have bought the gems in the first place.

Oh shut up. You didn't support ArenaNet directly, you supported the people who bought gems themselves. To argue that without people like you those people would not have bought the gems is stupid.

[Scyth]

That's a nice little reward. I do like when companies reward customers for supporting them.

Yeap, same here. It's a very good gesture on their part. Even though, sadly, I don't really care for minis I still like what they did! Good move from ANet!

[Gray_Matter]

Like it's been said they profit more from people who buy the gems directly. Also it would probably be to big of a profit loss for them, in their opinion, if they gave everyone who has done gold to gems conversion, plus it's probably easier to track who buys gems directly than it is those who use the exchange.

I would be easy enough for them to check who bought stuff on the gem store. They could even have put a minimum on it 10k gems worth of purchases, etc. I don't collect minis at all so that part didn't annoy me. It was more the that a person who bought the game and $10 worth of gems, never logs on and probably hasn't even use the gems (and could be bad mouthing A/Net regularly) is more valuable to them as a customer than someone who has plays regularly and has bought 20k worth of stuff from the gem store with gems. I have bought 4 copies of the game (wife and 2 kids) but that's not really relevant. A/Net seem to be a bit skewed, IMHO, as to what makes a good MMO client. An MMO is a social game and an MMO needs lost of people playing it. More people playing means more people who buy the game.

I can see the point of view from the others posting here. It just seems to me a very shallow way to rate your customers. If you pay some extra money then you are more important to use than those who don't. It's all about the money.

[Fencers]

Lots of MMOs have additional incentives for users/buyers of their virtual goods. The practice is extremely common and effective in the F2P market.

For example- this last week I got incentive gifts from Tera, Neverwinter, Everquest 2 and Rift for spending real money on virtual currency. Which is their point of sale, natch.

The Secret World [also B2P] also handed out gifts not too long ago for their cash shop spenders.

Pretty effective marketing. I mean, even calling these mini pets "gifts" is a bit of a stretch unless one is some kind of fanatic. Because the intention of these incentive programs is to entice spenders to return to the game/login. Where the chances are high that such players will spend again given their past participation and whatever goodwill is generated by giving them a free toaster mini pet.

This is just marketing for the most valued customers- gem buyers. Nothing unusual about it really.

[Gray_Matter]

This is just marketing for the most valued customers- gem buyers. Nothing unusual about it really.

I understand. I just question what is really a "most valued customer". IMHO, WOW made that mistake with Cata thinking that their hardcore raider types were their most valuable customers and designed the raids at a level that most casual guilds really battled with. The end result was my whole guild (with the exception of 2 players) leaving WOW. They have tried to fix it now but a lot of damage was done. The same goes for a B2P MMO, what is really your most valuable customers? The guy running around every second map doing as many events as possible and making the world an interesting place to be or the person who spent an extra $10 on the gem store.

[Deleted]

I just recieved this ingame mail:
The Guild Wars 2 Team
Thank You!

Because you purchased gems through our Gem Store or via a Guild Wars 2 Gem Card between the launch of Guild Wars 2 and June 9, 2013, please enjoy the attached gift from ArenaNet. These minis are available in the Gem Store for a limited time to celebrate Dragon Bash but we wanted you to have a set for free. We really appreciate your continued support!



Attached was a Dragon Bash Mini Pack. In the pack was:
Mini Holographic Branded Minotaur
Mini Holographic Axe-Wielding Destroyer
Mini Holographic Corrupted Wolf

I tell you, I feel positively spoiled by this company

I have bought gems thru the gemstore between launch and june 9 but i havent got any mail :/

[Fencers]

I understand. I just question what is really a "most valued customer".

Eh. It's pretty effective and popular across many games and different business models. I doubt the practice would be as widespread if it were not effective.

I mean some of these games have been running incentive programs for years. All profitable.

Companies don't care if they have 3k people playing over 300. If 300 people keep the lights on and mortgage paid- they are succeeding.