Fail Sale

[djdee]

@ whomever complained that they should have had the time frame advertised. They do. With timezone and period clearly on the front page of this website.

 

I am not in the complaining camp you mention (I got a lot of stuff out of it I'm happy for the sale) but I would just like to point out that the front page ad started after the sale was well in its first hour.

 

I know this because I was online at the time and there was a picture with blurred out sales to come released by BioWare via some instagram post that I tried passing along to guildies and couldn't find where BW linked it so I searched the whole site including community blog and news posts. And there was nothing at least not nearing the end of the first hour.

Edited April 5, 2014 by djdee

[aeterno]

The thing I wanted most went on sale at 4:00 army time my timezone.

 

I blame the fact the world is not flat.

 

 

 

In direct response, making all the items on sale for the full 24h would defeat the point of the sale, to get people to log in and/or stay logged in. Wouldn't have been much of a marketing ploy otherwise would it.

Edited April 5, 2014 by aeterno

[lizziandme]

Final sale was hilariously bad as well, the Czerka Incindeia at 25% off while the Sinear was 80% off?

 

Actually the Czerka is the regular sale, the final one was the Tauntaun at 80% off. If you looked at Dulfy she had a list of what was on sale each hour, one item either 80 or 90% off.

 

Hopefully this sale will be repeated in the future. I looove getting great deals

[Oneirophrenia]

I'm fine with the fact that the items were limited time only and rotated through out the day but really? On a Friday? The criticism in this case is perfectly justified.

 

To the people automatically going for that cliche "entitlement" argument, at least try to utilize some business logic for a change of pace. For starters, just what do players use to purchase SWTOR cartel coins? Real life currency or disposable income if you will. How do players come up with that disposable income in the first place? Through working. And what is typical working schedules for most types of jobs? Monday through Friday, somewhere between 7-8am in the morning all the way to 6-7pm at night. With all of that in mind, just how in the world does starting the CM sale on a Friday morning make any sense at all? It's not as if the real life example of "Black Friday" could be used as a legitimate argument considering a lot of folks (and companies/agencies) actually take that day off as a consequence of Thanksgiving. Or perhaps BW/EA was trying to cater to the college students and teenagers who have far more flexible hours? [sARCASM]Oh yes, those groups without a doubt have significant income of note that they could burn on the CM.[/sARCASM]

 

Secondly, even if this "sale" was a promotional stunt designed to counter the launch of ESO and keep the attention of existing TOR players, it still doesn't change the fact that this target audience would have to wait until they got off work on Friday before deciding whether to hop on ESO or TOR. As such, starting the sale early on in the day actually didn't have that much of an impact on that decision process thus from a marketing standpoint, it was a poorly thought out failure as well. If BW/EA was indeed attempting to grab at TOR gamer's attention with this sale, they would have been much better served by starting it on Friday evening and have it continue all the way to Saturday evening. There is no retail rule stating that sales can't overlap two separate days of the week.

 

I really have to wonder if it was EA that pushed this idea onto BW. If true, that would make this curious sale timeline much more logical as anyone with a financial background would know, EA is pretty incompetent (to put it mildly) when it comes to business analytics and public relations during recent years.

[HoboWithAStick]

Makes me very sad they have the tech to update the CM on the fly but don't have the tech or "Staff" to do cross server que, proper class balance and make good quality content on a regular schedule.

 

This game might be making good money now but at what cost?

[teclado]

This game might be making good money now but at what cost?

As little as possible.

[Rafaman]

You want a Tauntaun bro? I got one cheap for ya.

 

And why not get a Veractyl too. I got one at a "discount" for you.

[ZETA_SCORPII]

And why not get a Veractyl too. I got one at a "discount" for you.

 

I missed that one, how dare they put that one up for sale while I wasn't logged in! I can't believe Bioware isn't on MY schedule!! I'm cancelling my sub and gonna tell everyone how horrible and inconsiderate Bioware is!! This is unacceptable! I've been here since beta, pre-ordered, have a SW coloring book, collect SW M&Ms, have a Vader tattoo, am a distant relative of Revan, once flew the Ebon Hawk........

[ReckonerH]

More notice would have indeed been nice. Those seasonal steam sales are really popular and I always buy a few games when they come around.

 

As for this one...I found out accidentally its even on, while it was on. If I was more aware of it I would have logged on earlier and bought some more stuff. Pretty weird sale promotion overall

[HoboWithAStick]

As little as possible.

 

15 people working at Bioware Austin?

[Sangrar]

Makes me very sad they have the tech to update the CM on the fly but don't have the tech or "Staff" to do cross server que, proper class balance and make good quality content on a regular schedule.

 

This game might be making good money now but at what cost?

 

umm I am not so sure the tech to update cm instantly is as complicated or advanced as what would be needed for cross server, plus keep in mind that even before the cm this tech was used for stuff such as to start the Chevin Conglomerate event without patching and such so I do not think its cm specific either, seriously, could people stop blaming the cm for everything...

Edited April 5, 2014 by Sangrar

[Uncle_Robo]

If you think lag is bad now on certain servers, cross server lags would be terrible.

Also conflicts with player names would present another problem.

 

Cross server queues is not a viable solution. I think what would help is if players could actually see who is in queue, and which role is needed to get an instant pop. So if I know a tank, healer, or dps is needed, I could log into my alt to get that instant pop.

 

umm I am not so sure the tech is as complicated or advanced as what would be needed to link all the servers, plus keep in mind that even before the cm this tech was used for stuff such as to start the Chevin Conglomerate event without patching and such so I do not think its cm specific either, seriously, could people stop blaming the cm for everything...

[Sangrar]

If you think lag is bad now on certain servers, cross server lags would be terrible.

Also conflicts with player names would present another problem.

 

Cross server queues is not a viable solution. I think what would help is if players could actually see who is in queue, and which role is needed to get an instant pop. So if I know a tank, healer, or dps is needed, I could log into my alt to get that instant pop.

 

sorry I was not clear I meant the tech to update cm is not as advanced or complicated as cross server. My bad did not make that clearly enough. Fixed that post now.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Sangrar

[Transairion]

@ whomever complained that they should have had the time frame advertised. They do. With timezone and period clearly on the front page of this website.

 

I'm officially done with any active participation in these forums. There are just WAY WAY WAY too many trolls and people who just don't seem to have a clue about a single friggen thing. It used to be funny. Now it's just sad.

 

I counter your flame attempt with Hurr Durr Fact Machine:

 

 

They didn't advertise until the sale actually begun. I was up most of Friday/early Saturday morning my local time, regularly checking SWTOR in case there was any more information. There wasn't a drop. All we had to go off was "hourly deals on Friday" from like a week prior, no detail to start time, end time, how many deals or anything. Telling when the sale starts and how long it'll run after it already starts doesn't help anyone if they don't know when to come on, now do they? Or should every non-USA player just not sleep for 48hrs and constantly play SWTOR so they don't miss it?

 

Good riddance to you, nobodies going to miss someone who doesn't even have a clue themselves then complains about other people.

 

 

I missed that one, how dare they put that one up for sale while I wasn't logged in! I can't believe Bioware isn't on MY schedule!! I'm cancelling my sub and gonna tell everyone how horrible and inconsiderate Bioware is!! This is unacceptable! I've been here since beta, pre-ordered, have a SW coloring book, collect SW M&Ms, have a Vader tattoo, am a distant relative of Revan, once flew the Ebon Hawk........

 

Meanwhile, in real life, they put up 16+ items for sale over 15-16 hours and as soon as I got to log in it was already over. Best sale ever I'm so satisfied!

 

Let's just ignore the fact it ran, in USA time on a Friday 9 am to what 5 pm? Like during the actual working day, and that's the hours given to the "favourite" timezone?

 

Well I guess if you're between jobs and had the chance to sit on SWTOR 16 hours straight while everyone else was working, good on you! What about the people at school too? Pretty sure that runs 9 to 3...

Edited April 6, 2014 by Transairion

[Gom-Jabbar]

If I remember correctly, they did in fact tell us about this in advance - at least by Wednesday. I remember in the middle of the week making a note to myself to be sure and log in on Friday so I could take part in said sale... If they didn't, then I don't know... Perhaps I had a psychic waking dream predicting the future?!?

[Transairion]

If I remember correctly, they did in fact tell us about this in advance - at least by Wednesday. I remember in the middle of the week making a note to myself to be sure and log in on Friday so I could take part in said sale... If they didn't, then I don't know... Perhaps I had a psychic waking dream predicting the future?!?

 

 

Their "details" was something on twitter that said "Look at for sales this Friday"

 

 

No Friday from 9 am, no Friday any kind of time, just Friday, and of course we assume it's USA's Friday.

 

 

So unless people wanted to stay online, skip work for 24 hrs in the USA or 48hrs anywhere else to account for time differences, just "Friday" doesn't really cut it.

 

You're beyond the pathetic barrier now.

 

If you say so.

 

Personally I'd like to spend my CC, and I'm sure they me to as well... should probably allow me the opportunity next time so we're both happy!

Edited April 6, 2014 by Transairion

[LeonBraun]

I missed it and I'm really disappointed about that... Was out getting lots done today... Probably should have been less productive, and at home playing games

[Cawyden]

For me it was lucky coincidence that I read one day before the sales about hourly sales on friday and checked out dulfys site on this day. It started for Germany around 4 pm and had I not did home office this day, I would have been at home and in the game after 6pm. But the time slot for europe was good - after noon/evening until in the morning. Of course that meant I had to stay up very late (2 am; it is very late for me as I normally go to bed around 10 to 11 pm) and after a short sleep again get up around 6 am to get the TaunTaun.

 

May be the next time they can do it on an other time slot that is better for the other parts of the world. On saturday and sunday would be nice too but there are always people that have to work on those days too. So it is not easy. But I agree that they should announce it better beforehand so maybe people can plan or ask a friend that has time to get some items. I got items for my brother as well because he had to work very long and was away after that with friends and didn't know about the sales too.

[ZETA_SCORPII]

Their "details" was something on twitter that said "Look at for sales this Friday"

 

 

No Friday from 9 am, no Friday any kind of time, just Friday, and of course we assume it's USA's Friday.

 

 

So unless people wanted to stay online, skip work for 24 hrs in the USA or 48hrs anywhere else to account for time differences, just "Friday" doesn't really cut it.

 

 

 

If you say so.

 

Personally I'd like to spend my CC, and I'm sure they me to as well... should probably allow me the opportunity next time so we're both happy!

Bro, I was on most the day and I still missed some of the stuff. Here is the solution or suggestion: The new Space Jockey pack is available so buy a few, sell them, then purchase whatever you really wanted (and missed out on) at the low GTN prices (you know many ppl bought the sale stuff to throw on the GTN and will undercut each other). No one missed out on anything cause there more than one way to buy CM items.

[Transairion]

Bro, I was on most the day and I still missed some of the stuff. Here is the solution or suggestion: The new Space Jockey pack is available so buy a few, sell them, then purchase whatever you really wanted (and missed out on) at the low GTN prices (you know many ppl bought the sale stuff to throw on the GTN and will undercut each other). No one missed out on anything cause there more than one way to buy CM items.

 

That's not the issue, I don't care if the sale was 99.99% off or 1 CC off the ugliest Cartel Item in existence.

 

 

All it does is prove you're doing it purely as a knee-jerk sale to grab attention away from other things if you don't announce anything to do with start and end times beforehand. Which they didn't do, and would've avoided any and all problems relating to the times... at least with it pre-announced you could plan accordingly.

 

 

I mean, jeez, look at the front page now, the sale is STILL announced up there and it ended over 24 hours ago! They'll leave it up afterwards when it serves no purpose at all but won't put it on beforehand??

[AlrikFassbauer]

People living in different time zones than mainland U.S. will always have problems with these times sales & events.

[SgtJeremy]

Sales weren't even that great unless you really wanted to buy medical probes or a carbonite statue. I got 3 armour sets and Treek. Most was kind of useless to me. Don't see myself buying speeders and other "fluff" items like that unless I clearly see a difference. I'm not on a speeder often enough to buy any sort of mount and not on my ship enough to buy a carbonite dude. But I can see why people would be interested in that stuff and if you missed out I'm sorry. You can't really get mad at them for missing the sale any more then you get mad at a local store for missing their sale. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

[frennky]

It's not about the items, it's how they treat their EU players. We all pay the same amount for sub, why should EU players be treated differently? Is your money better then theirs? Best deals were at prime time for NA region, which is the time entire EU is sleeping. Why is it a problem to setup hourly sales to start by central timezone on each region?

[Kourage]

It's not about the items, it's how they treat their EU players. We all pay the same amount for sub, why should EU players be treated differently? Is your money better then theirs? Best deals were at prime time for NA region, which is the time entire EU is sleeping. Why is it a problem to setup hourly sales to start by central timezone on each region?

 

 

The best deal was at Noon EST Friday. Luckily I happened to be off work and home and checked the forum.

[ZETA_SCORPII]

It's not about the items, it's how they treat their EU players. We all pay the same amount for sub, why should EU players be treated differently? Is your money better then theirs? Best deals were at prime time for NA region, which is the time entire EU is sleeping. Why is it a problem to setup hourly sales to start by central timezone on each region?

 

Many players here in the U.S. play during your "prime time" hours so I don't see the issue. People with common sense know that you can't please everyone and if you missed out on something you really wanted, well then wait for that item to be placed on the GTN cause everyone undercuts, especially during sales like these.