Please don't retire items

ArchivedUser

In every mmo I've played I've been a collector. A collector of mounts, vanity pets, unique combat pet skins, toys, unique armor/weapon skins, etc. The biggest deterrent to a collector is retiring Items. I can understand the urge to do this as it artificially boosts desire, demand, and/or sales because people don't want to lose out on the off-chance that they will use it.

In WoW I stopped collecting mounts when they started retiring them and throwing new ones on the market at inflated prices.

On the other hand, in GW2 I purchased all of the heavy armor "skins". I passed on costumes because they were one-piece outfits. I passed on vanity pets because they were nearly exclusively cash shop items. Pets were primarily a cash sink and not really a part of the game.

My main point is if you remove desirable items just to boost sales you will alienate most of the timid buyers.

ArchivedUser

I don't know about that, I kind of feel the opposite. I like to hoard rare and one of a kind items, even if they're useless. I've got some old mounts in WoW, like the rare quality brewfest ram (the then lvl 40 mount) and some other retired ones. I'm guessing you're talking about the black market mounts and the cash shop ones? I have to agree with the black market ones at least, they detract from how you originally got them, regardless of them being trivial now if they were still available from the original source.

I'm not too big into the fashion wars in GW2, but I've purchased a few here and there, I kind of like the outfits because they dye well usually. Most of my minis are in-game earned rewards, aside from special gemstore ones with effects. I don't collect every mini in GW2, but I have been an avid collector of the cats they added to home instances.

One of the big things to keep in mind is that cosmetics are the sell point for these games aside from subscriptions, so mounts, mini-pets, and other cosmetics are likely to be the big selling point.

ArchivedUser

I agree & disagree! 

One thing I hate about WOW is the fact they didn't let you even achieve Tier 3 armor anymore with out have to pay a huge amount of gold! and have like 1% chance to get a piece of an item  


As a person that loved the Transmog feature! this bummed me out alot! 

Another part of me is like! 

( If you own a fullset of armor ) 

Its like cool I have something that nobody else can get because I actually spent the time trying to get theses items when they were available and because of my effort it now unique and Very rare so I'm going to stand out! 

All I gotta say is don't retire an item its a waste!!! make it harder to get if anything it will increase the value of the armor by alot! 

ArchivedUser

I am an advocate for retiring items. There is something special about seeing people with gear/mounts that are no longer attainable. 

ArchivedUser

I'm okay with a carefully selected pool of items being retired, but for the majority of vanity items and cosmetics, I'd rather see them be seasonal, so if you miss out, you could always get them again the next year.

In short, I wouldn't mind 4 tiers of vanity items:
1) retired
2) semi-retired (might suddenly come back a few years later for a short time)
3) seasonal (if you miss out, you'll have to wait until the next year)
4) persistent (always in the shop and/or acquirable in-game)

As for what items I'd place in the retirable category ... I'd have to think further on that one lol.