November 2008 Donation Present

[Officer 1BDI]

Luckily, the only thing I really have my eyes on this month is the windchime wearable. Most of the other wearables are gorgeous (especially that wig), but I don't see myself ever actually using them.

Re: "Dud DPs"- I wouldn't consider the bird minions duds at all, having once maintained a bird minion gallery. I assume there's a similar market for some of the other "less demanded" DPs every month from gallery owners and collectors. Though I do agree with the general idea: if you're going to be dishing out real money, you should at least be guaranteed something that you'll actually enjoy in exchange.

[Nectaris]

Re: "Dud DPs"- I wouldn't consider the bird minions duds at all, having once maintained a bird minion gallery. I assume there's a similar market for some of the other "less demanded" DPs every month from gallery owners and collectors. Though I do agree with the general idea: if you're going to be dishing out real money, you should at least be guaranteed something that you'll actually enjoy in exchange.

The problem is with that idea is that everyone has their own tastes. For example I know a lot of people adored what the March 2008 DPs held, but personally only one or two items of the entire lot had any worth to me, the rest I despised. My point is this, just because some people like/dislike what is offered, it doesn't mean that the majority feels this way.

[WisteriaLynx]

... phew. I don't need anything this month. ^^; That said, the wig is quite nice... I just can't see myself ever using it because the jewel in the middle of the forehead bugs me. xD Although I may be tempted to buy that chime if it goes down enough in price.

[lavender]

The only things I need are the I-Love-You Donut, Plastic-Fantastic Fantine Cupcake, and the Fragrant Cinnamon. All for my sweets gallery.

I'll consider getting the Bawwwwk (cute), Autumn Kiss Lipstick, and the Bottled Autumn Wind. They're not must haves, but they're nice.

{edit} Opened 3 presents (kept 2) and got an Autumn Leaf Sticker (blah), Cropped Aviator Jacket, and a Topaz Puff (both of which I can sell to buy the things I want).

[Teera]

I never draw any "duds" and laugh at people getting things they don't want. When it comes to making DPs, I obsess over whether or not my items are good enough. It kills me every month when anybody says, "Oh good, I don't need any DPs this time!" I mean, I understand if nothing catches your fancy, but it's still my goal to attempt to. But going out of our way to make "duds" just to make people angry? That's a joke, right? =/

As far as the Mahar stickers, it was just an idea I had. Since they collect gems, it would make sense that they'd collect birthstones as well. I also made them as a reminder that they haven't been forgotten as a species. I guess I overestimated their appeal.

[shaelyn76]

The non wearables do nothing for me this month...which is good for my sP level. I really like most of the wearables though...which is very very bad for my sP level.

What with my husband losing his job last week, we really can't afford the $20 I would normally spend on DPs in hopes of getting what i want. So this month I will just have to bite the bullet and buy what I really, really want with sP. I completely agree with Kamil about how money is tight for everyone in the current economic climate and that with that in mind it would seem smart to make DPs more appealing to the masses. Sure, there will always be people with a "sweets", "stickers" or "minion" gallery that will buy the "dud" items, but if they are anything like me, they won't actually buy the DPs from the cash shop in hopes of getting said items. They will wait for people to put them in their shops for low prices and then buy them that way. Meanwhile, the people who get the "dud" items from a cash shop purchased DP will get upset that their real money is getting them items that are worth very little compared to some other DP items. Did any of that make sense to anyone but me...sometimes the thoughts rattle around in my head and I understand my point, but I worry that nobody else does.

Anyway.The Little Ham Plushie is really cute and the Innocent Youngster Turkey is adorable.If they drop enough in price I may pick them up. The I-Love-You Donut would be great in one of my pets' treasures, but I just can't bring myself to pay DP item user shop prices for a Donut. Of the wearables, the jacket, lipstick, wind, wig and windchime are all gorgeous as items and wearables. They are all must haves for me. The cornucopia is much prettier as an item than a wearable and the cinnamon has possibilities. Damn! i just noticed that the cupcake has hearts all around it so I may need that for a treasure.

I foresee my vault crying before this is all said and done. Maybe I actually need to start questing on a regular basis again.

EDIT: Thank you to the amazing Rah for making Cherish's treasure chest much more "love" filled!

[Wingsrising]

Well, "dud" doesn't necessarily mean they're bad items per se. However, consider the Innocent Youngster Turkey. It's going for 600k in user shops already and that's on the first of the month -- you know it's going to fall lower. Spending $2.50 cash and getting something worth 600k is a pretty big bummer.

Now, actually I imagine it makes sense to make some of the DP items duds. If someone could buy a present and be assured of getting something they want, or something valuable enough to sell for the DP items they want, then they'll only buy as many as items they want. E.g., if they only want 3 items, then they'll only buy 3 presents -- even if they don't get what they want, they can sell what they get and buy what they DO want.

If some of the items they get are things they don't want and aren't worth much, then they'll need to buy more presents to get what they want, ie they may need to buy 6-7 presents to get enough to buy the 3 items they want.

Of course, I suspect a lot of time it would be more cost effective to buy 1 month gold account medals (selling for 7.5 million now, ouch!) and sell them for sP.

[Kamil]

Dud, the way I used it, doesn't mean ugly or bad; it means, as Wings said, something worth considerably less than the rest.

For example, one month, way back when, I bought five DPs, and got four of the reborn Sheeta toys - or whatever they are called (I've tried to banish them from my memory). And then the fifth was a minion, I believe. None were what I actually wanted that month, and the Sheeta toys were quite cheap (like, 250k cheap), so I lost quite a bit in potential earnings that month, and had nothing I wanted to show for it to boot.

It was a long time after that before I spent another cent on a DP; I bought the individual items I wanted instead.

And this month, with things as tight financially as they are, I'd never spend real money on such a risky endeavor. There are . . . sixteen? possible outcomes, but only four or five are guaranteed money makers, with another two or three that at least won't mean a huge loss.

And then there are the rest. Things that are going to be worth about a tenth of what you could have gotten for the present, had you sold it unopened. Which, maybe, would be the smart thing to do, I suppose.

It just doesn't seem like it encourages people to spend, when there are many more ways to lose money than there are to gain it.

[Sunwolf]

I mean seriously, a donut? In a DP? wtf were they thinking?

Ditto to that. And the glasses. Why the heck would they include glasses that look just like all the other sunglasses on the site? Almost as bad as the Bowling Pin.
I don't want many of the items for this month so I don't think I'll bother buying any DPs, which is a change for me as I usually buy ~10 each month from the CS. I can see many of these not being worth much at all and I don't want to risk getting those and not being able to resell em.

I've got to agree - sometimes it seems like there are items put in the Donation presents just to piss people off. Why on earth are the glasses even in there? They look cheap, they are unimpressive, and seem to have been thrown in as an afterthought - "Oops, we're short one, just chuck a random item in there". Is November aviator month or something?

*is just a tad bitter about once buying three Donation presents and having them all be goddamn Bowling Pins*

[shaelyn76]

I didn't mean dud as a bad thing either...as in bad art or even bad items...just much less profitable and desirable than more popular DPs. I like to try and trade any unwanted DPs for other wishlist items, but it makes it difficult when you end up with the inevitable one DP item that nobody seems to want or that has already plummeted in price to a point where it just doesn't feel worth it anymore. I agree that the odds are not good for getting what I want by buying actual DPs this month. This is a "let others spend their real cash on DPs and then I'll pay sP for what they don't want" kind of month for me.

I had to laugh when I read about the Reborn Sheeta toys...I remember getting 3 that month from opening DPs. I was less than pleased since they actually dipped to around 100k at one point. I don't buy DPs for resale potential, but that steep of a deflation was enough for me to cringe at the time.

[Alicorn]

There is anything in this DP that screams must get so I'm relieved. I really need to buckle down and get the older DPs that have been collecting dust on my wishlist. Anywho, there are some nice items in this DP. The topaz wig is quiet pretty. The wind chime is a pretty item but I'm not keen on what it looks like when worn. The wind and jacket are cute wearables. Everything else is mehish to me. The glasses so don't belong. Like said by someone else, we have items just like this stocked on the site. So it's pointless to have in a DP. I also wonder why they have the aviator things in this DP.

[covet]

I for one am delighted the innocent turkey has turned out so relatively undesirable... it means I'll be able to buy it without killing myself over the cost. It's adorable.

Besides that, the main thing I need here (although lots of items are verrry pretty and I might snap up if they go low enough) is the aviator jacket. Very nice. And I can understand why the aviator glasses are there, to be part of a set. I probably won't want them myself, but I don't think they look bad at all.

I have to ditto Huggles on the economics of the situation, though. I haven't been spending money on Subeta for a while because the site itself has been annoying me, but until just a few weeks ago there was always the possibility of being tempted. Now things are financially very different, and if I was going to spend even five dollars on something frivilous, I'd want to have some kind of guaranteed return.

I can only assume that the hugely inflated cost of 1 month GAs and the really popular DP items means less people are buying them with real money, so we may not be alone in this.

[Jessi]

I feel like part of the problem is there's TOO many items in the DPs. I don't know if it's always been 16, but I don't feel like it has. And if it has, maybe it's time to cut back =/

Even though I LIKE a lot of the 'dud' items, as Kamil put it, they're not really DP material. I like how she's refering to the final SP value of an item, not the actual apperance of an item - the donut is freaking adorable and Galena loves his, but I was still disappointed to get it out of a DP because it means I'll have to buy one of the expensive wearables later.

Maybe it's time to cut the DPs down a few items.

ETA - Jill, I don't think you underestimated the appeal of the Mahar itself. I just think people in general get disappointed with getting stickers from DPs, heh. I also think there's only so many things you can probably do with a Mahar head for each month other than give it gems to match that month's birthstone.

[lavender]

As far as the Mahar stickers, it was just an idea I had. Since they collect gems, it would make sense that they'd collect birthstones as well. I also made them as a reminder that they haven't been forgotten as a species. I guess I overestimated their appeal.

The problem I have with the Mahar stickers is that... they're stickers. If they were plushies, I'd probably be all over them
I think the stickers would be better off being a free gift than DP item.

[Kamil]

I like how she's referring to the final SP value of an item, not the actual appearance of an item - the donut is freaking adorable and Galena loves his, but I was still disappointed to get it out of a DP because it means I'll have to buy one of the expensive wearables later.

Maybe it's time to cut the DPs down a few items.

Yeah, exactly. Because, to me, the reason I buy a DP is there is something, or some few somethings, I want, and I'd rather support the site by buying them with cash, than support an individual player by buying them with sp.

So I take my few dollars and I go buy a couple.

But, on a month like this, when there are sixteen items, and only three I want, the chances of me getting my desired item is considerably reduced. So I would hope that instead of getting my choice, if I'm not lucky, I'd at least get items others want.

And by want I mean cost roughly the same as the items I was after.

That way I don't have to feel like I've spent some of my increasingly rare disposable income for one of the items I want, and then have to turn around and spend my increasingly rare sp as well. If I spend real money for a DP, it doesn't bother me so much if I don't get what I was wanting. You pays your money and you takes your chances, and all that.

But. It does bother the hell out of me if I spend real money, and then have to spend fake money as well. Because if I'm going to have to do that, why, with things as tight financially as they are right now, wouldn't I just keep my few extra shekels to myself and buy with sp in the first place?

Which is what I've been doing lately anyway. But I'd intended to spend fifteen bucks or so this month on DPs, as I was determined to avoid the situation I had last month, where I never got the scarf because I just can't bring myself to spend almost twenty million on a current DP item, and didn't budget in real money until it was too late.

But then I saw the lineup, and as most of those items won't be worth anything near the value of the items I do want . . . Ima gonna keep my real monies to myself this month and will just go out and buy what I want.

But I'd prefer to be able to do it the other way. :....;