This winter sale feels like any other sale.

[Jackie Paper]

Why did they slack this year on the sale? Since the sale started I've went through 2 or 3 times. No winter sale cards from the discovery queue give me no reason to check the store every day. Getting my free trading cards were half the excitement when waiting for these big sales. Yeah they will make some extra money for the trading cards one for one but in the long run they lose big time.

I had 40$ worth of buy orders. Then I realized my .05 buy orders would never be fulfilled. I canceled and bought 33 cents worth of cards. (Only 3) just to complete one last set. I don't plan to buy anymore. I'm not paying 1$ + to go up 1 level.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Baguette Baguette:

Back in the day we got 3 cards per day, flash sales and events with minigames where you could win coupons and even entire games ... These days we only get mediocre discounts.

We also got complaints and people farming the hell of the event to get the free games so no one else could get one.

We also got mediocre discounts the last years of the flash sales.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Jackie Paper:

Why did they slack this year on the sale? Since the sale started I've went through 2 or 3 times. No winter sale cards from the discovery queue give me no reason to check the store every day. Getting my free trading cards were half the excitement when waiting for these big sales. Yeah they will make some extra money for the trading cards one for one but in the long run they lose big time.

Things change. The sales have been evolving for years, so that's not new. And people have been lamenting about how crazy sales used to be a decade ago, that's not new either. So I'm always a bit surprised when the next sale illicits the sort of "wait a minute!" reaction. Year's ago it was flash sales someone fussed about, this year it's discovery queue card drops.

I think the thing people don't realize is once upon a time this digital distribution thing was new. And no one really knew how to handle it, so yeah, things were wild wild west. Well, now it's not, now it's routine. So all the wild things that generated interest in sales, maybe they're not needed now. And maybe in a lot of ways they drove some unwanted consumer behaviors.

Like:

1. Don't buy a game unless it's $5
   
2. Don't buy games until the last day of the sale to make sure it won't be on flash sale for even more of a discount.

End of the day if the elaborate sales events generated tons of revenue and was worth the effort Valve would do it up. And if it's doesn't, then why would they? To satisfy the nostalgia of some minority of users? Those users will get over it...

Valve was never doing events for their own entertainment or to reward us users. The events had a job to do and they're only worth it as long as there is some value there. So if those things all get phased out, you might have to consider that as much as you or I loved the wild wild west of the Internet, those days are gone.

Originally posted by Jackie Paper:

I had 40$ worth of buy orders. Then I realized my .05 buy orders would never be fulfilled. I canceled and bought 33 cents worth of cards. (Only 3) just to complete one last set. I don't plan to buy anymore. I'm not paying 1$ + to go up 1 level.

Well one way or another it's a drop in the bucket and Valve will be fine and the "consequences" of the change aren't really a concern for them, otherwise they'd do a lot more to make cards and Steam level more FOMO-ish. I think enough users whip themselves up into a frenzy that a few more level headed people opting out isn't a problem that needs solving or rolling back.

[Jackie Paper]

Originally posted by Baguette Baguette:

Back in the day we got 3 cards per day, flash sales and events with minigames where you could win coupons and even entire games ... These days we only get mediocre discounts.

Sadly I have never experienced that.

[wesnef]

Originally posted by Jackie Paper:

Why did they slack this year on the sale? Since the sale started I've went through 2 or 3 times. No winter sale cards from the discovery queue give me no reason to check the store every day.

Good, you're getting over your FOMO/conditioned response/Pavlov training. This is an improvement.

Getting my free trading cards were half the excitement when waiting for these big sales.

How strange.
(also, see above re: conditioned response)

I had 40$ worth of buy orders. Then I realized my .05 buy orders would never be fulfilled. I canceled and bought 33 cents worth of cards. (Only 3) just to complete one last set. I don't plan to buy anymore. I'm not paying 1$ + to go up 1 level.

And this is just Market silliness. Which is a whole other dumb topic. (seriously, the market's one of the biggest mistakes they've made. So much drama over that garbage, from "why are my funds pending" to all the hacked accounts, etc, etc, etc. Stop trying to "make money" with your games, and you'll all be happier.)

and "go up a level"? So, more pointless gamification of nothing? Why care about "going up a level"? What does it matter to *anything*?

[wesnef]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by Baguette Baguette:

Back in the day we got 3 cards per day, flash sales and events with minigames where you could win coupons and even entire games ... These days we only get mediocre discounts.

We also got complaints and people farming the hell of the event to get the free games so no one else could get one.

We also got mediocre discounts the last years of the flash sales.

And in return for no Flash Sales, we got the Refund system. Now, which of those is better for players?

[RedLightning]

Still loving the 'support' for things being taken away. Drab, stale, and boring Valve has made Steam.

Downhill run.. weeee..

[Volfogg]

Originally posted by wesnef:

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

We also got complaints and people farming the hell of the event to get the free games so no one else could get one.

We also got mediocre discounts the last years of the flash sales.

And in return for no Flash Sales, we got the Refund system. Now, which of those is better for players?

Hard to tell. I never used refund function. I'm trying to take responsibility for my purchases. It's the least I can do.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Xenophobe:

Originally posted by Jackie Paper:

This winter sale feels like any other sale.

that's partly because there's a sale of some sort going on year round and many of the games are on sale at the same percentage for nearly half the year ... when it was just the 4 seasonal sales, the discounts were something to look forward to.

Valve didn't use to have 4 seasonal sales events. They had 3. The Spring Cleaning events weren't actual Spring sales. They added the Spring sales event starting 2023...

https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4145017/view/3282583269823858400

[Jackie Paper]

Originally posted by RedLightning:

Still loving the 'support' for things being taken away. Drab, stale, and boring Valve has made Steam.

Downhill run.. weeee..

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by Jackie Paper:

I'm not paying 1$ + to go up 1 level.

Oh boy...... lol Once you realize that it's infinite (Valve just keeps adding more levels) you stop caring.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/kisats

I'll get to 100 and stop for a long while.

Originally posted by Xenophobe:

Originally posted by Jackie Paper:

This winter sale feels like any other sale.

that's partly because there's a sale of some sort going on year round and many of the games are on sale at the same percentage for nearly half the year ... when it was just the 4 seasonal sales, the discounts were something to look forward to.

This is why all of the sales are the same now.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/601891224286159510/?ctp=5#c601891224286231732


Also why we'll never see another sale like Dec 2011 again.

https://imgur.com/a/PWmmV6t

They haven't done it since.

[вкуснячек [SLOW + REV]]

It's so sad that there are no trading cards for viewing the queue this time. It was always a chance for poorer gamers to get something out of the market and with a bit of luck and already saved funds from cards dropped from games already owned to buy some indie title on a 90% discount. I was really looking forward to this sale but I got very disappointed. It was always something special to wait for these cards to drop and then see their worth on the market (and get super excited if you drop a rare one). I just wish it's just a one-time let off and that it'll eventually come back.

[Nightlistic]

There are just too many games that are slightly over $20 that's made this Winter sale annoying.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by RedLightning:

Still loving the 'support' for things being taken away. Drab, stale, and boring Valve has made Steam.

Downhill run.. weeee..

"things I like aren't how they should be, so that means it goes downhill"

In the meantime, others are having a blast.

[RedLightning]

Yes.. I think its going downhill.. Glad you are happy the way it is. :) Perhaps things will be different when its something that YOU do not like.. or agree with. .

Have a nice day.

[sumolagann]

Definitely downhill in terms of events/meta fun, if anyone is having a blast in regards to that with the current state, then I can only assume they never liked or cared about that aspect in the first place.