I think some may be confused by this situation we have dearly found ourselves in.
'Recklessly' removing an item from the shop may not be a solution, nor was it reckless, but it did remove a problem. I spent a considerable amount of time - more time than I usually give up for trivial issues like these. I have also followed this thread very closely reading through all the feedback we received, some very good and some bad but both are always appreciated since we want to make this game better for you!
The move to remove XP potions all of a sudden WAS reckless as was the addition, you might word it differently but the proper way would have been an advance notice or a replacement which was equally rewarding to the majority of the players. Accept it, that a mistake has been made, not once but twice.
XP potions turned out to be a menace at the end. First off it messes around with those players who actually earned the right to be at level 150, players continuously AFK a game to get veteran points to buy potions.( Who gave you the idea that all those AFK players were after the potion, IMO most of them were after loot chests to collect gear.) I found that XP potions are not really a problem for lower level players under 100 but a massive problem for those between level 130 - 150. A player at that level gains a huge advantage and can quite quickly race through levels that were supposed to be the longest part of their game.
Something you may want to consider as well, you have had the opportunity to play adventures for just over a month now, yet adventures was only officially released on all The West a few days back. But with the EN launch, we didn't bait players to play adventures with XP potions, we are able to suck as much feedback out our playerbase by just releasing the feature that everyone was waiting for. We did quite a bit of advertising and it was a well anticipated feature to begin with. (So basically you are openly stating that English servers were used as experimental rats to test out the game and we have to be thankful for that.)
Already there were quite a few complaints about the 20% drop rate on loot chests. Now do you see why it's lowered from the 100% it was initially on beta? Players don't want to play anymore because they gain 'nothing' of value since they own the full item set already.
Having the full set is NOT the main issue, the repetitive nature of the game and the inability to sell the multiples IS.But this is still the very early stages of probably one of the biggest features this game will ever see. InnoGames is following the same route they followed with other larger features that were previously released - the core elements are installed, players play them, provide feedback and we work on that to upgrade the feature into something bigger. With more upgrades, we can see a lot more maps - a lot more features within adventures and of course a lot more prizes. This takes time obviously.
Anyway, I'm not here to argue a point. As the Community Manager I've made the decision to remove an item that was causing problems. Many are unhappy about this decision but it's for the greater good of the community and not just those individual players wanting to take a quick advantage while abusing adventures for an item.
No one is arguing, it is a discussion which usually falls on deaf ears. And if there is no choice to speak even, maybe an ambiguous announcement would have sufficed.And spending more time clicking is NOT abusing in any way. Players were given a choice and some took it.Kindly do not blame your customers (paying or not), without them this game will cease to exist.
Just to mention again, in the near future we will see a lot more items being made available using veteran points. I cannot at this point say what items or when, but I do have some influence in those decision and will certainly voice my opinions. Furthermore, since Adventures are a global feature, myself and the GM admin team will be discussing a new GM event which can include all players from all worlds. With my GM events - you must know, there will be some hot prizes up for grabs.