Everyone saying "but the end date was mentioned in-game!" is completely missing the point.

The bit about the vendors being unavailable past the end date, which is not how every previous iteration of the event has worked, was certainly NOT mentioned in game.

When something is repeated a certain way 4-5 times or however many times it's been, *especially* in a game like this that loves to follow repetitious cycles, it's only natural that some people are going to be tripped up when that way suddenly changes. When it's in a way that isn't in the player's favor (like the vendor becoming unavailable sooner than what people will expect), it's going to result in threads like these being created.

You certainly could say that it's their own fault for not following the link and carefully checking for the single line of fine print that mentions it. Doesn't change the fact that it was a sneaky consumer-unfriendly thing for them to do. Like I said, there was no good to come out of changing things like this, only disappointment.