Posted some similar thoughts to this on NeoGAF, but honestly I think most non-hardcore people (and even some of those) prefer the consistent sale over the flash/daily mess. Also don't have people waiting until the last day and then forgetting to actually buy anything, for whatever that helps. I bought the most this sale in years and it was almost all indie games that are normally $15-$20 that were 40%+ off, almost all at new historic lows (aside from 1 or 2 I think). Ghost 1.0, Axiom Verge, 20XX, Hard West, Thea, Immortal Defense, Ball/Solus bundle, and probably 10 more.
The games that had really steep discounts had them because they've been that cheap before, and/or are older. I think moderately priced quality indie games at moderate discounts is where the big money is going forward, although
according to unconfirmed sales data, a lot of the regular heavy hitters that we tend to believe everyone already owns were still in the top. So you've still got plenty of gamers new to Steam or PC picking up classics on the super cheap, and you've got old foggeys like me picking up newer moderately cheap smaller titles. And then you've got people who only buy things 75% off or higher complaining that the sale is the worst ever despite all evidence to the contrary
A lot of the games that are at steep discounts are YEARS old, and a lot of the games everyone is talking about wanting cheaper are only months old, or less. I think the lower pressure for crazy discounts is good for the smaller developers (which tends to be what I gravitate towards anymore) because it lets them make more and fund more projects ideally and progress their price at a more comfortable pace. It also encourages people to actually play the games they buy, instead of overloading their backlog.