Curse

Peewee · May 05, 2006, 12:21 PM // 12:21

Ok, this is as much a question to ANET as it is the community. I will start by telling you my situation.

I live in the UK, and soon after the CE came into preorder, i went donw and preordered it. I Preordered it in GAME stores (uk). On the 28th i went down to GAME to pick up my copy. Low and behold, they had none in stock, and didnt know when it was going to arrive. I was annoyed, but i had half expected it. I asked them when they make take delivery, and i was told they take delivery 5 days a week. I went to the official GW website, and saw the expected delay in UK was short and they expected the majoity of CE to be in stores on release. I expected the game to sooner rather than later. Went back on saturday, still no CE. Sunday, still no CE. Monday, again, nothing, and so the pattern continued till thursday, where the CE is still missing from their shelves. Worst of all, they still have not got the faintest when it may arrive.

Now, game takes delivery on weekdays, so if CE is not in stores today, on friday, then i see no way of me getting it before may 8th, the end of the Grace Period. Now, i have gone without factions since monday, while guild mates play, having neither preordered or attempted to get the CE. It seems like a tragic irony that myself, who went to the trouble of preordering, and are also prepared to pay an extra £20 are the ones being, excuse the french, f***ed over. I can only hope it is on stores today, or i will be forces to buy the normal version, which i am not at all happy about.

I have a number of questions.

1)What time exactly does Grace period end?
2)How many others, regardless of country etc, are having similar problems?
3)What are the chances of the Grace Period being extended for people that can proove beyond reasonable doubt that they intend to buy the CE?
4)If not, why not?
5)What problem cuases all this?
6)Who can i appeal/complain to?

Now, as far as i understand the problem was caused by a shortage of copies, and in the UK release fell around various holidays. I understand that this is not ANETs problem, or indeed the store i have purchased the game from, so who is to blame? While i am grateful that ANET did at least extend the Headstart so i could play while i waited, that has now ended, and i am still without a copy. That, however is of small concern compared to the real danger i am going to have my work done over the Headstart deleted. I understand that my stuff is taking up space on a server which costs to maintain, and it is not econically viable to keep it there when i dont have the game. But clearly, the entire bourough of Kingston received just One copy of the CE edition on release, according to GAME. This must mean there are others like me in the same boat.

Essentialy, i feel utterly powerless. I am unable to complain or attempt to change things becuase i do not know who to adress. ANET have made it clear on a number of occasions that its not their problem, and they cant do Jack about it. GAME stores also cant do anything about. I want to know what is and can be done about this. For me, the ideal situation is either for me to somehow purchase a Key of ANET, of anybody, and be able to play CE. Another solution may be to buy the normal version, and then have the ability to upgrade to CE. But, as i see it, the only viable solution is to extend the Grace Period. I have already proven that i intend to buy the game, i have preordered ffs, and not only that, i am really care about the CE. Its not as if i have preordered to play, and then just given up on GW, and leave them with stuff on their servers whih i will never use. At this stage actualy playing the game would be a nice bonus, but i would really like a dragon pet, a special dance and Keep my Tengu headpeices. While its nice they introduce new mini-pets to show gratitude to ppl who waited out for CE, it doesnt help me. In fact, it makes the dilemna worse. Thus far i am being forces to choose, a choice which i should not be made to take.

Sorry about the long post, but its something really very important to me, and i hope somebody is able to help. Pls, if u are in a similar position then post ur woes right here (i searched for thread of same type and did not find it) Perhaps if we can get enough ppl together telling ANET that a problem STILL exists, then they may make a change. We may be small in number, hell i may be the only one, but i plead with ANET that they do the right thing, appreciate there most devote customers, and help me out. If they do not value us, which seeing as i would only contribute £50 is likely (though i hope not) then i will be forces to take my business elsewhere.

If u read down this far, Thank You for your time.

TimberOwl · May 05, 2006, 12:27 PM // 12:27

There are a few wrapped CE's going around on ebay if that helps.

Actually, i believe i saw a few CE's in my local game store up north, Middlesborough to be exact, so if you londoners haven't got CE yet, then thats bad.

EndoftheSyringe · May 05, 2006, 12:34 PM // 12:34

Grace Period only means you will not have those two extra character slots availible to MAKE characters in. If there are already characters in them, they will not be deleted.

I'm pretty sure game is mainly supposed to ship today.

Peewee · May 05, 2006, 12:38 PM // 12:38

I did not know that syringe, and i hope you are right. As for buying on Ebay the only copy i could find that wasnt going to get affected by distribution probs was one from Hungery. I doubt it would make it to London very fast over the weekend :/ more worryingly it states that no more copies will be shipped until June 30th...

Thanks for the info anyway, too much confusion to get the right info tbh...

Fitz Rinley · May 05, 2006, 01:48 PM // 13:48

2)How many others, regardless of country etc, are having similar problems?
I have been given distribution dates of 05/04 and 06/30 from ANet/NC Soft. I have been given distribution dates of 05/04, 05/10, 05/20, and 05/05 by Best Buy where I preordered my CE. I would suspect confusion stems from them being unaware of what is going on themselves.

3)What are the chances of the Grace Period being extended for people that can proove beyond reasonable doubt that they intend to buy the CE?
None according to communications I have had with ANet and NC Soft.

4)If not, why not?
Some suspect it is because people can play they entire game in 20 hours. Because of the minimal amount of content, lack of bonuses, and short story line people quickly powered thru the game. Because people are free to go back on their word, play the game on the pre-order key, and then cancel their credit card purchase (as they have not yet received the product) NC Soft cannot risk the loss of sales by trusting us.

5)What problem cuases all this?
The first problem to cause all this was a lack of preparation in marketing 6 months ago when the marketing campaign should have started taking effect. Second, the campaign did not step up January 1st, to acquire as many traditional outlets for release as possible. (Which is why companies like Walmart and Hastings were aware of NwN II in December, but did not know about GW: F in March.) Fourth the available avenues for estimating need of production were not utilized, the nets and pre-order records of local companies. (In fact no company within 60 miles of me was aware there was a pre-order to sell, even as late as the beginning of April.) Lastly, manufacturing did not meet production needs equal to demand.

6)Who can i appeal/complain to?
I have messaged NC Soft directly. I have messaged ANet directly. I have messaged and written Best Buy directly. (This is the first time in 5 years I have trusted Best Buy with my business and they failed the test by lying to me about the game.)

Alex Weekes · May 05, 2006, 02:09 PM // 14:09

Hi Peewee,

I know the CE was available in UK GAME stores on the 28th, so if your store has not received any yet it will most likely be because they did not receive an allocation from GAME yet or sold out. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can help you with if this is the case - you'll have to continue to pursue it with the store where you pre-ordered.

The Grace Period expires at 08:59 am BST on May 9th. As per our news post on the 2nd May, any characters in those slots will *not* be deleted - they will remain on your account (unless you delte them yourself) and become available to play again as soon as you add a Factions cd-key. We will not impose automatic deletions on players, so there's no worries about you losing any progress from the Head Start.

I hope you can get your CE as soon as possible. I can only advise you to contact your store again and ask them why your pre-order has not been fulfilled yet. All stores who placed orders for the Factions CE in the UK should have their stock by now, and as I said earlier I know that GAME stores had CEs in stock on the 28th.

michaeldt · May 05, 2006, 02:27 PM // 14:27

Thanks for the reply Alex. However, I'm not sure that solves anything. I know it's difficult to say who's to blame here, but if someone is not able to get a CE now, then it's likely they'll have to wait until the end of june. That's a whole two months after Factions was released.

I don't know the reasons why there were problems with the CE, but I cancelled my CE pre-oreder and took a cheap £17.99 normal factions edition from play.com. I really wanted to get the CE this time, since I didn't get one for the original game, but chose to play rather than wait.

Whatever the reasons were, I think it's really poor form. Nobody wants to wait two months to continue playing a game they love especially when all their guild mates and friends are playing without them. I think both NCSoft and ArenaNet will have lost a lot of sales over this issue and hope it is prevented from happening in the future.

Mordakai · May 05, 2006, 02:32 PM // 14:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaeldt

I don't know the reasons why there were problems with the CE, but I cancelled my CE pre-oreder and took a cheap £17.99 normal factions edition from play.com. I really wanted to get the CE this time, since I didn't get one for the original game, but chose to play rather than wait.

And I wish I had waited for the Dragon.

Oh, well, decisions, decisions...

warren_kn · May 05, 2006, 03:02 PM // 15:02

Is this problem restricted to one or a few suppliers? GAME didn't have a clue until the last minute about CE or the preorder. I had a look around at several other retailers (online and in high street) and was able to shop around for a good deal. In the end I preordered from Gameplay online store. I received the preorder key the next working day in e-mail, and received an e-mail several days before 27th April saying CE migt be delayed. In the end it wasn't, I received mine by parcel post 9:45 am on 28th April. Point is, Gameplay were helpful, knew what I was talking about and kept me up to date on any delivery problems. I'm sure there are many other suppliers who work similarly. Obviously there are a few that don't...

xxSilhouette · May 05, 2006, 04:52 PM // 16:52

I preordered my CE in ealry march, and i have been contacting my store over and over and over and they don't have it

Im very frustrated.

I am in the US and I do not think its fair that those who support the game enough to get the CE and who pre-ordered early should have to wait an extra 2 months to play the game...

Loviatar · May 05, 2006, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxSilhouette

I am in the US and I do not think its fair that those who support the game enough to get the CE and who pre-ordered early should have to wait an extra 2 months to play the game...

i am in the US and mine is on schedule for delivery monday.

Pevil Lihatuh · May 05, 2006, 05:00 PM // 17:00

www.game.net has them in stock (http://shop.game.net/ViewProduct.asp...144&mid=328036) if you don't already have one

I work at GAME and we had no clue if we'd be receiving CE or not (we got 2 in the end) because nothing had been sent to head office so they in turn could not inform us. Trouble with preorder keys in-store is also that you have to be sent the preorder box in order to get it; again our store only got 5.

Just so you know, we get deliverys Mon-sat, only day we get no delivery is sunday. That said, we're probably not gonna get any more CE until 30th June shipment (of course this is just a guess based on both working there and reading the Guild Wars announcements).

Personally I think that it was the fault of everyone; retailers didn't get back to Anet with their preorder quantities (which is hard to do admittedly, by the time the game was in production at the factory, we'd still have been taking more preorders) and anet/ncsoft, despite a comment i've seen elsewhere saying that they believe Factions will be far more Prophecies, were just downright stupid; they had nothing to lose by making a load of extra CE's even if they didn't think they'd sell; eventually they would sell out, and as long as the retailers bought them, thats all they'd care about anyway.

Rayea · May 05, 2006, 05:06 PM // 17:06

well, as a UK player, who bought her copy of the CE, pre ordered on the 28th...

you might have been unlucky...
you might have had a usless GAME store, with what you can call dumb**s staff that just work there, they dont Play games at all....
you might even have had a GAME store that had lots of people pre ordering the CE, or were in an area of the UK that had lots of pre orderes for the game...or maybe *checks the location* Yup..your in London....

i was extrodinaryly lucky.....no-one in my area pre sordered the game...PERIOD....
my store only sent off one pre order for the ce..mine....no others needed to be allocated, so i got my copy on the day it came out.

however, i can imagine that London, having not only many different copies of GAME, and lots of other retailers like Virgin and Indies that are screaming for their copies and even maybe sending a disguised salesperson round to Sainsburys or Tesco to buy a few cpoies of a game here and there....well, you can see the picture, right?
i think when i realised there was a shortige, i would expect anywhere like london, manchester and Glasgow ect would *definately* gat a shortage full stop.

i guess the next question is...
Alex, can a player that has their Cantha-made characters put in *stasis*...can they still take a Tyrian character over to Cantha, or must they be sure to take them back over to Tyria BEFOR the grace period is over?

if so, just remember to take the boat back to Tyria and maybe farm a little gold, look for rubies/saphires....get a hold of the materials for your end-fo Cantha mission so your ready to make your special 'I kicked Shiro's Butt' armour set

*edit* and befor Pevil yells at me

....yup, i know not everyone at game are bad..my local boys are awsome at putting up with me

....but then again..they ARE gamers.....its like asking someone at sainsburys about a game....if they play games, they stand a lot better chance of knowing about stuff than if they dont play them...
maybe the London branch the OP went to is full of staff that dont play games, or maybe dontplay Online MMo games....ask me about a Golf or Football game and i go 'Meh?'
however, ask me about anything remotely RPG and i can usually head you in the right direction...

(wonders where Pevil is in yorkshire, out of curiosity)

Fitz Rinley · May 05, 2006, 06:02 PM // 18:02

My Tyria based charcters were already denied access to Cantha even with the Factions Code key for my standard account. However, it may be that something needed to reset. I didnt try twice.

Fitz

iShiver · May 05, 2006, 06:37 PM // 18:37

No major problems with Amazon UK. Ordered CE on the 12-April , turned up on the 3-May. I thought I was going to have problems.

I think the situation has changed but for me it worked out well.

Peewee · May 05, 2006, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Well, thanks from the quick response from Alex, its at least good to know that we are being listened to.

I went down to my local GAME stores after having posted this. Again, i was dissapointed. According to the sales women they also take delivery of new stock on saturdays, so i will cross my fingers till then.

i am aware that CE has become available in some GAME stores across various parts of the country. I do not know how games are allocated, but i would assume that GAME would send what little copies it had to the largest outlets. It seems strange therefore that they should have sent one copy to this particular GAME store, which is not only situated slap bang in the middle of town, but also the 6th most popular shopping destination in the UK...Perhaps that is also a reason for the massive delay.

Anyhoo, having learnt of the fact Characters will not be deleted my biggest fear has been allayed. That was my main concern. However, it is still no comfort when i logged into GW and found myself the only member of my guild unable to do missions together. It really bites when they decide to do a 12v12, and i am moping around in the GH.

Now, June 30th is a very long time to w8, thats a month, and i do not intend to buy normal and CE. I shall hope and pray they get one tommorow.

Actually, responding to Rayea, the person who i asked in GAME today was very helpful. She spent a good 15 mins ringing up other GAME stores in the area to see of they had any, with no luck unfortunatly. She also seemed to take complete responsibility for the mess up, apologising all over the place, which is a great deal more than anybody else has yet. Ironically i have applied for a job at the very same store.

I think i will hold out till tommorow, and then after that take some more drastic action, like buying copies of E-Bay. It would seem a aweful shame to go through this trouble thus far, and then give up and buy the normal version. At the same time, as mentioned before, its seems a strange irony that i should wait for the CE, an Edition which supposedly gives u all there is to have. Evidently the most important thing has been left out.

As for blame, well, blaming ppl is actually a fairly lame thing to do, but it would seem that blame is shared. As far as i can tell communication seemed to break down, and the result is this. Now, having preordered from GAME i would expect them to provide on release date, but this is clearly not the case. However, they cannot provide what they do not have, and this extends from the shop floor all the way up to the top. It seems that there are simply not enough copies to satisfy the orders, never mind the demand.

I am prepared to wait, but it will require more than a pet dragon to persuade me to wait a whole month.

In game i go by the alias of Jinx. Peewee is just a homage to the great RTS Total Annihilation. Small but effective... Anyway, i named myself Jinx becuase i beleived that i had some of the worst luck. I was always having 1/4 cast spells interupted, not to mention terrible drops. I think this may then just proove that the name is Justified.

Thanks to the ppl who gave me info regarding this prob, i really appreciate it. One thing i would like to see more than a Collectors Edition Box next to the PC is for somebody to take responsibility for this mess up. The blame rarely lies on one person/company, but i think its perhaps a more inteligent thing to hold your hands up, and let ppl know where the failures occurred. The only thing more frustrating than having no game when you preorder, is having no game and nobody taking responsibilty other than somebody working the tills. I believe a similar problem occurred with Special Edition Oblivion, so why is this thing repeating itself, admitedly in different companies.

Thanks again for your time.