Curse

Rex the Unloving · May 02, 2006, 11:25 PM // 23:25

QUESTION QUESTION I HAVE A QUESTION!!!

--------------so is CE getting shipped on May 5th? or going to be on shelves May 5th? and is it possible that if they ship it on May 5th will the stores get it on May 5th? thanks.

EternalTempest · May 02, 2006, 11:35 PM // 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rex the Unloving

QUESTION QUESTION I HAVE A QUESTION!!!

--------------so is CE getting shipped on May 5th? or going to be on shelves May 5th? and is it possible that if they ship it on May 5th will the stores get it on May 5th? thanks.

Some shipments went out on April 28th.
Gamestop/EBGames should get shipment May 5th
If first two don't get to you soon, then next shipment to retailer is June 30th

Quote:

Due to unexpected production delays, the initial batch of Guild Wars Factions Collector's Edition will be shipping in North America on May 4 rather than the scheduled release date of April 28. We are working with select retailers such as GameStop and Electronics Boutique for in-store availability on Friday, May 5.

While this first supply of the Guild Wars Factions Collector's Edition is limited in quantity, production is underway for a second run and we expect those to ship in the U.S. on June 30, 2006.

Europe has different dates that are posted on there web site.

Quote:

Below are the expected dates for when Guild Wars Factions Collectors Edition is expected to be in stock at major retailers:

UK, Netherlands: Expected arrival 28th April (today)

France, Germany: Expected arrival 28th-29th April (today, tomorrow)

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden: Expected arrival Tuesday, 2nd May

Greece, Hungary, Poland, Spain: Expected arrival Wednesday, 3rd May

Italy: Expected arrival Friday, 5th May

Australia and New Zealand: Expected arrival Friday, 5th May

NCsoft Europe apologises for these delays, and we hope you enjoy Guild Wars Factions.

Rex the Unloving · May 02, 2006, 11:58 PM // 23:58

does anyone know if gamestop holds preordered games? i hope they save a copy for me... and not just sell the game to a customer who didnt wait for it.... man....

twicky_kid · May 03, 2006, 12:01 AM // 00:01

My characters have been locked TODAY. It has not even been 7 days yet. Thought this was suppose to be a 10 day grace period. Can Anet do anything right this past week?

The 27th was on Thursday. It is now Tuesday and my characters are locked.

Anet needs to get a grip. This is an online game that gives a free download of its game client from its website. Sell the damn game yourself and Email the codes. From what I've seen they cannot even give the online order keys yet.

I will be pre ordering the next chapter just to get the items. If the game has any DELAYS I will not buy the game on release or any other chapter of GW. I have never seen a game release so messed up. You give us a 10 day grace period but only allow us 5 days of playing. While my CE will not be delivered until JUNE 30th.

Sell the keys online and save yourself the manufacturing cost. No need to make Manuels, disc, packaging, shipping, and ect.....

You have the internet as your selling tool. Since this is an online game you are not losing any potential market.

**cosyfiep** · May 03, 2006, 12:03 AM // 00:03

my 2cents.
Both my husband and I pre-ordered factions; he ordered the regular and I ordered CE. I got a pre-order key, he didnt.
I got to play on thursday thru monday, he got his copy on monday and can play from now on, but never got a preorder key so he didnt get the preorder items even though he did preorder. I am on vacation this week (no I didnt ask for this week off, just happened that way), next week I go back to double-time. I am unhappy that I wont be seeing my game this week when I have the time to play it, and might not be seeing it anytime in the future since I ordered ONLINE and there is shipping involved after the time (if any) that they, ther retailer, receive my copy. So am I upset, you betcha. Will I buy another chapter of this game, doubtful.

outferno · May 03, 2006, 12:24 AM // 00:24

Looks like Factions CE is reserved and in limited quantity for those that reserved it. Then there are those that bought the Pre-order disc without realizing that it's not mutually exclusive to the collector's edition (aka, me and a few others that may have been mislead). For those of you who have a pre-order from an actual store that takes pre-orders, you guys are pretty much set to get a copy of Factions CE. For those of you in my boat, looks like we're going to have to tough it out and try to get one in store when it ships there.

Ardrid · May 03, 2006, 12:28 AM // 00:28

Well, I decided to buy the RE (Regular Edition) and will be returning my CE whenever it finally gets here. I simply can't wait going a week without Factions because it's that good. Add in the fact that I've done all the quests in Prophecies (Titans, SF, etc.), have been to the FoW/UW/Tombs numerous times, have 15K armor for my 3 characters (soon to be 4 once I get my Rt's armor), and 225K in my storage, and you can see that there's not much left for me to do there. I think what ultimately convinced me was the fact that I had some free time today and had absolutely nothing to do on GW. We didn't have the favor so I couldn't go to the FoW/UW and no one was really doing any SF or Tombs runs. And I came to the conclusion that pretty much everyone is on Factions right now.

I'm sure some of you think I should go for the titles to hold me over but I'm sorry most of them are a waste of time and energy. To cover 100% of the map or cap 90 elite skills (when there are only 1-4 per profession that I actually care about) is pointless to me. I think I might care more if the skills title were account based instead of character based bc I think it's a pita to have to switch professions and go hunting for those particular elites. At least with the 'Protector of Tyria' title (which I have) I was getting something (that being XP and skill points). It's only now that capping elites gives you a bonus, but if I had set my heart on capping elites I wouldn't have waited until now and so we end up back at my original point. No, for me, there's nothing left to do in Prophecies other than the occassional FoW run. Factions is the new GW and I love it. And that's why I decided to cancel my CE and by the RE today. In the grand scheme of things, it's all good because now I get to play Factions and I can d/l the soundtrack (the main thing I wanted from the CE) from DirectSong. To those of you who are waiting, I wish you luck and I'll see you in Cantha.

Athis Strider · May 03, 2006, 12:37 AM // 00:37

Im with you Cosyfiep. I bought 4 pre order Faction and 1 Factions CE. 5 Totall games. ( $250 total) I bought the CE for one reason, I dont think it worth the extra money, I just thought it would better support Anet.
Today 5-2-06 my key for factions expired. It has not been 10 days. Right on guys thanks for the support. Yeah im pissed. Hope Anet reads this and learns something from it.

Siren · May 03, 2006, 12:49 AM // 00:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by zemelett

For every one out there that says "Oh this could have simply been prevented by doing <insert idea here>..." you obviously have no idea how the real world works.

The problem that arises may be out of one's control, certainly, but the solutions one presents in response to such a problem are entirely within one's control. This is one such example.

I don't mean to open up wounds here, but I just want to make something perfectly clear. The reasoning given for not allowing 10 extra days to actually play the Canthan characters was primarily a financial reasoning, apparently. In 10 days, many more players could beat the game, and then never return. For a game that actually charges a monthly fee, that's catastrophic, because pay-to-play online games depend on that steady flow of incoming cash. The 15$ a month is critically important.

For a game like GW, however, you do not have 15$ a month coming in from players. Philosophically, it works out to cost the same, but realistically, GW makes its money up-front with each new chapter. As much as it's a cynical thing to say, one of the popular taglines is entirely true: "You can pay and then you don't have to play." We've seen players in Prophecies do that. Slowly but surely, they fizzle out of the game.

But that's after extended months of playing, and after the player pays that 50$ up-front, they don't matter anymore, basically, because the money has already been made, which is why pointing to financial concerns about players burning through the content, no matter if it's 3 or 10 days, is shortsighted. The money has already been made. There's already a profit, usually.

The players who drop 1 dollar or 10 dollars to gain access to the Head Start-type weekend events are usually never the returning customers in the first place. They're usually not returning customers, who will be buying the next chapter, and the next chapter, and so on. That's why they only do that quick hit and move on. They're not going to be the ones making money for the company.

The persistent players make the money for the company. And the persistent players are the ones who pre-order with the intent of staying around for a while. And those are the players who are getting the rug ripped out from under them here.

So some of them may burn through the PvE portion of the game in under a weekend. So what? They'll still be back for more, because they very likely are PvPers. lol.

So...does it really make sense to attribute the slamming this access break-point to a financial reasoning that may very well not exist if different actions are taken?

All that this is access break-point is doing, from what I can see, is alienating a lot of players. Yes, most of them are giving the Devs the benefit of the doubt (and I am, too), but the damaging implication has already been made: that instead of taking a possible hit to the finances now, and providing the persistent, long-term players with viable options instead of waiting around for what may amount to weeks in some areas just to play the game they pre-ordered...the servers will just get locked and thus ultimately risk losing future income.

That's basically what happened.

Those powergamer burn-outs won't be back, if the cut-off point was 3 days or 10 days. That's the entire point of being a powergamer burn-out.

The persistent players, however...are the lifeblood of GW, and enabling a longer playtime period would go a long way in mitigating those persistent players' frustrations, and in the longer-term, would help keep this game alive, because in addition to fixing the problem for future releases, they would also be able to guarantee that persistent players will have reason to stay.

If that didn't make sense, let me know. I'm really exhausted.

twicky_kid · May 03, 2006, 12:59 AM // 00:59

That did make since Siren and absolutely correct. Monthly fee games this kind of issue would have no affect. You pay or play the players understand that concept.

For this type of game that you pay for and cannot play that is where the problem lies for the long term players. My solution of selling future editions online only is perfectly within their control. You pay for the game they email the key and then ship you the game IF you choose to have a physical copy.

They say that age 13 and below are prohibited from playing the game (its on their box) but that is really the market they are trying to get to with retail. Not offering the players an ONLINE solution to an ONLINE game is just silly to me.

floplag · May 03, 2006, 02:21 AM // 02:21

edited out of anger

i do not recall seeing anything other than the notice that we would have till the 8th, and planned the purchase around that.. i do not recall seeing anything in reference to a "variable" period

musefanalert · May 03, 2006, 02:25 AM // 02:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Please understand why the Extended Head Start ended a few minutes ago: There are people who would abuse being given a large amount of time with access to the full retail game. There are those--you see them in this forum--who would "burn through" the game in a few days and never look back. We went above and beyond: We offered a Head Start, and then put forth an Extended Head Start that was even longer.

But at some point, painful as it might be, we had to close the servers to those who do not have a retail key. Allowing people to play 10 days on a pre-order that doesn't net us anything, that actually costs us money, would not be a wise business decision.

I don't have a CE. No one at ArenaNet has a CE. And yes, that's disappointing as heck! (You think it's bad wanting to play? Imagine helping to make the game and not being able to access it!

)

In all of this, and I know this might fall on a few deaf ears, there is a little brightness: We have learned about production, about shipping, and about how things can go awry. We have already made changes and will not be undertaking the same steps again. We'll also be well able to predict with greater accuracy the demand for Collector's Editions in the future. I know, again, that this is pale solace for a situation where you can't have the product that you're willing to buy! But do know that this should positively be the last time any of us have to deal with this again!

(And to those of you keeping your chin up and maintaining a positive attitude, thank you for that!)

i was just about to go into 12v12 with some of my guildies....
it was a good guesture to put in the grace period, but ofc, there are a small minority who decide to abuse it and ruin it for the rest of us. if anyone is/knows one of these people, make them feel ashamed for ruining things for the rest of us who are still waiting for our orders to come through

floplag · May 03, 2006, 02:37 AM // 02:37

of course there are those that would abuse ... but the point is simple, dont put 10 days and have people plan for it, then take it away cause you find some people that dont sleep and ruin it for the rest.

im glad some of you got to play, thanks for screwing the rest of us

im extremely upset at this

what they should have done is only allow pre-orders to get so far on the map... not screw those of us that have lives and budgets over for those that played 24/7 since last Wed

CyberNigma · May 03, 2006, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Yeah, I am thinking that she was referring tot he server load and bandwidth as far as costing them money. I hope it wasn't in terms of possible future sales. If that was the case, "ring...ring... the mpaa/riaa called and want you to stop using their patented reasoning system...". I doubt people who abused the pre-order system would've or will buy the game anyways, but it probably still takes up alot of bandwidth. I don't know how much of the load is on the client or server, but I imagine its enough to cost money. That might also mean that they may provided more pre-order kits/keys than they expected people to buy the game.

Oh well, Friday can't come soon enough (or tomorrow if I can't get Best Buy to tell me they'll have them - since their pre-orders are first come, first serve)... Anyhow, I think an online ordering system would be nice (not just the key, but the box as well) so that you could get the key while waiting for the box. Of course that's NCSoft's decision and not ANet's so we should peter Austin and whoever runs the Korean home offices.

Saider maul · May 03, 2006, 03:16 AM // 03:16

I feel for you all. But basically if you want action find someone with a screenshot of the info, get a petition going and file a class action suite.
I bought it not pre ordered. So i am unaffected. But I saw this to and will be witness to anyone having issues that it was indeed in writing that it was 10 days. Its not everones fault they can't get an item they baught because of shipping or it wasn't avalible for instore pickup. That is just wrong and the worst PR move anet has ever done. they compete with a superior MMO
( WOW ) and are free and then decide to piss off its patrons?
Sorry anet you have alot of appealing aspects but your morals do need a check. truely worse then corperate american cutthroat mentality here and i'm not even effected by this. I guess the pay to play goes to customer support.
here there is none.

CyberNigma · May 03, 2006, 03:28 AM // 03:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saider maul

I feel for you all. But basically if you want action find someone with a screenshot of the info, get a petition going and file a class action suite.
I bought it not pre ordered. So i am unaffected. But I saw this to and will be witness to anyone having issues that it was indeed in writing that it was 10 days. Its not everones fault they can't get an item they baught because of shipping or it wasn't avalible for instore pickup. That is just wrong and the worst PR move anet has ever done. they compete with a superior MMO
( WOW ) and are free and then decide to piss off its patrons?
Sorry anet you have alot of appealing aspects but your morals do need a check. truely worse then corperate american cutthroat mentality here and i'm not even effected by this. I guess the pay to play goes to customer support.
here there is none.

I'm affected (wish I had the CE right now, but I could get the regular), but I have to point out that NCSoft is the parent (probably represented by NCSoft America) and probably makes most of the decisions not related to detailed design. I think ANet did all they could. I feel confident that Gaile and the others at ANet went up to bat for us. NCSoft is a Korean-owned company, and having lived over there believe me when I tell you the culture is quite different. They just got sued, but it was for an entire different region. I think anyone going after ANet is just a bad idea. Besides, I doubt even near enough people were affected, and even then many of those probably don't see it to that extreme. lol, if I had an evil streak in me I'd say bombard NCSoft with e-mails or take it to Lord British (Garriot) if he's still heading up NCSoft America with his brother. He's always been known as a man of the people..

It's only a couple of days though until the shipment is out, so it's not so bad. If you want to play now, buy the regular one. I keep thinking about it, but it'd probably sting seeing the extras in-game from someone else afterwards (I just really want the physical stuff - art book and stuff). For mne, I'm increasing my Tyrian Exploration Track on my Tyrian (since my Canthan won't be maxing it, it doesn't matter lol). 95.5% and closing fast lol..

Enjoy :-) It's better to fume here I guess for those that need to.. Hopefully the other people won't antogonize you for it as they usually do..

Lirial · May 03, 2006, 03:33 AM // 03:33

Well I think this whole mess up is being handled in a very ineffective and in an insensitive manner by Arenanet to those of us who preordered the game, and the more expensive CE. A mistake I won't be making again. First of all they totally messed the preorder key in the first place, my bf and I didn't even get them, I had to hunt around till I finally got some help. So we ended missing the preview event. But we did end up getting them FINALLY.

In any event, we play this game to do something together, which we can no longer do b/c he ordered CE. So basically we both get punished now because we decided to splurge for CE. Plus I get to be called a potential abuser, without being given a chance to prove we preorder the game, which I can fax in my receipt. Plus as was pointed out before, this game doesn't even charge a monthly fee!!!! Does this not seem completely retarded? Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that they are losing money from people who want to play NOW so their ditching their preorder of CE for the SE.

I'm so glad Arenanet has so much faith in their product that they think people can blow right through it and never want to buy it, even though their relying on it's replay value for the sale of further expansions.

I feel sorry I ever recommended this game to my friends, I'm sorry they ever got into it, and I will be telling them about all this in my reasons why I will never do this again. If I hadn't already paid for my SE I don't think would have consider picking up my BF's CE.

I think the worst part of all is that as been pointed out, if I didn't buy any more expansion as my way of not supporting Arenanet anymore, no one would care since everyone is just going to put up with it. This won't change anything, but I really think Arenanet has sent me a message that they don't care about me as a customer, that I was a total loser for preordering.

I'm sorry I don't feel like understanding your business woes, maybe it's because your more worried about people you aren't even loyal to this game scamming you then offending the people who are.

betrunkenaffe · May 03, 2006, 03:41 AM // 03:41

This business decision that ArenaNet has decided to go with makes absolutely no sense. Gaile, do you not have any belief in the replayability of Factions? Is GW not a PvP game for the most part? It seems like you don't understand your own game and it's position.

Siren is absolutely correct that while you may "lose" the money of the psycho burn out players, they are by far in the minority. I think it is evidence enough that the players that are purchasing CE far outweight that minority, simply due to all the problems you are incurring with the release of CE. So instead of actually being a responsible company that displays that it wants to work with their players to resolve issues, it instead opts to protect it's own pocketbook from those that are abusive.

This is of course entirely the fault of poor planning on the part of ArenaNet, and I'm not even referring to the CE being delayed, I can live with that simply because I want the art book and I understand that global releases can cause issues of this nature. Selling off "pre-release keys" to those that are NOT purchasing the game itself is simply stupid, while you may make a quick buck, if you run into issues (such as you are) then anything you do to appease your fanbase will impact and benefit those that are undeserving.

No offense to those that think that players quitting will not hurt thier profit margin, I purchased CE, my GF and buddy both got RE. That's 160$, add to that the original purchase of GW (200$+) and we have provided A.Net with almost 400$. Chump change on a small scale but based on the massive number of people that are re-evaluating whether to purchase Factions and other expansions due to this fiasco and poor relations and that can add up. I know if we 3 quit and A.Net releases 3 more expansions, that's 500 bucks that A.Net would be guaranteed to lose. This isn't to mention the fact that I will not defend the game, company nor encourage people to purchase the game, in fact I will be doing the opposite whenever I get the chance. While that might seem petty, all companies ever seem to understand is their bottom line, as such I will impact it as much as possible, and word of mouth can hurt alot (or help alot). All this simply because they wanted to protect themselves from people that had no intention of purchasing the game in the first place. That is simply awesome logic A.Net, simply awesome.

I will never preorder an expansion nor a game from A.Net again and will not buy a Collector's Edition again simply because of how badly this has been handled. I won't state that I won't purchase the game although at this stage I am tempted of completely deleting GW and tossing the CD's in a dark closet. I was never of the belief that they would be extending the game due to the wording (I was told so by someone else, how foolish of me to believe a company might actually take responsiblity for their actions) so those that were deceived simply read into what was posted as it really was quite clear.

Kudos A.Net, you guys need to fire whoever made this blunder (to shut down those with prerelease keys) since it is an exceptionally poor business decision. You were using the most elegant system for dealing with the CE postponements with integrity and respect for those that are fans of GW.

All that being said, we bitch because we care but you guys have really disappointmented me and I am definately looking at re-evaluating if I want CE anymore simply because I don't believe your company deserves the 20$ that I would be putting into it.

CyberNigma · May 03, 2006, 03:45 AM // 03:45

I say this because both of them sell the pre-order kit separately (offering a discount on the final product, at least in Best Buy's case). I got mine from Best Buy for 10 dollars, and they don't require a payment for the full game. I would suggest not doing business with them in the future. Do business with companies that require you pay the full price for a pre-order, thereby knoiwing that those people have paid up-front for their game (and will not feel bad about providing access to them until it is available).

Best Buy and Amazon both provide indirect support to abusers (and are partially to blame)..

How's that :-)

Saider maul · May 03, 2006, 03:49 AM // 03:49

i dont condone going after but in light of the truth i will witness.
and this is a piss poor PR move. These are patrons who came back for more only to be slapped in the face.
Remember i am on the outside looking in. I pride myself on neutral and fully evaluated opinions.
What was done to these people was just wrong. Horribly wrong.
It should be reversed or refunded right away.

On a lighter not I dont know if the person in charge of skills should be examined for bi-polar or be shot.lol
in some cases great job 2 minutes later in a different class and your going WTF. some truely stupid skills.