Early Retail Release in Your Area?

I'd like to have it early. I know that it won't go live till the 31st. That's fine. What I want is to have it early (and my preorder is already paid in full), so I can install it so that the instant the clock ticks over on the 31st I can get on and play, rather than sit around waiting for areas to load in. Especially with the undoubtedly heavy traffic thats bound to happen.

I agree that storing the card information and charging at the time of release is impractical, and a very bad idea. However, selling the full retail version in advance should not be an issue - we pay for it now, it becomes active the time of release. All you would need to do is make it clear on the description that it will not activate until the 31st.

Uhhh.. Gaile, a question. (well, not really I guess)

I just called a gamestop around here, they said they won't be getting them in stock until the 1st of September. Even for people who have it reserved.

It's just a day later, but that's really not cool. I hate getting behind friends/guildies/everyone else in a game like this..

The in-game store will be swamped if everyone trys getting this at midnight when it goes live. Better ice down those servers so they don't burn up.

I honestly have no problem using the store and being charged for it and having it activated on the release date. I don't see the problem in that.

I wonder if they're checking to see how widespread it is to determine whether they should let people start buying GWEN in the online store.

I was told by gamestop that I would be able to pick up my copy on the 29th. Of course if ANET says it won't be live until the 31st, then I would wait and not send nasty emails to them

Personally i'd be willing to pay for the entire game online at preorder (or even a few days early) Ive seen many mmo's release the box 2-3 days early. Currently i usually have to wait on gw updates and that is never fun for a late worker like me (i end up not playing til 2 days after release)... Another idea would be having the GWstore copy avail thursday night... The last idea ive seen is a 3 day "grace period(read trial)" on preorders. So i can play and lose the content after 3 days - usually plenty to get a copy.

We all know the online store is gonna have problems for people
same as last time.
PLEASE let us pay for it even 1 day ahead to take some strain off it.
I got the prerelese just need to pay the rest and if it's 1 or 2 days before
actual PLAY time I am quite happy to do so and pay.

You guys at Anet need to start selling this game in the online store at least 72 hours before the release to avoid the possible mayhem that might occur with everyone attempting to purchase at the stroke of midnight.

You think that you've gotten nasty emails now? Wait til a few hundred thousand people cant purchase the game because your merchant accounts servers cant handle the load.

I dont think anyone will object to purchasing their game code now so it's ready to go on the 31st.

Make it happen Anet... make it happen!

My local Gamestop has said they would be getting the game, on Tuesday. They didn't specifically say they would sell it. I personally would love to be able to get the copy and /image it all before 12:01 Pac. I, of course; understand that the game wouldn't be live until friday. I'm also confident in my local shop at being informative to anyone making the purchase.

We understand that you would like to buy now. I only wish you could! I've begged and pleaded about this, honestly, but the fact is, we just cannot do it, for business reasons. "Business reasons" isn't a fun thing to tell you, and I know it doesn't set well, but it's a truthful reason.

We cannot sell the game in advance of our own shelf date. That would really anger our retail partners and let's be honest, we need retail partners, they need us, and we have to treat each other well.

Of course, the fact that some of them are breaking shelf date is the whole reason that I started this thread, because if we're taking the hit for holding on sales early, they absolutely should do the same. You know -- mutual respect?

We have people working fulltime on several aspects of the in-game and PlayNC store to assure that everything connected with the purchase process is topnotch. I mean that truly we are putting extraordinary resources into the programming now, to avoid problems at the end of the week.

Yes, the servers will be busy. That's why our team was working on this last week, is working on this this week, and in fact has been working on this for a while, so that we can use every care to prevent your having any issues with making a purchase.

If there is a glitch, there will be people on duty at ArenaNet and working on it around the clock. We won't launch and then go home for the weekend, be sure of it!

The Support Teams at NCsoft will be working, even odd hours, to handle any individual issues that arise.

I don't know what else to say except that we'll always do the best that we can and we're very happy that so many of you have supported the in-game store with your purchases!

If your not going to make it available early, are you going to let people with a pre-order play GW:EN for a bit after it goes live so that they don't all rush the store at once ?

There is no mechanic for allowing that, I'm sorry.

Yes, I would like this option to prepurchase because there is NO WAY I am going anywhere near the online store servers until the rush is over. I would probably wait until Sunday or Monday to avoid the rush. Or maybe longer. Same way I did with the pre-release key.

Regarding forgetting about prepaid, I have a memory like a goldfish. So if I managed to forget in the course of the next four days that I prepurchased the game which is coming out on Friday, three things will happen:

a) if I see my credit card statement before then, it will remind me that I purchased the game
b) when I log onto Guild Wars once the game is open to me, there will be something to tell me so. I was away during the sneak preview weekend so only managed to get about forty minutes of it and only two characters have had a brief look-in.
c) When I go to the online store to buy the game, it will tell me I already own it. I will remember that pre-purchase is available, and may try to pre-urchase it again.

In any case my husband would pre-purchase it as well and he would tell me I already own it!

Edit: I would guess people who bought the pre-release from the online store would buy the game from the online store in order to get the pre-release purchase price credited against it. If pre-purchase is an option only to people who bought the pre-release, this should not offend your retail partners because they wouldn't get those sales in any case. And you could give them the option to treat their pre-release customers as favourably.

Edit again: I just popped into the online store and noticed that the pre-release pack is called pre-order. It's not a pre-order. A pre-order is when you order the full game and pay for it in advance. You still only get it on the day of release.
Would that solve the sales problem?

I understand what your saying from a business prospective Gaile. I will even state that A-net technical service is better then Steam’s, EA’s, 2K’s, Blizzard’s, and so on. You keep the client up and running 24/7 and even with the new updates having some problems; you are quick to alter the major issues. The possibility of things going bad with the servers, when EotN goes live to me is at a low 30% ratio.

At this point you should be starting to feel the effects of having hundreds (if not a million) of people coming on the servers; which is causing certain latency problems of late. These occurrences have happened at the Dragon Festival or the Pre-order problem that ends up popping up non to recently. I notice though it was not quite as bad with the preview of EotN.

However I will site what end up happening with Bioshock, with there huge server mess in certain places. Since there is a slight possibility of this happening, I will state the inevitable fact of what will happen to this effect. You are going to hear many of your customers use very hostile and negative means; to conjure up the quarry of why they did not have accesses the first day it went live. If there are server problems on the first day it goes live.

When I picked up my Nightfall CE awhile back on my birthday, I knew that it would be awhile before it went live. Nevertheless I was happy I had it in my hands (the whole physical box thing), knowing that all I had to do was enter the key and wait. However I find the reason why you did not have that much of a problem then, was because it came from retail key that were being entered in before the game went live. Many people were not spiking the server (via key code) when Nightfall and Factions went live.

Now in the defense of the retailer; I feel that if one of them gets singled out then it won’t the huge business tycoons that run the business. It will be the retail handlers who never got the memo, “don’t sell before August 31.” Even then you ask the question to these people, most of them will not tell you the details how they got the game (sure some will blab).

Currently I am on the fence about this issue, but I will say if it comes in early either online store or retail I will pick it up. First come, first serve; that’s just business for you.

So basically this thread is anet wanting to know who's selling the game early so then they can try to keep the retail buyers out in the cold longer than those that use the in-game store?

Then all the retailers QQ that the in-game store has a competitive advantage. You can't piss off the retailers, otherwise you won't get the random "that looks cool" sales and your sales suffer.

My local EB in Sydney said they hadn't even confirmed the game would be delivered by this Friday let alone on shelves. Wish we could catch the early release disease instead. Hopefully it's just that store..

This "mutual respect" stuff is not really convincing, Gaile.

First, people cannot play before GW:EN goes live anyways. Will they be angry? Maybe, but as GW:EN is a pure expansion they might be much angrier when they find out they need another GW chapter to play it. And those who bought the Platinum Edition could at least play Prophecies.

Someone name me one good retailer who does not ship on WEDNESDAY when the game goes live on Friday. They also won't turn you a cold shoulder if you ask for the game in store on Thursday either.

I would call this customer service, and not "being unfair to ANet and all other retailers".


The truth is you fear more people might buy it earlier and not over the online store where you make more profit.


As if the bonus pack would not be already an incentive to do so... but most of my friends 1. do not have a credit card and 2. still have no alternative form of payment for the store.

I am pretty sure ANet would have made more money if they could have convinced NCSoft to add more payment options to their online store than by this question "who sold GW:EN before release". You cannot really bully them at all, and as you wrote, this was never your intention.

I do not see this mutual respect thing, after all you are not "fair" to your retailers either, which do not get the bonus of a promotional bonus pack, which really asks people for rather buying online.

Relax... those who can buy online, will buy online. Just to get the PBP.


I just wonder if the shop can manage the flood of people buying 1 minute after midnight. Let people buy 1 day ahead.

There is no problem in enabling the key / GWEN access at a set date, I read all the answers of yours and still wonder why it should be a technical or legal problem at all.

Apparantly my store is releasing it a bit late....( this is 1st of October )
http://www.fnac.be/nl/Catalog/Detail...oduct=10131532

There isn't ?

I remember that the Factions pre-order allowed us to play for a few days after the Factions retail went live. It was even extended due to delays in getting the CE to some countries. All I'm asking for is for that to be done again.

So I don't understand how you have lost the capability to do that.

Gaile .... should I attempt to buy GWEN at 3:00 AM (eastern) from the in-game store and get stuck in the 'mad rush', or wait until Tuesday, which is when stores in my area put new games on the shelf? I purchased the pre-release online a week ahead of time. Now you are telling me I can't do the same with the full release. I'm sorry, but I just don't comprehend.

The problem is, I went into the Inverness branch of GAME last year to buy the pre-order pack for Nightfall...I couldn't see it on the shelves and when I asked if they had it in stock I was told "What is Guild Wars?". I don't hold out much hope for staff knowing what date the game goes live if they haven't even heard of it. (despite the previous games were sat right there on the shelf).

Same at my GAME store, but after I explained what it was he happily went in the back and got the full NF game for me 3 days before it went live.

After speaking to someone I know at the GAME store Victoria Centre, Nottingham they will sell the game tomorrow (Wednesday) evening and all of Thursday. They won't bother telling people its not live yet to play, only that its an expansion and you need an original Guild Wars game to play it.

Gamestop in my area will have it tomorrow.

When will the game become purchasable in the online store? Hoping it's thursday so I can just login and go when it goes live (And of course, have the bonus pack secured)

Thanks for pulling for us on this one Gail. I guess if Jeff says its not "business possible" we will just have to wait untill release. I plan on purchasing from the online store around the crack of dawn here in CST. That "early bird" hour seems to be pretty slow. Most the "night owls" are off to bed and the "normal" people are not up yet.

ok so people who preordered from anet will get access to EOTN later then some people who simply went into a shop and bought it early, and I didnt mention ANET charges more and doesnt give u a box. gg Anet LOL. + no doubt all this online store "preparation" will fail, as is the case in 99% of Anets update. Infact since they are making preparations they probably broken something along the way and all of us will have our credit card details stolen. All hope is lost. Abort mission.

Quite the opposite for me. Preordered 2 copies of GW:EN from Amazon UK and they wont even begin dispatch until the 3rd September with delivery estimated around the 6th.

I've bought ALL my GuildWars releases at least 2 days in advance up to now, will have to check out tomorrow if GW:EN is being sold aswell.

The store I buy my GuildWars copies from: Free Record Shop (Netherlands)

It would be nice to know at what time GW:EN comes out, so I can buy it in the online store before the Bonus Mission Pack expires. If it does expire I'll buy the game in the shop for the box...

From the GW site:
"Spend a total of $29 USD (...) between Noon Pacific Time July 5, 2007 and Noon Pacific Time October 31, 2007."

Do you honestly think that the online store won't sell the game before October 31?

My local store hasnt sold it yet

if anet make any more addons to GW (whish i really hope they do) could ye release a week before it goes live?

as to make sure anyone who wants to buy retail can

We have not "lost" the capability, we have chosen to offer a different type of event: A sneak peek weekend instead of early access. The game is not coded to let people have both, we do not choose to offer both, and instead chose the former rather than the latter.

Have you read this thread? If not, I invite you to do so. No one will have access until we grant it -- 12:01 AM Pacific time on August 31st. Which is when the game is available in the in-game store. Therefore, someone can buy the game, clutch the game box close to him for a day or two, even sleep with it under his pillow, but he ain't playin' until August 31st at one minute past Midnight, Pacific Time.

Tell me you're joking. Visit www.guildwars.com. The time and date is given in about 50 places, and there's even a count-down counter which applies to both sales in the in-game store and launch of the game.

People are actually going to buy this latest chapter? I imagine it will be only pve players doing it since most hardcore pvp players have moved on long ago.

I am curious are there any pvp players that intend to buy this game that started pvp from the original release? And by pvp players I don't mean RA.

Did you pick super saver delivery? If so it says that it'll take up to a week longer to send, I ignore that now, I imagine it'll be sent middle of this week sometime, if I have to wait until 3rd of september for dispatch I'll have already bought it elsewhere.

1. It is not a chapter, it is an expansion.

2. The expansion is in fact aimed at more of a PvE audiance.

3. What evidance do you have to support your claim that "most hardcore pvp players have moved on long ago"? Because the activity of the HoH, Daily Tournments, GvG and the recent 100k Tournment would seem to suggests otherwise.

4. If your so high and mighty that you have moved on from this game, why havent you moved on from this forum?

You're kidding right? How many minutes would it take your account programmer to code in allowing the sneak peak weekend keys access for another say 12 hours beginning at midnight on Friday?

That being said, I'm putting my faith in you and your group that you know what you are doing. I plan on purchasing in the online store at midnight. I cant express in words how pissed I will be if your store servers crash due to overload. No, it wont be everyone else's fault, it will be squarely on your team's shoulders.

The overload is simple to avoid, allow the sneak peak keys to work for a few hours so there isn't a mad rush at midnight, or allow the purchase early. I think the vast majority of players planning on buying it through the store know that it begins at midnight on Friday and wouldn't expect earlier access just because they've paid for it. Have a little faith in the intelligence of your audience.

Gaile just faced so many paranoid newbies with this.

What I think the lady was trying to say was that you got one or the other.
Its like when your mum says you can have one or the other.

I picked first class in the hope of getting the two ASAP as Amazon usually dispatches a day or so early with pre orders but still, mine says 3rd sept dispatch. Probably due to it being a friday release? Im guessing you'll only get it on the day of release if you pay for the express delivery (£7+).