Ultimate n00b; access key?

I just now bought Guild Wars: Game of the year Edition.

Outstanding.

I obviously have an Access Key somewhere, but where do I find it?

I have this "Access Key Card"

But it says the following:

This secure Access Key Card contains your Guild Wars access key. Do not throw this card away! Your access key is your proof of ownership, and you will need it to obtain customer support or prove that you own your account.

To use your access key, launch Guild wars and follow the instructions on the login screen. If you need help, please visit our Knowledge Base at http://support.guildwars.com, where you can view a list of frequently asked questions or submit your own using the Ask A Question tab.

Now i followed the instructions, which lead me to nowhere. i then checked that website...which...led me to also nowhere as there was nothing in the FAQ about access keys so far as I could tell.

I mean it says all these things but there is no actual access key. How do I get my access key?

Is there a grey area?
You need to scratch it to reveal the key.

Use a coin.

Oh really? Where do I scratch? Anywhere? The whole thing?

The entirety of the gray area. It'll reveal a 20? 24? digit code and that's your access key.

Well the problem is, it looks like the entire thing is black =(

there should be a grey patch on the inside of the cd case or somewere like that..use a coin to reveal you're key, make sure to scratch it all off so you see the whole code, when I bought eotn I did not scratch it all off, and I got frustrated because it said it was invalid until I noticed that the I was actually an L that was covered with some grey patch I had not scratched off :P

Flip it over?
On the plastic, credit-card sized card there will be a scratchable area.

It's not a plastic credit card. It's a sheet of thin paper, with the exact same words, the ones i described above written on both sides, with no grey areas. It's just black paper. It's similar to carbon paper I guess?

Ah, ok you appear to be one of the unlucky few that got a copy of the game without an access key.
There should have been a plastic card attached to that piece of paper with your key on it.
I believe you’re going to need to contact Anet support with your receipt + any other proof of purchase because I doubt you’ll get a refund from the store.

Try grab a coin and gently see if the black area can be scratched off I suppose-- ... I did not buy the game of the year edition so I don't know if it's different, all I know is when I bought my guildwars package there was a grey scratch off area inside the cd case :P

My original access key was printed on some card. Check to see if there are any tearable edges on the paper in case it opens up.

Are you kidding me? I just got screwed out of 30 bucks for a game I can't play? That's outstanding. I mean it was even a sealed game.

if i remember correctly there is tear off sides on the black and on the inside will be the number or sets of numbers. the first games had the scratch off but after wards they changed for the goty edition it isnt scratch but has detachable sides and the number is inside

Oh, hey milk was right. it was an envelope!

Good point. My buddy key was like that.

But sometimes ANet doesnt package the key with the game.

Ah ok, sorry for alarming you then lol

I was hesitant to tear it, because I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, and I didn't want to mess up the package, so they'd be like "oh now it's screwed up, you tore that paper!" if i tried to return it.

Well.. it is perforated for a reason..