Discontinuing support for older versions of Windows

Why? Guild Wars is a popular title and popular titles can last a very long time, Everquest being a good example.

/facepalm

Chances are very high that at the point at which ANet/NCSoft decided to no longer support earlier OSs, they began printing labels and shipping them out to retailers and distributors along with instructions to place those labels on any remaining stock they have which has packaging that states the game will run on the old OS.

That's how this is usually handled.

If the retailer fails to do this, they are where the customer is going to be directed to turn for a refund. ANet/NCSoft will have done what is required of them... and it is then up to the retailer to uphold their end of the distribution agreement. Most will - big box shops, Gamestop, Amazon, etc. They're all intimately familiar with this practice and end up doing this with many products over their history.

If you've bought the game at some Mom & Pop Party Store who bought it off a guy who "found" it when it "fell off a truck..." Yeah, you're going to be S.O.L. and no, ANet/NCSoft are not actually required to "do" anything for you.

A lot of people in this thread are acting like this is some new/unusual situation and havoc will reign. It's not. This goes on CONSTANTLY with software. There is a well-trod path already established when it comes to this sort of thing... and the legal precedents are already firmly set.

Off course it is. Just like saying Anet isn't delivering a service. They have delivered it for years, they will keep it up, they're changing how their service is delivered and they are advertising changes in advance with a desclaimer.

It's much needed when you keep repeating the same arguments, which seriously lack common sense. Like:

So, let's ignore the fact you're still comparing material goods like books to services, and keep it simple.

If you buy a copy of Guild Wars you can expect to be able to play it. Simple as that.

- You either meet the 2012 system requirements for the game.
- Or you don't. If you're buying NOW, Anet is warning you. If you bought the game before, you had your service for months by the time the game stops working.

So, really, what are you even talking about?

Assuming people are not pretending the desclaimer isn't there and purchase it today, by the time the game stops working, they'll have had plenty of time to do this. Then, they could always update their system as suggested and keep the service running.

Just don't ignore desclaimers while running an ancient system. Nor expect refunds based on your personal expectations on the duration over time of the service you received, when you volountarily gimp yourself.

Sure, they can't be sold without permission. Boxes will likely be withdrawn from the market, or a sticker to update system-requirements will be placed on the box if they're that recent.

Don't know about your country, but the only boxed game available since 2009 is Trilogy here, which doesn't mention 9x in the system requirements anyway.

The very same site has the very same desclaimer posted on Page 1 of this thread clearly visible on the main page.

Still, nice how you skipped this part of my previous post:

Same with the Official Website - which is due for a makeover in the next few weeks and I'm pretty sure they'll get rid of the outdated text by then.

Let that day come. If by then they haven't done all they could to prevent troubles to people running 9x willing to purchase the game in these few months, then this whole debate will make sense.

Right now, looks like you're just making much fuss about nothing.

So Gill you're saying that you would be 100% fine with it if you had paid for GW tomorrow, started playing it and only got 3 months of gameplay out of it before your ability to play it was disabled completely?

I find that hard to believe...

It bothers me that the game is going to be unplayable for people on these systems. I completely understand discontinuing support and telling people they are on their own if there are problems with gameplay that people are reporting that could be linked to the outdated OS, but to take the game off them completely? That's not exactly fair.

No, they are selling it now, with Win98 as requirement on the box, in a recent edition, so if they stop Win98 support without changing the box they will not have delivered the service for the people who only buy it now, or in two months.

Except for you it does not matter that you have been playing it for seven years. Can you not think beyond your own self?




Great, you are getting it.

No they aren't, the old, 2005 requirements are on the box and they are still on their site.


Not everybody reads GWGuru - in fact, it's rather quiet here. It doesn't even matterm what is on the box has to be in line whith what you get


They haven't yet and it's a bit late to do so now.

Seen a website that claimed a release date for the relrelase of november 3 2011


Lol, yeah that is true, I was looking for the requirement. Would be nice if they updated those.

It doesn't matter what some digital outlets list, if you buy it in the store you won't read, if you buy it from another digital outlet you still will not see them. Every outlet should be updated, and way more then two months in advance.

That is a bit late, two months to go before they unplug Win32, that's not enough to count as a full delivery of service.

I am not, you posted a piece of text that wasn't relevant and you've posted a lot of text to avoid having to directly admit as much.

I know it won't work on a 9x system in a 2 months time, so If I had a system that didn't meet the minimum systerm requirements for 2012, I simply wouldn't buy it today or tomorrow.

That desclaimer serves this purpose, but this isn't really the case discussed here.

They were warned in advance and Anet MUST update the boxes.

People buying from now on are informed and they can't blame Anet for not reading disclaimers.

With a big, bolded desclaimer warning people support for 9x will be terminated, on the very homepage.

It's even mentioned in the announcement by Stephane they'll be updating the system requirements on the site.

See above. Or here. You don't have to even get to Guru to be informed.

We can safely assume you visited all retailers and can guarantee these boxes are still on the shelves, untouched, as we talk.

Product withdrawal is a process that takes time, and usually public announcement like this are the last part of the process. I really hope for Anet they have already instructed retailers.

In the meanwhile, did I mention they have placed a disclaimer pretty much everywhere they could?

They will, right now they have a temporary warning, also @ login, so you can't even miss it if you, like, get a trial today and get excited about the game.

You can say they haven't yet for sure? Just asking. I mean, boxed GW games aren't sold in my country anymore, only Trilogy left (and for a short period of time) and Trilogy only mentioned 2000/XP here. Got it in November last year, so this could be a 2011 reprint. Which leads me to believe they have updated boxes already.

Digital delivery sites were likely warned too, now it's their responsibility to update their information.

Well, maybe. EULA says it is, but still, those can ask for refunds if they like.

The only people entitled to ask for refunds are those stuck on a 9x system buying the game shortly before the announcement. If those even exist.

Still, I believe this process has been ongoing for way longer than you think. They surely haven't taken this decision the very day they put that disclaimer online.

Com'on, you are. You're just arguing over a matter of principle, while you know chances of people on 9x buying Guild Wars TODAY are pretty slim anyway.

So, let's assume Anet is actually negligent and still hasn't instructed retailers and digital delivery channels about their decision. You seem to be pretty sure about that.

Will they have to refund people? Yes, since they're selling a product with misleading/fraudulent indications.

Is this the case? We don't know yet, so please, don't jump the gun.

You're assuming though Gill that someone would have already read that warning on the GW website before going into a store and purchasing it and also that the store has been quick to use replacement stickers or whatever ANet has arranged.

While it is far-fetched at this stage in OS development, the point still stands...if you walked into a store and bought a game and then 2-3 months later suddenly you couldn't play it anymore because your ability had been revoked not through a ToS violation but through the devs shifting the goalposts, you'd be pretty unhappy and wouldn't feel like you got your money's worth.

In both cases, Anet is not to blame: ignorance is not an excuse, and - as I said multiple times already - if anything went wrong with whatever Anet has arranged, it's the retailer who's supposed to refund (and likely will)

That's how it's handled, and that's all that snippet was meant for. Not that I find it just or anything, it's just how it works.

Since they can't guarantee perpetual support and ongoing service, they need to cover it with clauses such as limitation of liability. Abuses of this clause are off course regulated, but I think it will be hard for customers to obtain refunds from Anet when they have an informative campaign going on most official sources and they can just cover it with the EULA. I also think they really have little to nothing to worry about: 9x users are currently the 0.05% of the whole userbase, I find it hard for more to join in the imminent future. That's why I believe this is much fuss about nothing.

Whatever. So, looks like you can bring many examples of misleading boxes for sale. As I said, that's not my case: all boxes available in my country are shiny, new Trilogy editions with no mention of 9x support. Steam, which I used to think was the only digital delivery channel allowed to sell GW, also has updated requirements.

Go on, there's a thread about this on the Official Support Forum.

Just report their slow intervention about this issue. That's the best thing you can do if you really care.

Apologies for the necromancy.

It's now 17th of June and I'm still able to play GW on my Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Was there supposed to be a recent update with some new features on Thrusday? Has it been delayed/postponed?

From my interpretation of the OP, GW will no longer work on the listed operating systems rather than "we will no longer provide technical support or consideration for these OSs."

As far as I understand it they have never stated that the game won't run on said OS, only that they won't work to SUPPORT said OS.

Unless they have a major change to the engine of the game coming there is no reason why people wouldn't be able to keep playing.

Someone (Stefàne?) confirmed that GW won't work anymore on 9x platforms.

Thats because the Spectrum doesnt run with Windows. The magnetic audiotape recorder storage runs with a different OS .

Edit: I can therefore personally guarantee that Guild wars 1 and 2 will run just the same after the update as they did before on the ZX Spectrum (The HD Graphics setting might cause a problem though if you select them while in 16 colour mode).

For as long as games have been played on the internet, I have never even heard of a game suddenly not being able to function on an older OS that it already functioned on.

Even if they made changes that big, it doesn't guarantee that it would stop working, and even if it did, people would find ways to fix it.

As far as the legal stuff goes...no. Just no. Its 2012. They can do just about anything they want, and there isn't a thing you can do about it other then *maybe* getting a refund. It boggles my mind that people still think they understand how the law works and be completely wrong.