Pre-order period is too short (submitted as issue to support)

Today I submitted the following issue to support (note the link to their previous answer):

I just wanted to bring this up somewhere public, since I imagine I'm not the only one in this boat. Sure, maybe I made a mistake to get it shipped, but I thought the pre-order would take care of that. It seems to me ArenaNet could easily extend the Pre-order period up to a week without any real harm, which would keep anyone who is getting a shipped pre-order from getting screwed over (essentially).

Anyone know if these places ever actually ship early (so I'll have Factions in hand by the 27/28), and I'm complaining for no reason?

depends on how you shipped it and if they get it in time themselves.

the preorder time is only 24 hours on the 27th.

there is another 24 hour grace period on the 28th to input a retail key.

Gamestop last year had my copy in my hands on the 26th with 2nd day shipping

They had better have it available on like the 26th. I'm going to go crazy if I can't pick it up. Meh.

Hmm. I got three day shipping. But it is impressive and hope-inspiring to see that they got it to you before the official release date last year.

There is no way they are going to give people a week off a key you can buy for $5 online, and people that have JUST this are going to stay up and blow through the game. No offence, but you can't complain because you got 3-day shipping. Should have gotten overnight if this is high-priority to you.

Last year they gave us 24 hour grace, which was enough for everyone who bought it for a store. Online will always be slower and have a few days of not being able to play.

not always as i got mine from Gamestop online and it was in my hands on the 26th

The pre-order had a 14-day trial key if I remember correctly. I can't remember if it was for prophecies or factions. You could always try that.

that was for GW:P

OK. Maybe I've screwed myself. I guess I didn't worry about it because my experience has traditionally been that retailers often don't even ship games on the day of the release, so it wouldn't matter. At the time, I also had (incorrectly, I understand, my fault) assumed that this was part of the point of pre-ordering at all and having the pre-order key -- to cover the time of shipping. Obviously, I was very, very wrong.

I don't really agree that they can't possibly give someone a week for $5. I mean, who cares if they stay up and blow through the game in a week? One week for $5 seems fair when so far they've given one year (and more to come) for $40 for the original game. Why would this possibly be a problem? Seriously, I think ANet and NCSoft are basically just being jerks if they don't extend it. It's at little to no cost to them (since they are already running servers), and any more time they let people play, within reason, probably just increases the chance the person will buy it.

Sure, a few maniacs might blow through the game in a week, but most people aren't that insane, and won't get that many hours in. Heck, I might take a day off of work at the start, but I'm surely not going to finish all PvE during that time.

It is odd that you wont get the game(Full Version) slightly before release date.I have preordered games from other companies and that was the benefit of preordering.
To be truthful I didnt even think about that.Probably because I assumed that
it would be like other games.I have 2 day shipping so I not really upset by it.Just thought it was a bit odd.Actually for those of us out in the sticks the shipping is cheaper than the gas it would take to get it..) oh well

instead of a flame i will give you the real answer.

every single person puts a tiny bit of load on the system.

there might be 1 million extra leeches getting preorders if they knew they were getting a 5 day unlimited pass.

as a comparison the free trial is for only 14 days or 10? hours of play whichever comes first

they do not want to have all the chapter 1 people PLUS all the new Factions people PLUS up to a million freeloaders laging the system to make the game launch lousy.

here is the thing, anet is being pretty nice already giving yu 48 hours without having the game, any more then that and they would get screwd. think about it. imagine alot of people pre order the game to check it out. if they ahd more time to play, then they might be able to bet the game, now if they beat the game before they pay full price, who is to say they wont just skip buying the game, and wait till the price lowers? that would screw anet over.

for the most part, anyone who wanted teh game bad enough they would pre order it just sto play early, would probably also be geetting the game on the 28.

Its your problem for ordering online, and its your problem for doing 3 day shipping, not anets, you cant blame them for how you chose to buy the game.

I think this came from the delay in the CE, which may hit stores as well as online deliveries and people having to choose between being barred from the game for a week or buying a new copy and then adding the CE key later at great expense,

Sigh, I suppose I should know better than to have an opinion on the Internet.

First of all, they aren't giving me 48 hours without having the game. I friggin bought the game, as I presume nearly all people who bothered to get the pre-order key did. Sure, a few people might not have, but that number of people must be an incredibly small amount of people. The number of people they are expecting to play is going to be roughly the number of pre-orders, even after the pre-order period.

Yes, it's nice to get the one day advance. That's a nice reward for people who are helping out ArenaNet and NCSoft by preordering (which is surely just good for them financially and logistically).

I think that idea is crazy, and that situation is extremely unlikely. How many people do you think will beat Factions in the first week and then decide they don't want to play it anymore? That's fairly absurd, and even if a tiny number of people do that, so what? Sure, players have had a year to figure out Prophecies, but I still think it's a challenge to play through all the PvE content within a week. (Reaching ascension is different, and probably only requires playing through about 5% of the PvE content.) Possible, presuming you don't sleep, and know exactly what you are doing -- which means you've already played through all the PvE content. By definition, that's not what is going on here.

Even if a few insane players "beat" PvE, that would NOT screw ANet over compared to the number of people who will buy it instead. And the kind of people who like Guild Wars enough to play for a week solid are pretty likely to buy it, don't you think?

Er. Well, I guess I must be the only person who pre-ordered online, then.

Uh. Did I blame them? Why is it a matter of blame? In the part of what I said that was quoted, I started off by saying maybe I screwed myself. But I doubt I'm the only one.

I see an issue that affects some number of Guild Wars players. Neither I nor ArenaNet probably know exactly how many, but obviously they will have a better idea than I will. However, I still just can't see much harm coming to ArenaNet by extending the pre-order period for a short period of time.

First of all, if "1 million extra leeches" bought the pre-order key (which was not freely available for any schmoe who wanted it), that would mean a lot more money in NCSoft's pockets. Yes, it's more load on their system. But they got money off of it.

Second, they know exactly how many keys they made. I doubt there *are* a million pre-order keys in existence.

The final statement quoted has factual and implied errors.

The Chapter 1 people are irrelevant. They are already supporting them, and have been for a while. The new Factions people are *also* already going to be supported, no matter what, and they have pre-orders to thank for knowing how many people will be showing up. Furthermore, most of the Chapter 1 people ARE the Factions people, and they know that because they accounts become linked together; at any rate it's far more than All Old + All New. And, of course, there aren't a million freeloaders, and they know that because they didn't make a million pre-order keys.

Anyway, I will try to shut up and not debate minor points. This is what happens when I'm away from forums for a while -- I forget how to shut up.

I obviously like Guild Wars a great deal and support ArenaNet. No one needs to defend them from me; I try to get other people to play and buy Guild Wars whenever possible. I merely want to play Factions starting from when it comes out and not instead be frustrated with The System.

I stand by my original beliefs that it would help many Guild Wars fans to extend the pre-order period, and do very little hard to ANet. If I'm wrong, because ANet knows better than I do, then I'll find out when I'm frustrated later. I'm sorry people stop at thinking I'm an idiot and have wasted everyone else's time.

Even with 3 day shipping you will most likely receive the game prior to the end of your preorder key's expiration.

Online retailers generally get their stock before the release date with the orders to ship the items to arrive on the release date or as close to possible. This is not new or different from the thousands of other preorders online across every genre of videogames - the manufacturers get the product to the retailer with the express instructions to not shelve prior to release.

Every online preorder I have ever purchased, I have received on or before the actual release date you could purchase the item in the same store.

Did I make fun of your opinion? No, I explained why things are this way.

You don’t seem to get that you have not "bought" the game yet, you have preordered. You do not own the game till release. Now, the store you ordered form may have taken your money (if so never order from that place again, you aren’t to be charged till its released) then that’s what they did, not anet.

i would also not say that most people have paid for the game, if you walk into the store and pre order then you only are putting 5-10 bucks down for them to hold it, until you come and buy it. again, in this time period, you do not own the game, nor does the store own your money (you can go and get it back), you just have a slip saying they are saving a copy for you and that you put money on it. Also, I have seen stores hand out pre order packs like candy to anyone who asked for it. So overall, no noone that has pre orderd owns the game yet.

Also, If you don’t think people would go through the game and beat it that fast, then you are new to the internet and gameing in general. not everyone is honest. Also, during the first beta there where people who got through the game right away during free weekend, that’s how we got maps and armor pics so early for chapter 1.

And if you are so uppity about opinions then why are you getting all angry, did I not put my 2 cents in just like you did? if you did not want a serious answer then why did you post at all?

Actually you can at least partially blame Anet - for releasing the game on a Friday as here in the UK there's no guaranteed delivery for a Saturday unless you pay an extortionate amount for courior delivery IF it's offered and not everywhere does especially for low cost items like games, so unless it is shipped early it's unlikely to arrive till the Monday. Furthermore not everyone has the option to go and buy the game in a shop on the day of release - here for example, it would cost me £8 and at least 5 hours to travel to the nearest store and back if I was able, which I'm not due to illness/disability.

Lets see, add a few more days to the preorder keys to help those who purchased the CE keys or might have other problems, or be concerned about a few people "leeching" and keeping the issue as is, where people who bought legitimate copies are unable to play the game they purchased months beforehand?

I think they should add 2 more days to the preorder keys to help smooth things over. If someone is going to be so cheap as to just use those 4 days to 'beat the game' they most likely never inteded to buy it in the first place.
I really wish they just had a real pre-order, take my money and send me the real key in advance so there aren't any problems like this, instead of sending me 2 seperate copies on two seperate bills.

Jo, if they reply, go ahead and post it here. I was concerned about the same issue. But I'll get my game at May 1st, at the latest.

those are all special conditions though. you do realize that this is a world wide game, and that very few of those things apply to everyone.

the only thing I have seen so far thats reasonable to blame on anet is ce being delayd.

Some things are unfair yes, but you can hardly blame anyone for them. All this extra stuff is a luxury, you dont need it, and if you want it badly enough, then pay more to get it sooner, its that simple.

The vast majority of people will be getting it on time, its a small amount that wont be. Yea Im sorry you and the topic creator wont be getting it on time, but the whole point of this event is that it was preorder. and since online places arnt giving you the preorder pack ahead of time, thats a matter you have with the store, not anet, because this pre order pack has been out for over a month now, and thats enough time to get it.

this is your issue with where you bought the game, not anet.

I too feel the original poster's fears, as I do not know if Amazon will get the game to me on or before the 28th. :/

I've got the pre-order key, but if the game isn't at the retailler erarly enough to be shipped before release day I'll be locked out over the weekend - yes I know it's a world-wide game but I'm sure the UK isn't the only country where Saturday isn't counted as a normal business day for deliveries so commonsense would obviously be to A) ensure that retaillers have stock in plenty of time for a guaranteed delivery on release day or B) release the game earlier in the week so there's a business day after release for possible deliveries or C) allow the pre-order key to work untill the next business day ie Monday - all these options are down to ANET and no-one else.

but the whole early start is a bonus. if there was no pre order, you still wouldnt play till when the game shiped to you. so your lucky you will actually get to play at all at launch.

normal orpg dont do this, you cant play till you have the game cd.

Lets see. I'm in the same position as the poster of this topic. I ordered from EbGames, and it's already gonna be shipped. However, you do realize for most, if not all, people who got the preorder will have to go back to the store and exchange the preorder for the original game? People paid $50 for these preorders. That means I own every single right to the game. It's simply not that they will hold on to a copy for me. If I pay for it, I expect to get it with no problems. Besides, does it have to be a week? Extend it two days, maybe even just one day. If I pay $50, I expect to have access to the game. Why they decided to screw everyone by making them go through the hassel of getting the actual copy is beyond me. If these preorder keys would give full access, it would save time, energy, and frustration. There are plenty of people here upset with this. In the end, ANet would still get the same profit, and the customers get a fair deal.

We've prepared for that my fiancé and I have to wait till 2nd of May to get the actual game box. 1st of May is holiday and all. We have Pre-Order keys and can play in the headstart but I doubt the actual game will be shipped to us and arrives on 28th if it comes to the retailer on 27th. That would require superhuman strenghts from post office (and extra 1000 euro tip) ^_^

But there's always a chance.

Again, I'm going to address what I see as relevant points to the original topic. Other people's mileage may vary.

You aren't getting the point I was making. All of these technical details about the exact time of ownership are irrelevant to whether or not people who are purchasing the game should get to play or not.

If nearly all of the people who have the pre-order are people who will also own the full game (regardless of technical details), why wouldn't Arena-Net let them keep playing for the couple of days in between Saturday and when their copy of the game arrives? It's essentially just punishing the many people in this position. The only drawback is that people who decided to get the pre-order but who will never buy the game will get a couple of days free. My presumption is that very few people will have bought the pre-order who will not be buying the game, and it's easily worth it to reward your loyal customers and also incidentally reward a few people who paid money for the pre-order, rather than essentially punish your loyal customers and people who paid for the pre-order.

It would be different if the pre-orders were completely free to everyone in unlimited quantities, but ArenaNet is making money off of them already, and I do think it can be safely presumed that nearly all pre-orders are people who are planing to purchase the game very soon (or more likely already did make those plans, whatever technicalities there may be). I don't see many people paying $5-$10 with the intention of playing a game for a few days (especially when there are 14-day / 10-hour free trials available for Prophecies).

I ignore the presumption about the internet and gaming, as it is quite a wild and erroneous presumption.

What does people being honest have to do with this? Er, there's nothing wrong, immoral, or problematic with people trying to race to the end. The only half-way reasonable fear is that people will finish the game enough to not want to buy it. Giving people up to five more days isn't going to make someone not buy the game who would have otherwise; if any, it would be a such a small number of people that no one should care, ArenaNet included.

Those players were alpha players who had played before. It is unlikely being able to reach Ascendance quickly affected their purchasing decision greatly or at all, which is the only relevant issue.

They did not play all of the PvE content, they raced to the "end" (which wasn't really the end, but jumped them up to level 20 very quickly, since that's the way Ascension worked then). Getting to the "end" and skipping most of the content isn't much of a reason to not purchase that content.


Trying to stay relevant to the topic, it seems like ArenaNet can choose to assist their loyal fans who are buying the game within the first week (and purchased a pre-order), and incidentally give a little extra to a few people who purchased the pre-order but not the game itself, or penalize all of those people, most of who bought the game (and therefore aren't really getting anything more than what they paid or are paying for -- access to the game).

So, I saw the somewhat cryptic comment that Gaile made in the chat logs. It doesn't really agree with what Support told me:

It's possible that there was still some confusion, but given that Gaile didn't actually say that the pre-orders were extended (though she did imply it), I am not at all sure what the situation actually is.

Support doesn't actually say how long the Head Start is, just to see the page, and that they can't extend it any further. I don't know if that means that they did extend it once, or not. I'll ask.

Hopefully the FAQ page linked to by Support (quoted above) will actually be updated with more concrete information. Certainly I hope Gaile is the better informed person here.

EDIT: I added a followup to my question to support. I'll report back any answer I receive.

They started to ship my copy today. So I will get factions some days before I can play it...

I'm sure you will get it early too. =)

hmm i just looked at my acount screen and it specificly says 27-28th only.

maybe gaile only meant they would hold your progress for 10 days before wiping it without a retail key

yeah especialy now with it getting very close to 3.00 a gallon lol

yep just talked to ebgames cust. support and they say " factions is shipping as we speak" you should recieve your copy before the 27th along with your key to access the headstart feature" quote unquote!

fear not felllow gamers all is well!!

CONFIRMED

GAMESTOP HAS SHIPPED MY CE AND I SHOULD HAVE IT MONDAY TUESDAY LATEST.