Official - 10 Day Grace Period - from gw's site

I've also worked on both sides of software development/support as well, and I really don't remember the last time I ever got treated this poorly. Yes, ANET had issues beyond their control. However, the professional response would have been to provide coverage for those left without service due to ANET directly failing to meet their target deliverables. However, they chose to collectively punish both CE-customers along with Preview-only buyers instead of formulating an alternative plan.

The above strikes me as very unethical, but then again, I only work in the financial sector, so what do I know?

Can someone please clear this up coz eveytime i write to anet they dont really explain.
I got a pre order key & have pre ordered CE. Now i cant access factions. I took my original ascended character to factions. Will i lose any factions progress by waiting for CE to come out? If so how long have i got?

You should've bought HL2 around the time it came out. Maybe I'm being generous, but the comparison between the two definitely weighs positively for ANet.

However, I will say one thing about a little unprofessionalism I've noticed, particularly with this comment: "If you would please re-read, your expectations coloured what you saw, but you assuredly did not see us promising 10 days of free play."

I'm okay with news updates telling me what I can and can't do, but neglecting to add "we promise" to the article and that suddenly being the point of argument when a service isn't being delivered is borderline unacceptable.

Although deep down, I knew time was ticking anyway. I suppose I should be grateful I had leeway past the Day of the Tengu.

Hmm. I, too, believe the professional response would have been to provide good service to dedicated customers, even at the expense of a few days tolerance of 'abusers'. (And I, too, have spent more than a little time in the software industry.)

But, that aside - the issue I face now is explaining a further 3 or 4 days delay in establishing us in a faction and setting up our alliances to my ~100 guildies. Oh that I had I not misread the extension as permitting me to go ahead with my CE purchase. Any suggestions? (Apologies for straying off topic.)

Anyway, i think that anet already given enough courtesy for extended head start event..personally, i think that anet do a mistake at CE..but i just wondering..there are some people who make the order MONTHS ago..i mean, anet should have known the demands for CE quite some time ago right??..anyway, i would not mind if there are no CE..SE works the same for me..i am content as long as i can play the game..i just hope that anet will fix the bugs in GW:F and give us a more stable game..i mean that i really prefer one STABLE game per year than two BUGGY games per year aight?..

and errr, i would prefer a more direct and 'easier-to-understand' announcement in the future..=D..i mean no offense and i really hope that GW will make a future in the MMO industry..

I also got kicked out of the game at 12:00 AM. I was wondering about this, checked the site, etc. The website wasn't very informative and the "grace" period made it seem like we, with the pre-order discs, could play until May 8th without having a retail key. Does this seem correct? That's what I assumed.

Unfortunately, since I'm waiting for Factions CE and refuse to buy a regular edition of Factions, I don't think I'll be able to access my Lev 20 Assassin anymore, just when I was about to buy new armor and found a build that worked out. Irritating? Very.

I'm confused with the rest of you: What's anet going to do? I don't know, but they really need to explain the situation or push out a few hundred thousand more copies of Factions CE so those of us who really want it won't miss out.

I'm pretty sad about this as I did want to play.

Anet, help us!

When i get my real cd-key somewhere around september, do i have to start from the begining in Cantha or are all the missions and outposts that i've been in unlocked?

After supporting you by preordering 2 months ago now I learn that I am potential abuser, my Canthan characters are locked and I'm being denied access to Cantha. Thank you for spitting in my face, lesson well taken.

Oddly enough, I feel exactly the same way.

Why would people abuse this $10 pre-order key? Seriously. You can't do that much in 10 days. People need sleep, and I don't care how much of a power player you are, but you'll need sleep eventually.

Riotact and tONYY

I believe this line in the announcement

We will not delete your new characters, items, or skill unlocks after the 10-day grace period.

means that you will not lose any progess made during the headstart period, by waiting to add a retail key.

yeah seriously.... you guys go nuts and cant even wait a few more days.... you payed your money for something and youll get it, sheesh. btw i preordered the CE so yeah. Also its definately a good idea to remove that grace period thing, some people thave don't go outside and sleep on there chairs will just.... you know.

Then let's be glad you don't work at areanet then, avarre.

I think it's just they haven't made it all that clear WHEN we'll get CE. There was a message on the GW american main site saying that the next batch of CE would be dispatched june 30th, and then on the GW EU main site they have a list of dates when the CE will be dispatched.
And the two versions of the 10-day grace period weren't very helpful either, one saying our characters would be deleted, one saying they wouldn't.

In areanet's atempt to make up for their miscalculation on the CEs, and not making the clearest sense to all, many have become confused, and so, further angered by it all.

I'm annoyed by the lack of CEs in my house, yes, but i think all of this anger and annoyance was started by confusion, but i do think they've gone about it the wrong way. In the e-mail i got, telling me my CE would be delayed, i got an attachment .txt file, which made 'subtle' hints thast i should buy the regular edition if i want to continue to play factions while i wait for my CE.

we pay more... pre order months ago and are considered abusers

I have to admit the launch of Factions was not as smooth as it should of been.

The extended message was not worded clearly, I too was one of the one's that misread it. Having your FAQ still stated about the deleted after x time isn't helping either.

I'm not going to scream, shout, yell, etc. The reason's to lock us out do make's sense mind you a bit fustrating. See you in Cantha when EB sends me my CE.

Gaile, thank you for being far more direct then normal, I know being in your shoe's is a bit hot at the moment. Most companies are not even this direct with situation's like this.

All this hatred over backup dancers, its pretty sad really.

I am dissapointed too becasue I ordered the CE, which I thought later was a bad idea because usually CEs come out months after the standard, but then I heard that they would release at the same time. I too did not cancel my order because I read the website wrong and thought I would be clear till the 8th, I should get my CE on the 5th and all is well.

If I had read the website correctly I would have decided that I don not need backup dancers for classes that I probably wont play and save myself $30, but its too late for that now, Im locked out of Cantha and I will be locked out until Fri. and honestly I am not too convinced that I will get the CE by then.

I want to say that Anet has done a wonderful job on everything in this game, and unfortunately something like this happens, but I dont want to focus on that because there is still PLENTY of things that they added to Tyria to keep me busy until the 5th.

I will be working on my Protector of Tyria title along with Tyrian explorer and I still have some content left in Tyria. So Anet I thank you for adding these new features to keep us occupied. But I have to agree with a lot of other posters here that this should have been handled differently, we should have access to the new content and if we "burn" through the game and decide not to buy the expansion then you bite that loss, but I garauntee people will buy the expansion so that they can have the factions skills that will be beneficial to PVP, I dont see a reason not to extend access to the Canthan content until the CE ships.

SHAME on you Anet,
here in Italy (still European Union I hope...) we will receive Factions, Regular edition on May, 05 (that is Friday, so no delivery until Monday). Obviously i preordered it, as many other unlucky people here, so we overpayed an item and we will be penalized not playing until the May, 08 and having a reasonable risk to exceed the "grace" period. This is an unfair treatement towards those people who trusted you and preordered factions from the online stores on your web site (already paying those copies in full).
SHAME on you Anet

Maybe you should try living somewhere where even good shipping channels take a week more than anywhere else, and you'll start being grateful for the generally high standards we've received so far.

Being temporarily blocked from Cantha is not a penalization. You are not losing your money's worth. If a game is so critical to you that you can start flaming over a technically minor delay, then I'd advise quite a lot of things that would be considering flaming.

That said, it would still show Anet in a better light if the pre-order period was extended to buffer the CE release. There still isn't a need to complain to this extent, I feel.

well, the extended head start is over. It doesn't matter how much peaple think we complain. CE people paid more, and are pushed back. ANet should have just pushed the Head Start till May 5th, instead of pushing the players back. They would have probably gained a few more players too, those that have nothing to do with the CE might have wanted to continue playing after they had invested more time in the game.

They have money, I don't see why they can't do it.

Look, the situations sucks and we that pre ordered the CE can all agree on that. Simply cancel your order and purchase the regular version. I was planning on getting two CE copies, but they lost my business and I purchased the SE - I've moved on and saved myself $40... Oh, and I got a free t-shirt with the SE.

This has been handled incredibly poorly by ANET when the solution would have been so simple - the CE is delayed, so allow those that choose to, to buy the standard edition and when the CE arrives and that key is entered give a refund on the cost of the standard key or at the very least allow it to be reused on a 2nd account/passed on rather than lost as happens now. This would let those happy to to wait and those that want to carry on do so.

As it stands, my decision is simple - i'm cancelling the CE and using a standard edition to finish what I've started in Cantha then looking at other online games with better CS and waving goodbye to GW.