Just so you know...
When my brother picked up my retail copy of CoV at EB on Thursday, (Yes, it was on the shelves early), they DID make sure to tell him before he purchased it that he would NOT be able to play it until the launch, which is Oct. 31.
I doubt all retailers are doing this...But if most are, that's helping to keep people that don't realize that informed also, yes?
Food for thought: Half-Life 2 was available to download but not play a while before it was released, and that's not even an online game.
The release date is the release date. You're angry because you can't log in now. That's valid. The facts, however, are that you don't have a pre-order serial key, and that it is buying the pre-order package that gets you the serial key that allows you entry, not simply pre-ordering. If your local store sold out of pre-orders, you'd be similarly out of luck.
Caveat emptor, my friend.
You ASSUMED you could have a 2-day head start because you pre-ordered, you ASSUMED wrong. The devs did not say that all pre-orders will get a 2-day head start and the newsletter that went out to EVERYONE clearly says that you can buy the special pre-order version of the game from 'these retailers'. It did NOT say that all pre-orders had a 2-day head start, you jumped to conclusions.
Educate yourself about a product before you buy it, this is a mistake you made not mismarketting by NCSoft.
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?...%5Fid=B645780A
Gamestops website clearly states
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre> Game Server Time Schedule:
Oct 28th 9:01 PM Pacific - Pre-order Headstart BEGINS
Oct 31st 11:50 PM Pacific - Pre-order Headstart ENDS
Oct 31st 12:01 AM Pacific Servers Go Live Product Launch North America and Europe </pre><hr />
I'd like to say that not a majority of casual gamers will walk into a gamestop, and that not a majority of casual gamers will go in to buy games this weekend.
I'd also like to say that not all casual gamers are so angered by a 2 day wait. I know many a casual gamer that I have already asked in regards to this question, that they would just open their box, say "hey i cant play yet, the release date is really 2 days away, but this looks like a cool game so i can wait, 2 days wont kill me."
The official launch date is the 31st as announced by the game developer. whats going on right now is a 2 day head start ( for preorder customers that got the cd, added the code etc). The developer isnt at fualt and it isnt there marketing to allow you to pick up the game early , its the store where you picked up the game. The retailer should have notified you that the game did not launch til the 31st and told you how to get access to the head start if you were elligable. The fact that the retailer was allowed to release the game early was due to the fact that the developer had already posted the information stating that the date was the 31st and how to get on the head start . Once the retailer decides to relaease the game then they should relate all neccessary information as to when you can play and what you need to do to play it.Many retailers have a no return policy about these types of games also if they have been opened due to the fact that if installed the cd is no longer needed to play and proof that you arent playing cant be validated . sounds to me it was a retailer failing not a developer failing so you may be posting your complaint on the wrong forums. incase you doubt my sources i was a manager of a magor retail store for games for 5 years and in previous situations me and my employee's were the ones to give the information need for the MMG's to the customers. If the store did wrong , blame them.
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Statesman posts! ! ! !
Hey does that mean he can not get into the servers also? ? ?
Also States what the <bleep> are you doing reading the COV section of the boards? ? ? Keep to your area, and leave the Isles to us bad boys! ! !
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Just as long as States keeps to the boards and isn't laying the beatdown on us again in Mercy Isle, I'm happy. 
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Where is the harm in opening the game to the general playerbase a couple days early?
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It would cause Cryptic/NCSoft to break the terms of sale on the pre-order boxes which lists the 2-day headstart as an EXCLUSIVE perk to pre-ordering. The people who pre-ordered are exponentially more likely to be long-term subscribers. You really don't want to anger them needlessly.
I also think you underestimate impulse shoppers being patient enough to wait the two days.
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Do you really think they stand to lose more customers by opening the servers than not?
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Ginger Dip with Apples and Pears
This cream cheese dip sings with fruit flavors!
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons grated gingerroot
1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple in juice, drained
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/3 cup water
2 pears
2 red apples
2 golden apples
1 tablespoon slivered almonds, toasted and finely chopped
1. Beat cream cheese, yogurt, honey and gingerroot in medium bowl with spoon until creamy. Fold in pineapple. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour to blend flavors.
2. Mix orange juice and water. Slice pears and apples. Dip pears and apples in orange juice mixture; drain.
3. Sprinkle almonds over cream cheese mixture just before serving. Serve with pears and apples.
*getting shoved to the forum unemployment line* 
His circular arguments were making my blood sugar drop. It's snack time! 
BTW folks, in the true spirit of thread-jacking, Go_Sabres came up with a great idea to have monthly or twice-monthly mini-events in one of the PvP zones on par with the PvP exercises done during the last weeks of beta.
Just keep reminding yourself that there's no xp debt from a PvP death and it's just like playing laser tag! 
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His circular arguments were making my blood sugar drop. It's snack time!
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rofl. You can be such a... butt (yes, that's the best I can come up with, without going against policy), but you do it with such style. >D
In regards to the topic:
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I reserved it over a year ago.(<---- important to this post).
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Means nothing if you didn't get the pre-order box.
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Can you possibly imagine the enormity of my disappointment to learn that because I didn't pre-order the game USING THE CORRECT CHANNELS, that I couldn't play until MONDAY?
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No, because it's unpreparedness at its finest. You should've expected such. One who doesn't follow protocol, when dealing with things involving such strict rules, is only bound to fail.
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There's a couple things totally wrong with this. First of all, all the forum-frequenters (who represent perhaps 30% or less of the total playerbase, I'd imagine) knew about this, but I'm guessing few others.
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You know what? My friends don't come to this forum, but they manage to LOOK UP INFORMATION ON THE GAME JUST FINE. A forum is a grand means for information gathering, but it IS NOT the only means of doing so.
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So we have a lot of people who, like me, went and picked up their copy retail here on launch day and found themselves totally boned.
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Launch Day is Oct. 31st. Go shoot your information gatherer, because they're doing a craptastic job.
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I cannot fathom how many casual customers CoV is losing because of this monumentally stupid marketing desicion. WHAT GAMING COMPANY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH HAS FORBIDDEN THEIR GAME TO BE USED ON LAUNCH DAY UNTIL THE MONDAY FOLLOWING THE LAUNCH WEEKEND?
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No gaming company does such. Yesterday was preparation for the PRE-ORDER 2 DAY HEADSTART. Once again, launch day is October 31st. OCTOBER 31, 2005. Is it Oct. 31, yet? No. It's not.
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Some of us DO work for a living!
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Yes and some of us have enough smarts to take 10 minutes out of our lives to do an efficient Google search to find the info. If you can't schedule enough time to do such things, then you fail. You fail at life.
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I'm not sure if I'm mad at myself for not checking first, or more mad at the rediculously poor decision-making on behalf of the devs and their marketing guys.
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Mad at the marketing team for making the game readily available for those who did the info searching and pre-ordered the game, so that they can get their headstart instead of having to wait for the game and miss the chance at such a great offer? MAN! What were they thinking?!
*stamps FAILURE on Sheboygan's forehead and redirects them to the first line of his signature*
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Then, why don't you inform NCSoft of this particular store breaking the release date, and causing the problem that you've ran into? That way NCSoft can address the problem you're complaining about. Give them the store address and location, so they're made aware of it.
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That wouldn't do any good. They can't stop the retailer from selling the game now that the street date is broken. (And typically, its Wal-Mart that breaks street dates, or Best Buy. Large retailers are famous for it). All they can do now is make the choice:
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No, but it WOULD stop those unscrupulous rogues at Gamestop (or wherever you ordered it) from kicking anybody else's inner puppy by doing such a thing in the future. Think of all the potential customers you're not helping out by being so irresponsible.
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Keep the game locked for everyone but preorder customers until monday, or let the customers who are buying it right now play?
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ie: "Lemme in! I'm mad. Gimme what I want and gimme it NOW because I made an uninformed decision."
It's not hive-mind. It's not hungry wolves. It's not pre-order geeks. It's the fact that you can't accept culpability for your actions.
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My actiosn which include... what? Sitting here at home on Thursday and recieving a call from Gamestop saying "Your copy of CoV will be in on Friday".
I mean, at the time, I figured it makes sense. Releasing a game on a Friday is good business. Not only does it set you up for the weekend, but people have freer wallets on Fridays, because its a happy day.
I'm not saying I'm not at fault for not knowing about Headstart. I'm saying that the many, many customers who I gurantee you do NOT know about it are getting burned right now, and PlayNC should help them out.
A mistake has been made, people can buy the game before PlayNC intended, and your solution is what? "Screw them"? "Its the retailers fault so guess it SUCKS to be you!"?
Pretend for a moment that its just you and me here, and you don't have a whole forum community to impress, and tell me why it is that these casual gamers should be locked out of a game they can legally purchase, who probably are unawares of this Headstart program?
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Why should an exception be made for people who don't know to do a little research on something they purchase? Think about what you're saying here, you want the Devs to scrap their release date because a very small percentage(most likely) of retailers chose to break an agreement.
Sounds to me like your really jealous and just want in the game.
*'nother care flies into the pile*
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I'm gonna take a big risk here and guess you're not in marketing. When you have Blizzard dominating the MMO player base, and you find yourself in a situation where you're losing customers, the correct response is not "Here's a tissue". Its "how can we compansate so our majority of new customers aren't burned".
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I think the problem is that you're presenting the following argument:
1. I picked my game up on Friday
2. ...
3. Cryptic loses customers!
We're missing a really good reason as to why this is likely to happen. Are you assuming a legion of slavering fans who a) don't understand how head start works, and b) bought the game on Friday?
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
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And to add:
I worked at Gamestop for two years, so I saw my fair share of game launches. Never, not ONCE, was a big game released on a Monday. Why? Because thats marketing SUICIDE.
Nobody wants to buy games on a Monday. Not a soul. Mondays are deadsville. Mondays are school nights and work nights. Go company in its right mind would release an entertainment product on a Monday. But thats niether here nor there.
The game is available for people who reserved it. Last I checked, reserve can also be interpreted as a "pre-order" because I'm ordering the game before it comes out and putting money down on it.
PlayNC was aware that the (hilariously ill-chosen) launch date was being broken. They have done what to save themselves the possible unhappy customers?
[/ QUOTE ] I know of one game that came out on a monday and was huge mortal kombat "mortal monday" i worked for a huge game store and that place was packed on that day i think midway made a ton of cash that monday and i think they are still around
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Do you really think they stand to lose more customers by opening the servers than not?
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You haven't established that they're losing any appreciable number of customers by opening the servers on Monday.
Or perhaps I should say, you haven't established that Cryptic is losing customers for launching an MMORPG in exactly the same way everyone else does it.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
I just wanted to say I am a casual gamer, hardly get to play, but I knew about the pre-order...I received email about it...saw it in stores....and on website when I looked to verify information. Just wanted to let everyone know that Casual gamers are not all as misinformed or want something that we didn't pay for...I did buy the pre-order and do get the head start....but, some will do anything for nothing. I really doubt there were that many misinformed casual players. And I seem to recall information about launch and head-starts on the updater...so if the OP played the game must have never read while game updates...
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Look, I realize that PlayNC may not have wanted the game on the shelves before the 31st (which I still think is the worst possible launch date they could have picked). But they ARE. People are buying it RIGHT NOW, totally unaware that they cannot play it.
Are you guys following me? Even people who didn't reserve it! Guys just looking for a new distraction, who check out the neato box art, read the back and then buy it, are getting burned when they get home. Every person I've spoken to has said that if that happened to them, they would return the game and spend the money elsewhere, with no exceptions.
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Yes, we follow you.
But PlayNC/Cryptic marketed and sold a Pre-Order package that, among other things, granted the buyers a spot in beta and a two-day head start, i.e., a chance to play the game ahead of actual launch, which is October 31st. If you bought that package - and that package alone- then you get to play this weekend. If you paid for something else, including the full game no mater what price you paid or how early you bought it, you don't get to do the head start. Otherwise it's not fair to those of us who paid for that privilege of the head start. Are you following that?
That some retail outlets are selling the actual game now is not PlayNC/Cryptic's fault.
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
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I'm gonna take a big risk here and guess you're not in marketing. When you have Blizzard dominating the MMO player base, and you find yourself in a situation where you're losing customers, the correct response is not "Here's a tissue". Its "how can we compansate so our majority of new customers aren't burned".
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I think the problem is that you're presenting the following argument:
1. I picked my game up on Friday
2. ...
3. Cryptic loses customers!
We're missing a really good reason as to why this is likely to happen. Are you assuming a legion of slavering fans who a) don't understand how head start works, and b) bought the game on Friday?
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So the OP is one of the Underpants Gnomes?
This is probably not an issue at all for the vast majority of people. Why?
You pre-ordered the game. They had you in their system since a year ago. Most people pre-ordered when they saw the pre-order box sitting on the shelf.
The box is technically a 'freebie' given to people that put money down to reserve a game. There is no flag in the system that says someone got a pre-order box or not, just that they have a copy reserved.
When they called you up to say your pre-order copy has arrived, they had no way of knowing you never got a pre-order key. They probably assumed you did because everyone else they called about picking up their pre-order copy had one already.
Have you tried going to the store and telling them you pre-ordered before those boxes came out, and you never got a code so can you get one now as a loyal customer?
OK I've been a part of a few MMOs. I've pre-ordered most of them, though, because when you pre-order the games you most of the time get access to the 2 day or 3 day headstart, as well as the Beta access, etc.
This is not bad marketing, it's how MMo's work. All the Gamestop, EB Games, even Best buy people know that. I was talking to a person who works at Best Buy today, he told me "look you can buy the game right now, because we can sell it. Did you pre-order the game though? If you did you can go home and play the game right now, because it's the 2 day headstart!"
So... It's just how it works, sorry dude!
Have tp say this. My fiance and I did not even *look* at CoH after the open beta of it. Not until we get word of CoV. I tried out CoH in the open beta only because so many of my friends had ranted about it for the year or something like that leading up to it finaly being released. We are defintiely casual gamers.
However, wind of CoV trickles down and we actually get excited, and we start researching. Oh my, imagine, someone actually reads. We picked up CoH a few months ago, and pre-ordered the moment it was announced.. didn't know any of the bonuses, but were happy to learn of them when they were announced. Again, someone actually paid attention.
Now then, while I was at my local Gamestop yesterday getting both of our CE boxes, I saw someone else asking for it, wh had not pre-ordered. The guys specifically told him that he would not be able to access the game, but that he could go ahead and install and work on any updates that he may need so that he *can* start as soon as he is able to play.
Oh.. hey.. a novel idea.. release the game a bit early so that any possible patches (i.e> there will be this is an MMO) you may need can be had.. that way everyone can start playing once the game goes Live on the servers.
Also, Halloween is a damn good release date for a game such as this. I love the game even more jsut because of its officil release date because I find it very amusing.
Stop whining, you say you care that they are losing customers.. all you are doing is trying to disguise your whining about not getting to play yet. SUck it up bud, nothing you can do and any rational person that ws interested in a game would do a bit of reading.
I'm not normally a board-reader either, mostly because I get tired of reading page after page of whining over updates that aren't really that bad.
However, with the release of CoV. I made it a point to read the boards. Why? Because I was getting different variations of information ... and what better place to look than the source! For the most part, I only bother reading Announcements and DEV posted threads. The rest I just meander through when I'm really really REALLY bored hehe
I'm sorry that you missed out. Perhaps if something huge happens again in the game, you'll be more inclined to 1) ask every global friend about it (as I did), or 2) come read the boards.
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I cannot fathom how many casual customers CoV is losing because of this monumentally stupid marketing desicion. WHAT GAMING COMPANY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH HAS FORBIDDEN THEIR GAME TO BE USED ON LAUNCH DAY UNTIL THE MONDAY FOLLOWING THE LAUNCH WEEKEND?
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Um. and to address this very obviously confused statement directly...
CoV launch day is Monday, October 31, 2005. So, I'm not sure where you're getting the impression that you are getting in AFTER launch day.
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So you're saying that its the retail industry's fault that they launched the game early
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Yeah, sure. It's been advertised as being released October 31st. So when a retailer shelves the product prematurely, they have a responsiblity to the customer to inform them that the game does not open up for play til October 31st ... the official launch day.
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Just sit back and imagine right now how many kids got this game on Friday from their local EB or GameStop or (fill in here) and got it home, only to find themselves locked out because they weren't a Super Special member? Think of the customers PlayNC is losing!
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I seriously doubt that PlayNC will be losing many people over this contrived wrong-doing. The cool thing about 'kids' is that they bounce back fairly quickly. Oh, I'm quite sure there were a few kids out there who were vastly disappointed to discover that they couldn't get into the game til Monday, but I'm also pretty sure that those same kids have found a way to get over the shock and are already bouncing with excitement for Monday to roll around.
Oh, by the way, being a person smart enough to research the material before making the decision to pre-order the game because it would mean being able to play it two days early ... makes me a super special member??? COOOOL!! *does a happy dance* I'm super special, I'm super special...
Whether they're part of the 'minority internet hive-mind' or not, it seems that most people who purchase an MMORPG would be making an informed decision. After all, getting in on a game with a monthly fee is not something you do blindly. Part of the information one should know, when getting into such a game, is obviously the launch date - because only the most abysmally ignorant person thinks that simply having the disc in hand allows them to play the MMORPG.
That said, I don't think NCSoft has to worry overmuch about who they'll be losing due to the disc being available in several locations right now.
And as for video game launch days, all I have to say is: "Mortal Monday."
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
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Your local store is at fault. Now truthfully, your retailer should have applied your deposit to a preoder kit and called you when it came in, that store messed up and they owe you a kit IMO.
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Having managed retail, I totally disagree with this line of thought. If I took someone's preorder money and automatically applied it to a different preorder, (whether it's better or not than the original) I could catch hell from the customer. As a retail store, you CAN'T make a decision for the customer like that.
A good retail operation could have called/emailed the customer and told them that they might wish to change their pre-order for the new preorder package. This is not a requirement and sometimes it's just not feasible. Or, at the time of pick-up, the retailer could have mentioned the differences, but that is not required either, it's just good practice.
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Secondly, when the official preorder kits were announced you should have double checked with the store to see what helm/version you were getting to CYA.
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That's the whole crux of the arguement.
You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame