Question on PreOrder / Release of DR

[Entran]

Maybe im just being retarded but on gaming websites iv seen... Play / Amazon / Game ... they have pre-order available for 3rd Feb.

GoA are saying 1st Feb.

Whats the deal ? I havent been paying much attention to daoc for a few weeks so...

 

[Outlander]

aliens demand it be sold on the 3rd.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Brit companies are stoopid, for some reason they wont release new titles till a friday comes, no one knows why bu tthe alien theory is a good one, so is the dambarse management one.

Read Here and in furture, at least look at a few other threads before posting a repeat, this isnt BBC2 you know.

 

[Darzil]

Hmm, just read all that thread, and his question wasn't answered. I believe the answer involves the high street retailers in particular having control over the market, and making sure that the game release schedule suits them rather than the customer.

I think it was posted in another thread by Requiel that they were going to make sure the distributors knew when it should be released.

I submitted a change to the play website, linking to the GOA site, and pointing out that the retail price was £13.95, not £19.99, and the release date. Nothing happened, of course !

Darzil

 

[IainC]

The reason that UK retailers release on a Friday is due to an arrangement between most distributors and the larger retail chains. Sales charts run from Friday to Friday and so if a game is released midweek, it gets 2-3 days on the current chart which can mean the first week sales figures look bad. If it's released on a Friday, there's a full week of sales to be counted and so the game looks more popular. Regardless, we send stock to UK retailers at the same time as continental stores and it will be available to them on the same day. Unfortunately we can't make them put it on shelves if their head office is telling them to release it on a Friday. For those who don't want to risk possibly not being able to play it on Wednesday, you will be able to buy an online licence from Wednesday or you can of course pre-order it from our online partners.

The retailers who are quoting a £19.99 RRP are likely getting confused with the Euro price which is 19.99€. The press release sent through our distributors gives the RRP in Sterling and Euros.

 

[Darzil]

The retailers who are quoting a £19.99 RRP are likely getting confused with the Euro price which is 19.99€. The press release sent through our distributors gives the RRP in Sterling and Euros.

Well, at the moment Play are still claiming that their price of £14.99 is a 25% saving on RRP, rather than an increase !

I guess as GOA's UK partner they'll get corrected.

Darzil

 

[Moggit]

mmmmmm

 

[Moggit]

The reason that UK retailers release on a Friday is due to an arrangement between most distributors and the larger retail chains. Sales charts run from Friday to Friday and so if a game is released midweek, it gets 2-3 days on the current chart which can mean the first week sales figures look bad. If it's released on a Friday, there's a full week of sales to be counted and so the game looks more popular. Regardless, we send stock to UK retailers at the same time as continental stores and it will be available to them on the same day. Unfortunately we can't make them put it on shelves if their head office is telling them to release it on a Friday. For those who don't want to risk possibly not being able to play it on Wednesday, you will be able to buy an online licence from Wednesday or you can of course pre-order it from our online partners

this may have been said before but...................

Just a thought but couldent you release the game on a friday then so we can all get it at the same time ????

 

[Javai]

this may have been said before but...................

Just a thought but couldent you release the game on a friday then so we can all get it at the same time ????

The problem with that (for an expansion) is that if something goes wrong on patching it is unlikely that it can be fixed over the weekend causing a good deal of frustration. If it take til late Wed to get servers up and a small hot fix is needed Thursday day time the whine is bad enough imagine if it was late Friday and no fix til Monday.

 

[IainC]

this may have been said before but...................

Just a thought but couldent you release the game on a friday then so we can all get it at the same time ????

We'll never release a big patch or an expansion on a Friday, it's not likely we'll do it on a Thursday either. We usually use Wednesdays as we have two clear days beforehand to run final checks and preparations and two days afterwards when we have Mythic devs on tap in case things need fixing urgently. If we patched on a Friday and a problem developed shortly afterwards, there'd be little chance of it getting fixed until the following Monday which is not really acceptable.

 

[inqy]

moving away from the release date thing for a moment...

Why not seperate the patch from the expansion. Surely thats ok as some/many will not upgrade to DR anyway so having DR is not a requirement for the latest patch.

Just seems like patch days are a big enough of a pain the ass without releasing an expansion the same day. So Maybe release the patch ahead of the expansion release day and spread the agony and frustration over 2 days (seperated for example by a week).

Or wouldn't that work?

 

[Herjulf]

We'll never release a big patch or an expansion on a Friday, it's not likely we'll do it on a Thursday either. We usually use Wednesdays as we have two clear days beforehand to run final checks and preparations and two days afterwards when we have Mythic devs on tap in case things need fixing urgently. If we patched on a Friday and a problem developed shortly afterwards, there'd be little chance of it getting fixed until the following Monday which is not really acceptable.

Yeah who the hell want to start something like this on a friday?
Cross firm overtime on saturday/sunday if something goes wrong.
Even if it runs smoothly OT got to be put in to monitor the situation.

 

[Bluevixen]

IMO Dont buy from any websites like Amazon who are selling the game at 16.99 pounds which is 3 pounds over what you should pay.
Also due to post and general slackness I bet it will be a few days before the overpriced item arrives at your house.
Why not download it from GOA themselves?

 

[semanon]

http://www.dlgamer.com/index.php for the win. They offer a exellent service. You can download DR now, then they send the CD key to u via email on 1 Feb.

 

[Wazkyr]

http://www.dlgamer.com/index.php for the win. They offer a exellent service. You can download DR now, then they send the CD key to u via email on 1 Feb.

and thats the EU DR?
And cant use "gmail, hotmail, yahoo" email... so gotta have a email with your internet provider, that really sucks tbh, any other place where you can pre order, pre download and get cd key on 1. feb?

 

[Flimgoblin]

yes, all 5 languages
(though the installer/keys are all identical for the 5 languages)

 

[DLgamer-oot]

Read my last post on the main buy DR thread about free emails.

And yes, there is only one DR, it's the EU DR, but people being people you still have to make French, German, Italian, English version.

Last year wih Catacombs, we had French people complaining that the French Catacombs was out of stock, why were we only cathering to EU and not frenchies

 

[Mr Trade]

maybe its more on play.com cause you get the box+discs?

 

[inqy]

Read my last post on the main buy DR thread about free emails.

And yes, there is only one DR, it's the EU DR, but people being people you still have to make French, German, Italian, English version.

Last year wih Catacombs, we had French people complaining that the French Catacombs was out of stock, why were we only cathering to EU and not frenchies

lol tell them to get off their fat asses and get down their fully stocked shops, unlike us who can't becase...well u know why.

mmmmm thinking about that, why would you say that as they are potential customers.

 

[Andrilyn]

Shame you can't use some Email accounts for pre-ordering DR on DLgamer (hotmail, Yahoo etc)
Ah nvm been said already

 

[Wazkyr]

Shame you can't use some Email accounts for pre-ordering DR on DLgamer (hotmail, Yahoo etc)
Ah nvm been said already

Gmail still not posible, but hotmail is working now if your still getting the problem