Impossible to get ahold of EQII (EoF) in the UK

I have heard a lot of good reviews for EoF of late and have been seriously considering getting back in to the world of Norrath (I played at release but didn't find the game to my taste back then). I have the original game but wanted to get the EoF expansion and catch up on the game as it is now (I understand a lot of good changes have seriously improved the game) but can I find anywhere to buy it in the UK? No, I can't. It is impossible to get ahold of unless you are very lucky to find one sitting on the shelf at a local store. Is there something going wrong with the European distributors or is it the SOE sales department at fault? If I have every had a problem with SOE it has definitley not been the commercial side so I find it hard to believe they would be neglecting a potential market when the game is getting such rave reviews? I know I can digitally download but it is my understanding I would have to pay for each expansion seperately this way and, understandably, am therefore reluctant. I would much rather have the copy on my shelf too. I'm going to trawl the local shops at some point but really am curious as to why SOE have let their game become so hard to get hold of in the UK. (sorry if this is the wrong forum - wasn't sure it belonged in technical help and couldn't see another applicable forum)

Have you got a 'Game' store near you? I usually shop there and if they haven't got it, check Amazon or ask if they can order it in Game. Make sure you get the 'all in one' pack. Good luck.

I just checked Amazon and they are taking the p***, they're charging £99.95 for it.
I got mine in Game about a month ago for £14.99. They are showing as out of stock online at the moment, but it might be worth checking out in store if you have one near you. They are usually pretty good at ordering stuff if they haven't got it.

Oh my god - talk about a good reason for not being able to get new players in to a game. You cant even buy the latest version if you wanted to nevermind walk into a store and become interested by the box! Amazon, Play, Gameplay, Game all show the game as out of stock (Gameplay doesnt even have any Everquest item listed). Ebay does not have a 'single' UK seller for the item and every single auction for it is an international seller. So thats it then - direct download or nothing for new UK players interested in Everquest 2? Meanwhile the competition continues tohave constant product placement and advertising, free trials etc all over the place. I find this pretty mindblowingly actually - is this a decision for the European side of SOE to only release the EQ2 items for a short period after launch and less than 6 months in cease all supplies? EQ2 has evolved so much after launch and imho is one of the if not the best MMO out there atm in terms of the total experience. Looks like only a few people relatively speaking will ever know about it sadly? Maybe RoK is a good time to look at all of this and really try to get a good prescence? If the reason is that the item is not selling, should there not be a more aggressive advertising mechanism put into place? Shouldnt there at least be 'some' stock at retailers?!

As I said, Amazon do have it in stock but are taking the p*** with their price of £99.95, especially when they are charging under £15 for Vanguard.

I'm personally a new player myself and since I couldn't find FoE anywhere, I had to buy a really old copy of the game.
I think it would be a good idea to get more stock to the UK, or just make a complete digi download for all the expansions at a slightly lower price? since at the moment, it is silly to get hold on this game.
Just for a few examples:
Game - Out of Stock
Play - Out of Stock
Gamestation - Even the old game is out of stock
Amazon - £99.50

Hehe, I feel your pain. I'm in Australia and EB were kind enough to tell me EoF was (i quote) 'A really old game'!!! Gametraders said they could order it in, the time frame given was 2 days, ended up being 2 weeks!So I recommend ordering it in from where ever you can and just being patient.Anyway goodluck!

Gamestop has it, but I have no clue if you can order to the UK from them.

Obviously you can import the game - thats where Gamestop comes in - just delivery costs and import tax 'if' caught. Basically the sort of thing you do if a game you want is not released in your country... And the Amazon price you are seeing for over £90 is a Amazon 'marketplace' seller. Its someone else who has the game and is selling it 'through' Amazon - not Amazon themselves... its not really an option. Basically its just not available here. Its import or nothing. Well actually there is another option - for some odd reason you 'can' get the Desert of Flame package around (the Kingdom of Sky pack is very rare too). So someone could buy the Desert of Flame pack, then buy both expansions online seperately and download them. *rolls eyes*. Not exactly the best way to get new players in...

[p]i recently tried to get a copy of EoF from retail outlets (havn't got anything past DoF on disk, so thought it would be useful to have) and couldnt find a copy myself in any of the games retailers in my area.[/p][p]This is a big issue that has been around a long time. [/p][p]I can't see why it isnt in SOE's interest to make sure there are copies of the game readily available and advertised. [/p][p]Surely they want to get the £ in from new subscribers.[/p][p]Just can't see how it makes any sort of financial sense for the game to be so hard to obtain in the UK.[/p]

Wow, sorry the distributor in the EU isn't keeping the game in stock. Normally I would suggest onlinecdkey.com but it looks like they're out of stock now. Maybe if you know someone in the US they can pick up the game for you and email you the serial number? I know they have a lot at the Frys Electronics near me. That's usually where I buy my games. Othesus - Dirge - Lucan DLere Vaspar - Fury - Lucan DLere

Try getting a hold of a copy in Japan, they are not even on the shelves. I don`t know how Sony even managed to establish an install base here, it has me quite baffled. T o get a copy here I have one choice, travel into Akihabara in Tokyo and go to the American import store and ppick u a copy for 8800 yen which equates to about $80 give or take.

[face="trebuchet ms,geneva"]Got all my copies from Play.com Unfortunately all are showing as out of stock, very sad situation indeed, feel sorry for new players interested in this game but can't find a copy [/face]:-(

EU distributor is a poor one indeed. I usually get my EQ2 fixes from playzone. They order it for me. Nice guys, but its a swedish shop, and a very local one. Other than that, I bet game could order one for you. Its well worth the wait tbh. And now SoE, get off your ***** and get a decent distribution in europe.

I wish we could get some kind of SOE response here. Something to say 'Europe, we are not forgetting you...we will make more copies available in shops there or make a download for all the expansions'. It would be as simple as that. How many people must there be turned away from EQ2 because they simply can't get it? It's not like we are on Mars or anything. I remember how poor distribution of Vanguard was. Trying to find a shop that sold the special version with the early start was not easy. There weren't many places that even sold the game. It seems like Europe is not really a big worry for SOE. As long as America has the game they are happy.

I doubt its just Uk either, I bet this a Europe wide issue. Remember - at launch they went head to head with WoW, got squished for a number of reasons (gameplay decisions like only allowing market selling if your character stood in his room - does the dev responsible for that still have a job?!) and then fought a very steep uphill battle to continue holding on to players. The boxes simply did not move from the shelves but with effort the devs managed to shape the game into it is now - completely evolved from the original release, one only wonders what would have happened if the game had been closer to as it is now on release. However there is one rather large problem - no one 'knows' how good this game is now. I just tried LoTR:O and I have to say, it is rather immersive - clever use of a very immersive story placing you at the centre of your story arc and fantastic music playing ability. It is far limited than EQ2 in terms of gameplay variety of options but it has only just been released - still I dont ever see it comparing, it does look like Turbine are still pushing for a 'liter' MMO, WoW style. But here is the main point - OOC chat was sometimes filled with MMO discussions. People talking about WoW, Warhammer, Age of Conan, even DAOC. The one game that was barely even acknowledged? EQ2. I think it was brought up once and briefly. Not because it is not a game worthy of mention - its simply because its a game people seem to know very little about and as far as people are concerned it was 'some game that came out around WoWs time and wasnt that great back then'. Thats it! With the game as it is now, all the changes and beautiful Faydwer in for new players too, Kunark in soon for higher content, why the heck is there no attempt at pushing for heavier advertising akin to a relaunch? A similar thread was in the gameplay forums - whatever costs SOE have in advertising would easily be made back in player subs from people looking for WoW and LoTR alternatives. In fact LoTR is an example of just how many people there are from Vanguard and WoW looking for a new home - if they would even 'consider' EQ2, it would be something. But it looks like some execs are sitting at SOE and thinking 'Nah'. Pump out a few expansions, hold onto the current player base, some will come, some will go, its a decent enough profit as it is - lets work on other things. You would think when you have something that you have worked hard on with a lot of 'potential', you would try pushing it again to the consumers - supply/demand and all that. And as far as Europe is concerned, we'll worry about Europe stock when server pops fall below a certain number. Until then, why rock the cradle? Maddening? 'Don't worry Alice - we're all mad here'.

[p]I guess there's the option of buying the game via electronic download....[/p][p].. there's the 'Buy Now' link on www.everquest2.com.[/p][p]But of course, it will take the best half of a day to download and you'll need a broadband connection with a large enough download limit to download the game.[/p]

And its only the boxed version of EoF that comes with all the previous expansions. Not the digital download.

[p]When the boyfriend and I wanted to restart we went looking for the retail box version of EoF. No where to be found here in the Netherlands and, as I posted a few weeks ago in another thread, one of the biggest gaming retailers in the country doesn't even have EQ2 products listed as available. [/p][p]We ended up using www.onlinecdkey.com which was a bit of a weird experience. It was listed as out of stock but we went ahead and ordered anyway. We received our CD keys 5 days later and here we are. Still, it is an American company which makes getting in contact with them iffy at best anyway so when you add their strange business hours and total lack of customer service skills to the mix it really does feel like a gamble. Some people have used them and had no issues, others have ended up having to dispute the charge with their credit card company after they felt too much time had passed with no contact. It just seems strange that a company set up to sell online CD keys has a harder time fulfilling their orders, not to mention even keeping in contact with their customers, yet there is a guy on Ebay who has had nothing but positive feedback for doing the exact same thing. Strange.[/p][p]Back on topic, the EU distribution sucks. It sucked a bit less when SOE was using Ubisoft but not by much. It has been posted here again and again that if you are in the EU you import or don't play. It was also posted previously by a game shop owner that he was totally blown off by SOE's supposed EU distribution liason. I don't think they are doing it purposefully, I really just think they are totally incompetent when it comes to anything not North America. [/p][p]Anyway, here is hoping that if enough of these threads are posted someone with have a functioning brain cell will stand up and realize that there is a gaming market out there in Europe. Blizzard certainly realized it and it has worked out tremendously for them.[/p]

I just emailed SOE customer support to ask why their service to the UK etc is so poor? I wonder if I'll get a response? I can't help but feel that if enough people contacted them on this issue there might be some forced action.

[p]Recently took a trip up to Santa Rosa Plaza mall and stopped in the EB games.[/p][p]They had one EQ2 and it was EQ2 classic. I read the back of the box and it talked about getting your character to 50 adventuring and tradeskilling. How sad that a game store with limited PC games has only the original game and no new expansions.[/p][p]Weird how the best MMO out makes it so hard to play.[/p][p] [/p]