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

I've just ordered the game from an Australian seller on ebay - (I'm based in the UK). Just for those who haven't read the rest of this posting, I'm not talking about a rare aboriginal nose flute or a particular strain of eucalyptus, or anything else you'd expect to only able to procure by arranging something half way across the globe, but a retail copy of EoF.
If people think I'm doing this just to make a point, the last UK version of EoF went on ebay.uk for £54 (plus posting) - the oz version (even with postage) is just £18. To get my missing expansions online would cost me $70 (£35), so this is my best course of action.
Please SOE can't we sort something out here - this is madness.
I don't want to be too down on SOE - I'm really enjoying the game, and I've tried a few MMOs and its (IMHO) the best, so good on you, but if you want to start playing in Europe with the full expansion set, you're only choices are hunting down something on ebay or amazon marketplace, or buying each expansion separately via digital download, which let's face it - is prohibitively expensive.
Perhaps you should get bonus XP for your first quest in the game - finding a copy to play. :-?

[p]Personally I think it is disgraceful that you CAN buy a copy of the game that comes complete with access to all expansions whereas the digital download still makes you pay for each one individually. I bought a second account for my wife and now have to look at over $100 in order to give her access to post level 50 content, AA's, vocal emotes, fae, etc ,etc.[/p][p]Come on SOE...how about supplying access packages that give some form of discount to existing players at least?[/p]

[p] [/p][p]Good luck finding a copy of EoF in any shop in the UK. I've been up and down the UK and I always check out the stores that sell games (e.g. PC world, GAME, HMV etc). I can not find a single copy, come to think of it I have seen very few copies of EQ2. I honestly think SOE no longer consider the UK to be a profitable market and are no longer interested in marketing there game there.[/p]

Like I said earlier, it's not just the U.K. and the continent, it's also the U.S. (for the most part) SOE is having some major distribution issues, but they need to solve them quick.

I bought my copy from game on oxford street in london for £14.99(for EoF), they had others too. been playing for a couple of weeks now and glad i spent the time finding a copy (which was a chore)

Devs are not going to make any comment on this at 'all'? Not even a 'Don't worry we are looking into this?' Even though we are concerned about the distribution of THEIR game? Honestly ....

Probably because they don't want to aknowlegde the fact. Oh well. . .

[p]Head in the Sand distibution management FTW !!![/p][p] I've managed to find a copy online at DVDStars - a Canadian online outfit. Its in the post as we speak (and going to take a week or so to get here) ... was $55 (Canadian) thats about £23 and free postage too .. not too bad. Fingers crossed I'm not stung for 8% import duty and then 17.5% VAT ....[/p][p] [/p]

Thought I'd check back on my topic to see if any devs had stuck their head in the door to say 'sorry but we are looking into distribution of our titles'. I have emailed SOE and received no reply. I then IM'd Brenlo on the subject and received, yes you guessed it, no reply. It's not like they only received the messages yesterday either. I think the honest truth is they just don't care about how people can get a hold of the game because word of mouth apparently helps the game sell better. Brenlo is probably set on that argument. Word of mouth from me Brenlo; it don't help sales when there are no copies to be had. I did manage to find a copy of EoF in the end. I was directed to a website called DVDStars and it is being imported from Canada for a little more than I might have paid by getting it in my local game store. It's taking a lot longer to get here too. It better be worth the wait. I seriously hope it is as good as I have been led to believe...not another Vanguard...all hype and no result. :-D I'm looking forward to exploring the new Faydwer. Should bring back happy memories. I might just forgive SOEs dodgy distribution if my game experience is a happy one. Doubt I'll forget though.

Lavok wrote:

Availability: We are currently unable to offer this item. It may be out of stock at the manufacturer. If you would like to purchase this item, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.

SkuaII wrote:

Its like that now because all the copies Megastone_se had were brought. Just check now and then to see if Megastone or some other seller puts it back up.

Managed to get a copy of the all-in-one pack (inc EoF) at Gamestation for £24.99. Only in store, not online for some reason.

[p]if you have *Game* stores near you id recommend checking in store ...ive been to 3 fairly close to me and they have all had a few in (the all in one pack) [/p][p]you may need to spend a bit of time checking but id recommend looking in the 2 for £25.00 which is a bargain [/p]

hmm http://www.gamestation.co.uk/product.asp?id=101280532974199

Can you buy here for the UK? Or is that "smuggling", avoiding the tax? Long Linky, Click here

In theory, anything like this imported from abroad, is liable for import duty (around 10% I think) and value added tax (VAT) at 17.5%. You're supposed to declare it to your local Customs and Excise people and stump up the tax but of course no one ever does. The problem arises if your parcel is intercepted: it will be confiscated until the taxes are paid - which can take WEEKS to work through the system and they can actually charge you the cost of investigating your case. If the person dealing with your case thinks you've been naughty enough (generally speaking, persistantly trying to circumvent the tax laws, or importing things to sell [so-called "grey imports" ]) you could also be given a fine. I believe they tend to just demand the tax for importing things that are freely available in the UK (ie, that have been published here - EoF would count). I work in academia and am quite often sent books for review - and its unfortunately not unusual for C&E to charge me for importing them, even tho most are unsolicited. Still, at least there's no VAT on books... I've imported about a dozen and a half dvds and games this way and been forced to pay the tax twice, and fined once to the tune of £272.93 (which was probably my fault anyway: was a dvd unpublished here - so without a BBFC rating. I'm fairly certain thats why I got fined - and they confiscated the dvd.) so thats not too bad a ratio. Stinks if you get caught, but as long as you realise theres a chance of it, you can just sigh and suck it up if it happens. Ridiculous that UK players reduced to even considering it tho, of course.

Absolutely. I just hate to see anyone deprived of the game.

Hurrah - finally got my copy of EoF today, imported all the way from Oz to the UK. Luckily, I din't get taxed. Looks a bit different to the UK version - it comes in a cardboard box which contains a map, buddy key, 2 DVDs and "quick start" guide - not even a proper manual - bah! Still it has the all-important key code. In fact thinking about it, I could have just asked the ebay seller to e-mail me the key and chuck the box away, thus saving all the P&P - doh!
I've already got an account with DoF retail version - the only reason I got this it that I realised that my lvl 18 dirge won't be earning Achievements unless I register for the EoF expansion. If it wasn't for that, I'd have just waited until Kunark came out.
The thing is, I'm returning to EQ2 after a few months of playing Guild Wars with some work friends. We played every Monday night and had a good laugh. Of course there's zero chance of me getting them involved in EQ2 if the only way to get kitted up with the lastest expansions is to either spend $$$ on station.com or spend their lunchtimes searching ebay and amazon marketplace. I'm sure if anyone suggested to me to start playing a game that was so hard to track down, I would not be particularly interested, and think that if it that obscure a game then a. it's probably not very good and b. noone probably plays it anyway.
I know EQ2 is often described on the MMO genre's "best kept secret", but does it have to be such a closely guarded secret?

It's all the more a shame as it's such a great MMO (sniff).

[p]I'm a returning player from the UK, couldn't find it for sale online or in any local shops so had to go the dlgamer cdkey route which was fairly fast, hate downloading huge files would rather have a box collecting dust on the shelf, but oh well desperate situations call for desperate measures. [/p][p]On a plus side, just another 30hrs or so to go on the download updating from 2005 eek , and my highest level char has gone must have gone with a server merger oh well, I've even forgotten which server he was on its been that long.[/p]

[p]OK....#1 You will probably NOT find a retail box version in the UK.[/p][p]Alternatives.....[/p][p]1. Ebay....It's where I got mine to upgrade my second account. You do though run the risk of Customs intercepting the game and holding up delivery until you pay the import duty.[/p][p]2. www.dlgamer.com. Here you can buy the cd key on its own for a fraction of the cost SOE ask for the digidownload of the individual expansions. This is the way to go if your are buying additional accounts as you won't be needing to spend time with the download as you will already have it.[/p]