The Shadow Odyssey Pre-Order Starts Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Thud@Befallen wrote:

For the UK the only options they have is EB UK, or GAME.
The problem i bet everyone is running into now, is that everyone has "Online" also, and they have deals with Amazon. This probably is causing friction, as Amazon could very well be saying, yes they can have it in Bricks and Mortar. But we want the exclusive for online via amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr etc etc etc

The bear mount is in the boxed set to get customers to buy the game twice per account. You buy one copy direct download to be online ASAP and a second copy to get the bear mount.
Here is what you should do instead, any purchase of the game allows you to collect 1 of the special items for your account.
Any direct download oOR retail box allows you to pick one (fictional example) for your account:
Black Pegasus (one per character)
White Unicorn (one per character)
Purple Zebra (one per character)
Now people in all countries are equal because they get the same choice since direct download is available everywhere. Instead of paying for the game twice in shipping they'll simply buy the game twice (more money for SOE, instead of UPS) so they can claim two of those, or maybe even buy three games to have them all. There is no reason you even have to stop at 3, Sony. You'd still have happy customers, you'd still have your micro transactions going on, you'd still be selling people something they already own for the same price multiple times. Sony profits, no customer groups are entirely screwed over.

Kiara wrote:

That's cool. How about an email address for someone who does, then?

I don't think you really need to worry about the brick and mortar retailers at all. Sure you get the box on the shelves but you do realise that games like EQ2 get buried behind not only the latest FPSer but behind WoW and crammed into a corner becuase the rest of the shop is console. You want more customers, concentrate on the DD. What you save on the distribution put back into doing things like your Living Legacy and advertising on game sites.
The resaon games aren't stocked in Aus etc is becuase they took way toooooooo long to get here in the past, now the damage is done DD is the preferred method. Embrace it Sony, shops outside the US are dead, especially in the MMO arena.

According to this press release dated 2 weeks ago, the TSO expansion will be distributed widely:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...y-of-koch-media
Why or how did this change?

I suggest that anyone who is disappointed/mad/angry at the distributors send an email or make a call to either:

Paul Bartholomew ( p.bartholomew@kochmedia.com)
Pr Executive - Online Specialist Press
Tel: ++44 870 027 6530
or
Amy Curtin ( a.curtin@kochmedia.com)
Head of Marketing and PR
Tel: ++44 870 027 6524

I have sent the following brief email asking for information from the distributors:

Good morning Amy and Paul,

I am one of many disaffected people who were looking forward to purchasing Everquest II : The Shadow Oddessy retail due to Sony Online Entertainment offering an in game bonus for purchasing this item in a retail store.

This article indicates that you would be distributed widely, including Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...y-of-koch-media

Could you please inform me why the distributors (appears to be you) are no longer distributing this item to the countries listed?

Thanks in advance
Ill let you know the reply (if any).

I was told in another thread that if i buy online at Direct to Drive (a digital copy), that this constitutes or is as good as a retail box, so this would mean i would get a Mount?
It's reading things like this that make it so confusing:
All Direct Download versions will come with

• Void beast house item
• Legend of Norrath 'Painting: Taking Flight' loot card
• Legend of Norrath Oathbreaker starter deck and Oathbreaker booster pack

Hmm, no mount mentioned?????
SOE couldn't make things more confusing for example all the preorder today ads and you will get one of the following In game items, then come out later and tell us there is no preorder item. WoW!
Any retail key gets this and any online key gets that.
SOOO, to be absolutly sure, if i buy ONLINE at Direct to Drive (a DIGITAL copy), does this constitute as a RETAIL box, and will i get get a in game MOUNT?

No, you wont get the mount. Thats what people are upset about. SoE, in all their wisdom, decide to do a retail bonus (retail being bricks and mortar). The distributors (KochMedia) decide to shaft the playerbase by only distributing to the states and select few other countries. So, anyone outside the good ol' USA cant get the mount. I have decided to not buy this expansion. I have plenty of content that I can go play in. Sure, Ill miss out on some new scaling dungeons, and the "old" zones will be quiet for a while, but I can lvl an Alt if I get bored. Or, perhaps, start playing Warhammer... who knows?

SystemOn wrote:

I was mistaken in the other thread... I had understood that D2D was selling retail box keys, as this is appears to not be the case, then, no. Your options are to go to an actual physical store to pick up the retail version, or to go online and order the retail box and have it shipped.

MonkeyBobNz wrote:

I am with you. For the first time since launch I have not raced out and pre-ordered for my 3 accounts. The retail bonus mess is a joke and the real surprise is that SOE is not going to do anything about it. I will finish off some of the old content that I have been neglecting for a while and decide my MMO future when I run out of things to do.

Guys, I’m seriously considering going even further and canceling altogether. This has turned into a gigantic headache, I have a too many other RL issues to deal with than to wonder what, when, why or how with this, preorder not to preorder well hang on there is no preorder, retail key digital key. I play this game when I can to relax, unwind and this isn’t relaxing. lol

Why would I want to buy a digital copy knowing that retail gets a mount? Instead of simplifying the process and let peeps decide how they would like to order we get this. I called several stores and all they can talk about is the 500 copies of wow they are getting in, they literally reply with "Ever-what?" and have no clue what I’m talking about and going to the store is so antiquated anyway.
Put it this way, if it was digital no brain’er I would have already clicked (ordered) and went on my merry way. Instead I’m “hovering” the cancel button.

Me too. SoE would already have my money. But as it stands at the moment, they are not going to get my money for this expansion at all.

Faell@Najena wrote:

Think I might go with you guys on this also.. Spent years being screwed over by SoE on EQ1 and after a long break decided to give EQ2 a try after hearing some good reports but it appears SoE is still screwing us over.
Just an fyi, I have tried buying it from numerous stores in the USA and UK and only EBGames (or the company that owns them and one of the other resellers) will send the item to Australia but to do this you have to have access to a fax machine and fax them credit card statements wit hall your details on them.
WoW might not be as good a game but they treat customers better and sadly thats saying something.

Sikkem wrote:

Maybe some trusting US players may find there own work around using Pay Pal, and thier local retailers.

I wish I had quit. I'd get a really cool cloak and $5 off.... for quitting ..... and not kept paying for 3 accounts all this time. Sorry but quitters who came back should not get anything special.

I agree on both counts, the quitters getting stuff and the complete shambles of trying to get anything EQ2 related in the UK. Do Americans know there is clean water and electric outside of their borders?

Unfortunately, it seems we know, but just don't care... hangs her head that SoE can't seem to support the rest of the world better then it does.
One of two things should happen. Either SoE should provide a list of locations (by country) that are CONFIRMED by SoE to be taking 'retail version' pre-orders or they should give all non-US players the option to choose either reward.
While I don't like the confusion between brick & mortar vs digital pre-orders... at least in the US we have a choice (if we can find a game store w/o too many clueless clerks). There are enough ways that customer service nerfs the 'Non-US' EQ2 player (I'm looking at you "contests only open to US residents"). Its simple, if you can't make sure ALL of your customer can get equal access to both rewards, then you need to give them the choice of either reward through the digital download format.

valkry wrote:

/agree 100%

Zehl_Ice-Fire wrote:

I am a returning player myself. (I returned about 1 month to early to get the cloak *shrug*).
I agree with you. Quitters who came back should not get anything special (I sure as hell didn't expect to get anything).
Now people that stays.. THEY deserve to get something special! Afterall they are the ones that keeps SOE running.
SOE did kinda the same mistake in SWG. Giving new players cool (even gamealtering) stuff. Result? A lot of angry veteran players.
I for one am kinda angry too that returning players gets something here, but vets gets nothing.
Well there is the vet rewards, but returning players gets them too since they are counted from the activation date of the account, not hours played or subscribed time.
I just don't get why SOE rewards returning players (or new players) over their loyal customers. It only results in unsatisfied vets.
And about the digital vs. retail thing.
I don't get that either. Why make any difference between them? Some people prefere to have the disk, and some prefere to download it. Great to have both options, but why reward them differently?

I have said this many times already but I think unless they accually get something worth wilded from retailers, meaning a good amount of premium shelf space, then the retail box should not give people in-game items that digital copies do not. Giving phyical premiums like the pewter Dire Bear is fine, but not in game premiums. Now if giving something special in-game does net SoE lots of Premium Shelf space(end caps on central walkways or facing the door) then I would be all for giving away cool ingame items that are Retail only. As we know for a fact that this is not the case(Turbine will have locked up any scraps Blizzard left) this time around, I think that both premiums should be selectable by all... and if you want both buying mutliple codes will net you the ablity to choose again.