Ugh man, I’m so torn. On the one hand, I’d love to have the in game pet and the soundtrack. But I live on the west coast. The servers come online right at 12 AM. However, the stores on the west coast open their doors at 12 AM. I already put down a small deposit for my copies at the major mall out here in BC. Do we get to line up inside the mall or do we have to wait outside in the cold? Otherwise, I might just go for the digital copy.
Gosh, I have no idea what to do.
What did you guys do for the expansion?
Honestly, playing at midnight isn’t a big deal enough for me to miss out on something I really want. If I really want the soundtrack or other benefits of the collector’s edition (which, this time, I really do), then I’ll gladly skip out on the few hour jump. Good things to those who wait, etc.
The expansion will be current for at least one year, possibly two. You want to throw the chance of the Collector’s Edition away just to start it a few hours faster?
Even if you do decide to go with the digital copy, you might as well buy the CE and resell it on eBay later for a big profit. 🙂
Yeah, but I got the collector’s editions for the past two expansions. And the pet and the OST and other stuff is cool and all that but like… man.
At least you are in the States and will get your copy on the day of ~_~ Collector’s Edition is not available in Hong Kong, so I have to get it on Amazon and wait for international shipping.
Imo, get the CE regardless. It’s a pretty small investment for a lot of extra cool stuff, if you ask me. I got one CE and one regular, both hard copies (for my separate accounts) because it’s worth it to me. But, it’s really a matter of whether you think it’s worth the extra $20 ($30?).
Honestly I say get it. It is definitely worth it. And really you won’t be starting it that much later if you go pick it up. I mean how long of a drive is it? And I know when i picked up Black Ops even with like 500 people there I got home before 12:30am so that really isn’t that bad considering WoW around here is less popular (they have like 20 pre-orders for the xpac). I say go for it, start the game a few minutes late and just catch up to people (should be easy).
I’m on the west coast but I’m waiting. I’m almost positive I’ll be working that Tues so I just ordered my CE from Amazon. Plus, I’m sure the servers will be laggy as hell from everyone logging in to play.
East coast here, going with the CE preorder from Amazon. I have to work launch day, so I’m not going to be playing at 3 a.m. EST.
I went with the collectors edition. I live in the Midwest, so servers don’t come online until 3am.
One issue i had was with “I don’t want to wait outside in the cold.”
Come up here to get your copy. I promise you 50 degrees outside a mall will feel warm =)))
I have two accounts. My main account will be using the digital copy, since I plan to race to 85. The CE will be emailed to me a few days later.
We just decided to download the digital copy instead of standing in line in the cold at midnight on Tuesday to pick up our pre-paid copies. If we find out any guild friends can’t afford to buy the expansion right away, we are planning to send them one of our pre-paid copies as a gift. I’m totally excited about it now. I get to stay warm and someone will get a Christmas gift.
Daffnae that is awesome! I really don’t care about the CE so I did digital. Sending my regular prepaid copy to someone who needs it as well.
I stood in line for the release of Wrath, and that was a lot of fun and all but I’m really just too lazy to do it again – and I live in upstate New York and it’s colder than hell right now. So I went with the digital copy. I don’t really have the money to splurge on the CE one 🙂
I getting collector’s editions, but scared its going to screw with me going for server first on fishing. Its going to be tight with me living in Chicago
I’m most likely getting the collector’s edition. This’ll be my first CE, the question comes in whether I can still afford it on Tuesday. I’ve already pre-paid up to what I’d need for the regular edition, so hopefully I will. Not sure, though, bills are coming in pretty heavily this month. 🙁
For Wrath (regular edition) I froze my ass off (thank you Blizzard for late Autumn launches!). I would’ve done the same for Cataclysm, but a friend of mine can order CE with a discount. However, said friend doesn’t live in the same country as me… so she’ll e-mail me the code and I’ll pick up the box with the goodies next time I visit her.
Go digital, save the enviroment and bookshelf space!
From my point of view….
It’s pretty comical to see all those long lines for something that you can have anyway without any hassle.
I go to my favourite shop before release date and ask to get a reserved copy to be sure I can get it at day 0.
Then I go to the shop and pretend my copy.
No need to be in line or wait or whatever.
Like all those that get in line for an iThing from Apple… and stay in line from day before…. just to have a mass market object that anyone can have with ease just a couple hours after opening…
I went digital. Not that I will be sitting up until 3 AM (East Coaster here) waiting to start, but I didn’t see any need to have an extra box and CD case sitting around.
For what it’s worth: I’m getting the CE for the mousepad. I saw the Wrath (I think) pad and it’s lovely, so I wanted one too. (I wouldn’t have got it for full price, but with a discount it’s really nice.)
With WotLK I queued up and went to the midnight opening. It was more about getting the CE (they were sold out everywhere online for pre-order) and experiencing the atmosphere though, when I came home I went to bed as it was a work night. This time I have ordered the CE online as it’s a lot colder out and I just don’t fancy standing in line for hours (and it’s a work night again).
I guess you have to weigh up the options about whether playing when servers open is more important to you than the CE/going to a midnight opening (in London the midnight opening is pretty special I’d say, it’s about more than just getting a copy). It also depends on whether you’re planning to go for any server firsts, in which case the download would be best, as I think it downloads & installs all ready for you to play the second the servers are up (rather than putting in the discs and waiting for stuff to install with the physical version).
Keep the big picture in mind, IMO. We’re all going to stop playing WoW at some point in the future. When that point comes, do you want to have tangible memorabilia in the form of the soundtrack/mousepad/art book? Or none of that just so you can play 3 hours earlier and still possibly not get whatever realm-first achievement I assume you’re shooting for? Even if you get the achievement, you can’t put your hands on it when your time with WoW is over.
Exactly. So when I do stop play I don’t want some crap collecting dust. Digital is the way 🙂
I always thought that patch day was a down day. On Tuesday, Dec 7 at 12:00 AM will the new content will be available without server maintenance? If so, I may have to rethink my strategy. I preordered thru amazon.com and was thinking of switching to the digital download. But, I figure it will be on my doorstep by 3:00 PM when I get home and the servers MIGHT be playable by then. But, if they will be playable 15 hours earlier….
Kevin, at least in Europe the servers were up starting with midnight. I got home around 1.30 and I didn’t have a problem playing.
Absolutely digital edition. Shipping? Midnight waiting in the cold? No thanks!
I did the midnight release in the cold thing last time (I live in the upper midwest). This time around I went with the digital download.
The big difference is that last time BBB put together a midnight release get-together. He’s not doing it this time and none of my gamer friends are crazy enough to stand out in the cold at midnight.
Also, the fact that I can’t even play until midnight PST makes it less worth-while to be awake at midnight. I’ll just go to bed right after work and set my alarm for 2am.
Unless you are trying for a world- or server-first to 85, what’s the big deal? Really?
It probably won’t be playable on any server with a decent sized population anyway. I will be going to the release party, loading it on my system, and going to bed. I will be working the next day.
I am taking 2 weeks off for the “Winter Veil” break anyway, well actually Christmas, but I am not in a cutting edge progression guild either. I will probably still have one of the first level 85s in my guild and probably among the first one or two with multiple 85.
I’m in BC too, and have my CE at Metrotown. However I can’t get there until 5pm. This will be my first CE and I really wish I could have the midnight experience, ah well lol
Waiting outside in the cold from about 9pm until about 1am (what I did last expansion) is not fun. I got the digital download. Waiting outside in November was bad enough. I’m not foolish enough to do it in December! 🙂
Getting my CE through the post on pre-order. Sure the “guarantee” is 12 noon on the day of release but 12 hours missed of an expansion is nothing much and I’ll be able to sleep while the main rush is on and be fully rested (IRL) when I start my zerg to 85.
I agree. I went with the CE solely because I had for every version of WoW so far. I have it for the original release, TBC, and WLK. I couldn’t not get it for Cataclysm.
Plus, I figure that the couple hours I’d be able to play in the middle of the night wouldn’t be worth the hell that work would be if I had done the digital edition, so I’ll get on tonight when I get home, and I’ll not deal with quite that number of people all trying to kill the same mob.
I did the same as with the WOTLK release. Buy the game at night, order the CE online and get that a few days later, then activate it.
Call me crazy