Dear Bioware/ EA

 

(I know this is long but I promise it is worth it, also sign if you agree)

 

I have been following this game and a regular viewer on this forum for at least 2 years and have waited with baited breath for its release. In July you came out with pre-order information telling us that the sooner we pre-ordered a game, none of us have played, and with no specific release date the sooner we would get a undisclosed amount of early access. Many of YOUR most loyal future customers in good faith of your company choose to get the Collectors Edition (of a game we honestly knew little about) which contained several extra features with a premium price of $150 (US dollars).

 

Many local stores had no clue what was really going on so many of us went to Amazon who seemed to be giving out early access keys faster (remember you created a frenzy as to getting them earlier gave us earlier access to the game and many selling out). We knew Amazon would have to ship but we were implicitly told there would be a grace period from the time to ship to the time we got our game where we could still play. We trusted you, we put faith in you, you told us Bioware was a good company and we believed you, we believed you would have our backs as loyal customers who took the first plunge and believed in a unknown game. We were finally given a release date of December 20th many of us made plans to have time off to play this game with friends. I myself took vacation days to play this and plan on playing the early levels with friends. Now we are told because we believed in you and trusted your word, you are turning your back on us. We can't play till we get the physical game in our possession which during holiday season can easily be a week, with the millions of things Amazon is selling that week along with the huge amount of mail being delivered.

 

I agree several days isn't a lot and in the scheme of life and this game it is nothing. But now my self and many others like me will not be able to play on the first few days of actual release. Tho we get several days in pre-release (which we are thankful for) we will still be missing a large part of opening of a game many of us plan on playing for years (honestly if I didn't believe in this game I wouldn't have gotten a CE)

 

None of us are asking for any special treatment, nor do we want free days and will happily pay the monthly fees from the 20th till when we get our hard copy. We aren't looking to play 5 days early access then get a few days and cancel our subs / games which is a silly idea since many have already put down the money and have full intentions of being with you for a long time. We just want to play our game that we bought from a company that we thought would have our backs when things got bad, cause honestly many of us have had your backs.

 

Few are going to rage and cancel their orders at this point that is silly. It is common knowledge that opening day and launch for ANY product is crucial to long term success, whether it be movies, music, restaurants etc. No one knows this better than a MMO community, and you yourselves have repeatedly said how important launch is to the success of this game. This puts a major mark on launch for me and is not something I will forget, nor will many other members. Remember we are the ones who paid the most, first. We are the ones who will line up willingly and are financially able to for expansions (after this I will not get a special edition), books, and micro transactions. And we are the ones who have to decided month after month if we want to continue that $15 automatic debit from our accounts.

 

Whatever reasons you chose to do this to us is for money we aren't stupid, but by being able to collect in the 10's of thousands you are going to be paying 100's of thousand to millions in poor public relations, hurt feelings, and sooner canceled subscriptions to some of your best customers. I am ashamed I have to write something like this I thought Bioware was a better company than that. Please don't turn your backs on us.

 

Thank you very much

 

Steven

<bump>

As i said before the forum wipe

NO matter what Bioware achieve with the launch, their success will be over shadowed by the Grace period issue

Good thing you made a new thread for this.

I don't see what harm it would do them to allow a grace period.

<bump>

Oh man. That TOTALLY wan't worth reading.

You do realize Amazon.com has changed every order to Release day delivery on the 20th for the US right at the cost of 99 cents. There for you dont require a grace period. and if you pre ordered it from stores that dont, thats the retailers fault or your own for choosing a cheap shipping option, not biowares and EA's

The grace period really is a big issue. It would be nice if this could be fixed somehow.

 

I just don't see how they would do it. Either way it's not the biggest deal. It will be christmas. Lots of time with the GF anyways

Bioware has shown their true colors the way they handled the launch. They are not ready for mainstream mmo. EA has never successfully launched one, and Bioware has now failed.

 

I thought the beta was one of the cleanest I have ever tested, the stress test on Thanksgiving weekend was interesting, but there were no problems. And now they don't even allow enough people into the game on the first day of "release." (It's not the official release, but in a year those who are still playing are those who are playing before it's released) You have put up your nose to a lot of people and they will not forget that. Guild wars 2 is coming out, Warcraft is coming out with another expansion, and countless other mmo's who have experience will no doubt take advantage of SWTOR's epic fail.

 

 

Rift has been the best launch I have ever seen in an mmo. SWTOR has been the worst.

i see no harm in grace period, if u r willing to pay for the days you use

 

whats wrong with giving us some cusion for snail mail

As i said before the forum wipe

NO matter what Bioware achieve with the launch, their success will be over shadowed by the Grace period issue

 

For what its worth <Sign> But I agree that this grace period issue will be the benchmark. One week would be enough to make sure we have our keys. I can't believe that they would do that to the users but time will tell.

/agree

Ill agree the grace period kind of sucks. Im off usually Tues/Weds, however UPS doesnt deliver until close to 5pm. So essentially I am wasting most of the launch day not being able to play.

I'll sign, but not holding my breath.

 

In the meantime, this video still makes me laugh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DFT1Jwf4j0

No grace period. It is what it is. You'll live.

I agree them dangling a grace period in our faces then taking it away is a ***** move.

Now while it may be that Walmart.com support is incorrect, this is what I was told regarding my CE order.

 

"Thank you for contacting Walmart.com regarding your order status.

 

XxX we are more than glad to help you with this matter. We tracked your order ### for Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector's Edition (PC/ Mac) and our records indicate the package is in order status,and it will ""ship"" on 12/20."

 

Note that he puts ship in quotes, which seems pretty specific to me. So I get to play potentially a couple days early, then I get to wait for a physical copy of the game to arrive even though I have the game installed? I too took off vacation around this time, which is really a bummer that there is no grace period or that the retailers at the very least can't email you the product key ahead of time before the actual hard copy arrives. I may just go in on my vacation days and take them closer to Christmas, heh...

Get over it, should have gone to gamestop and gotten your preorder code like I did, day 1 preorder redemption, will have my CE at 10am on the 20th, I'll be good to go. If I can do it, you can do it.

Get over it, should have gone to gamestop and gotten your preorder code like I did, day 1 preorder redemption, will have my CE at 10am on the 20th, I'll be good to go. If I can do it, you can do it.

 

Not so easy. Some of us aren't American. Besides, it doesn't excuse the blatant bait and switch on Bioware/EA's part. It's left a real sour taste in many customers mouths.

Point of fact, your first month's subscription fee is included in the pre-order price. This means that on the 20th you will begin getting billed for having an active subscription. If this means that once you enter your product key your account goes active then technically EA and BW are not at fault and can't really be held responsible for shipping delays. Bioware and EA have contacted retailers (something I've NEVER heard of a game company doing before) to try and make sure US customers get their hard copies on the official release date of Dec. 20th. What more can they do for us? A grace period? I don't think so. Honestly, after waiting for 2 years some people can't wait an extra week or so? It's X'mas time! Go out and play in the snow, watch Holiday movies, eat turkey, drink egg nog, take pics of illumination or something to pass the time. You'll get your codes and you'll get into game in due time and then you'll forget all about your troubles here.

Get over it, should have gone to gamestop and gotten your preorder code like I did, day 1 preorder redemption, will have my CE at 10am on the 20th, I'll be good to go. If I can do it, you can do it.

 

I would have gladly done that, but at the time we were specifically told there would be a grace period to cover us, while waiting for the game to arrive. If in July BW would have said there was no grace period you need the actual box to play on opening day I would have happily drove down to game stop.

 

ps many of you with "boxes" waiting at these brick and mortar establishments may find out they over-extended themselves or there may be an error in shipping / receiving, be careful with your smugness...

If I get game suspended from the 20th to the 28th while awaiting shipping and after already receiving pre-order access, I would be livid.

 

Would I rage quite?: No! - Would I recommend the game to others? No! I actually discouraged friends from purchasing until we know how the business practices of the company will weigh in. That was simply on the rumor of how the pre-order and pre-release has been going.

 

It's way to easy to catch up and get to end game content in MMO's to be concerned about being the 1st in game to access the game.

Get over it, should have gone to gamestop and gotten your preorder code like I did, day 1 preorder redemption, will have my CE at 10am on the 20th, I'll be good to go. If I can do it, you can do it.

 

If there weren't a number of options that could easily have been achieved to allow people to continue playing, without having to do what you describe, you might have a point. As such, I can only attribute it to a lack of concern on Bioware's part and their retailers. It would be effortless to achieve an arrival date by the 20th via mail or at least the product key by email. If they choose not to pursue those then it simply shows a lack of concern for their customers.

Point of fact, your first month's subscription fee is included in the pre-order price. This means that on the 20th you will begin getting billed for having an active subscription. If this means that once you enter your product key your account goes active then technically EA and BW are not at fault and can't really be held responsible for shipping delays. Bioware and EA have contacted retailers (something I've NEVER heard of a game company doing before) to try and make sure US customers get their hard copies on the official release date of Dec. 20th. What more can they do for us? A grace period? I don't think so. Honestly, after waiting for 2 years some people can't wait an extra week or so? It's X'mas time! Go out and play in the snow, watch Holiday movies, eat turkey, drink egg nog, take pics of illumination or something to pass the time. You'll get your codes and you'll get into game in due time and then you'll forget all about your troubles here.

 

They said there would be a grace period. Grace periods are pretty standard in MMO launches and many popular MMO's have launched with grace periods.

 

There are a number of ways they could have handled this whole deal. Shipping before the 20th (if European copies are getting shipped on the 15th it's fairly obvious that the blames not on retailers). Allow people with a pre-order code to pay for an active subscription that begins a month after their subscription code is redeemed. Or just come good on their promise of a grace period.

 

Instead they just act oblivious and say things like "sorry for any information that may have led you to believe there was a grace period".

Edited December 14, 2011 by Kaffeine