Buy Now to Play The Old Republic Early

[MitchyD]

Buy Now to Play The Old Republic Early

EA hatches yet another plan to coerce us into early adoption.

Although it still doesn't have anything resembling a release date, Star Wars: The Old Republic [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Old-Republic-Pc/dp/B001CWXAP2/ref=sr_tr_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315419598&sr=8-2] is coming sooner than later ... for some of us, anyway. Reserving BioWare's MMO scores early adopters entry into the galaxy far, far away before those willing to wait it out. Naturally, this comes with a catch.

Buying the game now earns you an "early access" code, a line of letters and numbers that guarantees a spot on the entry list when redeemed online. The codes will grant admission in the order they're redeemed, and the sooner you buy, the faster and more likely you are to play before everyone else. Considering how well The Old Republic is selling on Origin [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111932-Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-Breaking-EAs-Pre-Order-Records], you might want to jump on this.

What's more, EA and BioWare have a devilishly clever scheme to encourage anxious buyers: The publisher and developer are limiting the launch release [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112460-EA-Controlling-Old-Republic-Player-Population-for-Launch] of The Old Republic. Once EA hits the quantity cap of retail and digital purchases, TOR will temporarily close itself off. If you don't opt to buy it now, you'll need to wait an unknown amount of time before the game opens up again.

No release date has been announced for The Old Republic.

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[Baldr]

While it may be scheme, it also a necessity, with WoW falling apart causing an upswing in pre-orders, having so many people is going to put a lot of stress on the servers and more. I think it is better to limit access than have everything go to hell the first couple days(but it will still go to hell no matter the amount of preparation, just not a big as mess as allowing everyone in at once.)

 

[Volucer]

Still think I'll wait it out. Don't think there's been a single MMO that's had a smooth launch, and I'd rather wait until the bugs have been mostly ironed out. Although I can't say I care too much for the idea of the game closing itself off when it hits a cap. Does that mean what I'm taking it too and mean that someone who buys the game retail, enters their code but misses the cap means they'll have a nice shiny coaster to use until EA extend their cap...because if it does then I don't even need to mock to make that sound like the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

They can go fuck themselves until they let me have the release date.

 

[Dendio]

This doesn't seem like a good idea. Considering how The Witcher 2 only made up 20 percent of its sales through online download services, I expect the SWTOR sales to slump once retail access is cut out.

 

[KeyMaster45]

they started this promotion quite a long time ago, like back at the beginning of august (maybe even the end of july) I believe. I've had my CE reserved for weeks now. At this point if you want early access you're going to be way at the bottom of the pile.

 

[Shihoudani]

This is actually a pretty old news story. They have been doing this for weeks now with early access pro orders and claiming limited sales for SWTOR in order to ensure that the servers aren't over loaded on day one. They claimed the reason for it was to make sure that they didn't have any server issues on release and would then open sales back up a few days later.

I know I already got my early access code from day one of pre orders.

 

[GonzoGamer]

On the one hand, I'd rather see the publisher get their money early than Gameslop.

On the other hand, gamers are the only consumer group that could fall for lay-away after every other industry abandoned it... actually, layaway is a better deal. This is just paying for something without getting it, for who knows how long.

 

[Caduceus55]

As another said, launches rarely go smooth. As much as I'd like to be there on day one, I think I'll wait and see the reactions from others before I dive in. It's a pretty ambitious offering and sure to have some bugs that need to be addressed.

 

[viranimus]

So unless I am totally failing to read this. This basically says that preorder grants early access, but if you want true early access, you have to pre purchase the game.

Rather shady if you ask me.

 

[Shihoudani]

So unless I am totally failing to read this. This basically says that preorder grants early access, but if you want true early access, you have to pre purchase the game.

Rather shady if you ask me.

I've been following the game for quite a while and I think the article just wasn't worded properly. You can pay for the game out right but you'll still just get the same early access code like everyone else. The access also depends on when you make the pre order and or purchase.

 

[Notthatbright]

1. Early players will get new content sooner and have access to materials and resources that will soon become scarce. That rare stone that you have to be a certain level to get for your lightsaber? They will be happy to sell them to you, seeing how they go their first. And seeing as how only they can get to it, they'd be happy to charge you a shit ton. They get to resources while demand is high and supply is ridiculously low.

2. I refuse to encourage this sort of blatant stratification. They might as well sell experience points and boss loot. I'll wait for F2P, since this game will be the biggest flop of the decade.

 

[plus2exp]

I've had my CE pre-ordered for a while now. I was on the fence about it though. If the game required Origin to run, I was flat out never going to buy it. I'll never install that nasty blood-sucking parasite of raw evil on my computer's delicate, precious hard drive. No sir. But since Bioware confirmed that TOR will not require Origin at all, I decided to go ahead and order it. I've never been a part of any MMO from day one. This looks like a good place to start.