The Old Republic Collectors' Edition Might Cost You $210

[Pandabearparade]

I think a lot of this negativity is because kids couldn't think of getting this kind of money together. Of course, I have been working since 14 and have never had such issues.

...right. People who balk at paying over 200 dollars for a plastic statue and a few in-game goodies are just kids without jobs, it couldn't be because EA is asking a ridiculous amount for a product that doesn't look to be anything more than average.

 

[Stall]

Most CEs don't include half as much as this one does, which was my point in the first place. The Gentle Giant statue alone is worth upwards of 70$ compared to other similar products on their website.

The only thing expensive and "extra" in the CE is the statue. The other stuff is pretty run of the mill for a CE. If you took out the CE, you'd have a perfectly fine 80 dollar collector's edition. Throwing in the statue reeks of something done just to increase the potential price tag of the collector's edition to ensure that EA and Bioware can get an earlier return on this massive investment.

It's never had a release date, it's had several release windows.

Also, the games been in development since 06, it was announced in 08. So it's been in development for 5 years, which isn't that long. This is not Duke Nukum Forever here, it hasn't been in development that long. Other games within the same genre have been in development since 06 and still haven't come out yet, GW2.

You skated nicely around the point there, with no real admission that TOR has had, or has not had, a healthy development. You compared the game to one game that is the walking definition of vaporware, and a second game that was presumed to be vaporware up until very recently. Of course nothing is going to seem like its in development hell if THOSE are your standards of a development cycle.

I suppose we can agree that the development of the game has been troubled, if anything.

The budget for the game was confirmed at an EA budgetary meeting with investors, why would they lie to their own investors? Why would they lie about the budget of the game at all?

You lie about the budget of a game so it won't look as bad when the units don't sale and you don't get a return, this way investors don't get upset when a project flops. It's not an uncommon practice in Hollywood, which is even more transparent about budgets than gaming. All I can say is that this is a lot more costly than anyone is letting on.

That's actually not a straw man, I never attempted to use your apparent background in 4chan as an argument against you. In fact I answered all of your arguments without using the straw man fallacy at all. Which is something you apparently couldn't accomplish. If anything it was an ad hominem attack, if that.

You don't convey points and rebuttal propositions by arguing about arguing. Also: telling me not to use memes to be "taken seriously" isn't using that against me? Really?

Nice little opinion there at the end, can you look into your magic crystal ball and tell me if the world is gonna end in 2012?

It's nothing beyond pattern recognition. It's over-hyped, big-budgeted, and troubled development seem to only indicate that the game isn't heading towards favorable waters. Things like a lack of an open beta and the strictness of the NDA are even worse omens (it's still pretty hard to find videos on TOR). Even if we were to assume it DID have the 80 million budget, it's still EA's single most expensive project, and is only 20 million less than the budget of GTA4, which is one of the single best selling games of recent memory. And since MMOs are still a rather niche genre, it's already starting the race with one bad leg, so to speak. It's not looking good for TOR, and you don't need a crystal ball to see that.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

I'd buy it. If only to sell it a month later for $410.
[sub]MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!![/sub]

 

[Bretty]

I think a lot of this negativity is because kids couldn't think of getting this kind of money together. Of course, I have been working since 14 and have never had such issues.

...right. People who balk at paying over 200 dollars for a plastic statue and a few in-game goodies are just kids without jobs, it couldn't be because EA is asking a ridiculous amount for a product that doesn't look to be anything more than average.

Opinions are like ass holes and your's smells like one. And historically the reason a lot of people have vented their anger at high priced items is because they cannot afford it or don't think it is worth the price. I am buying it, therefore I think it is worth it.

"that doesn't look to be anything more than average"
- In your opinion. Why you bothered even to quote me? Like I care at all what you think.

 

[fundayz]

What a rip off! The only thing that is any better than a regular $80-100 CE is the statue, and unless it is made of Woolly Mammoth ivory it definitely doesn't make up for that price.

"that doesn't look to be anything more than average"
- In your opinion. Why you bothered even to quote me? Like I care at all what you think.

You very clearly DO care, at least enough to reply.

Edit: Gentle Giant statues average about $60-70, so in essence you are paying $140-150 for a run of the mill Collector's Edition (with the added bonus of being forced to buy an expensive figurine).

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

They should throw in a lifetime subscription for that price. At least a year's worth.

 

[SyphonX]

I seriously doubt it.

They know it's not worth $200, and so does everyone else. Unless they're looking to snub their noses at all their customers.

Who knows though. We're talking George Lucas territory.... so, this could be real..... just saying. Still though, I doubt it. I've never paid close to that for any media or collection item game/movie etc. Only thing I can think of that prices that high for media items, is a boxed set with all the seasons for a show. Even then, that's really high. Unless you're buying something like the Sopranos on blu-ray.. well, you can fuggetta 'bout it.

 

[Vapus]

Knowing this game is going to fail hard to the mainstream of MMO players , the market share EA would love to have . Its not surprising to see them moneygrab hard on the hardcore fans before they cancel thier accounts after max level too .

 

[Vakz]

Prices have been set now. In Sweden, it's 1499 Swedish Kronor, which would be 223 dollars as of writing. It is also the 8th most preordered game for PC, above both MW3 and Skyrim (and yes, I'm still talking about the Collector's Edition. The are more preorders of this crazily overpriced CE than MW3).

For comparison, Collector's Editions in Sweden usually cost 895 - 995 Swedish Kronor (since the dollar is somewhat low now days, 223 would sound pretty outrageous, while 1499 swedish kronor actually isn't that crazy).

 

[manythings]

The Old Republic Collectors' Edition Might Cost You $210

According to supposedly leaked information, BioWare thinks its The Old Republic collectors' edition is worth a very hefty price tag.

Polish retailer Empik.com may have let the cat out of the bag [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111758-Oops-The-Old-Republic-Info-Leaked-By-Careless-Retailer] when it came to Star Wars: The Old Republic announcements that EA and BioWare were saving for this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con. In addition to information about the game's preorder benefits and box art, however, Empik also revealed the many, many goodies that are included in the (inevitable) Collectors' Edition of the game.

According to the image you see here, people who shell out for the limited edition will get the following items for their mundane meatspace lives:

[blockquote]*Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue
*Star Wars: The Old Republic game discs in collectible metal case
*The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural annotated by Satele Shan
*Old Republic galaxy map
*Custom Security Authentication Key (a la the Battle.net Authenticator, presumably)
*Exclusive Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD
*High-Quality Collector's Edition Box[/blockquote]

In case you're running out of room for your giant game-based statues, though, BioWare is also throwing in some digital goodies for your in-game avatar:

[blockquote]*Flare Gun: Fire flares into the air
*Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance
*HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer
*HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures
*STAP: Sleek and unique in-game vehicle
*Exclusive Mouse Droid: Spun-ky droid to join your adventures
*Exclusive Collector's Edition Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items[/blockquote]

According to Empik.com, the Collectors' Edition clocked in at €150 - about $212 at current exchange rates. That's extremely expensive for a limited edition, above even the (then-lampooned) $150 for Modern Warfare 2's Prestige Edition. On the other hand, of course, it seems like the EU always gets screwed in the price point, so who knows what the US retail price will be?

Price point aside, it seems like a fairly standard MMO limited edition, though some of the digital goodies worry me as a long-time MMO player. I'm going to assume that the Training Droid won't be a crucial addition to combat, and presumably there will be equivalents to the HoloCam (even if it's just using an external program like Fraps) - but the idea of a "unique in-game vendor" sounds a bit troublesome.

As always, none of this information is confirmed, no matter how official the image here might look. One way or another, we'll likely get the official word this weekend at Comic-Con.

(G4TV [http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/714659/star-wars-the-old-republic-box-art-and-collectors-edition-leaked/])

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http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/star-wars-the-old-republic-online-collectors-edition/92635

$149.99. So far the cheapest price I've found is here in the Republic of Ireland which is a very strange occurence.

 

[grigjd3]

"it seems like the EU always gets screwed in the price point" - tell me about it. It's often cheaper to import from countries with lower taxes and localization costs than to buy a copy at the local store. I've been living in Germany for the last two years and I've found it is almost always best to import from the UK.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Yep. EU got screwed big time. Collector's Edition over there is for 150 euros while the US gets it for 150 dollars.

I honestly wonder if people buying the CE EU side will genuinely jump on it the way they already are doing in the US. But I honestly hope they don't, because I've seen plenty of absurd pricing decisions, but this is downright abhorrent.

Glad I'm wholly uninterested in the CE myself though. Still, one could pre-order it through Amazon instead - a whoooole lot easier on the wallet.

 

[Rigs83]

Actually the Collector Edition will cost $149.99 and I already pre-ordered it on Amazon

 

[Nemu]

Ditto, got an email from Amazon at about 4 am while at work, and pre-ordered it immediately.
I get +10 Nerd Points for doing it on my R2-D2 Droid2. lol


Now I have to wait until I can play the early opt-in for folks who pre-order. ><

 

[harvz]

hm, about $210USD, probably gonna be $300 here...i no longer care about this stuff, im just giving up.

 

[Pandabearparade]

"that doesn't look to be anything more than average"
- In your opinion. Why you bothered even to quote me? Like I care at all what you think.

No, actually that's objective, not my opinion. It has a couple in-game items and an action figure. That's what most collector's editions will have, thus it literally appears to be nothing more than a standard collector's edition release. Are you claiming that this particular statuette is vastly superior to all the rest?

Though I've always found the 'That's just your opinion!' defense to be the last resort of a failed argument. Opinions aren't all equal, some can be well supported and some can't. When one has an opinion they can't defend, the 'That's just your opinion!' defense is often used.

 

[Pandabearparade]

He thinks it's worth the price, how is that not subjective?

Oh, that's entirely subjective. He quoted me saying it just looks like an average release, which is entirely true. It looks like an average CE release. If that's worth it to him, fine. He felt the need to accuse people who don't think it's worth that of being children without money, which I took issue with.

No one is "objectively" wrong here. The only problem i have is, why do you care? So what if somebody spends 150 bucks on something? has no effect on you at all.

You misunderstood my meaning. It isn't objectively a bad deal, it's just objectively an average CE, without anything that really sets it apart from most others unless you have a subjective attachment to the Star Wars mythos.
I'm not objecting to his desire to spend his own money on what he wants, I'm objecting to him saying that people who call this ridiculously overpriced are just whining because they can't afford it.