The Secret World pre-order stuff
Hmm.
I don't know if this sort of thingthis sort of thing is standard fare for MMOs these days (since I don't normally play them at all), or if it's indicative of the influence of the ever hated EA, or if it's just another sign of the times for the video game industry in general. Possibly a combination of all three. In any case, this sort of thing does not please me at all.
If I do bother to pre-order at all, it will be for the basic $50 version, but I'm going to hold off on that for the time being. I don't much care about early access or beta weekends, though, and the XP boost and pet or whatever else don't interest me at all. The only thing that is potentially a good incentive for pre-ordering for me is the character name securing thing (though I've never had any trouble getting the name I usually use for web stuff on any other online thing in my long years on the Internet, so I'm not too much worried about someone snapping that up before me).
As for all that extra crap like the Initiate Pack or Master Pack or whatever, I simply don't feel the need to pay-to-win. It's rather vexing that such a thing is possible at all, especially in a multiplayer game like this, but I hope that in the long run it won't matter that some people got a bit of a boost at the beginning that I won't be getting due to not shelling out the extra money for it.
In any event, this puts a black mark against my enthusiasm for this game. I'm still going to play it, mind you, and it would take a lot worse news than this to completely kill my desire to play it entirely, but this is perhaps an ill omen of things to come. :/
(EDIT)
A comment on the FB page for this announcement: "we only sell digital versions. If you want a boxed version, you need to look at the retail game stores :)"
So pre-ordering through the website there is only for the digital download version. No thanks.
(/EDIT)
I don't know if this sort of thingthis sort of thing is standard fare for MMOs these days (since I don't normally play them at all), or if it's indicative of the influence of the ever hated EA, or if it's just another sign of the times for the video game industry in general. Possibly a combination of all three. In any case, this sort of thing does not please me at all.
If I do bother to pre-order at all, it will be for the basic $50 version, but I'm going to hold off on that for the time being. I don't much care about early access or beta weekends, though, and the XP boost and pet or whatever else don't interest me at all. The only thing that is potentially a good incentive for pre-ordering for me is the character name securing thing (though I've never had any trouble getting the name I usually use for web stuff on any other online thing in my long years on the Internet, so I'm not too much worried about someone snapping that up before me).
As for all that extra crap like the Initiate Pack or Master Pack or whatever, I simply don't feel the need to pay-to-win. It's rather vexing that such a thing is possible at all, especially in a multiplayer game like this, but I hope that in the long run it won't matter that some people got a bit of a boost at the beginning that I won't be getting due to not shelling out the extra money for it.
In any event, this puts a black mark against my enthusiasm for this game. I'm still going to play it, mind you, and it would take a lot worse news than this to completely kill my desire to play it entirely, but this is perhaps an ill omen of things to come. :/
(EDIT)
A comment on the FB page for this announcement: "we only sell digital versions. If you want a boxed version, you need to look at the retail game stores :)"
So pre-ordering through the website there is only for the digital download version. No thanks.
(/EDIT)