RoK Digital Download

[Rrys]

<p>Scenario:  A player, who only has EQ2 Classic, decides to purchase RoK Expansion via Digital Download.  Will they get access to all of the content in the previous expansions?  I know that EoF retail included all expansions, and from the forums, it appears that EoF Digital Download did not include the expansions.  Additionally, SOE has indicated the RoK Expansion via Retail will have all expansions.</p><p>Any scuttlebutt on whether the RoK Expansion via Digital Download will be "SNAFU"  like previous digital downloads or might there be a sea change?</p>

[KennyG]

buy retail.Digital D/L is going to be iffy at best.  While I doubt that you would be able to go from 50-71 without those zones and that there are other crucial things in the game that are based on previous expansion content but it would be safer to just buy retail.

[DngrMou]

If SOE rolls this out the same way they did EoF, (and I believe KoS, DoF as well), the digital download will only include RoK.  If you have all the other expansions, this can be a good way to go...as the download can start well before the expansion goes live, and once servers come up on game day, you can be in and playing quickly, without worrying about store availability, or the vagaries of mail order.

[cheetahinoz]

Yep have to agree d/download is much easier and faster. how ever some people do like to have the box thing to touch feel smell the paper <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Nink]

I believe the devs have already posted that the retail version will contain all the previous expansions and the digital download wont.

[vochore]

<cite>Nink wrote:</cite><blockquote>I believe the devs have already posted that the retail version will contain all the previous expansions and the digital download wont.</blockquote>and it will mostlikly cost the same as the retail as usual

[ke'la]

<p>From what I have read. </p><p>On Launch Day all players will have 3 options</p><p><b><u>Direct</u></b> Download from SoE, this will be full price and ONLY contain RoK and nothing else</p><p><b><u>Digital</u></b> Download from Retailers like Direct 2 Drive, this also will be Full Price and it will be an All in One Pack</p><p>Retail Box again full price for the expaintion and will be All in One.</p><p>If they stay true to form you will also beable to pre-Order the Direct Download Version at a $5 or so discount. However this will only be for PRE-Orders.</p>

[DngrMou]

<cite>ke'la wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>From what I have read. </p><p>On Launch Day all players will have 3 options</p><p><b><u>Direct</u></b> Download from SoE, this will be full price and ONLY contain RoK and nothing else</p><p><b><u>Digital</u></b> Download from Retailers like Direct 2 Drive, this also will be Full Price and it will be an All in One Pack</p><p>Retail Box again full price for the expaintion and will be All in One.</p><p>If they stay true to form you will also beable to pre-Order the Direct Download Version at a $5 or so discount. However this will only be for PRE-Orders.</p></blockquote><p>A quick note on the Digital download option.  If you go this route, I believe you can still pre-download the RoK files from SOE prior to the release date.  The box and cd's are still snail mailed to you...but you don't have to have them to start playing.  </p><p>I'm pretty sure I remember this being discussed when EoF went live....if I'm wrong, someone please correct me.</p>

[Razak]

I've traditionally done the downloads, and am going to do the disc this upcoming release mostly for the purpose of reinstall because I'm sick of the 8 hour download involved in a fresh install... I think having the download version is nice because you generally will get in the game a little quicker if you are one of those people who want to do it that way... Another thing to keep in mind is preorder situation... I believe in EOF the preorder gave $3 discount for download... while the box had a house pet or something like that.... so if you wanna save a couple bucks that may take into consideration too...

[retro_guy]

Digital download is only good if you don't want the "gift" you get from purchasing the box and you already have all the previous expansions.It's also useful if you live somewhere the game may be released a few days after it goes live (in New Zealand game are typically a few days late due to shipping across the Sydney Harbour. On the day RoK goes live I may roll up my trousers and wade across to buy my copy, that is if I'm not too busy clubbing Hobbits to death and avoiding Maori raiding parties.)Otherwise I would avoid it at all cost.

[Lightstrider]

<p>I have done digital downloads both in EQ1 and EQ2 and never had any issues.  I was nervouse about not having a disc the first time I did it and communicated my concerns to Sony, but they told me that once you purchase it, your account is permanently flagged, so that a disc is no longer needed.  </p><p>The advantage of the retail is if you are missing expansions, since you get them all, and whatever the gift is.  Since I have all the expansions and don't care that much about the gift, it's no big detail to me.  </p><p>The advantage of digital download is that you can begin downloading the files usually for some time in advance of launch, reducing the time for download on launch day.  My usual method is to start the launch day download when I get up in the morning on launch day before I go to work and leave it running.  By the time I get home from work, it is usually mostly downloaded.  I then restart the game to get whatever hotfixes have happened during the day and then have dinner.  Once that is done, it's game time.  I don't find that delay to be a big deal, myself, but if you want to be playing at the exact moment of launch, it's not going to happen using the download method.</p>

[mrfixit2u20]

<cite>Lightstrider wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>  I don't find that delay to be a big deal, myself, but if you want to be playing at the exact moment of launch, it's not going to happen using the download method.</p></blockquote>Wrong. It must be your connection because when EoF went live i was playing right when servers came up in EoF. Every expansion and adventure pack i did the download and never had any problems and was able to logg on when servers came up. Its really your preferance to what you want to buy.

[MasterRaistl]

Anyone have an idea when the digital download will be available for pre-order? How soon before was EoF posted?

[Tae]

<cite>retro_guy wrote:</cite><blockquote>Digital download is only good if you don't want the "gift" you get from purchasing the box and you already have all the previous expansions.It's also useful if you live somewhere the game may be released a few days after it goes live (in New Zealand game are typically a few days late due to shipping across the Sydney Harbour. On the day RoK goes live I may roll up my trousers and wade across to buy my copy, that is if I'm not too busy clubbing Hobbits to death and avoiding Maori raiding parties.)</blockquote>Or if you live in the UK. None of our online shops have RoK avaliable yet. None of our highstreet stores even know it exists. I ordered EoF from Canada because I couldn't find it anywhere here at all. I hope this won't be the case when RoK is actually released but I'm betting it will be.

[Tanithis]

If you get the download from Direct2Drive, you get the gift and everything else just as if it was a box. If you get it from sony, you only get the expansion.

[Renwaldo]

I'm not sure what you guys are reading but if you go to the PreOrder page and do the Digital DL, it says the you get the All in one pack from SOE or the other place , it never says SOE isn't including the rest of the expansions my receit says All in one pack if it's not then SOE will be hearing from me that's for sure.....also I was told that the digital DL you can start DL before it goes live, then why hasn't it ? where is the option to start this Incremental DL ??

[Morningside]

RoK includes all of the 3 previous Expansions as well as the previous 3 Adventure Packs. Please feel free to continue the Pre-Download discussion in the following thread: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=391419" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Link</a>

[niteowl53]

 <cite>Tanithis wrote:</cite><blockquote>If you get the download from Direct2Drive, you get the gift and everything else just as if it was a box. If you get it from sony, you only get the expansion.</blockquote>I understand this is what they have done in the past, but when I go here:   http://everquest2.station.sony.com/   I clicked upper right where it says pre-order now (where the little shopping cart is), it takes you to this page:<a href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/buyNow.vm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://everquest2.station.sony.com/buyNow.vm</a> This is the page I pre-ordered off of.  I have read this page multiple times, according to what it says here, you will get the all-in-one pack from either place you do the digital download from.It says this:<p >Special Offer Begins October 16, 2007</p><div align="right" style="text-align: center;"> <a href="javascript:void(0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/images/burynai.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="136" height="146" /><span><img src="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/images/burynai_lg.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="435" height="465" /></span></a> Burynai Seeker House Pet </div> EverQuest II is an <b>“All-In-One” </b>compilation pack including all the features and content from the critically acclaimed base game EverQuest II, all three adventure packs, Splitpaw Saga™, The Bloodline Chronicles™ and The Fallen Dynasty™, and all three previously released expansion packs, Desert of Flames™, Kingdom of Sky™ and Echoes of Faydwer™ plus the new expansion pack Rise of Kunark™. *Limit one (1) per accountThen it says right below that:<p >Choose From<b> Any One of Our Fine Retail and Digital Partners</b> to Pre-Order!</p> Pre-Order Digital Downloads:And it lists:Station.com Store     and   Direct 2 DriveNo where does it say, Station.com store is ONLY RoK, and Direct2Drive is the All-in-One.  On the contrary it lists that BOTH have the All-In-One download.If this is a mis-print, or if this pre-order page mis-leads people, I for one would like it clarified.

[Orcid]

<span style="color: #ffcc66;">Did anyone else have any difficulties with accessing the sony website on the evening of the 12?  We could not access it.  Tried for a while, and got nothing except a message indicating the site was temporarily down.  As a result, we were not able to get the pre-ordered Rise of Kunark expansion.    I understand that  there is the "you could have done it sooner" answer, yes.  But when Sony says it is "available for pre-order until 11:59 Monday, November 12", and we tried to pre-order many hours prior, yet could not ... well.  I'm just very very bummed.</span>  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Aenielle]

<cite>Orcid wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="color: #ffcc66;">... "you could have done it sooner" ...</span><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>

[yellowbelly08]

<p>ok..so..on release day the shop i ordered the box from say it wont be available till fri <euro>. So this forces me to digitally download it to keep competitive <pvp server>...but...when i go to the download link..."station.com is currently down for scheduled maintainence". So i cant even download it. An appalling state of affairs and will leave me far behind when i finally get in. Why were we not warned that euros wont get it boxed on release before hand and now why wont the download start...traffic i guess...traffic that could have been avoided due to prewarning. SOE..sorry your marketting department truly needs a reshuffle imo...most shop assistants in uk havent even heard of the game..or this expansion. You have gold here..but are selling it as excrement.....</p><p>Galoro</p>

[DMIstar]

Personally at this point in time.. Why not just restrict the expansions to be bought from SoE online ... Even send out Games directly from SoE.. Rather then the mess thats going on nowadays with it... I for one am happy right now I went with the digital download .. and this is the first I've done it. Other then LoY which was forced. Here it is launch day.. I got out and went to a few stores. Now there has been Zero Advertiseing that ive seen in the three state radius that I travel.. yeah None.. IF you dont know about EQ and dont go to thier websites, Your never going to know EQ or EQ2 is out there ... Hell I still see vanguard stuff around. But never Everquest anymore .. And to top it off the Major Retialer that i work for, Which is big it covers both east and west coasts and is working on intertnational stores ... Will not have it in the stores ... At least not my territory .. I checked the local branchs saw it said "Not sold at this location" then though [Removed for Content] ... So checked District .. nobody .. checked further nobody ......... Checked older EQ2 games cause then I was like [Removed for Content] still and noticed and walked back that no shelves had anything EQ other then an old strategy guides or game cards ..... Older versions say the exact same or under clearance ... Today I went to a stand alone Gamestop, close to where i got lunch at.. Nothing, and I mean nothing .. the guy in there realy had no clue.... I then traveled over to the mall where it had both a gamestop and EB .. The small Gamestop there had nothing .. the EB had 4 copies in.. they where stacked on the floor behind the counter. Theres no marketing for this game, It barely exists in stores anymore and its ashame. Considering the only reason I got into EQ in the first place was because i would walk into EB back in the day and see stuff deglore showing off Everquest.. I still remember the scars of velious sign ... I know Computer games are dieing, I can see it in the stores .. EB/Gamestop has a little rack for them normally in a back corner .. But still I think back on Burning Crusade and all the hype and stuff for it and the midnight rush .... I cant completly say its dead with that .. I know starcraft 2 will be the same. But everquest doesnt even have minor fraction of that advertisment for it. anymore its like its not even tried. .....

[Yngwiem]

<p>It seems that if you didn't pre-order from EBGames or GameStop, then you are pretty much out of luck getting a hard copy.</p><p>I stopped at GS at lunch. They had 1 copy, which was a pre-order. I had them call down the street to EB, and they had 2 copies. I need 3!!</p><p>I stopped at CompUSA. Nothing. But they sure had a bunch of WoW games, and Guild War games, and other MMORPG. But nothing EQ at all.</p><p>So, I went online to Direct2Drive, and clicked on RoK... and it said it was unavailable and to check back later. Now if you go there, you can't even find it to download it.</p><p>I checked Best Buy, and they won't release it until tomorrow.</p><p>Me thinks SOE has some marketing issues, and needs to can whoever is in charge of it.</p>

[Khanon]

Interesting anecdotal incident I had at a local Fry's Electronics in the SF Bay Area with their PC games dept manager."I don't see any way to pre-order EQII's Rise of Kunark except online, and I only see 2 copies of Echoes of Faydwer, and nothing of anything else for EQ2... Why is that?""Oh, well it's just not selling like it used to...""Really? You still have a display stand for Burning Crusade, yet there's only a couple copies gone from it. You still have 12 copies of the Burning Crusade Collector's Edition, all of which have dust on them, and you are still carrying copies of Black and White, which have probably been on the shelves since it came out, they're so dirty... So why are you carrying so much of them and not even a hint that you have EQ2? Those other things obviously aren't moving at all, either...""Oh...I...uhhh... Good point. I don't know."*shrugs*I think it's almost as much the fault of the retail stores as it is SOE's...

[Em Xide]

<cite>Khanon wrote:</cite><blockquote>Interesting anecdotal incident I had at a local Fry's Electronics in the SF Bay Area with their PC games dept manager."I don't see any way to pre-order EQII's Rise of Kunark except online, and I only see 2 copies of Echoes of Faydwer, and nothing of anything else for EQ2... Why is that?""Oh, well it's just not selling like it used to...""Really? You still have a display stand for Burning Crusade, yet there's only a couple copies gone from it. You still have 12 copies of the Burning Crusade Collector's Edition, all of which have dust on them, and you are still carrying copies of Black and White, which have probably been on the shelves since it came out, they're so dirty... So why are you carrying so much of them and not even a hint that you have EQ2? Those other things obviously aren't moving at all, either...""Oh...I...uhhh... Good point. I don't know."*shrugs*I think it's almost as much the fault of the retail stores as it is SOE's...</blockquote><p>If you think that retailer stores are always serving the best interests of the customers, then yes.  But both SOE and any game retailer are businesses, and follow the money.  </p><p>Curious thing about those display stands is they are mostly bought, designed, and delivered by the publishers themselves.  If there are no display stands in retail stores, that is because SOE has not allocated enough money to market the games in this way.   They haven't even bothered to send out posters, or if they actually did send any out, did not provide enough incentive to the retailer (yes, cash!) to display these promotional items. This <i>suggests</i> a number of things, one or more of which <i>may</i> be true:</p><p>1)  SOE is winding down its marketing support for EQ2.  Subscriber numbers alone would support this idea, as EQ2 peaked in Jan 2005, and has been dwindling ever since (see <a href="http://www.mmogchart.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.mmogchart.com/</a>).</p><p>2)  SOE is undergoing a crunch in personnel in its in marketing department, and has very few people assigned to too many projects, some of which have a higher priority than EQ2.</p><p>3)  SOE has decided that PC gaming in general, and MMORPGs in particular, are less important these days, while console gaming takes more of their focus.  This is Sony after all, and if it expects to win the console race (yea, right), it needs to step up to the plate with its console offerings.  You may be surprised by the idea that MMOs are less popular among publishers, but you can find current articles which say that the MMORPG genre is over-competitive atm, with every one else playing second fiddle to WOW.  Since SOE knows that EQ2 will never be another WOW, nor will it likely see a resurgence, they are already planning its replacement, to be rolled out ASAP (as soon as profitable).  Probably, it will be a cross-platform offering, connecting PC gamers to PS3 gamers, and emphasizing their PS3 online community.</p><p>4)  SOE has decided to experiment more fully with the online method of selling and delivering games to the player, rather than through retail outlets. Steam has proven the validity of this model in the industry, plus the profit margin is much higher in every case where online delivery is used.  This has particular utility in mature MMOs like EQ2 where you have a captive audience, and can directly engage them with marketing and support, while still justifying the same price point for the online product as the retail product.  In order to succeed here, they have to slowly abandon their long-standing deals with the retailers, as Sony does not want to [Removed for Content] them off.  Yet it <i>has</i> to try out this new-fangled downloadable distribution model.  Valve is one thing, but EA is doing it too, Sony would be stupid not to follow.  Just think how much profit they make from 40 dollars when they no longer have to subtract cost-of-goods, or the retailers' cuts.  Gold rush, anyone?</p><p>5)  SOE is specifically trying to wean its players away from the retailers, in preparation for next-generation rollouts of online-only distribution.  They start with you guys because they know you will buy the downloads, but what they don't know is how the casual gamers will accept them.  (Yes, this means I am calling you hardcore games, as I presume that MOST players still playing EQ2 are not casual gamers, not any more).  So this is a tentative first step, while the next, riskier step is just waiting in the wings.</p><p>All five may be true, and if so, this expansion is in a perfect storm of non-marketability.  In this general scenario, SOE has intentionally downplayed its promotion for this game, for the reasons given, and maybe others.</p><p>*takes a breath*</p><p><i>Okay</i>, that was the five points I wanted to bring up, now for a few more thoughts:</p><p>*downs a mouthful of fine brew from his everlasting keg*</p><p>You have to consider that publishers have an imperfect relationship with the retailers, and this extends from the early years of the game industry, and up to the present.  Publishers say retailers demand too much profit from the games, while publishers are expected to carry the burden of the costs.  Retailers say that publishers intentionally promise more than they can deliver in stock, and that means the retailers end up with unhappy campers.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  </p><p>Both sides demand more from the relationship, which forces the consumer to look elsewhere for an experience that satisfies his immediate desires and budget, such as online piracy.  SOE execs hear about piracy, and their fear is that what has happened to the music industry, will happen to them.  They have the luxury of knowing the consequences of not acting on this, <b>but</b> the burden of having borne some of those consequences themselves, since they are also a music company.  Above all else, they fear negative growth, profit losses, and stock drops.</p><p>Can they learn from their experiences in the music industry?  While Sony has <b>not always</b> shown that its left hand knows what its right hand is doing (or <i>agrees</i> with the right hand), perhaps they came to a realization.  SOE's emphasis on downloads may be the vanguard of a new direction for Sony, one I hope benefits the player.  I also hope they finish this heritage quest, rather than get bored and walk away.</p><p>Just like SOE tried to out-maneuver the plat sellers by setting up the exchange servers, and grab a piece of the pie, so too do they offer downloadable content.  They say they want to offer the player additional options, and keep them happy.</p><p>But is the experience really worth it?  Is it designed with the best interests of the player, <i>or</i> the best interests of SOE?  My own experience has not been good.  Though I pre-ordered the all-in-one download from the Station store, I am still waiting on the last 2 hours after 10 hours of downloading with a broadband connection.  There was no pre-download, contrary to email promises, nor does it appear that I will have access to the other expansion areas or adventure packs when I log in tonight (tomorrow?).  Sure, these will come later, teething pains, you say.  That is the price of being an early mover in new technologies.  But is that what <b>today</b> is all about?   </p><p>I am a veteran EQ2 subscriber who prior to now, only purchased one adventure pack.  EQ2 was my first MMORPG, and I started playing as research.  I even expensed the cost of the retail game, and the first few months of my subscription. *grin*  I stuck around for the community, and due to my ongoing interest in the evolution of this game.  I was here from day one, but I've been in and out since then.  I am not your typical early mover, nor I am stuck in the mainstream.  </p><p>Now I know what <i>I </i>would want as a player.  I want an active community that organically changes, even if it doesn't grow.  I want a sustained and entertaining experience that is similar to how I started, but reflects the state-of-the-art, and justifies the subscription cost.  I expect stability, communication, and delivery of all products.  A 3-year product should not suffer these issues, nor should we.  My observation today is that I didn't get what I want.  I am concerned that this reflects an overall lack of imagination in the game industry, and lack of dedication to players.  </p><p>SOE makes up for some of that, after all, they <i>made</i> this expansion in the first place, and even offered it as a bundle.  Lucky for them, this ensures that anyone who buys it will not only stick around to play out Kunark, but some will find new ways to explore previous content.  After that plays out, expect subscribers to drop like flies.  Solution?  Only immediate one I see is to combine all the servers, 2-to-1, maybe 3-to-1.  But don't do this by number of players.  Do it by size of economy, so that the after a temporary inflation period, every server settles to more generous levels of economic activity.  Could you go through this?  One thing I have learned is that even a <i>bad</i> shared experience can be better than <i>no</i> shared experience.</p><p>SOE invests just enough money into the infrastructure to support the bandwidth costs, and to experiment with their systems, some of the which, like the Station downloader, are still in beta, but not so much money that should it prove unprofitable to continue, they cannot cut their losses, and seek other revenue streams.  Given the lack of promotion, that transitional point is close.</p><p>Yup, you unhappy campers, SOE will listen carefully to all your complaints, hell ya!  For it will help them to decide when it is time to cancel EQ2, but first, when to proclaim its replacement, with all the fanfare that a shiny deserves, no matter if it is pristine or broken.  Will you line up?  </p>