Bioware have just snuck out another announcement for those who have pre-ordered SWTOR, to confirm how early the promised early access to the game would be. The maximum head-start you’ll get will be five days, depending on how early you registered your pre-order code.
I have to say I’m disappointed, purely out of self-interest. I was relying on early game access to be the buffer that ensured my boxed copy arrived from the US prior to launch. It’s very unlikely to get here in five days though (particularly if the plane pictured is used).
It’s no-one’s fault as such – Australia isn’t part of the launch territories and for those people that are in the launch areas, five days is more than reasonable.
And I won’t get into the whole launch territories issue again I promise.
One important point to reinforce: it doesn’t matter if you purchased the Collector’s Edition or the normal box, you’re in the same queue for early access. I’ve confirmed this with Stephen Reid this morning via Twitter.
Over to you: are you now planning on December 15th as your launch date?
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Will there be an option to download the client in lieu of getting the hard copy?
Well if all goes well and I can download the game then yes I’ll be in there on the 15th, now if only I could decide what kind of server to play on.
Only five days -maximum-? They had better be damned generous in the upcoming beta invites.
The way i interpreted this was that early access launches 5 days b4 offical launch which is when Amazon will start shipping the games, i cant see where they have stated when early access finishes, so im picking that thell run it till about 1 week after offical launch which is pretty standard for MMO’s that should give us plenty of time to have our physical copys in hand, theyve all ready screwed us RED ZONERZ over once cant see them doing it again.
I’m really disappointed in BioWare. 5 days? Come on at least give us 2 weeks and slowly pull us in over time due to the order of preorders. Oh well I guess we should be happy that you’re giving early access at all.
I am pretty sure I have seen dev comments in relation to the Early start that you will be able to download the client (Not through Origin). Can’t find the quote though.
5 days – what a joke. I’m glad we’re getting it at all but then, it was promised… As part of the sales pitch no less. General consensus was that we’d have a 2 week head start (staggered release). Oh well. I just hope this MMO recognizes that because they haven’t IP limited this game, they are allowing non listed zones to participate so no matter what they say about “we’re not responsible for poor game experience for clients outside the designated zones”… They still kinda are. By allowing us to give them money for a product, they’re accepting us as paying clients. Rant=End
Stephen Reid has on numerous occasions mentioned that there will be a ‘grace period’ once the game goes live, to account for the time it takes to ship the game to players. During that period, players will still be able to play the game. While they haven’t said how long it will be, my guess is that it will be roughly a week.
I’m cautiously optimistic, however they have stated that your location will have a bearing on how early early start is. So I’m hoping for the 15th, but expecting the 20th.