I would like to pose a question to the community experts out there.
I am basing this isse off the assumption that the servers for D3 go live at 12 am on the 15th.
I preordered the Collector's edition through Best Buy. I wanted to order direct through Blizzard but I couldn't do so. Not sure if they ever sold it directly or not, but whatever the case, I had to use a thrid party. Now, if I just ordered the regular version, Blizzard would already have a game license attached to my account. As it is, although I have paid the $99, Blizzard has no way of knowing this. Now my question is, if you bought via Blizzard, will you be able to pre-download the client so that all you need to do is activate the license? Thus enabling you to play at midnight if you received the license via digital download?
Because as I thought about it, I realized I really wanted to play live from minute one. It's not ultimately important to my overall enjoyment, but I just want to be able to say it. I played D1 the day it came out the minute after I got home from the store after being there on opening, same with d2. I am wondering, if Best Buy doesn't open until 10 am on tuesday, will I effectively be losing out on that experience because I paid more for the collector's edition? That would make me sad.
I believe you can attach a digital copy to your battle.net account, play, and at a later time receive a CE license and upgrade your existing account to that.
I believe you can attach a digital copy to your battle.net account, play, and at a later time receive a CE license and upgrade your existing account to that.
You can, but you don't get your money refunded back, thus if you don't need two copies of that game that is a giant waste :P.
Edit: Oh yeah and to answer OP's question, unless you can get the install disk before release/server up then the digital downloaders will be playing before you. If you are in a rather urban area, Best Buy might have a midnight release so you can buy it then. The digital downloads are encrypted so even after serverup/release people will have to wait the same amount of time as it takes to install from the disk.
On another note if playing minute one is more important than having the collectors edition, what was your motivation for buying the CE in the first place?
I believe you can attach a digital copy to your battle.net account, play, and at a later time receive a CE license and upgrade your existing account to that.
On another note if playing minute one is more important than having the collectors edition, what was your motivation for buying the CE in the first place?
nektel, thank you for your response.
Actually, it never occurred to me that the Collector's edition wouldn't come with the ability to play at launch. That may sound stupid, but if you pull back and ask the question as a customer service query: "Should people who pay more for a deluxe version of our game not be able to play as soon as people who paid less?" The answer should seem obvious. Of course not! I guess I figured that I would be able to email Blizz a copy of the receipt and that I would have a key that activate on launch just like everyone else. It seems so obvious, in fact, that I didn't research it beforehand. Stupid me!
I had thought of buying a digital retail copy too, but it galls me to do so. I had never bought a CE version before, and thought I would treat myself. Now I kind of regret it. Hopefully my Wings will help ease the pain, lol. Oh well, it's really a minor problem but it is still aggravating.
If Blizzard had any way at all of knowing you had purchased and paid for you CE at launch, then you'd get to play at launch. Not sure how to phrase this without sounding like a jerk but... You preordered a boxed copy from a retail store, knowing you weren't getting it until the store opened up on release day... How did you expect to be able to play before you had your box and cd key?
Edit: Btw you don't get charged for preorders until you pick them up at the store at Best Buy so you wouldn't have a receipt...
At least you will avoid the first couple days of mayhem that generally come with launch. Let's just choose to think that way even if it isn't true. >:] I had a hefty BB giftcard sitting around and bought through them as well, the game could ship *up to* an entire week late.
Short answer - yes. If you ordered any physical copy it will get to you later than server start, by how much depends on shipping and where you live.
You can do what I'm doing - I ordered 2 CE and I also did the annual pass, so at launch I can play with the standard edition, and then when the CE arrives I simply put in the code and upgrade my SE to a CE, allowing me to keep my progress with my toons while also getting the CE goodies.
ATM there are no ways for Blizzard to know that you specifically ordered a CE, and there's no way companies will open up the box and email you the code before shipping - too much liability.
CE - gotta wait until it arrives at your door
Physical SE - same as above
electronic SE - you can pre - download and play at launch (except that you have to wait for your computer to de-crypt the pre-DL and install, which takes about the same amount of time as a physical install with the discs as stated by Blizzard)
This is a concern that I have also. I have decided though that waiting in line for Best Buy to open that morning, and getting a roughly 10 hour start AFTER the pre-order people is not that big of a deal to me. At least not enough for me to skip the CE. I've been waiting for this game for 10 years, I can wait another 10 hours.
Plus, I can only imagine that the wall of lag at 12:01am on the 15th will prevent the experience from being enjoyable... Of course, it might make the experience unenjoyable for the first week, too, but I digress.
I've thought about this exact same thing... and concluded I'm sticking with the CE in store pickup.
The "delux" part of the edition is the physical objects and exclusive cosmetic content that it brings. But that's not what the essence of your question is.
Now... I read about it somewhere, but just to be sure I'll put a bolded phrase here: NOT CONFIRMED. Since I have bad memory like that.
So, the fact is - you can have just one Diablo 3 license on your account. Many people might start out with the digital version and later on decide that "those wings are f*ckin awesome. I need them nao" and then go ahead and purchase a CE. So what happens then? Well what I read/heard/remember is that the digital version's key gets "ejected" out of your account. You've still payed for it so you should be able to do with it whatever the hell you want. I remember a friend saying he'll give it to a buddy of his. And no, this doesn't work for Annual Pass holders.
Again, this is NOT CONFIRMED in any way so don't go complaining to Blizz your key wasn't ejected out of your account. It's just what I remember hearing somewhere.
Also, something that is confirmed - you can still buy a physical copy of the game and play at 00:00. You just need the key stapled inside the game's box. And yes, everyone can pre-download the game. Purchased or not. So if you buy your copy from, say, Amazon, where they sometimes send the game 1 day earlier - you can totally play at 00:00 when servers come up.
Here's a solution for getting to play as quickly as possible:
You can go ahead and download the client now, whether you have a CE or not; there are links to full client downloads on this site and many others. Hopefully your local store will have a midnight release; if they do, you can go there and get your box, then rush home and input your key on battle.net. You'll still be a bit behind those that can log in right at midnight, but you won't be several hours behind.
If your store doesn't have a midnight release, that sucks, and the only way you're playing at midnight is by purchasing a digital edition (which you probably don't want to do if you can just wait a few additional hours instead).
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i would choose my own religion and worship my own spirit, but if he ever preached to me i wouldn't want to hear it. i'd drop him, a forgotten god, languishing in shame; and then if i hit stormy seas, i'd have myself to blame.
I thought they were doing region specific openings, so technically if you live on the east coast like I do then you can get your copy at midnight then be ready to play for 3 am when the servers go up. There was supposed to be info about that coming this week but they kinda flunked on that and never released anything and then deleted the post. BTW you can just go and download the predownload right now then install it when the servers go live, because you're not allowed to install the game till the 15th either way. So those people who have that digital copy shit is just useless unless you want to play from second one. If you buy CE at stores you'll get to play what maybe 1-2 hours later not even if you live relatively close to a BB or gamestop.
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Not even Death will save you from Diablo Bunny's Cuteness!
I would like to pose a question to the community experts out there.
I am basing this isse off the assumption that the servers for D3 go live at 12 am on the 15th.
I preordered the Collector's edition through Best Buy. I wanted to order direct through Blizzard but I couldn't do so. Not sure if they ever sold it directly or not, but whatever the case, I had to use a thrid party. Now, if I just ordered the regular version, Blizzard would already have a game license attached to my account. As it is, although I have paid the $99, Blizzard has no way of knowing this. Now my question is, if you bought via Blizzard, will you be able to pre-download the client so that all you need to do is activate the license? Thus enabling you to play at midnight if you received the license via digital download?
Because as I thought about it, I realized I really wanted to play live from minute one. It's not ultimately important to my overall enjoyment, but I just want to be able to say it. I played D1 the day it came out the minute after I got home from the store after being there on opening, same with d2. I am wondering, if Best Buy doesn't open until 10 am on tuesday, will I effectively be losing out on that experience because I paid more for the collector's edition? That would make me sad.
Thanks in advance for any feedback or answers.
You can, but you don't get your money refunded back, thus if you don't need two copies of that game that is a giant waste :P.
Edit: Oh yeah and to answer OP's question, unless you can get the install disk before release/server up then the digital downloaders will be playing before you. If you are in a rather urban area, Best Buy might have a midnight release so you can buy it then. The digital downloads are encrypted so even after serverup/release people will have to wait the same amount of time as it takes to install from the disk.
On another note if playing minute one is more important than having the collectors edition, what was your motivation for buying the CE in the first place?
nektel, thank you for your response.
Actually, it never occurred to me that the Collector's edition wouldn't come with the ability to play at launch. That may sound stupid, but if you pull back and ask the question as a customer service query: "Should people who pay more for a deluxe version of our game not be able to play as soon as people who paid less?" The answer should seem obvious. Of course not! I guess I figured that I would be able to email Blizz a copy of the receipt and that I would have a key that activate on launch just like everyone else. It seems so obvious, in fact, that I didn't research it beforehand. Stupid me!
I had thought of buying a digital retail copy too, but it galls me to do so. I had never bought a CE version before, and thought I would treat myself. Now I kind of regret it. Hopefully my Wings will help ease the pain, lol. Oh well, it's really a minor problem but it is still aggravating.
Edit: Btw you don't get charged for preorders until you pick them up at the store at Best Buy so you wouldn't have a receipt...
You can do what I'm doing - I ordered 2 CE and I also did the annual pass, so at launch I can play with the standard edition, and then when the CE arrives I simply put in the code and upgrade my SE to a CE, allowing me to keep my progress with my toons while also getting the CE goodies.
ATM there are no ways for Blizzard to know that you specifically ordered a CE, and there's no way companies will open up the box and email you the code before shipping - too much liability.
CE - gotta wait until it arrives at your door
Physical SE - same as above
electronic SE - you can pre - download and play at launch (except that you have to wait for your computer to de-crypt the pre-DL and install, which takes about the same amount of time as a physical install with the discs as stated by Blizzard)
Plus, I can only imagine that the wall of lag at 12:01am on the 15th will prevent the experience from being enjoyable... Of course, it might make the experience unenjoyable for the first week, too, but I digress.
I've thought about this exact same thing... and concluded I'm sticking with the CE in store pickup.
Now... I read about it somewhere, but just to be sure I'll put a bolded phrase here: NOT CONFIRMED. Since I have bad memory like that.
So, the fact is - you can have just one Diablo 3 license on your account. Many people might start out with the digital version and later on decide that "those wings are f*ckin awesome. I need them nao" and then go ahead and purchase a CE. So what happens then? Well what I read/heard/remember is that the digital version's key gets "ejected" out of your account. You've still payed for it so you should be able to do with it whatever the hell you want. I remember a friend saying he'll give it to a buddy of his. And no, this doesn't work for Annual Pass holders.
Again, this is NOT CONFIRMED in any way so don't go complaining to Blizz your key wasn't ejected out of your account. It's just what I remember hearing somewhere.
Also, something that is confirmed - you can still buy a physical copy of the game and play at 00:00. You just need the key stapled inside the game's box. And yes, everyone can pre-download the game. Purchased or not. So if you buy your copy from, say, Amazon, where they sometimes send the game 1 day earlier - you can totally play at 00:00 when servers come up.
edit: Turns out I was correct and this is confirmed: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4175421603?page=2#24
Ha. Bagstone.
You can go ahead and download the client now, whether you have a CE or not; there are links to full client downloads on this site and many others. Hopefully your local store will have a midnight release; if they do, you can go there and get your box, then rush home and input your key on battle.net. You'll still be a bit behind those that can log in right at midnight, but you won't be several hours behind.
If your store doesn't have a midnight release, that sucks, and the only way you're playing at midnight is by purchasing a digital edition (which you probably don't want to do if you can just wait a few additional hours instead).