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Beta key for preordering GW2 from Amazon
fayknaym
Member Posts: 125
http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-2-Pc/dp/B001TOQ8X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338950989&sr=8-1
It says "Pre-order Guild Wars 2 on PC and get 3-Day Head-start Access to create a Guild Wars 2 account early. The code to setup your Guild Wars 2 account early will be emailed at least a few days before the release of the game. Offer valid when shipped and sold by Amazon.com. Limit one per household. Amazon reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time. Offer will be extended to all existing pre-orders."
I preordered some time ago and yesterday they sent me an email that said "The Amazon Video Games team thanks you for pre-ordering "Guild Wars 2." Your purchase has entitled you to 3-Day Head-start access as well as access to Beta Weekend events. See "Your promotional code" above. How to redeem your code: Go to https://register.guildwars2.
I was able to register and download the client and received an email from Arenanet saying that my spot in the upcomming beta weekend is reserved. I don't know if amazon will still give this key out for new preorders as I preordered quite some time ago. But, if you're still looking for a key it's worth a shot. Preordering costs nothing from amazon and you can cancel anytime.
Just thought I'd give a headsup.
Comments
Wait... you got a 3-day headstart code for a pre-order? Or did you get it from a pre-purchase?
Because if the first one is true, then something has gone wrong on Amazon's end.
EDIT: Never mind, I double-checked the link, it appears you are paying full price and so it is a pre-purchase in fact. Amazon is just describing it incorrectly on the page.
I wasn't charged for my purchase yet. I only preordered.
"Pre-order Bonus Offer
Pre-order Guild Wars 2 on PC and get 3-Day Head-start Access to create a Guild Wars 2 account early. The code to setup your Guild Wars 2 account early will be emailed at least a few days before the release of the game. Offer valid when shipped and sold by Amazon.com. Limit one per household. Amazon reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time. Offer will be extended to all existing pre-orders. "
I remember that pre-order promotion only saying 1-day when pre-purchases first came out. They must've came up with a solution or agreement to whatever issue they were having.
The official list of retailers no longer mentions Amazon for the US as it did when ArenaNet first stated that Amazon US would be selling pre-purchases. However, it took them a long time to take it down from their website. It will probably take a long time for them to put Amazon back up on the list if this is true.
thats how i got my beta key amazon no charge to my account either
Thanks for sharing the information, I'm going to give it a shot
... and it worked. In the beta weekend, should be fun
Just did this. I got the key and I'm in for the beta weekend, and it never charged my card. There IS a request cancellation if I want to cancel the pre-order after the weekend. Slick deal, thanks
Weird, but good. I like the idea of gating real betas (not those awful preview betas that are just clogged full of people wanting an early demo) so that only people with a genuine interest in the game and its success participate, but I do think paying full price for anything sight unseen isn't really the best of ideas.
Of course, I knew I'd be buying it for myself anyway, so I got the digital deluxe, but being able to test the game and help make it something you'd want to buy, without having to buy it before it even comes out, I think is a good option. I am glad this worked out.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
Interesting, but I'll wait for some sort of Open Beta if they have one, or 1 week after release to get an opinion of the game.
EDIT: I predict the first few days of release to be completely unplayable anyway. I think ArenaNet will not be prepared for the HUGE influx of people who will try to play the game at release.(See D3 release how awful that was, and that was blizzard).
I've been posting this was available for two days now in every thread where someone asked for a beta key. Welcome to the party, you're fashionably late.
I have allready purchased the game elsewhere, but they are being real slow with the code. So figure I'll do this so I can start downloading.
So..I select to buy the game from that link, proceed to the end and "place order" for the game, with the price, but I wont actually be charged? Never ordered from amazon so thought I'd check
I doubt they won't be prepared for this cause they did great in GW1 with a HUGE load of people aswell.
Blizzard is known for mess ups so it doesn't surprise me the D3 was a mess at all.
As about the OP:
That's definately either
- a mess up on the US Amazons part
OR
- a prepurchase that got held back for whatever reason
I had prepurchased by the german amazon back in april 5th and had my key for the betas with the box at the 7th april already.
It charged properly too which was ok since I payed for the full game the same price others would pay without beta or a 3 days headstart later.
I wish people would stop with the using Blizzard as the pinnacle of developers in comparisons and discussions, because they really are not.
Especially in this case, because the guys at Arenanet are the people from Blizzard who made it so popular, who made most of the games that put Blizzard on the map and gave it the reputation it still has.
These are the guys who led Starcraft and Warcraft, who invented Battle.net. They developed vanilla WoW, they created multiple powerful and clever technologies that Bizzard is still using. In short, they are what was good in Blizzard. They are what Blizzard used to be. Blizzard has awful releases because they, frankly, are not Blizzard anymore.
(Note: The people in charge of Diablo also left Blizzard and are the ones working on Torchlight.) Everyone who came up with all the great ideas that put Blizzard in the position there are in now are gone. That's why all their games and releases just are not as good anymore.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
It wasn't a prepurchase. I've had it on preorder since last summer and US Amazon doesn't have an option for prepurchase.
I feel betrayed by ANet. I thought you couldn't get into the 3day headstart by preordering or have access to the beta we.
Well, I won't take any action, but I have lost a lot of trust.
Confirmed. After 30min i got my pre order key and i am in the weekend beta
From the AMA reddit with the ArenaNetTeam:
Why Amazon is offering bonuses of pre-purchases for pre-orders. (all BWE's and 3 day head start)? Confirmed by a number of people who only pre-ordered gW2 there.
[–]ArenaNetTeam[S] 68 points ago
We're still working with Amazon to figure out what they'll be able to do, so I don't have a final answer for you.
But the basics are this. We have limited server space, so while we guarantee beta access for people who have committed to purchasing the game, we don't guarantee it for everyone who just walks into a store and says, "yeah, reserve me a copy".
Some online stores, not just Amazon, are not able to actually bill the credit card until shipment. But the customer has still made his intent to purchase very clear. It's more like purchasing but being able to get a refund later, which we're fine with, than it is like just adding a name to a reservation list and then having to come back and purchase later.
Because we know Amazon is important to a lot of customers, we want to find a way for Amazon to be part of the prepurchase program. It would be unfair to exclude them for being up-front about a policy that's actually already being used behind-the-scenes elsewhere.
~ MO
same, not sure why Amazon is allowed to do this but I put my order in
EQ2 fan sites
Amazon is allowed to do this for a few very obvious reasons.
1: They already did it. Imagine the PR nightmare (And logistical one) if Anet decided to somehow pull all those beta keys and deny them access. Assuming they even could track them all down, you'd have upset a lot of customers who were pretty much already willing to buy your game.
2: Amazon has ALWAYS done pre orders like this, always. They weren't going to change a long standing company policy to suit the needs of one game company, and said game company stands to make a LOT of sales from Amazon, so they're not going to berate them for it.
Agree with the above.
Their answer at Reddit yesterday screamed "damage control".
Anyways, personally I dont think its a big deal. Its a typical case of video game entitlement. The pre-order guys will buy it eventually .
I guess we can think of it as pre-ordering the pre-purchase, except that you get the code early?
Through Amazon you've committed to paying full price, whereas with a true pre-order you've only committed... what, $5? I suppose in this case ArenaNet is just doing what they can to keep Amazon on board.
But yeah, it still seems a little unfair. I thought the whole point was to be committed to buying the game. If you can just cancel the order, that doesn't really count as commitment in my book. It's just a pre-order, and I think it ought to be treated as such.
Yeah, sounds a lot like damage control to me too. Well, I hope it turns into a big increase in overall sales at least. Shouldn't be hard to fill up those extra servers now.
You are "committed" to zero with Amazon. They fully , and gladly , will cancel any any order pre shipping date with zero charge.
It't not "fraudulent" nor againt their policy - they even state it on their policies and ordering page.
So you can preorder this from Amazon , get the early access and beta keys and cancel the day before the box ships on that Monday morning during early access (or whatever the ship date is ) and never be charged anything - and it's fine with Amazon , who is who you are buying it from.
Amazon is a great place to try beta's and early access for mmmorpg's and be charged ZERO for it.
They charge nothing until the shipping date , period , and it is their policy to freely allow cancellations also.
Once the release date is set , they will change the shipping to free release date delivery for Prime members also , so this lets you get retail box , free beta and early access , with zero risk , and if you want to keep your order , you will get release date delivery for free (Prime and sometimes normal members) with no tax for most states.
Undercuts most any reason to prepurchase from Arenanet when you can preorder with zero risk and cost from Amazon.
It seems someone at Amazon has messed up big time by allowing customers to get hold of pre release keys for pre-orders instead of pre-purchases. That isn't the announced deal and Amazon knew that previously.
I don't know how they're going to get around this. Apart from anything else it could completely mess up Arenanet's server numbers if a whole load of unexpected people start registering.
And thats fine!
More people are willing to join the beta? Let them come. More players to group with, or more players to kill
Most pre-purchace people are annoyed by the 3day headstart Amazon preorders get. Well if they are going to cancel the order I see no benefit for having this headstart. The only way to take advantage of the 3 day HS is to actually Play the game when its released and that means that they''ll have to buy it anyway. Why wont they realise that
?