Heavensward physical CE and Steam, a solution if SE would be willing to listen.

Ok so at this point we all know that if you brought ARR on steam then you've gotta keep buying all expansions from now on via steam (which is a giant blow to consumer rights but whatever).

In any case it's not that much of a big deal as you'll still be able to pick up both normal editions and digital CEs from Steam, just like you could for ARR. The only problem comes when you want physical goodies from the boxed versions. Now the standard edition is pretty much the disk and the instruction manual which are no big deal but the physical CEs is a HUGE thing (I mean there's a frigging awesome statue involved), and it's something that people shouldn't be excluded from simply because they choose one store over another. Hell I'm certain if when buying the game we'd been told 'all future expansions must be brought via steam' then quite a few people would have thought twice over buying ARR on steam.

Anyway I'm getting sidetracked here, my point is there are plenty of people who want the physical CE but now can't because their account is listed as a steam account. So I humbly ask for a compromise to solve this issue and that is that you ask your preorder customers of the physical CE if they want one with a normal key or a steam key. A lot of boxed PC games come with keys for it to be activated via Steam so why can't you do the same here? I mean god knows a lot of people have spent quite a bit of money on the physical CE, the least you guys could do is throw the ones on Steam who will have to buy the CE twice, reaching in the case of us Brits around £190 (a New 3DS is the same price FYI), a bone. I know it would require some negotiation between you guys at SE and Steam but it would also mean the world to all your players who use Steam to play. So please if any SE rep sees this pass it on and let your fans and players know you do have hearts :P

I honestly doubt they're going to start selling Steam versions of the CE now considering it's so close to the release date, and they'd have to work something out with Steam which would no doubt take time (time they don't really have to produce more figures, CDs, Artbooks, etc). Maybe for 4.0? I wanted the Physical CE too, but if they're going to at least try something for 4.0 it would be great.

Or since this is the first expansion to the game, ditch that terrible monstrosity known as a Steam, pick up a real copy of ARR for like 20 bucks and pre-order the physical collector's edition? Yes I know it requires you to spend 20 more dollars, however, honestly the fact you are playing an MMO on such a dated, terrible customer serviced OS is beyond any bit of reason. Just drop Steam its only good for really old games (single player ones) that go on sale for pennies on the dollar--so to speak.

But asking for a change this late in the game probably won't happen, to be honest. It sucks I know, but seriously...just drop the Steam client, its terrible.

Nothing stops you from buying a different plat's CE. An inconelvenience, maybe, but you are also the one that chose to buy from a 3rd party website, considering all of the forms of ARR are on the website.

I do think it's a bad business decision, not a deal breaker.

And your consumer rights aren't being infringed upon. A company has the right in how and when and where they sell, and the digital will be available to you eventually, if not already

I don't use steam too often so correct me if I am wrong.

But I assume (and assume anyone else who uses steam) knows that it is solely digital... the whole point being your games are all digital and you don't have to store game cases etc. Just pick up your PC and go...

So why would anyone, anywhere expect a digital only service to have a physical CE for anything?

Did you get the ARR Physical collectors edition on steam? :/ ?

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Originally Posted by Niqote

I don't use steam too often so correct me if I am wrong.

But I assume (and assume anyone else who uses steam) knows that it is solely digital... the whole point being your games are all digital and you don't have to store game cases etc. Just pick up your PC and go...

So why would anyone, anywhere expect a digital only service to have a physical CE for anything?

Did you get the ARR Physical collectors edition on steam? :/ ?

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Steam has never done a physical anything, apparently some games (like Warhammer 40K) had both Steam and PC codes inside the physical box. However that is the only example I have heard as well as seen (I used to work at a GameStop and we had to 'gut' game cases to display them, and I never saw a steam code inside a physical box).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OMEGA_HACK

Just drop Steam its only good for really old games (single player ones) that go on sale for pennies on the dollar--so to speak.

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The problem here is that people who have the steam version literally can't drop it. As the only way to do that would be to create a whole new mognet account, which means at least for me losing the character I've spent about 1700 hours on which is a giant no no. Now I joined just over a yeah ago now, picking up ARR on a steam sale and thought 'Might as well try it' and now I love it. I love it enough that I want to spend a lot of money on a physical CE because of all the cool things I get but because of something I didn't know or even think would be an issue, I now have no choice but to fork out even more money. Money which SE could save me just by fulfilling a very simple request.

wait, why would it mean you have to start over? Just link that same account--the one attached to the steam code--to the PC code? I have both PS4 and PC versions of this game, and I play on one account, not two.

Unless SE said already said that you CANNOT attach a PC code and a steam code onto the same account I don't see a problem besides having to spend 20 more dollars for the ARR PC version. In fact I doubt that is the case since there will be many people playing ARR on PC and Mac (both computer type software).

I looked at another thread, and there is someone claiming they have both Steam and non-steam PC codes tied to one account, so yeah; you don't have to restart your character if you wanted to spend the 20.00 for a physical ARR code then preorder the exp CE (which is what I would honestly do). Save yourself the trouble down the line (for future expansions).

Still on you because you chose to use a 3rd party for computer games, one that deals specifically with digital content.

And yes, we understand it's an inconvenience, but you can buy standard arr for pc, or standard heavensward for steam, no matter what, you get the CE bonus, and it's up to you. No matter how you try to justify it, going with steam was a bad idea for people who ever want a physical edition of anything, even an expansion to a game you didn't think you'd like.