Pre-order rant

Hello forum-goers of Eorzea!

I haven't posted a thing on this forum since version 1.0, and excuse me if the first thing I do is just rant about stuff.

First of all I'm a player from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. So keep that in mind while reading this

well how it goes is, when I first started playing this game in the first beta, I wasn't sure if I would continue, but I eventually felt this feeling of longing to the game a week or two after release and ended up getting the normal version of the game. Enjoyed the game up until the servers decided to shut down 2 years later.

I came back for the alpha, beta and the actual release of ARR because I just loved this game that much, but I didn't have enough money to upgrade to the collector's edition at first(Financial issues), up until my friend decided to do it for me. And I'm eternally grateful to that person! \o/

Now with the release of Heavensward, by saving up money from a couple of months to finally get the collector's edition, I stay up on the day Pre-orders open, waiting for it to open, and as soon as it does, I place my order and BAM!

It tells me that it doesn't ship to my country.. I try contacting support if I'm in a serviced country, and they tell me that I am in a serviced country, with instructions on what to do that might fix this situation, and I try every last option they suggested. Thank you support.

But that didn't fix my problem, so I tried connecting from another place than home, My friend's house, maybe it's a problem with my router! but it turned out not to be a problem with my router, so I contacted online chat support to find out what's wrong and they tell me "We can't ship to your country, we're sorry" I felt so heartbroken because of this and went back to the site and got the digital one.

Why can't we get stuff shipped to Dubai? To the middle east? I know a lot of players that play from the middle east, and knowing that we're neglected is a little saddening. I know there are other countries that might not be covered like me, and I feel bad for them too if they want to get physical stuff from the SE store..

SE, please fix this! I know I won't be able to get this CE, but I'm looking forward to the next expansion, whenever it may be because I know I'll stick around for the ride up until the next one, so please have this fixed by then.. Thank you

TL;DRCan't get stuff shipped to Dubai/Middle east after being told it's possible and trying for days to preorder, just to be told a couple of days later that they don't ship to my region

It probably has a lot to do with shipping policies and regulations in place in your country, either making it too expensive or simply not possible for them. I doubt they're deliberately leaving out your country for no reason, money is money, and they've proven they don't mind upping the price $100-200 to make it available in some countries.

I don't mind paying more for it, if that's the problem.. I already get stuff shipped to me from all over Europe or USA when getting stuff online.. but I don't know why SE doesn't make it available to us.

Maybe ask in your FC if someone would be willing to purchase it for you on your behalf, and then ship it from their home, when it's release, to you? Might cost a bit more and require a bit of trust, but I'd do that with most of my FC mates if I couldn't get my own copy, and I know most of them would be glad to help. Even trust to let them, open it to get the code so I could start playing day 1 even while not having the physical item yet.