BioWare announced today some MAJOR things regarding early access:
- Early Access now starts on the 13th of December (at 0700 Eastern), not the 15th.
- Early Access ends at 2200 Eastern on the 19th of December. Servers will go down for a little, then come back up for ‘launch’.
- No Grace Period – If you don’t enter your CD key by the end of Early Access, no playtime for you after Early Access ends.
- Europe will have access to retail (i.e. walk into store, pick up on shelf) copies of the game effective the 15th. US/Canada gets retail on original launch date 12/20.
- Emails will be sent out on the day you get early access, telling you that you’ve got access (and presumably, what time if they’re staggering times on each day as well).
- Digital Orders via Origin, will start being able to get their ‘cd keys’ from Origin sometime on the 16th.
- There are still some Collector’s Editions somewhere..at least, according to the sales team
The full threads/announcements from BioWare on this, are after the break…
Initial post regarding Early Access:
Hello everyone,
We’re happy to finally announce today that Early Game Access begins December 13th, 2011. This means that everyone who has pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic and redeemed their pre-order code will have up to seven days to play the game early.
As before, when your Early Game Access begins will be determined based on when you redeemed your pre-order code. You will be emailed on the day you are being admitted to Early Game Access to confirm you can now access the game.
Early Game Access was extended to seven days to allow us to gradually ramp up the number of people in the game over a longer period. This allows us to ensure maximum stability and a good population across servers. It also allows us to have more flexibility on exactly how many people we admit per day.
With that said, we’re still planning on allowing a large number of people into Early Game Access on a daily basis. In our final Beta Testing Weekends, we had hundreds of thousands of players on the game servers – and we have additional server capacity for launch. However, we still need to remain flexible during Early Game Access, and this led to the decision to notify people on the day that their Early Game Access begins.
We know many of you expected and wanted advance notice on Early Game Access, but we made this decision to ensure that we could remain flexible and react to unforseen issues during launch. Our number one priority has always been a smooth launch, so this decision was a necessity.
The good news is that effectively everyone is being given two ‘extra bonus’ days as the EGA program is now up to seven days long. The bad news is unfortunately we cannot let people know on an individual basis when they will gain access until we are ready.
We do understand that you are concerned about when you will receive the email. To save your F5 keys, as well as being notified by email, you will also be able to check the Launcher for Star Wars: The Old Republic. When you have been granted Early Game Access, your Play button will be enabled. (You will need to restart the Launcher on occasion if you’re still grey.) Finally, you will be able to login to your account page here on SWTOR.com and check your status.
We absolutely understand (and appreciate!) everyone’s eagerness to play, but this plan will ensure that we don’t fall at the final hurdle – bringing people into the game at launch. We hope you’ll bear with us as we gradually grant Early Game Access to everyone who pre-ordered.
Follow up post:
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We’ll be gradually opening servers throughout Early Game Access, although by the end of December 13th we’ll have quite a lot.
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That was actually exactly what we did. However, it also taught us that spreading our load over a longer period was probably also a smart idea.
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It does, but only if you redeemed your pre-order code quite early after the official start of pre-orders (July 21st).
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See this thread for some clarification on that.
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Can you at least post Time frame when the first group will get mails? on Dec 13th
thanks
Emails will start to send quite quickly after 7am EST on December 13th (which is when Early Game Access officially starts).
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We can never guarantee an email will be received, due to various factors beyond our control. However as I said in the post, you can also start the Launcher to see if you have access yet.
Initial post regarding product availability dates:
Our sales and marketing teams are working closely with retailers in the US and Europe to ensure that copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be delivered in time for launch day.
In Europe, game copies will be available at retail starting on December 15, 2011. For those of you in the USA and Canada, game copies will be available at retail starting on December 20, 2011. For those of you who pre-ordered digital editions of the game from Origin.com, you will be emailed your Game Codes starting December 16, 2011.
As soon as you receive your Game Code (AKA ‘product registration code’), be sure to enter it on your account under Code Redemption, because as soon as you enter the code you will receive your digital entitlements in-game (i.e. digital items included with the game edition purchased). Remember, your billing cycle will not start until official game launch, on December 20, 2011 at 12:01am EST.
There will be no ‘grace period’ post launch in which those who are in Early Game Access will be able to continue to play the game. In order to continue playing past the Early Game Access period, you will need to enter a valid launch game code and payment method. Please read our FAQ for more information. We apologize for any previous messaging which may have led you to believe otherwise.
Follow up post #1:
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What does the 2nd date in our Code Redemption page mean?
For instance…
11.02.2011Star Warsâ„¢: The Old Republicâ„¢ Early Game Access: Ready to patch
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08.02.2011Star Warsâ„¢: The Old Republicâ„¢ Collector’s Edition Pre-Order
The second date (in this case, November 2nd) has nothing to do with your Early Game Access; it was just when we gave the ability to patch to all accounts, as I understand it.
The date is not relevant to when you gain Early Game Access – the first date is, as that is when your pre-order was redeemed.
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That’s something I’ve asked our sales and marketing team to look into with a high priority, and I’ll update you when we have more information.
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Thank you…
One more question, if you can answer(clear it up)…
When and how will we be notified of our Early Access date/time?
You might want to check out this thread that I posted just after this one. You’ll be emailed during the Early Game Access period on the day you gain access.
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That’s something I’ve asked for clarification on, and will deliver when I have it.
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However, please read the above and consider your wording. We were not “led to believe” anything. We were flat out told with no equivocations that there would, in fact, be a grace period. Now we are being told there will not be. Saying “led to believe” implies some sort of inferrence on our part that did not take place.
Again, much thanks for the post, but that last statement was a bit insulting.
Point taken, and I apologize to anyone who felt insulted by that statement. My intention was never to insult anyone, at any point.
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What do you make of this then to the later part of your post saying “You must enter a valid game code and payment option.”
So we enter the code then for the free 30 days at Launch and then we do not have to enter a Credit card? Or are you saying we have to enter a Credit card once launch day rolls around despite the fact that we were already told we do not have to until the free 30 days is up?
I’m not sure what you might be referring to, but a valid payment method is required upon redemption of your Game Code. There are more details in this FAQ. If you use a recurring method of payment such as a credit card, you will not be billed until after your included 30 days are up.
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Stephen,
I do want to point out for you something that some of us that pre-orderd the CE version from Amazon early on are seeing…
I ordered about 15 mins after you tweeted the pre-order link when the news first broke. Order went in fine, got my pre-order code fine. This was before there was a release date. Ordered showed an expected release of December 31st at the time. Amazon usually has no problem with day and date delivery if you choose at least 2 day shipping. In my case I choose 1 day shipping… just to be sure. As of now my open order shows an expected delivery of December 22nd.
The CE version is now sold out there and shows that on the site so it offers no delivery information at all about the product. If you look up a standard edition of the game the site offers “day and date” delivery.
My fear is that those that ordered really early will have their orders treated normally and not as a “day and date” release for those of us that choose the expedited shipping.
Can you get back to us about this scenario or should I take it up with Amazon? I know I am not the only with this issue…
Your scenario is the kind of thing we’ll be discussing with Amazon, but I cannot make any guarantees.
Of course, it may help to talk to Amazon too.
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Can anyone confirm whether or not CE versions of the game are expected to be available for purchase on release day?
(this does not include folks that pre-ordered the CE that will be picking up in-store)
According to our sales team, we’re not sold out completely of Collector’s Editions.
Therefore there’s a chance there will be copies in stores on release day. I have no information on which retail chains may have them, however.