I prepurchased the game. They don't OWE me access to a beta event. BETA's are a testing mechanic for people that have enough common sense to realize that if they are testing something, things can go wrong. Anet's biggest failure was not making that apparent by some sort of skill testing question before they accepted payment.
Or pehaps they're stupid enough to send this email to everyone who bought the game:
Subject:
You’re Invited to the Guild Wars 2 Beta Event April 27-29
Greetings!
We're writing to let you know that your spot in the upcoming Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event has been reserved—and the beta client is now ready for preloading! We recommend that you begin your download as soon as possible so you’re ready to start playing when the festivities begin on Friday, April 27, at noon PDT (GMT -7). The Beta Weekend Event will end Sunday, April 29, at 11:59 p.m. PDT (GMT -7).
Click here to go to the "Getting Started" thread in our beta forums, where you can download the beta client and learn important information about the upcoming weekend event. You can log in to the forums using the same User ID and password that you created when you registered your Guild Wars 2 account. Please note that you will only be able to browse the forums for now. Commenting and posting will not be enabled until the Beta Weekend Event begins.
Gamestop are horrible. Also it's not ArenaNet's fault if people haven't understood the difference between a preorder and prepurchase. They made it very clear what the difference is. Again Gamestop should have explained the differences to you. Buy from Amazon and you will NEVER have problems such as these. There's a reason game retailers are dying and Amazon is becoming more and more popular. Amazon's customer service is second to none.
About that email, I think they sent it to more people than they should have including people who don't have access to the beta. This is just an email telling you how to get started if you already have a key. The OP was never supposed to receive that email.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Looks to me like Arenanet did mess up badly when it came to the email. I pre-purchsed and dd not receive the email. I still managed to download the launcher and get into the game.
Yes the OP should have done his research and would have found out that ArenaNet was re-writing the normal rules when it comes to pre-launch game purchasing. (The standard to data has always been pre-orders).
The email mistake however is ArenaNets and in my opinion and my opinion alone I believe they should do the right thing and allow those people who were sent the email to be allowed access.
This is all very strange to me. At the beginning of the beta event I was able to log in just fine, even created a couple of characters.
However, now after getting up from a night of sleep, I am receiving the same message upon logging in that I did before the beta event had started. "Your account is all prepared, but there is no beta event running right now". So if this is a preorder / prepurchase problem, how come I could log in at all, at the start of the beta?
And I don't believe the statement abundantly clear is appropriate - the term pre order is generally understood as pre purchasing and vice versa, granted its not in this case but enough of the customer base understood it as so judging by the number of people going through this error. Regardless, the email should have never been dispatched if they had no intentions on pre orders not playing. Plain and simple.
No a pre-order is not considered a pre-purchase. A pre-order typically means you put down a small amount until the game launches, a pre-purchase means you buy the product in advance. Yes it was made abundantly clear. They told you on GW2's site, it was listed plain and simple here, twitter, facebook, it's been said over and over by fans, other gaming sites have gone over this as well.
ArenaNet tried their best to let people know the differences between pre-purchases and pre-orders in their FAQ. All the retailers I looked at also tried to distinguish the differences by putting different versions (pre-order, pre-purchase physical, pre-purchase digital) of the same game on their websites.
Gamestop have two different sku number for Pre-order AND Pre-purchase.
I went in and talked to the guy about "Pre-purchase" the game two weeks ago and he said that it's ok if I just put down $5. In my head, I thought that no...it's not right... But I gave him $5 just to see what he's gonna do and he printed out the receipt but it just said something like pre-order on it.
Then I told him there should be a code somewhere. So he had to go ask the manager and I over heard them talking and apparently there was a different item number. So this time, I pre-purchased(paid in full) and the receipt that he printed out has the directions and the code.
If you can't read to tell the difference between a pre-order and a pre-purchase, that's your fault.
If you have ever pre-ordered anything from Gamestop ever, and trusted them with this, that's your fault.
Either way, this is 100% on you. Gamestop of course never knows what it's doing, but you should know that already.
"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
Keep in mind that Gamestop is mentioned by most but this has also been reported with digital pre-orders/pre-purchases from ArenaNet, Amazon, and other retail outlets. Despite what others may have you believe, pre-order and pre-purchase are generally one in the same for purposes of content - obviously not during this event though. Regardless, pre-order or pre-purchase, ArenaNet sent out the e-mail inviting players who registered with the pre-order code to the beta. They are currently not allowing those players into the beta.
Say what you want about people who pre-ordered the game - but it is plain and simple - ArenaNet should have never invited the players who pre-ordered if they didn't want those players to participate. It's poor communication and lack of effort to resolve the issue by ArenaNet - even after several hours (and some sleep) ArenaNet is still noting that there is a problem and they're looking into it - yet they don't provide any additional information.
Again, it's not a problem of the purchase - it's a problem of communcation. Say what you like, but theres no arguement to that.
Keep in mind that Gamestop is mentioned by most but this has also been reported with digital pre-orders/pre-purchases from ArenaNet, Amazon, and other retail outlets. Despite what others may have you believe, pre-order and pre-purchase are generally one in the same for purposes of content - obviously not during this event though. Regardless, pre-order or pre-purchase, ArenaNet sent out the e-mail inviting players who registered with the pre-order code to the beta. They are currently not allowing those players into the beta.
Say what you want about people who pre-ordered the game - but it is plain and simple - ArenaNet should have never invited the players who pre-ordered if they didn't want those players to participate. It's poor communication and lack of effort to resolve the issue by ArenaNet - even after several hours (and some sleep) ArenaNet is still noting that there is a problem and they're looking into it - yet they don't provide any additional information.
Again, it's not a problem of the purchase - it's a problem of communcation. Say what you like, but theres no arguement to that.
Yes, there is.
Look, I'm on these forums pretty often. I read every GW2 blog post on their site that's come out. I also have GW2 liked on facebook.
I cannot count how many times they TOLD people "Do not pre-order, you MUST pre-purchase, and here's the info on how" In addition to the fact that pre-purchase was available for what, a couple weeks? They told you you needed an activation code for it to kick in, and that code would send you an email confirming you did it right. When you didn't get that code or that email, did it not occur to you, weeks prior to the BWE, that you might have been a problem?
I'm sorry, I try very hard to be fair and I will freely admit I can understand where there was room for confusion, but there was AMPLE time for someone that pre-ordered instead of pre-purchased to realize their mistake, cancel the pre-order, and instead pre-purchase.
The issue is that not everyone has the same connection to Guild Wars 2 as you. Not everyone has them liked on Facebook and other means - that being said, thousands of players have purchased the pre-order with the understanding, be it wrong or whatever, that they would be placed into the beta event this weekend. This is not an isolated incident.
This is compounded with ArenaNet sending out e-mails which state that the customers even have a reserved spot in the beta for this weekend. No point in continuing this post but I'm baffled how people can continue to note that it wasn't an error for the e-mail to be sent out, a spot reserved, and ArenaNet pushing this under the rug. There are issues with that - regardless of how it came to be - they need to be fixed and ArenaNet has yet to do so or even provide any additional insight into the problem.
I understand there is a loyal customer base of Guild Wars 2 players here, noted - but if you can't see the problem there, you are blinded by your love.
Regardless, again, I wish everyone the best of luck with this company. This post was to help others with this error and note of my difficultly with this company. I'll simply do my talking with my wallet from here out, noting that this is a product that won't be purchased by me or my household - I'll enjoy my time with Tera which has provided excellent customer service in the past.
Best of luck to you all who stay with this company/product.
You're actually be decent about it and not flaming Sparrowar, so I'll do my best to respond in kind.
They said pre-purchase, not pre-order, a thousand times. The FAQs on the site covered this exhasutively. There were so many different places to get this information you didn't NEED to be as connected as, say, myself. Any one would have told you.
I got the same email you did...and I can see where you were confused. It's poorly worded if you DIDN'T happen to read any of the skillion or so explanations of how this works elsewhere. I can understand that, if you somehow missed them all, you'd have no idea you weren't in the game. And I'm sorry you feel that way. Now, me, Tera wasn't the game for me. I tried it. I wish you had a chance to try GW2 to see if it was the game for you or not. If you play Tera, hope you enjoy it. Peace.
I prepurchased the game. They don't OWE me access to a beta event. BETA's are a testing mechanic for people that have enough common sense to realize that if they are testing something, things can go wrong. Anet's biggest failure was not making that apparent by some sort of skill testing question before they accepted payment.
Actually, they *do* owe you exactly that. It's the only part of the pre-purchase deal that they are obligated to fulfill prior to the game's release. In fact, they "guarantee" access to "all beta weekend events". I don't know what happened with the OP's code or why he got the mail he did from ANet. If he paid in full for a legitmate pre-payment key, they owe him access. Full stop.
The only thing I can possibly think of having happened to justify it is that he paid in full for what he was expecting was a pre-purchase key, but the retailer sent him a pre-order key instead. I know that EB Games in Canada were pulling some shady stuff with pre-orders versus pre-purchases here, so I *guess* that's possible. The problem is that I didn't think there were any pre-order keys being given out at all. If there were, I'd definitely double-check with the retailer and make sure the SKU for the game he bought is the same SKU they used for the pre-purchase packs. If they are the same, send that information to ANet and have them explain why the key isn't legitimate.
Bottom line, if he isn't able to access the BWE and has legitimately pre-purchased, he has every right to be pissed and get a full refund because he is NOT receiving what he was promised.
Why do people pre-order/pre-purchase? You are throwing your money at the developer before you know what product they will deliver and when it will be delivered. I understand people wanting to play the beta but if there weren't so many out there willing to pay for the beta then more people would get the chance to try it for free.
I'm starting to lose faith in the MMO community, well the mainstream one atleast, everyone is so god damn gullible and keeps falling for simple marketing tricks over and over.
all you do is hate hate and hate while with 1 word typed in google you can see why you are wrong and how many times arenanet already mentioned you wont be able to enter. you bought something from a retailed arenanet had no control on.
topics like this give me brainfarts COMON people.... dont be so damn stupid
It was made ABUNDANTLY clear by ANet that only pre-purchasing would guarentee access to beta.
It is your own damn fault.
To me it would depend on how Gamestop handled it. If they promised the buyerbeta then the wrath of a thousand sand worms shall come down on them. I'm sure the OP has gone to GameStop's forum to lay waste.
Why do people pre-order/pre-purchase? You are throwing your money at the developer before you know what product they will deliver and when it will be delivered. I understand people wanting to play the beta but if there weren't so many out there willing to pay for the beta then more people would get the chance to try it for free.
I'm starting to lose faith in the MMO community, well the mainstream one atleast, everyone is so god damn gullible and keeps falling for simple marketing tricks over and over.
You use the word gullible, I would use the word impatient.
I bought the game from the GW2 website and paid 55€ in advance. I received a mail inviting me to the beta weekend and guess what?
I get this "Your account is all prepared but there's no current beta event runnng".
AND I BOUGHT THE DAMN GAME ON THE OFFICIAL STORE
There's no solution yet.
No official response.
No one replies to the tickets I sent.
So go Fanboys keep saying it's MY FAULT.
I pre purchased GW2 from gamestop and I'm getting the same message as you.. people claim those who are recieving the "YOUR ACCOUNT IS ALL PREPARED BUT THERE'S NO CURRENT BETA EVENT RUNNING" message, then it means we recieved the "pre order" code, and not the "pre purchase" code, which would allow us in beta..
Rallithon Oakthornn (Retired Heirophant of the 60th season)
So, I - like several other players currently trying to get into the Weekend Beta Event for Guild Wars 2 - have been getting this error labled, 9:4:5:1093:101. The error basicly states that although your account is prepared for the beta event, you're not currently able to participate in one because, according to the error, there isn't one going right now. Obviously, this isn't true.
So what gives?
I asked myself the same thing as well as numerous players over at the offical forums - well, when they're actually up and running due to the player-overload that is trying to access them.
On a brighter note, a customer over at the offical forums actually recieved a message from the ArenaNet staff and I figured I'd post it here. Take a gander:
Hello,
Just to be clear, pre-order is not the same as pre-purchase. If you paid in full (pre-purchased) before April 10th, then you should get back in touch with your retailer so they can get you a Serial Code. That code is what grants all the benefits of an official Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase. If you only paid a small amount (pre-ordered) to reserve a copy when the game comes out, then you will definitely not receive the pre-purchase benefits unless you talk to your retailer about upgrading to an official pre-purchase. Only the authorized retailer from whom you placed your order can give you a pre-purchase serial code.
Well, that being said - ArenaNet is saying that it's our fault (as a customer) that we pre-ordered the game versus pre-purchasing the game. Oddly enough, I - along with countless other customers - purchased my pre-order from Gamestop and wasn't told that there was a difference between access codes recieved in either a pre-order or pre-purchase, regardless - this may be an issue with Gamestop communcation so I won't complain so much on that end about ArenaNet.
So what's the problem then? Well, ArenaNet is still inviting players to come and participate in the event by e-mail as was advertised by the pre-order. So, players getting the invite, download the client, and attempt to login to get this problem. ArenaNet, obviously realizing that they had a problem, noted that they planned to fix the issue but it would take a little bit - this was several hours ago.
On any case, reflecting back to the message from "Nick" of the Guild Wars support team, It's all but apparent that the company is saying it's a problem for YOU (the customer) that there was a break-down in commucation and that they arn't responsible. I don't know about anyone else, but I had actually participated in the last weekend beta event for Tera and had pre-ordered it with all intentions on playing that as my primary MMORPG but not without giving Guild Wars 2 the opperunity to impress me with this weekend's event. Now with Tera's head-start beginning tomorrow, my Guild Wars 2 pre-order will be cancelled and I won't even bother attempting a second shot at it just because of this cluster-f*ck.
Sorry, normally I'm not vocal about these things but I know numerous other players have been having this same problem and with the Guild Wars 2 staff saying it was a customer issue and not a staff issue dispite what is posted, I've never been more disrespected as a customer. I wish everyone who intends on staying with ArenaNet the best of luck, but to the others who were put through the same sh*t - I'd just urge you to speak with your wallet and walk away from this company.
The way this has been handled is utterly, disgusting.
I agree one hundred percent man. I preorderd the CE the day they made it available. I didn't finish paying it till yesterday. I was so excited to have dropped so much money and that I'd be able to come home after work and hop on and test the game. Well, come to find out....the people at GameStop have no idea about the beta or how it's working. Now I read that you have to had prepurchased before the 10th??? WTF Anet??? Your official website still says the beta weekend is live and if you preorder you can get in. I've been so stoked about the game and they're gonna start pulling this sh**???!!! I'm starting to have a lot of red flags go up in my mind. I'm one of the few to buy the CE and I can't get in beta....I'm sure you guys can guess my mood and my feelings starting towards Anet. Thanks for saying one thing guys, but not delivering. Such a huge friggen let down this is.
all you do is hate hate and hate while with 1 word typed in google you can see why you are wrong and how many times arenanet already mentioned you wont be able to enter. you bought something from a retailed arenanet had no control on.
topics like this give me brainfarts COMON people.... dont be so damn stupid
I am laughing so hard at people who pre-ordered and are raging they can't get into the beta.
I am glad they are leaving Anet never to return. I don't want people in my group causing us all to die.
[mod edit]
"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 is unfortunately OP that GameStop slipped up and didn't make you aware that the pre-order was not the same as a pre-purchase. I'm going to let you know now that any attempt to go to ArenaNet to get a refund won't be successful. You have to go back to the GameStop and cancel your pre-order. That would be your route for the least amount of hassel and the best (garunteed) chance to get your money back if you PRE-ORDERED.
It does suck if they are sending e-mails out to people who only pre-ordered stating that the beta is open and they can come on in. Yeah that would definately throw me for a loop and I would be upset to download and find out about the error. Although after understanding that I had pre-ordered and not pre-purchased I would understand why I wasn't in on this BWE.
Ultimately however it does come down to the consumer and the merchandiser to insure the consumer got the exact product he was looking for as well as making sure to relate the difference between the two. Perphaps ArenaNet should've asked retailers to stress this a bit clearer; mayhaps other companies will now on since it's just good practice to do so.
NOW:
To those that are going to sit and just mindlessly shout how they only pre-ordered and didn't pre-purchase but should still be able to get on this BWE. You've got to be real with yourselves; ArenaNet as well as many other sources including people here at MMORPG community made it fairly clear on what the differences were.
You can't be that
PM before you report at least or you could just block.
I never said I'm leaving Anet. I love their game and it's evident from the fact I spent one fifty for it. I love this company, I just honestly had no clue that I wouldn't be able to get in after the 10th. The fact that the people at GameStop are so clueless is just do to them I guess hiring peeps that aren't watching this game closely. I'm for hella sure not leaving. I can't wait to play. All I'm saying is I'm incredibly let down because I spent pretty much everything on the game yesterday thinking I'd be able to get in when I got home from work. All I'm sayin. I think anyone can understand that. I wouldn't laugh so readily at peoples misfortune either dude that posted a couple ago.
Lol I know this is going to upset a lot of you fanboy's and girl's but damn it is Anets fault, especially if they sent out a key which it seems to be likely what the OP is talking about and it just turns out the its not a beta key so ya its ANET's Fault for not clarifying with the email.
Lol the key he got was the Early Access key. Because Pre-Orders do get access to the "Head Start" as well as teh pre-order items.
Second all this information is posted in countless locations. The Guild Wars 2 FAQ, Reddit, Twitter, MMORPG.com, Facebook, etc.
Lastly: after attaching the code you get an email confirming the that the code is applies. Read the email. It tells you what your code is for. Beta, Head Start, the pre-order items, etc.
It's not ArenaNets fault. It's not GameStops fault. It's the consumer's ignorance.
1) The consumer should have done his research (which he didn't)
2) GameStop shouldn't sell things to people, without explaining what they are. (Most game stops, do explain these things. I know mine does anyway. Also the reciept I believe says what the code is used for as well. )
3) ArenaNet should educate the public: Which they did. It's posted all over the internet, discussions, threads, blogs, youtube videos, forum posts all about the difference between Pre-Purchase and Pre-Order. ArenaNet did their job.
Comments
Or pehaps they're stupid enough to send this email to everyone who bought the game:
Subject:
You’re Invited to the Guild Wars 2 Beta Event April 27-29
Greetings!
We're writing to let you know that your spot in the upcoming Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event has been reserved—and the beta client is now ready for preloading! We recommend that you begin your download as soon as possible so you’re ready to start playing when the festivities begin on Friday, April 27, at noon PDT (GMT -7). The Beta Weekend Event will end Sunday, April 29, at 11:59 p.m. PDT (GMT -7).
Click here to go to the "Getting Started" thread in our beta forums, where you can download the beta client and learn important information about the upcoming weekend event. You can log in to the forums using the same User ID and password that you created when you registered your Guild Wars 2 account. Please note that you will only be able to browse the forums for now. Commenting and posting will not be enabled until the Beta Weekend Event begins.
If you're having issues downloading the client, please visit support.guildwars2.com.
We'll see you in-game!
The Guild Wars 2 Team
Any breakdown in communication between Anet and customers is Anets fault.
They should know better.
Sorry Fanboys.
Gamestop are horrible. Also it's not ArenaNet's fault if people haven't understood the difference between a preorder and prepurchase. They made it very clear what the difference is. Again Gamestop should have explained the differences to you. Buy from Amazon and you will NEVER have problems such as these. There's a reason game retailers are dying and Amazon is becoming more and more popular. Amazon's customer service is second to none.
About that email, I think they sent it to more people than they should have including people who don't have access to the beta. This is just an email telling you how to get started if you already have a key. The OP was never supposed to receive that email.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Looks to me like Arenanet did mess up badly when it came to the email. I pre-purchsed and dd not receive the email. I still managed to download the launcher and get into the game.
Yes the OP should have done his research and would have found out that ArenaNet was re-writing the normal rules when it comes to pre-launch game purchasing. (The standard to data has always been pre-orders).
The email mistake however is ArenaNets and in my opinion and my opinion alone I believe they should do the right thing and allow those people who were sent the email to be allowed access.
This is all very strange to me. At the beginning of the beta event I was able to log in just fine, even created a couple of characters.
However, now after getting up from a night of sleep, I am receiving the same message upon logging in that I did before the beta event had started. "Your account is all prepared, but there is no beta event running right now". So if this is a preorder / prepurchase problem, how come I could log in at all, at the start of the beta?
No a pre-order is not considered a pre-purchase. A pre-order typically means you put down a small amount until the game launches, a pre-purchase means you buy the product in advance. Yes it was made abundantly clear. They told you on GW2's site, it was listed plain and simple here, twitter, facebook, it's been said over and over by fans, other gaming sites have gone over this as well.
It was made abundantly clear.
Just to be clear...
Gamestop have two different sku number for Pre-order AND Pre-purchase.
I went in and talked to the guy about "Pre-purchase" the game two weeks ago and he said that it's ok if I just put down $5. In my head, I thought that no...it's not right... But I gave him $5 just to see what he's gonna do and he printed out the receipt but it just said something like pre-order on it.
Then I told him there should be a code somewhere. So he had to go ask the manager and I over heard them talking and apparently there was a different item number. So this time, I pre-purchased(paid in full) and the receipt that he printed out has the directions and the code.
If you can't read to tell the difference between a pre-order and a pre-purchase, that's your fault.
If you have ever pre-ordered anything from Gamestop ever, and trusted them with this, that's your fault.
Either way, this is 100% on you. Gamestop of course never knows what it's doing, but you should know that already.
"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
Keep in mind that Gamestop is mentioned by most but this has also been reported with digital pre-orders/pre-purchases from ArenaNet, Amazon, and other retail outlets. Despite what others may have you believe, pre-order and pre-purchase are generally one in the same for purposes of content - obviously not during this event though. Regardless, pre-order or pre-purchase, ArenaNet sent out the e-mail inviting players who registered with the pre-order code to the beta. They are currently not allowing those players into the beta.
Say what you want about people who pre-ordered the game - but it is plain and simple - ArenaNet should have never invited the players who pre-ordered if they didn't want those players to participate. It's poor communication and lack of effort to resolve the issue by ArenaNet - even after several hours (and some sleep) ArenaNet is still noting that there is a problem and they're looking into it - yet they don't provide any additional information.
Again, it's not a problem of the purchase - it's a problem of communcation. Say what you like, but theres no arguement to that.
Yes, there is.
Look, I'm on these forums pretty often. I read every GW2 blog post on their site that's come out. I also have GW2 liked on facebook.
I cannot count how many times they TOLD people "Do not pre-order, you MUST pre-purchase, and here's the info on how" In addition to the fact that pre-purchase was available for what, a couple weeks? They told you you needed an activation code for it to kick in, and that code would send you an email confirming you did it right. When you didn't get that code or that email, did it not occur to you, weeks prior to the BWE, that you might have been a problem?
I'm sorry, I try very hard to be fair and I will freely admit I can understand where there was room for confusion, but there was AMPLE time for someone that pre-ordered instead of pre-purchased to realize their mistake, cancel the pre-order, and instead pre-purchase.
The issue is that not everyone has the same connection to Guild Wars 2 as you. Not everyone has them liked on Facebook and other means - that being said, thousands of players have purchased the pre-order with the understanding, be it wrong or whatever, that they would be placed into the beta event this weekend. This is not an isolated incident.
This is compounded with ArenaNet sending out e-mails which state that the customers even have a reserved spot in the beta for this weekend. No point in continuing this post but I'm baffled how people can continue to note that it wasn't an error for the e-mail to be sent out, a spot reserved, and ArenaNet pushing this under the rug. There are issues with that - regardless of how it came to be - they need to be fixed and ArenaNet has yet to do so or even provide any additional insight into the problem.
I understand there is a loyal customer base of Guild Wars 2 players here, noted - but if you can't see the problem there, you are blinded by your love.
Regardless, again, I wish everyone the best of luck with this company. This post was to help others with this error and note of my difficultly with this company. I'll simply do my talking with my wallet from here out, noting that this is a product that won't be purchased by me or my household - I'll enjoy my time with Tera which has provided excellent customer service in the past.
Best of luck to you all who stay with this company/product.
You're actually be decent about it and not flaming Sparrowar, so I'll do my best to respond in kind.
They said pre-purchase, not pre-order, a thousand times. The FAQs on the site covered this exhasutively. There were so many different places to get this information you didn't NEED to be as connected as, say, myself. Any one would have told you.
I got the same email you did...and I can see where you were confused. It's poorly worded if you DIDN'T happen to read any of the skillion or so explanations of how this works elsewhere. I can understand that, if you somehow missed them all, you'd have no idea you weren't in the game. And I'm sorry you feel that way. Now, me, Tera wasn't the game for me. I tried it. I wish you had a chance to try GW2 to see if it was the game for you or not. If you play Tera, hope you enjoy it. Peace.
Actually, they *do* owe you exactly that. It's the only part of the pre-purchase deal that they are obligated to fulfill prior to the game's release. In fact, they "guarantee" access to "all beta weekend events". I don't know what happened with the OP's code or why he got the mail he did from ANet. If he paid in full for a legitmate pre-payment key, they owe him access. Full stop.
The only thing I can possibly think of having happened to justify it is that he paid in full for what he was expecting was a pre-purchase key, but the retailer sent him a pre-order key instead. I know that EB Games in Canada were pulling some shady stuff with pre-orders versus pre-purchases here, so I *guess* that's possible. The problem is that I didn't think there were any pre-order keys being given out at all. If there were, I'd definitely double-check with the retailer and make sure the SKU for the game he bought is the same SKU they used for the pre-purchase packs. If they are the same, send that information to ANet and have them explain why the key isn't legitimate.
Bottom line, if he isn't able to access the BWE and has legitimately pre-purchased, he has every right to be pissed and get a full refund because he is NOT receiving what he was promised.
Why do people pre-order/pre-purchase? You are throwing your money at the developer before you know what product they will deliver and when it will be delivered. I understand people wanting to play the beta but if there weren't so many out there willing to pay for the beta then more people would get the chance to try it for free.
I'm starting to lose faith in the MMO community, well the mainstream one atleast, everyone is so god damn gullible and keeps falling for simple marketing tricks over and over.
This topic starter..
all you do is hate hate and hate while with 1 word typed in google you can see why you are wrong and how many times arenanet already mentioned you wont be able to enter. you bought something from a retailed arenanet had no control on.
topics like this give me brainfarts COMON people.... dont be so damn stupid
To me it would depend on how Gamestop handled it. If they promised the buyerbeta then the wrath of a thousand sand worms shall come down on them. I'm sure the OP has gone to GameStop's forum to lay waste.
You use the word gullible, I would use the word impatient.
I pre purchased GW2 from gamestop and I'm getting the same message as you.. people claim those who are recieving the "YOUR ACCOUNT IS ALL PREPARED BUT THERE'S NO CURRENT BETA EVENT RUNNING" message, then it means we recieved the "pre order" code, and not the "pre purchase" code, which would allow us in beta..
Rallithon Oakthornn
(Retired Heirophant of the 60th season)
I agree one hundred percent man. I preorderd the CE the day they made it available. I didn't finish paying it till yesterday. I was so excited to have dropped so much money and that I'd be able to come home after work and hop on and test the game. Well, come to find out....the people at GameStop have no idea about the beta or how it's working. Now I read that you have to had prepurchased before the 10th??? WTF Anet??? Your official website still says the beta weekend is live and if you preorder you can get in. I've been so stoked about the game and they're gonna start pulling this sh**???!!! I'm starting to have a lot of red flags go up in my mind. I'm one of the few to buy the CE and I can't get in beta....I'm sure you guys can guess my mood and my feelings starting towards Anet. Thanks for saying one thing guys, but not delivering. Such a huge friggen let down this is.
I am laughing so hard at people who pre-ordered and are raging they can't get into the beta.
I am glad they are leaving Anet never to return. I don't want people in my group causing us all to die.
[mod edit]
"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 is unfortunately OP that GameStop slipped up and didn't make you aware that the pre-order was not the same as a pre-purchase. I'm going to let you know now that any attempt to go to ArenaNet to get a refund won't be successful. You have to go back to the GameStop and cancel your pre-order. That would be your route for the least amount of hassel and the best (garunteed) chance to get your money back if you PRE-ORDERED.
It does suck if they are sending e-mails out to people who only pre-ordered stating that the beta is open and they can come on in. Yeah that would definately throw me for a loop and I would be upset to download and find out about the error. Although after understanding that I had pre-ordered and not pre-purchased I would understand why I wasn't in on this BWE.
Ultimately however it does come down to the consumer and the merchandiser to insure the consumer got the exact product he was looking for as well as making sure to relate the difference between the two. Perphaps ArenaNet should've asked retailers to stress this a bit clearer; mayhaps other companies will now on since it's just good practice to do so.
NOW:
To those that are going to sit and just mindlessly shout how they only pre-ordered and didn't pre-purchase but should still be able to get on this BWE. You've got to be real with yourselves; ArenaNet as well as many other sources including people here at MMORPG community made it fairly clear on what the differences were.
You can't be that
PM before you report at least or you could just block.
Lol the key he got was the Early Access key. Because Pre-Orders do get access to the "Head Start" as well as teh pre-order items.
Second all this information is posted in countless locations. The Guild Wars 2 FAQ, Reddit, Twitter, MMORPG.com, Facebook, etc.
Lastly: after attaching the code you get an email confirming the that the code is applies. Read the email. It tells you what your code is for. Beta, Head Start, the pre-order items, etc.
It's not ArenaNets fault. It's not GameStops fault. It's the consumer's ignorance.
1) The consumer should have done his research (which he didn't)
2) GameStop shouldn't sell things to people, without explaining what they are. (Most game stops, do explain these things. I know mine does anyway. Also the reciept I believe says what the code is used for as well. )
3) ArenaNet should educate the public: Which they did. It's posted all over the internet, discussions, threads, blogs, youtube videos, forum posts all about the difference between Pre-Purchase and Pre-Order. ArenaNet did their job.
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Live a life less ordinary.
The internet is an amazing platform for some people to showcase their deficiencies as a person.
Regards,
Sarethor