09-15-2008, 03:28 PM
It's interesting to note that when I went to the different company websites to see what their delivery dates were they all said vastly different things. Gamestop said that they would guarantee delivery on 11/13/08 if you buy overnight shipping (if your area has overnight shipping), Best Buy showed an estimated delivery date of 11/3/08 to 11/8/08, Circuit City showed a release date of 11/3/08, Amazon.com showed a release date of 11/3/08 which is when they would pick it up from Blizzard, ship it to their distributors and then pass it along to the customer, meaning it could take 1 day to several days from the "release date" to arrive.
So I get the impression that Blizzard wants to have a worldwide release on 11/13/08 but that they are probably shipping to vendors on 11/3/08. In the past (TBC, for example), I know some people were able to get their boxes prior to the release date by ordering online with certain companies. My TBC experiences were with Best Buy and Gamestop. I preordered a copy of the TBC collector's edition from Best Buy for delivery to myself (priority shipping) and a copy of the normal edition for delivery to my girlfriend (standard shipping). I received an email saying the normal edition had shipped on the 12th (release date of 16th). However, on the day before the release date, I called Best Buy to see what the status on the collector's edition was since I had not yet received an email saying it had shipped. They said that it was on backorder and that it might ship in 2-3 weeks. Thus, I was forced to go down to my local Gamestop and preorder a copy around 8pm the night before the release. I was able to pick up the Gamestop copy the next day on the way home from work. Later that evening, I received an email from Best Buy saying that the collector's edition had shipped. The day after release, my girlfriend's standard copy from Best Buy was delivered. Two days after release my Best Buy collector's edition copy was finally delivered. Obviously, I was not particularly happy with how things worked out with Best Buy since they gave me misinformation the day before release (saying it was on backorder) and then everything was delivered AFTER the release date. Also, the priority shipping that I paid extra for just meant that they shipped it later, resulting in that copy arriving a day LATER than the normal shipping. Conversely, the pick-up from Gamestop was a snap, despite the fact that I preordered the night before release.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a company that can actually deliver on getting the boxes out to people? Or, even better, did anyone manage to get their hands on a copy of TBC earlier so that you can have it installed and ready to roll once the switches are flipped online to allow for use of the expansion? I'm thinking that I'll probably try to order a collector's edition from one company and a standard copy from another (one for my girlfriend, one for me) to help out our odds of getting at least one of them on the release date, but I just need to figure out how to do that. :)
So I get the impression that Blizzard wants to have a worldwide release on 11/13/08 but that they are probably shipping to vendors on 11/3/08. In the past (TBC, for example), I know some people were able to get their boxes prior to the release date by ordering online with certain companies. My TBC experiences were with Best Buy and Gamestop. I preordered a copy of the TBC collector's edition from Best Buy for delivery to myself (priority shipping) and a copy of the normal edition for delivery to my girlfriend (standard shipping). I received an email saying the normal edition had shipped on the 12th (release date of 16th). However, on the day before the release date, I called Best Buy to see what the status on the collector's edition was since I had not yet received an email saying it had shipped. They said that it was on backorder and that it might ship in 2-3 weeks. Thus, I was forced to go down to my local Gamestop and preorder a copy around 8pm the night before the release. I was able to pick up the Gamestop copy the next day on the way home from work. Later that evening, I received an email from Best Buy saying that the collector's edition had shipped. The day after release, my girlfriend's standard copy from Best Buy was delivered. Two days after release my Best Buy collector's edition copy was finally delivered. Obviously, I was not particularly happy with how things worked out with Best Buy since they gave me misinformation the day before release (saying it was on backorder) and then everything was delivered AFTER the release date. Also, the priority shipping that I paid extra for just meant that they shipped it later, resulting in that copy arriving a day LATER than the normal shipping. Conversely, the pick-up from Gamestop was a snap, despite the fact that I preordered the night before release.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a company that can actually deliver on getting the boxes out to people? Or, even better, did anyone manage to get their hands on a copy of TBC earlier so that you can have it installed and ready to roll once the switches are flipped online to allow for use of the expansion? I'm thinking that I'll probably try to order a collector's edition from one company and a standard copy from another (one for my girlfriend, one for me) to help out our odds of getting at least one of them on the release date, but I just need to figure out how to do that. :)
-TheDragoon