That's funny because that same Amazon (EU) didn't bother to mail me my pre-ordered copy till 2 weeks after release.
It's obvious some people get lucky and others don't but I sure learned my lesson about pre-ordering when you can just walk into a random game store at noon on the launch day and get a copy.
It's software after all there's no such thing as shortages... at least not with a popular game like this.

Thing is, I'll probably take a day off for Thursday and Friday, and maybe the following Monday as well to get a jump start on levelling. I honestly don't want to drive out to my local toy stores and pick it up when I can just have it dumped on my doorstep for no extra cost (Amazon US has free shipping for orders $25+, dunno about you EU guys).

Frankly I wish Blizzard would just make WotLK available on torrent, sell us the products keys online so we can immediately jump on and start playing, and then mail us the boxes, CDs, and standard documents later on.

If Amazon can mail me WotLK and have me receive the box on the launch date, then I'll order with them. If not, I'll just suck it up and file a preorder with Best Buy or Toysrus (and I HATE giving business to them, considering that their sales staff seems to be exceptionally whiny and useless for anything other than "do you want to buy a ridiculously expensive warranty for stuff that already has a manufacturer's warranty". But I digress).

EDIT: So I called Amazon Customer Service, and she said that Amazon US will be mailing out WotLK on Nov 13. So accounting for shipping time, anybody who ordered with Amazon will be getting their orders a few days after the xpac launch.

Take this with a grain of salt, since I was talking to a CS drone and not some high-up official, but it looks to me like a bad idea to order with Amazon.

The Gamestop website is saying that if you preorder with overnight shipping, Lich King will be on your doorstep sometime on the 13th.

I'm debating if I want to sleep on the 12th or not.

My experience with movies and games: Gamestop overnights games the night before release so they're guaranteed to arrive on your doorstep on the release date. Amazon follows their normal shipping procedures, so movies and games frequently come from them days after the release date. I'm not even sure if they order enough stock, given how long some people I knew had to wait for the delivery of TBC. Don't get me wrong, I buy plenty of stuff from them without issue, but I would never trust Amazon with anything I want to play (or watch) on the release date.

That said, unless you hate going to the store, there's not much reason to pre-order unless you want the collector's edition. There will be millions of copies of the game at every major retail store on release.

The thing with going to my local Game (besides spending £4 on the train) is it will cost £25, but ordering from Amazon (and HMV it seems, and strangely NOT Play) will be free postage AND only £18.

To me that could be worth the risk of getting it via Amazon (and their 4/11/08 date) considering that getting to 80 within 2 days isn't on my list of priorities.

Blues use a similar equation to epics. After plotting the averages of some TBC and WotLK blues, I've got the equation:

iLvl = 97.632 * Ln(itemValue) - 287.14

This fits from ZG and AQ20 blues all the way up to WotLK blues, usually being only around 2 levels off from the actual item level. I'm not going to bother with greens until Wowhead updates its database with random enchant greens, but I'm guessing they're using a similar logarithmic scaling. One thing to note is that neither the previous epic formula nor this formula match up with pre-60 epics or blues, since those used a linear scaling.

Didn't Amazon announce some sort of a guaranteed shipping system for certain preordered games? It would seem beyond foolish for them to not extend it to Wrath. I know I would much rather buy it from them, knowing that when I get home it'll be waiting for me than having to deal with the mall or retailers.

I think I am just going to go line up at midnight. I don't really want to bother with buying it online. Does anyone know if you need to pre-order for the midnight release? I am guessing so just to make sure you get one.

I would imagine that would differ on a store to store basis.

I doubt this will be an issue, since the 3.0 patch is intended to be exactly what TBC players without WotLK will have. Due to retail delays there will probably be a new patch at install time anyway. That said I doubt Amazon would be selling it a week early.

See, that's something I was curious about. The manager of the local EB/Gamestop was telling me they knew the release date for something like three months... and then in the same breath told me they didn't have pre-order information for the Collector's Edition yet. I've been telling everyone that there's no release date until Blizzard says so, but I wonder if that's entirely true.

It's a non-issue, since Blizzard has given a release date and the game will inevitably mimic the current beta state for a couple weeks after release.

Also, who's willing to bet that Blizzard will announce Expansion 03 at Blizzcon?

I just called my local EB/Gamespot. Taken with a grain of salt, in his words, no store would be taking preorders for the CE, nor would any store be receiving any copies of the CE. Apparently, Gamespot is going online only for all CE purchases.

My local Gamestop (I dunno if that's different from Gamespot?) just told me to call back tomorrow morning for CE reservations. I've been getting a bunch of "Oh we're not doing CE pre-orders yet because they haven't announced it or some shit". Now, apparently, I should check back tomorrow because it was "just announced ". Seems like they're taking their sweet time, and I can't imagine them doing online only pre-orders, though the Gamestop website does have it as an option already. Online only would kinda screw over the people who already reserved in B&M stores.

Check the fine print on the CE at gamestop.

$69.99 base cost - $ 14.99 "handling fee" - There is no extra fee for the regular edition.

While I'd fork over the extra cash for one CE version, I won't if a $15 surcharge to gamestop is required. Blizzard's already doing them a favor anyway by not having it available for download on a torrent as others have suggested. We have no choice but to go to retail outlets.

Amazon had a Nov 4 date for months now. They still haven't updated their site with the real shipping date now that it's known, that's all.

When TBC came out it did not matter if you had the box in hand. They wouldn't let you upgrade your account to TBC until 12:00 am on the release in your local timezone. There were quite a few people who got their box early but it did not do them any good.

I don't see there being a better option than midnight release at a place like gamespot. You can even take advantage of it if you don't have one near you, if you have friends. A few days before the release, the game will surely be on a torrent (and maybe even just completely patchable). Release night, call a friend and have him buy you a copy, then tell you the CD-Key. You don't even have to leave the comfort of your home.

For the TBC release, gamespot had more copies of the game than I have ever seen... copies of anything... in my life. There was probably enough for everyone in the crowd to get ten copies, easily. I wouldn't worry about them running out.

As you're in the UK, I suggest you give Asda a go if there's a decent sized store near you. I picked up TBC there for I think it was £16.72 when I started playing WOW a few weeks after the launch.

Hmmm. When TBC was released in Australia, we had a midnight launch event at our local EB stores. We were behind everyone else; despite being half a day ahead of most (US) server players. It seems this will happen again with the WotLK launch, as they've advertised November 14th for an AU release. I'm really hoping this means Midnight on Nov 13th, not Nov 14th.

At least I won't feel guilty for taking time off work.

Doubt it. Expect the announcement for Expansion 3 at Blizzcon 2009.

As far as Blizzcon 2008 is concerned:

- A bit more about WotLK, but I doubt it will be the main focus.
- Diablo III
- Starcraft 2

And their "next-gen MMO" that's been top secret. I expect that.

Upcoming Priest Changes from Koraa:

Have any players in Asia (or anywhere really far away from their home server) figured out how to get a copy of the game on release day? I remember when TBC came out the boxes weren't on sale here in Japan until about 5 days after the release so I ended up buying a key from one of those websites that sells you only the CD-key. If possible I'd like to avoid that this time and, with and luck, snag a collector's edition.