Cataclysm Digital Pre-Sale

[Adam-Savage]

Ok so these blue post are still a little vague. So I did some digging to find out some facts. The screenshot below should clear up any confusion.

EDIT: Please note you will not be able to play the game/Cataclysm until 12:01 AM PST time. It showed 3:01am for me because I'm EST.

Q. In what regions is the Cataclysm pre-sale available? What day/time is Cataclysm launching in my region?
A. The pre-sale is available in the following regions, with realms scheduled to launch at the following times:

Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia - December 7 at 12:01 a.m. PST Europe and Russia - December 7 at 12:01 a.m. CET

Q. When will my credit card (or other payment method) be charged?
A. You will be charged on the day that you place your pre-order for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Q. Why do I need to log in to the game once after I’ve upgraded?
A. The first time you log in after pre-ordering, your account will become eligible to begin receiving the Cataclysm data when it’s available. The data will automatically download in the background while you play World of Warcraft or while you have the Launcher window open.

Q. Can I pre-order a physical copy of Cataclysm and have it shipped?
A. Not from Blizzard Entertainment, but many retailers offer pre-orders of physical boxes and Collector’s Editions.

Q. Will a digital version of the Collector's Edition, with the exclusive pet, be available?
A. No. The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector's Edition is exclusive to physical retail copies. The digital version consists of the standard edition.

Source

[Sukurachi]

I find it still quite vague.

I logged in to my battlenet account, and could choose the digital DL now.

I'm leery about using this service, however.

I DL the material now, and it... does what?
Like those huge patches we DLed in advance for 4.0.1?

Is there any guarantee that this won't affect the already delicate understanding WoW and my computer have come to? they stopped arguing finally, and decided to let me, the humble user, actually play.

[Adam-Savage]

I'm still gonna stand in line so I have a physical copy and I'm getting the collectors edition.

[Aleu]

I already pre-ordered my copy of the CE from Game Stop (Which better get here on release date. >>) so I wouldn't be using it. The only digital copy of the game I ever got was BC.

[Ikult]

I dunno. Perhaps I'm just too leery of change; or too untrusting of my internet connection, but I personally wouldn't want to do a digital download. I very much enjoy having a physical copy as a backup.

For those of you who chose this option, good luck! It would be awfully nice to start play right away. I'll be joining y'all an hour or two after you get in.. If servers are stable, that is.

[Adam-Savage]

I dunno. Perhaps I'm just too leery of change; or too untrusting of my internet connection, but I personally wouldn't want to do a digital download. I very much enjoy having a physical copy as a backup.

For those of you who chose this option, good luck! It would be awfully nice to start play right away. I'll be joining y'all an hour or two after you get in.. If servers are stable, that is.

This would depend on your time Zone. I could have a physical copy of the game and be home for 1am. Have everything installed in under a hour and still have to wait a hour to play.

[Golden]

I'm going to patiently wait for my CE that I've preordered. If it doesn't arrive on release day, I'll just spend my time hanging around in the changed Old World. ^^ Seeing as only the high level areas, 80-85 leveling and Archaeology will be restricted to Cataclysm tagged accouts, I as a die-hard altoholic will have SO much to do even without the expansion. And besides, I'd rather avoid the new leveling areas and Archaeology for the first few days, just to avoid the huge amounts of grief that will be present there.

[Anyia]

For those who want to know, the Cataclysm patch currently appears to be ~720MB. No doubt there will be a bit more to come, but I would be surprised if it's more than say 300-400MB on top of what's available to download right now.

[Mockingbird]

To be absolutely clear on this - the ONLY thinkg you need to play cataclysm bits (rather than old-world bits) is a cataclysm product key tied to your account (plus, obviously, access to a cataclysm-enabled server).

The version of the game client is identical for all users (it has to be) - the only differences are what your characters can and can't use and/or access, and that's based on your account.

In terms of how one gets the client it gets more complicated.

Pre-download appears to be a special thing for cataclysm pre-orders only, but I have no way to check this. This suggests there are three ways to get the client (and therefore be able to play):

1) Preorder Cataclysm direct from Blizz online, you will be able to download most of it early. The last little bit (probably a couple of hundred megs of activation information and last minute patches) will be downloaded and installed at "go time" and you can then play right away. (basically the same as any large content patch with pre-loading through the loader).

2) Purchase Cataclysm at a store - you can install nearly all of it as soon as you have the disk, and will most likely need to download a quick patch (activation plus last-minute patches) to play - potentially slower than 1) depending on your local store opening times and regional server go-time. For some people it may well be faster. Also doesn't use up your d/l allowance.

3) Don't buy Cata yet. You will still need to download all the cata files + patches to be able to play (since the client is the same), and I suspect you may not get the pre-download, meaning you'll be trying to d/l the ENTIRE cata patch at the same time as everyone's d/ling the activation patch and so on.

Please note, I may be wrong about 3) - they may use the same pre-loading as any other patch, meaning this method would be the same as 1) but without access to cata bits

[Adam-Savage]

So if your into the cinematic's in wow then don't get the digital download.."cinematic are not part of the digital download anymore."

Fair day all,

Alright, so we've completed the investigation and it appears that from this point forward, the digital download will no longer include the game Pre-rendered Cinematics/Cutscenes as part of the download. As such the Wrath loading cinematic, Wrathgate, etc... will no longer be installed with the game when using the digital streaming download. This may change in the future(no promises, heh) however for right now they are not part of the digital

I have fixed the error in my post stating that they were not available. (I left out a "not", /fail) So for your clarification, at this time the cinematics are not available from Blizzard either by direct download or by the digital download client. Running the repair tool will also not result in them being downloaded so at this time either independent download or copying from an existing Wrath of the Lich King Installation is needed however you can always view the cinematics at any time by going to Blizzard's youtube page.

Blizzard YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/blizzard

[Novikova]

Gah, Cata drops during finals. But I already pre-ordered CE and I don't want to cancel it. >> I'll just grab some rares and check things out.

[Anyia]

Now they tell me that, after I've already forked over the money. Me thinks an email will be arriving at Blizzard to protest!

[Anyia]

Follow-up: Found the following post; Looks like there's nothing to worry about.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 02&sid=1#2