World of Warcraft: The War Within will finally release to the general public on Monday. However, since Blizzard is such a generous company they decided to give three days of early access to everyone who pre-ordered the epic edition of the game for $90. The normal edition costs a mere $40. This kind of practice is something I'm wholly against as it's in my eyes a very predatory way to take advantage of your players by having them pay $40 more just to play the game a few days earlier.
Well, who am I kidding. I paid for it. I have sinned. Forgive me, gamers.
Epic edition
Luckily, this epic edition doesn't just contain three days of early access. You also get 30 days of gametime ($15) included, an exclusive transmog set, an exclusive mount and an exclusive pet and some other stuff. They're basically peppering the pack with exclusive items when everyone knows people just want to play the game as early as possible. The mount is pretty cool though, so I don't mind getting it at all.
This sort of practice is something I normally hate. It's not unusual to get early access to a game for pre-ordering it but having to buy the most expensive edition for $40 more is quite bad. There's no doubt that they've earned bank on this though because I've been seeing a lot og people online in the hours I played yesterday. All of us, me included, are basically telling Blizzard that we're okay with this and will happily pay more for this again in the future. This is why I label this as a great sin.
Exploring new lands
I played for roughly 4 hours yesterday, taking it slow and exploring the new zones. I'm in no rush to get to level 80, which is the new level cap, and would rather take my time to read through the quests and play at my own pace. I don't care much for rating or getting the best gear. For me it's all about experiencing the story and having a good time along the way.
The story has been interesting so far with a few major events happening that I'm not going to spoil, and the first new zone has been really good. We get to meet a new Dwarven race called the Earthen, which we've heard about since Vanilla in 2004, so it's cool getting to know them better. They're basically just dwarves but even weirder.
I've gotten to try out some of the new features like delves and followed dungeons but not enough to say much about them yet. Them seem like a nice addition to the game and I'm excited to explore them further.
I'm gonna go wallow in my sin now. Be back with more The War Within in the coming days.
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.