Are you pre-ordering?

[Jajusek]

I want to pre-order and if my hype stays strong I will probably get Collector's Edition (if this time it will be available in my country) or just Deluxe/Ultimate Edition depends with one will be in the shop.

[Altimis]

This maybe sounds harsh to CA.

No, I would never ever pre-order the game that came out "incomplete".

I talk about "cut" contents that would be sell separate later. I accept only DLC that "newly create" to make the game keep going and more interesting.

Example is Rome 2 newly DLC, that not cut contents (I think??).

[Gallus]

Nope. I'm not even sure I will buy it. The trailers didn't look great, and they're supposed to make the game look better than it is.

[PointOfViewGun]

Will pre-order depending physical copy availability in my country.

This maybe sounds harsh to CA.
No, I would never ever pre-order the game that came out "incomplete".
I talk about "cut" contents that would be sell separate later. I accept only DLC that "newly create" to make the game keep going and more interesting.
Example is Rome 2 newly DLC, that not cut contents (I think??).

I love how these comments from people with no power to define what's "cut-content" keep persisting...

[JackDionne]

Because I have been waiting so many years for this title, yes I did pre-order. I never thought I would after Rome II.

[Daruwind]

I´m not right now. I will wait to like last week before launch and decide according to info. But probably will. But I would advice anybody not so sure to wait into first week after launch, there should be enough info and public reviews to judge it. :-)

[PikeStance]

It is a bit odd to release for pre-order when so much of the game is not defined. I know there are released developer's notes and some interviews, but some of them create more questions than provide answers.

Some neat stuff I do like;
The spy network mechanic
Characters of generals switching sides when they feel slighted.
Controlling 'family" (Warlord) as opposed to the traditional faction approach.

These mechanics seem to fit Chinese history well.

Concerns;
Lack of a naval battle which was especially important in Southern China. Perhaps a fully developed naval system as a DLC.
I am not sure about recruitment. I need more information.

I personally do not want carbon copy game for China, and thus far CA is doing that. The question remains, do we like them?

I would love to have my questions answered by Christmas. I will break a rule and pre-order then, at 60 USD, wifey will be cool with this as a gift for me.

[LestaT]

Not yet. Not for any economic or moral reasons whatsoever. I usually preordered once the preload is available. No point buying now since I dont know whether I'm gonna still be alive in 7th March next year. My wife will probably kill me anyway if I'm dead before her birthday on the 6th March.

[Duncan III]

It will most likely be a dreadful mess of a game, I might laugh at a few 'let's plays' but zero chance I will 'pre-order'.

[arthuros]

"Are you pre-ordering?"

Nope, definitely not this time. I doubt I'll buy it at all. Hype level: very, very low.

[Hazbones]

IMO, the teasers make 3K look like a Nintendo Switch game. I have no interest in this particular war, its belligerents, or even the country it is set in so I cannot justify a reason to even buy the game much more, to pre-order.

[removeduser_45762834756]

Really? Why would anybody pre-order?

In this day and age there is NO RISK for a game being "sold out"(original idea behind pre-order). Why then trow money at an unfinished product with no quality garantee? Why take such an unnesesary risk and support the shady system?
I would have spected Total War players to learn from the likes of Rome 2 and Aliens: Colonial Marines(also by SEGA).. but here we go again with the pro-pre order crowd...

[PointOfViewGun]

Really? Why would anybody pre-order?

In this day and age there is NO RISK for a game being "sold out"(original idea behind pre-order). Why then trow money at an unfinished product with no quality garantee? Why take such an unnesesary risk and support the shady system?
I would have spected Total War players to learn from the likes of Rome 2 and Aliens: Colonial Marines(also by SEGA).. but here we go again with the pro-pre order crowd...

Why wait if you're already gonna buy it? I can actually say that by not pre-ordering while knowing full well that you'll buy it at most a month or two after the game is launched you're helping the developers more than the pre-order people as you're paying the full price while they will not. So, given that you know you will buy the game, why are you trying to give them more money?

[Ibutsu]

Maybe buy it in the first week with a miraculous launch. But after Empire and Napoleon’s, and coming late to Rome II and still finding it lacking for years, I’m a bit sceptical of paying full price for a game I probably won’t play for years.

[Leonardo]

"Are you pre-ordering?"

Nope, definitely not this time. I doubt I'll buy it at all. Hype level: very, very low.

I concur.

+rep

[PikeStance]

Really? Why would anybody pre-order?

In this day and age there is NO RISK for a game being "sold out"(original idea behind pre-order). Why then trow money at an unfinished product with no quality garantee? Why take such an unnesesary risk and support the shady system?
I would have spected Total War players to learn from the likes of Rome 2 and Aliens: Colonial Marines(also by SEGA).. but here we go again with the pro-pre order crowd...

This is true from a marketing point of view pre-online sales. However, the cleverly found other ways to get people to depart from their earnings. pre-ordering gives you perks that are often not available if you wait until after the release. This includes the initial discount (standard is 10%) and/ or additional content not available to anyone. All of these additional content does become available later, but you have to wait some time for both the discount and the additional content. This is why I do not get people's anger with the "DLC" content being included in the pre-ordering of the game. Instead of a 10% discount, you now get a "free" DLC. if I were to criticize CA I would have called it something else and offered that particular content much later.

Just to break it down. The current price is $60. 10% would reduce the price to $54. DLC's is normally $15 to $20 dollars. If you were going to buy the DLC, you are getting a much better deal. On a personal note, I never buy DLCs at full price. Minimal 10% to 33% but normally 50%, so it isn't that big of a break for me. Then again, I have to wait quite a few months to get it. if I was 20- something and have lots of time on my hand and no wife to answer to, then I would pre-order.

Another thing to consider is there isn't any risk. If you get a buggy game, game developers are quick to fix them. Plus, pre-ordering also encourages the developers to develop the game further especially if it publicly or privately traded company.

[Daruwind]

Pre-orders are usually good indicator for company how much hype is there, same with first week sales. We can easily see how some games (Andromeda) was basically shut down due to weak sales...

But for me personally, as I stated before, I usually preorder week or so before the launch with enough trailers, early access reviews and so on. The lastest diplomacy videos were nice, loooks like CA is overdoing some long term problematic part of TW series, returning a lot features like ambushes, population... Plus this time,CA is offering preorder bonus till one week after release date. That is nice move. You can easily wait, see real reviews, game plays and make decision upon that without fearing to lose anything.

I´m looking at debacles like Battlefront II, Andromeda, now Battlefield 5, Fallout 76. Games with lootboxes,microtransactions.. Do we spend a lot for TW games? Yes. But are we getting enough content for it? I would also say yes. I don´t mind spending more if I´m getting enough value for it. Chaos Warriors for Wh1 were weakich but CA patched them more times than any other faction, Norsca is one of best DLC for Wh1/2 even if we had to wait for Wh2 version. We can even see clearly the evolution during Wh games. From Chaos warriors, Beastmen through Wood Elves to Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast. If i´m to choose from saving 6 bucks and getting more content for it, I will always choose the later. I usually like to point out evolution of DLCs from Empire/Napoleon where it was a few units and pretty weak small campaigns through Shogun 2 (FotS really shines!) and Rome2/Attila to Warhammers. If CA keeps DLCs and FLCs and level of updates, well then I have no fears for 3K. We can blame warhammer to be expensive but amount of free content in form of FLC Legendary Lords, reworks of older Legendary Lords into standalone factions...there was never such time in TW history. And we can see similar things with updates for Rome 2,ToB. Free content for R2 - Ancestral update and for Tob - Allegiance update were massive. :-)

Still we are living in the future, steam sales are predicable and if anybody is unsure, then I would always advise to wait for sale.

[Abdülmecid I]

Another thing to consider is there isn't any risk. If you get a buggy game, game developers are quick to fix them. Plus, pre-ordering also encourages the developers to develop the game further especially if it publicly or privately traded company.

Some games, like Empire, remain broken forever and almost never are all bugs corrected. In Rome II, there are still many glitches either dating from the disastrous release of September 2013 or being later introduced in the innumerable patches the game received. Pre-ordering does not encourage bug-fixing, but actually promotes the exact opposite. When the majority of sales occur in advance, the company is less inclined to invest on a polished product, because their profits are less based on reviews and overall quality than normal. In reality, pre-ordering undermines, both directly and indirectly, the interests of the consumer, considering that it has led to a generous financing of marketing, at the expense of developing the actual game. Not only is money thrown away at advertisement and publicity stunts, but the game mechanics are also "reformed", in order to generate hype and thus increase pre-order sales.

A typically catastrophic example is the addition of amphibious battles to Rome II, a controversial initiative, whose main objective was to help making pre-release videos that would excite Total War's fandom with visually impressive references to Private Ryan. As a consequence, much more crucial aspects of the game were left neglected, while amphibious battles were responsible for the proliferation of many ridiculous bugs, from over-powered transport ships that rendered military fleets redundant to entire armies aimlessly sailing through the Mediterranean, while being decimated from famine. Some of them actually persist even today, such as triremes crossing the desert and marines jumping to their deaths while disembarking. Meanwhile, in later games that were not a re-skin of Rome II, the naval aspect has been completely abandoned. Nowadays, thanks to Steam refunding and slightly friendlier consumer policies, pre-ordering is not as suicidal as it was before, but it remains a self-destructive act.

Quite simply, there is no advantage at pre-ordering, because if someone is patient enough, he can by the "tent-pole" and the totality of its digital offshoots with only a fraction of the number required for pre-ordering. Therefore, pre-ordering and the subsequent marketing strategy heavily relies on addiction, excitement bordering fanaticism and, generally speaking, every emotional appeal on the book. It's not a coincidence that pre-ordering is a noteworthy phenomenon only in the video-game industry, where the relative immaturity of a portion of the customers has allowed the salesmen to endorse marketing policies that would seem unacceptably aggressive to an objective viewer. Micro-transactions, loot-boxes and pre-ordering are all different sides of the same coin, exploiting the weak defenses of an audience generally too young to think critically, to resist against "hype attacks", to become sensitive of the resources it wastes and to organise itself on a common body, more suitable to protect its interests than a powerless individual.

Well, since it will be Christmas in three weeks, Biscuit's video seems rather appropriate:

[Indus_Valley]

nope. I never pre order .

[PointOfViewGun]

Quite simply, there is no advantage at pre-ordering, because if someone is patient enough, he can by the "tent-pole" and the totality of its digital offshoots with only a fraction of the number required for pre-ordering.

That patience you speak of does not represent a logical time frame. Sure, you can by the game for a fraction of the original price but when would that be? In a year?