Company of Heroes 2 Pre-Order Details

Comrades, today we got an important directive from Unkle Joe himself! It seems that Company of Heroes 2 is finally ready to be pre-ordered! Company of Heroes 2 will be present in two versions; a standard version (purchasable in digital copy or boxed) and a Digital Collector’s Edition (purchasable only in digital copy). It will be possible to pre-order the game on the updated Company of Heroes 2 website pre-order page, linked below:


As you can see, there are three possible stores for now that propose different offers. Let’s get a better look at Steam, Origin and ShopTHQ.

Steam

Standard Digital Copy (49,99€ in EU, $59.99 in USA)

• Company of Heroes 2.
  
• Guaranteed Beta Access when available on Steam.
  
• German Rotbraun and Russian Leningrad Pattern Bundle – Medium Vehicles.

CoH 2 will feature three types of vehicles: light, medium and heavy. By unlocking a pattern for a type of vehicle, for example for medium vehicles, you ensure you can place the unlocked skin on any other vehicle of that faction with the characteristic of being a medium vehicle. Skins do not affect the gameplay in any way, they just change the asthetics of units and they are highly-detailed as well as historically accurate.

Digital Collector’s Edition (79,99€ in EU and $99.99 in USA)

• Company of Heroes 2.
  
• Guaranteed Beta Access when available on Steam.
  
• German Rotbraun and Russian Leningrad Pattern Bundle (same as the Standard Edition).
  
• Company of Heroes.
  
• Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts.
  
• Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor.
  
• German Whitewash and Russian Winter Cobblestone Pattern Bundle – Heavy Vehicles.

• Command Pass :
  Necessary to access some premium features of Company of Heroes 2, like exclusive members events and access to any premium maps released in the future.
  
• Free access to Theater of War Collection Set :
  The “Theater of War Collection Set” is the first three Single Player Campaign DLCs Relic will release for Company of Heroes 2 after the retail launch.
  
• Veteran Badge :
  A veteran medal shown in the in-game profile to distinguish those players that bought a Collector’s Edition of COH2.

But that’s not all! Steam recently started a new feature related to the pre-order of new games. Whenever a steam user pre-orders a game he helps to fill a 'Reward' bar that is placed in the Steam game page. The reward bar is divided into three steps, each one offering special bonuses to all the users that pre-order.

Reward 1

Exclusive Company of Heroes 2 Team Fortress 2 Items:

• German Cap and Badge :
  This German Officer’s Cap and Badge tells the world you’re the ruthless commander of a juggernaut army and not to be trifled with!
  
• Soviet Cap and Badge :
  This Soviet Commander’s Cap and Badge lets everyone know you’ve led thousands of troops through some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front of WW2, in style!

Reward 2

Everything Above, Plus:

A Free copy of Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2 Retribution!
Already own Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution? Why not gift a copy to your friend?

Reward 3

Everything Above, Plus:

Company of Heroes 2 Commissar Chest:

• In-Game Currency Gift to be used towards purchasing future content.
  
• XP Boost: We think that will be related to your profile but won’t affect competitive multiplayer PvP.
  
• Unit Boost: A very curious ability, indeed! Once again, we are assured that this is not a 'pay-to-win' type ability.
  
• Commander Archetype: Perhaps similar to Reward units of CoH: Tales of Valor.

Origin

Standard Digital Copy (49,99€ in EU, $59.99 in USA)

• Company of Heroes 2.
  
• Guaranteed Beta Access when it is available on Steam.
  
• German Rotbraun and Russian Leningrad Pattern Bundle – Medium Vehicles (same as described above under 'Steam' section).
  
• Russian Bryansk Pattern EXCLUSIVE for Origin – Heavy Vehicles (see image below).

ShopTHQ

Standard Copy (49,99€ in EU, $59.99 in USA)

• Company of Heroes 2.
  
• Guaranteed Beta Access when it is available on Steam.
  
• German Rotbraun and Russian Leningrad Pattern Bundle – Medium Vehicles (same as described above under 'Steam' section).
  
• Command Pass enabling access to new multiplayer maps, member-only events and content.

Digital Collector’s Edition ($99,99 in USA)

• Company of Heroes 2.
  
• Guaranteed Beta Access when it is available on Steam.
  
• German Rotbraun and Russian Leningrad Pattern Bundle – Medium Vehicles (same as described above under 'Steam' section).
  
• German Whitewash and Russian Winter Cobblestone Pattern Bundle (same as described above under 'Steam' section).
  
• Command Pass enabling access to new multiplayer maps, member-only events and content.
  
• Theater of War Collection Set (includes three bonus content packs).
  
• Exclusive veteran badge for display on in-game profile.
  
• Company of Heroes Collection Pack (includes Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor).

Considerations

THQ and Relic are working in grand strokes, releasing, from the start, numerous skins, patterns and bonuses that would allow a great customization in-game with a high historical accuracy.

We are getting closer to the final release and it seems clear how Company of Heroes 2 will feature three different components highly supported:

• A single player campaign, with at least three additional DLCs.
  
• Cooperative modes with bonuses and achievements.
  
• A multiplayer competitive mode where the heart of Company of Heroes stays intact.

Some of the features announced thus far may indicate that there will be a differentiation from COH2 and COH2 Premium. Opinions differ from those that think COH2 will be a 'Pay 2 Win' (with buyable objects that would make you stronger than your opponents who don’t buy them), to those that talk about a 'Play 2 Win' (like in Company of Heroes Online, the more you played the better items you could unlock), to those that still hope Relic will do things right this time.

The discussion kept going throughout the night and both Relic and THQ tried to calm down people over their fears of seeing their favourite game an incomplete game at launch where everything is purchasable and where the producers simply want to get as much money as possible from their customers.

Indeed Relic and THQ stated multiple times that the 'boosts' will not feature in any way in the competitive multiplayer aspect of the game and that those who don’t buy the 'Command Pass' at launch will still be able to play a full game with a complete single player and multiplayer mode.

While we do want to stay positive and trust Relic and THQ, the doubts are still all there: we as players fear to buy a full price game and then find out that it is an incomplete product that will be 'completed' through DLCs.. And what exactly are the 'Premium' features related to the 'Command Pass'? Will players only be able to take part in THQ tournaments if they buy it? Will the 'Command Pass' be something close to the Battlefield 3 Premium version (where you pay once to get all the DLCs/expansions) or it would only last a certain amount of time and then you would have to buy it again, like in some the more famous MMORPGs?

The players of the Company of Heroes community have waited for six years to see the sequel; will we be satisfied with a triple-A title capable of competing with Company of Heroes and potentially being even better? Relic is a small company but these guys are motivated and they have produced some of the greatest RTS titles of all time. THQ can not afford to make any false steps at such a crucial time for the American company. Will they listen to the community requests and give more details regarding our concerns? Please give us your feedback and opinions and write down a comment below!