To Relic concerning DCE preorder.

Dear Relic,
I'm writing this to express my vexation with the manner customers who preordered the digital collectors edition were treated. I've posted several times in the "new commanders/ new units" thread to try & get this off my chest but it just didn't alleviate my frustration in this matter.

I am not complaining about what was included in the DCE, it is what it is (although this was never clear prerelease if we're being totally honest with each other). My issue is the fact that had I not upgraded my preorder to a DCE I would of been entitled to 4 commanders, 2 skins & 1 ToW pack, but due to the fact I chose to support the company to the best of my abilities & pay an extra £30 I gave this privilage up.

Last weekends 33% sale means I could of purchased the DCE & saved the extra £30 I paid without losing a single thing (game had already dropped £10 in price, my maths isn't that appalling!).With that said I'd like to ask the following question.

Why are players who preordered the standard edition entitled to the above mentioned bonus content while DCE owners have no such entitlement & why should people who put their faith & wallets behind relic prerelease be treated in the same manner as people who picked up the DCE pretty much 3 months to the day after launch?

I know its a doublebarreled question but if someone from Relic (or Sega, I'm not fussed xD) would be so kind as to provide me with an answer I'd be most grateful.

I'm not an active member of the community, you wont see me posting left right & center, I stay out of balance discussions (I'm not good enough to have an informed opinion & I know this). I am however a long term customer & I'm always lurking on the .org (I don't really bother with the official forums its like Dodge city without the sheriff there).

If you took the time to read this I thank you for it & apologise if any part seemed rude or ranty, I assure you that was not my intention, I always try to be polite & constructive but I feel rather strongly about this issue so if that got the better of me once again I apologise.

Sincerely Wehrwolf.

Thanks for the note.

There was some confusion over the pre-order and Collector's Edition bonuses before launch given that THQ's offers were different then SEGA's. We made a concerted effort to explain the bonuses and there was a great deal of discussion about this at the time on these forums as well as our own.

The information was on Steam as well as other places including this FAQ we published: http://community.companyofheroes.com/forums/community-news-feed/topics/-Company-of-Heroes-2-Collectors-Edition-PreOrder-FAQ?page=1#post-284776

For those who don't want to follow this link this is the most relevant question and answer:

Q: What all do we get now with the new SEGA Collector’s Edition?

A: The Collector’s Edition now gets:
• Skins Bundle (24 skins) – this is an increase of 18 skins from the previous offer
• 10 Commanders – 10 more than before.
o 5 when Company of Heroes 2 launches
o 5 Commander Pass – released within the 90 days of launch
• Collector’s Faceplate & Badge - exclusive to Collector’s Edition owners
• Theatre of War Mini Pack
• Company of Heroes Collection Pack – all the goodness of classic Company of Heroes, COH: Opposing Fronts, and COH: Tales of Valor. For those of you who already own these, the Steam keys can be gifted.
• TF2 Badges and Hats– as mentioned these are exclusive to Steam
• Dawn of War II: Retribution – only for those who had the previous THQ pre-order via Steam


That's what people who purchased the Collector's Edition got when they pre-ordered, when they purchased after launch and if they purchase it today. It's also what people who buy the base game and then upgrade to the collector's edition get.

I don't understand what you mean by "had I not upgraded my preorder to a DCE I would of been entitled to 4 commanders, 2 skins & 1 ToW pack, but due to the fact I chose to support the company to the best of my abilities & pay an extra £30 I gave this privilage up."

As a Collector's Edition owner you should have gotten the Case Blue Theater of War pack for free, as it was listed in the above content (Theater of War Mini Pack). The additional skins and commanders were not included for anyone, regardless of when they bought the Collector's Edition.

The game, and the collector's edition, did go on sale last weekend for 33% off. I understand that it's annoying to buy something then see it on sale later, I feel the same way. But it's a thing that happens not just with our game, and not just with games. I bought BioShock Infinite for 50% off on Steam and I'm sure people who bought that on launch were kind of annoyed by that.

We absolutely appreciate your support, and taking part in a Steam Weekend Sale isn't at all an attempt to be disrespectful or insulting.

Hopefully that addresses what you're asking. If there's something I missed, or misunderstood, let us know.

It is in my estimation that at this point in time many people who bought the Collectors Edition such as myself either,

A) Have good paying jobs and could care less about a few dollars and would buy everything because they can and it's not really an issue, in short "They Don't Care"

B) Regret buying it as everything "Useful" could have been bought a la carte


In either case, I don't think too many individuals who bought the collectors edition are entirely thrilled with their purchase.

what is the difference between people who preordered collectors edition and people who got collectors edition after the game came out.

Noun, could you at least put up a pack with the four new commanders at a discount? They are very, very expensive, and its not clear why they are more expensive than the existing commanders.

Thank you for your reply Noun.

What I meant is preorders got 4 commanders for free. I have 10 commanders, all were included in the DCE. The free commanders standard edition purchasers recieved were taken from those 10.

I did recieve Case Blue however I would of if I had just preordered the standard edition. So again theres something a standard edition preorder recieved that I didn't.

I can't argue the skins (theres alot & its not something I can say "this came from there" with)

So my point was I didn't recieve any preorder bonuses & had I just purchased the DCE last weekend I would have everything I have today whereas if I'd of just purchased the standard edition when preordering I'd of gained extras to my initial purchase

Any preorder bonus was nullified by getting the DCE & thats why the 33% sale really got under my skin. So in a nutshell thats my issue, there were no preorder bonuses for the DCE. If I paid for a DCE tomorrow I'd get the same commanders & Case Blue but I wouldn't if I did the same with the standard edition as opposed to preordering it.

I feel I'm just going in circles now so I hope I was able to put my point across, if not then I'm sorry.

Thank you for your time & again I apologise if this came off as ranty. I guess what you're saying is the preorder bonuses were part of the DCE anyway.

Okay, I get what you're saying and I certainly see where you're coming from.

I think in regards to the Collector's Edition and the pre-order bonuses we've learned a lot from this experience and will be handling them differently in the future. At the very least we're going to try not to have our publisher go bankrupt right before launch, which didn't help.

But hey you also forgot the COOLEST faceplate EVAAAA.
40$ faceplate LOL

Hey, sorry you're upset. We tried to be as clear about this as possible before the game launched.

Q: What all do we get now with the new SEGA Collector’s Edition?

A: The Collector’s Edition now gets:
• Skins Bundle (24 skins) – this is an increase of 18 skins from the previous offer
• 10 Commanders – 10 more than before.
o 5 when Company of Heroes 2 launches
o 5 Commander Pass – released within the 90 days of launch
• Collector’s Faceplate & Badge - exclusive to Collector’s Edition owners
• Theatre of War Mini Pack
• Company of Heroes Collection Pack – all the goodness of classic Company of Heroes, COH: Opposing Fronts, and COH: Tales of Valor. For those of you who already own these, the Steam keys can be gifted.
• TF2 Badges and Hats– as mentioned these are exclusive to Steam
• Dawn of War II: Retribution – only for those who had the previous THQ pre-order via Steam

Okay, I get what you're saying and I certainly see where you're coming from.

I think in regards to the Collector's Edition and the pre-order bonuses we've learned a lot from this experience and will be handling them differently in the future. At the very least we're going to try not to have our publisher go bankrupt right before launch, which didn't help.

this is the kind of shit i hate with publishers. while relic looses the credibility. i hope you learnt something fron this. i really do. because this shit is pissing me off really bad.

as noob elite said, is not the money.

is the changes

2)Regret buying it as everything "Useful" could have been bought a la carte.

i would not have bought CE if i had know that. i would have saved the money and spend it all on commanders while skipping the skins and tow. but right now i feel cheated and lied to. and shielding with an ages old forum post. it makes me feel like you are saying.

heyy there we said it here, in this obscure forum post. you wherent listening?? too badddd?

heyy there we said it here, in this obscure forum post. you wherent listening?? too badddd?

- And on the game's product page on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/231430/
- The game's product page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Company-Digital-Collectors-Edition-Download/dp/B009AYQRJA
- The game's product page on Greenman Gaming: http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/ca/en/pc/games/strategy/company-heroes-2-digital-collectors-edition/
- The gaming press
- http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/17/company-of-heroes-2-red-star-edition-includes-single-multiplayer-content/
- http://www.pcgamesn.com/company-heroes-2-collector-s-edition-details-revealed
- http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/17/4236280/company-of-heroes-2s-digital-collectors-edition
- http://www.gamereplays.org/companyofheroes2/portals.php?show=news&news_id=923020
- http://www.shacknews.com/article/78782/sega-adds-more-to-company-of-heroes-2-digital-ce
- http://www.coh2.org/news/2625/new-sega-dce-and-pre-order-announced
- http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/05/17/company-of-heroes-2-red-star-edition-details


We did our best to make sure that everyone knew about the changes. COH2.ORG, Gamereplays and Relic News all had details of the change and they're by far our three biggest community centres. We broadcast it out to the gaming media and most outlets ran with the story. There's more that I didn't add to that list.

We're sorry you didn't see that, and not seeing it isn't any negative reflection on you. In the future we're going to do our best not to be in a situation where our publisher goes out of business and we need to change pre-order offers.

Ideally we'd offer something then not have to change it.

Which is to say you're absolutely right that we should avoid situations like this.

i really think relic should add something extra to players who preordered the CE because i didn't know that CE will be available post launch. i think this is one of the main reasons why people were pissed.

People, lets try to remain civil here. We've put our point across, caps & swearing doesn't help anyone.

Do I wish I'd recieved a different answer? yes, but I didn't & the fact is there was no preorder bonus for DCE.

While I respect that Noun came in put his hands up & said "Okay, I get what you're saying and I certainly see where you're coming from." It hasn't changed my feelings on the matter or the credibility hit that Relic has taken from this.

I'm rather disheartened by this affair, I guess in this new age of PC gaming loyalty will have to be its own reward xD. You can blame the developer or publisher but it changes nothing.

Thanks for your time.

we are on a time that preordering it counterproductive. wehrwolf. but that would be a little offtopic. its happening with a lot of games lately. but that would be an entirely diferent thing.

an noun. i know this wont be helpfull at all but let me give you a rundown of my traing of thought.

coh opens preoders. i remember seeing the tiered rewards.
~oh, coh2 preorder, ill wait and see if all the rewards all completed, i dont whant to have a (space marine case) on my hands~
times passes i check news videos and coh2 stuff in general
~the game looks nice hey its relic (then relic games passed trough my mind homeworld, homeworld cataclism, homeworld 2, company of heroes, dawn of war its expansions dow2) it cant be bad to buy it~
i check the page again. no disclaimer about sega-thq changes
~hmm, looks like the completed the tiers they dont display them anymore that means it did well (OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOW STUPID OF ME ) what is this collector edition?? so i get some commanders early and some others too, they are there to buy, well i suppose they will add some commanders later and pluss there is this single player stuff, i dont care about that but its something extra, i dont mind if its overpriced i supose i can help relic this time while i wait for new commanders, and besides coh campaings were awesome~

relics russian campaing flop
~ok i suppose the multiplayer is good~
bunch of unbalanced stuff
~im sure they will balance it soon~
relic gives me rehashed commanders
~its ok i suppose try new strats they must be busy balancing.
so case blue will be the last stuff you get for free
~ok i supose case blue comes with the last 8 new commanders better play them a lot and make them count~
check commanders, find out they are not part of CE


honestly i would not have cared if the CE stoped at those last commanders. because i at least got something new. but well its not gona change anything. gona go play some coh2 now. im just soo disapointed.

Noun, don't hide behind this "we'll learn" stuff. I'm happy to be a white knight for Relic - you did make the CE clear. But selling it on at a discount, giving most of it away to preorder customers, and then pretending we haven't seen this stuff before?

We did it with DOW2 and the Dark Angels. All those race specific campaign packs for "collectors edition only" were made for sale, screwing over the collectors edition customers and undercutting them.

Don't tell us "we'll learn" when its an obvious repeat of a past mistake - mistreating your collectors edition customers.

I won't pretend my faith in this new order from SEGA hasn't been shaken. It has. We'll see if you can recover and not try to screw us over more.

Also - the stream presented it as if the commanders were with the Case Blue DLC, which would of been great. However, they weren't. This is pretty annoying in itself - maybe some clarity on the stream next time, that they are a separate purchase?

One other thing Noun - there's been some poor communication on the Case Blue DLC. Most news sites have only mentioned the maps, and haven't mentioned case blue at all. This is pretty poor, and its only going to confuse matters. It's also not clear outside of our community that its free to everyone. I find this quite concerning too.

I too, I must say, feel like my pre-ordered CE wasn't worth it this way. I ordered it when THQ was still alive and never really read the the new CE Sega offered. But I always expected I'd get new content for free as a reward for pre ordering for at least half a year till after launch or so.

They are not giving the new commanders which have new abilities to the DCE owner, such a shame relic

The only thing I expected from preordering was the same 4x commander, 2xskins & 1x ToW pack Standard edition preorders recieved. Until yesterday when the patch hit I honestly believed I was going to get that. The "Preorder our collectors edition & recieve nothing!" bit of marketing must of escaped my attention xD.

I would excuse the change of publisher if the standard edition had recieved the same treatment but it didn't. Live & learn.

Noun, don't hide behind this "we'll learn" stuff. I'm happy to be a white knight for Relic - you did make the CE clear. But selling it on at a discount, giving most of it away to preorder customers, and then pretending we haven't seen this stuff before?

We did it with DOW2 and the Dark Angels. All those race specific campaign packs for "collectors edition only" were made for sale, screwing over the collectors edition customers and undercutting them.

Don't tell us "we'll learn" when its an obvious repeat of a past mistake - mistreating your collectors edition customers.

I won't pretend my faith in this new order from SEGA hasn't been shaken. It has. We'll see if you can recover and not try to screw us over more.

Also - the stream presented it as if the commanders were with the Case Blue DLC, which would of been great. However, they weren't. This is pretty annoying in itself - maybe some clarity on the stream next time, that they are a separate purchase?

One other thing Noun - there's been some poor communication on the Case Blue DLC. Most news sites have only mentioned the maps, and haven't mentioned case blue at all. This is pretty poor, and its only going to confuse matters. It's also not clear outside of our community that its free to everyone. I find this quite concerning too.

funny. i never cared about dow skin paks since they had no impact in the gameplay.