No Wrath digital download immediately available
by Adam Holisky 
Nov 6th 2008 at 1:00PM
Claudiog has confirmed what we've speculated for a while. The digital download of Wrath of the Lich King will not be available right away next Thursday.The digital download for Burning Crusade took a few weeks to get going, and while Claudiog can't say if the Wrath version will take as long, he does mention it won't be available immediately.
This is important if you're living someplace far off and are expecting to be able to download Wrath the night it releases. While there will no-doubt be places around the internet where you can do it – you will have to use those places at your own risk.
You'll hear it here when the digital download does finally go live, but don't expect it anytime soon.
Filed under: News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
TonyMotorola Nov 6th 2008 1:06PM
Epic fail. I'd rather go to Blizzard.com, buy an account upgrade code (either CE or regular) and click on a .torrent.
The whole boxed copy thing sucks, especially when you can't buy a boxed copy in your area of the world.
Nick S Nov 6th 2008 2:56PM
I've seen a lot of people having this problem (US or EU servers, living somewhere else.)
If someone started selling localized copies internationally, I'll bet they'd make a killing. And probably break some rules/laws/etc. But still...
Kyle Nov 6th 2008 1:08PM
I just like the ease of Digital Download. I got my BC (albeit way after its release) via DD. I really don't feel like waiting in lines to get my box copy and throwing in CDs.
d0cta ew Nov 6th 2008 1:54PM
Well i think its actually DVD Rom now, so it wont be CD's, just one DVD
Kuroyume Nov 6th 2008 1:11PM
i'm having a friend in the US buy it for me and e-mail me the code, but i was hoping to have to avoid the torrent sites to get the client... at least i hope it will leak early and i will have the client at around the same time as the code...
Fedya Nov 7th 2008 4:11AM
Same for me, guildie will buy them and e-mail the key. I hoped I will be able to DL but now I don't know what to :(
I guess I'll have to ask him to upload it somewhere....
koreban Nov 6th 2008 1:13PM
Glad I pre-ordered from Amazon instead of went for the digital copy.
Dotixi Nov 6th 2008 1:17PM
They did the same with BC so no real surprise. There's going to be enough trouble on Nov 13 without adding in DDing.
rforbis Nov 6th 2008 1:57PM
Fuzzy Bear Butt.
Yum....
Hobbes Nov 6th 2008 2:00PM
A 4GB download times 3 million people in the 24 hours of 11/13/08 would be way too much for today's P2P / torrent networks.
It would be nice if they let us pre-download in the week beforehand and pre-pay the activation code online. But their servers were crashed by just selling Blizzcon tickets (about 12,000 sold), so I doubt they could handle the sales of 3M units, much less the distribution / downloads.
Nick S Nov 6th 2008 2:59PM
Actually, torrent networks thrive under that exact kind of load.
The performance of a given torrent rises proportionally to how many people are uploading/downloading it, all the way up to the limitations of the network.
It seems unlikely that a widely distributed network would buckle under the load, since high-load distros have been successful in the past, and those were run by a single entity. (I'm referring specifically to Half-Life 2 and Steam.)
mcclary Nov 6th 2008 2:02PM
Holy crap WI! Extremem Makeover: Blog Edition
Vinicius O. E. Nov 6th 2008 2:42PM
rofl, MOVE THE BUS! =D
blay Nov 6th 2008 2:30PM
Me wants!
Tailspin Nov 6th 2008 2:38PM
While I understand the Launch day bandwidth problems, They could have indeed added the options for pre-orders with background downloading, just like they do for patches... 3.0.2 was a huge download, and nobody really had problems having gotten most of it before patch day. Server stability was a separate issue :p
Vinicius O. E. Nov 6th 2008 2:40PM
Damn it, digital download is my only way to get WotLK since I live in Brazil -_-
Marjori Nov 6th 2008 4:57PM
pois eh vinicius...tbm to desapontada...acho que vamo ter que fazer o download em torrent mesmo :/
Phantx Nov 6th 2008 2:41PM
Sucks for people who doesnt live in the US :S
therandomguy Nov 6th 2008 2:51PM
Shame, although it would be a craptastic thing if you had to use the Blizzard Downloader for it.
Namus Nov 6th 2008 2:52PM
Just great, I live in the middle of nowhere and besides all the stunts we have to pull in order to get a serial just delivered here now we'll have to wait for an online upgrade to be available?
two weeks without a good portion of your playerbase probably will solve the lags issues on launch day....
BTW grats on the new look wowinsider!