663 replies to this topic

[ThrakF]

This is first of all, so everyone knows about this, and second, for people to discuss it, if they wish.  An announcement has been made in the last few hours saying that in the next few weeks, surplus lithos all the way back to normandy will be released on the store.  The catch?  It's random, there's 0 notice, they'll just appear on the store at random times.  It's being done to make it fair to everyone, so I doubt it'll be in a single time period of the day.

Needless to say, the normandy extra lithos have long been waited for, and are finally here, as are others.

If you want to see the original announcement, it's on the centralized litho thread if you haven't already looked.

Discuss.

Update: Release dates have now been announced, see Ms Domino's post fairly near the top of page 3.  Feel free to use this as a release is here thread like my other ones when we get to the release days, and good luck getting them to everyone who's going to try.

Normandys have now been sold out, they came on today (14/3) at about 9:50 bioware store time, aka MST.

Tali's and 3 Pack's are gone, they came on today (16/3), at about 1:10 MST

Thane and Grunt are still up though, for info, they came up (15/3) at about 10:05 MST

Edited by ThrakF, 16 March 2011 - 07:22 PM.

[antique_nova]

ThrakF wrote...
 An announcement has been made in the last few hours saying that in the next few weeks, surplus lithos all the way back to normandy will be released on the store. 

they weren't thst specifric, just saying recently releaed onces. possibly as far back as the pack of 3.

[Lord Kable]

Why hasn't a mod posted about this?

[ThrakF]

antique_nova, I asked if it's all the way back to normandy in a comment on the person's profile page, and they confirmed it was back to normandy, lord kable, an employee of treehouse brand stores has posted the original announcement, it's on the centralised litho thread, they just don't happen to be a mod, but it was announced by an employee who was delivering a message from Jedi.

[antique_nova]

thanks for correcting me , i am glad that i was wrong on this matter!

[Captain Crash]

Well I hope we get a bit more information then "anytime this month". Especially since everyone has commitments they cant get around. Having some sort of indication will stop endless refreshes in a vain hope of just being lucky!!

[Tocquevillain]

Captain Crash wrote...

Well I hope we get a bit more information then "anytime this month". Especially since everyone has commitments they cant get around. Having some sort of indication will stop endless refreshes in a vain hope of just being lucky!!

That's why they're called committments, cause they're more important than picking up a lithograph.

[antique_nova]

The times are more predictable than you think.

[MSparkyPants]

Tocquevillain wrote...

Captain Crash wrote...

Well I hope we get a bit more information then "anytime this month". Especially since everyone has commitments they cant get around. Having some sort of indication will stop endless refreshes in a vain hope of just being lucky!!

That's why they're called committments, cause they're more important than picking up a lithograph.

Gotta disagree with you there, friend. ;D

[ThrakF]

Tocquevillain wrote...

Captain Crash wrote...

Well I hope we get a bit more information then "anytime this month". Especially since everyone has commitments they cant get around. Having some sort of indication will stop endless refreshes in a vain hope of just being lucky!!

That's why they're called committments, cause they're more important than picking up a lithograph.

Whatever do you mean, what could possibly be more important than picking up a lithograph?  I certainly can't think of anything  Anyway, more seriously, I do think no notice at all is a bit unfair, it's so likely for people who missed out on one the first time to miss out on one the second, especially if they live in different time zones.  I think there's been several comments by people who do and are worried about missing out.  Would you rather have no notice, and have to stay on the bioware store page 24/7 for a month to be there for all the releases, just so you've not got quite as many people to compete with, or would you rather have a bit of notice, so you get to be there for all the releases, and risk missing one or 2 because of a lot of competition?  I think I know the answer.  Hey, I should add that to this thread as a poll lol  But believe me, if I happen to stumble onto a release on the bioware store page, people on this forum will be the first to know.

[SIim Charles]

You act like resellers are just going to sit back and let other people have the left-overs. Not going to happen. If the times are announced, all you will get is a ton of angry people who weren't quick enough. You've seen how fast hundreds sell out, imagine how fast 10-20 will sell out, especially now that the resale values are known.

Edited by SIim Charles, 03 March 2011 - 12:49 PM.

[stardazzled]

Just what Slim said... plus: having a tiny chance of spotting a litho in the Store is better than no chance at all. (if clause incoming, so please don't pay too close attention) If they hadn't taken inventory, there would have been no chance at all.

[ThrakF]

Fair point. It just depends on luck really with either way of doing things. If this way means that more collectors and less resellers get a hold of them first, then great, if it does the opposite, then it was obviously a bad idea. My personal opinion is that announcements would be better, as I think there'll be more than 10-20 and hopefully not tons of collectors wanting one, though I'm sure of collectors wanting one the number that could be on the bioware store every waking moment is pretty much nil, so the chances of people completely missing one is fairly high, but that's just my opinion. Whatever though, it would be fairer if the separate releases were spread over different times of day to give everyone in the world a fair shot.

Edit: I was talking about SC's post, not stardazzled's one

Edited by ThrakF, 03 March 2011 - 01:06 PM.

[djarlaks10]

Well, I for one have a huge time difference with USA (it's aboout +10 hours, maybe a bit less, depends on the US city), and Bioware usually chooses the time that's more convenient for it's North American customers. So, for a chance that to get a litho I have to stay up at night, and for that I would like to have at least a date of when the litho is coming. Also it would be nice to at least know what lithos are getting released next, after all I just need a couple of them to complete my collection.

[ThrakF]

That's exactly what I meant about it not being that fair to people in different time zones. If you're talking about which of the surplus lithos are coming first, and the order of them from there, we have no clue, and probably never will until they've all been sold. Sorry.

[Muzykmann]

Announcement would be a terrible idea. I want my constantly checking these boards and the store to pay off eventually. Announcing times means any joe schmoe can come in here and buy em up. This way rewards the dedicated with a much higher chance of snagging lithos. That seems like the fairest way to me.

[ThrakF]

Fair yes, if you're not doing something else or sleeping at the time. And since a lot of people may well be without an announcement, that's why I said announcement would be a better idea, just a small one somewhere on the forums maybe, that way you'd hopefully get a few less rip off type people buying them to sell them on for a stupid price. But I still think that without an announcement, too many people stand to miss out on it completely, especially if they're in a different time zone.

[Galford24]

ThrakF wrote...
An announcement has been made in the last few hours saying that in the next few weeks, surplus lithos all the way back to normandy will be released on the store.

So that means that they possibly have surplus lithos of: the Normandy, Tali, Grunt, Thane, Miranda and Legion.

(All other lithos, newer than the Normandy lithos, are still available and there may be just an increase of the quantities available)

Is that correct?

[ThrakF]

They have had extra lithos that they hold back after each release, none of them back to normandy have been released yet, all of them are going to be, yes. The newer ones than the normandy are not still available. Most of them sold out really quick, like the normandy.

[Galford24]

ThrakF wrote...
The newer ones than the normandy are not still available.

Sorry, but i was not precise enough and i think you missunderstood what i meant. The release date for the Normandy was 13. August 2010. So, newer than the normandy are: Pragia, Purgatory, Tali, Thane, Grunt, Miranda, Legion, Kirkwall Gate, Garrett Hawke, Blightlands, Kirkwall Keep, and Deeproads.


Tali, Thane, Grunt, Miranda and Legion sold out.

All other lithos, newer than Normandy (Pragia, Purgatory, Kirkwall Gate, Garrett Hawke, Blightlands, Kirkwall Keep, and Deeproads) are still available.

Edited by Galford24, 03 March 2011 - 06:00 PM.

[ThrakF]

Yes I see what you meant. As far as I know, they're not releaseing more of the still available ones, since the whole point is to hold them back in case replacements are needed, so they almost certainly won't be sold until some time after the available lithos are sold out. The only extras of already released lithos coming up are the sold out ones back to normandy, so yeah, the character ones and normandy like you thought.

Edited by ThrakF, 03 March 2011 - 06:05 PM.

[Galford24]

ThrakF wrote...

The only extras of already released lithos coming up are the sold out ones back to normandy, so yeah, the character ones and normandy like you thought.

Okay, thank you. That is what i wanted to know.

[MSparkyPants]

Perhaps BWS could do something along the lines of "We'll be releasing X litho within the next few days", since I'm assuming they'll be posted individually, and then just repeat a little later for each of the other ones available. No specific time/date, so dedication to checking the store could pay off, and customers would know ahead of time whether they even want that specific litho.

[ThrakF]

That's better than completely random I think, but I still think even that's too vague, maybe they could say like, it'll be tomorrow sometime or something, because think of it, if some people have to stay up mega late or are commited to litho collecting enough to cancel everything they have on if a release is coming up, a few day window isn't going to do them much good if they want the litho. In my opinion, the only good way of doing it in a random time window is giving like a 24 hour window or something like that, so people know when to stay up until the litho is out/cancel everything. That might actually work, seeing as it would give collectors a good shot, and it might mean they'd get less rip off resellers and more collectors at the time of release.

[Muzykmann]

ThrakF wrote...

That's better than completely random I think, but I still think even that's too vague, maybe they could say like, it'll be tomorrow sometime or something, because think of it, if some people have to stay up mega late or are commited to litho collecting enough to cancel everything they have on if a release is coming up, a few day window isn't going to do them much good if they want the litho. In my opinion, the only good way of doing it in a random time window is giving like a 24 hour window or something like that, so people know when to stay up until the litho is out/cancel everything. That might actually work, seeing as it would give collectors a good shot, and it might mean they'd get less rip off resellers and more collectors at the time of release.

Thrak man, I understand what you're saying, but people are going to miss out on these no matter what the store does. Someone is going to miss it. We can't avoid that. What this shouldn't turn into is a situation where everyone, dedicated fans and resellers alike, have 5 different computers logged in with 5 different accounts, all ready to click "BUY" at the exact moment stock goes online. That would be a nightmare for people like us, who check the boards religiously looking for more information.

If you make the time more obvious for fans, you make it more obvious for resellers too. Since fans visit the page more often than resellers now, its the resellers who gain the advantage if a specific date is given. No, it's not going to guarantee that all fans get one, but it does ensure that fewer resellers get one.