I have managed to convince a friend to pick up a copy of Guild Wars 2. Ironically, this was during the no-digital-sales period which got lifted a day or two after she found the physical copy. It wasn’t like she was checking the stores for shipment dates and times, but I was surprised she even found a physical copy so fast. She found her copy at Walmart, but before that, she had gone to Best Buy and they told her she had come an hour late. Apparently they get shipments in everyday and they sell out. That’s pretty good, but I’m also afraid for the relatively relaxed, nice in-game community that Guild Wars has compared to other MMOs. (It has already infiltrated the overflow servers, but I will not get into that.)

As for myself, I got my humongous box in the mail a day earlier than expected. The gallery, prefaced by shots of the original sound track that I ordered separately, can be found here, with step-by-step unboxing.

I have to admit that I have a sheet of notes with random thoughts that popped into my head as I was playing. They’re all random points and while I would like to just go down the list and do a brain dump, I wanted to have some structure to these notes. So, I will hold off on many of those points and instead talk a bit more about receiving my box.

I was heading out to run some errands when the postman drove up and honked at me to let me know he had some packages for me. He pulls out one huge box and one small box. I was expecting the large box the next day and the small box the day after that, but instead I get both of my new toys on the same day! Unfortunately, I needed to run errands, so the boxes had to wait. Then, when I came back, I had to have lunch.

Finally, I opened up the biggest box. It was like Christmas or something, because inside the larger box was … another box! I’m amused by these things. I pull out the Collector’s Edition, admire the Rytlock Brimstone statue, the art prints, and the very nice tin box that the prints and the rest of the goodies were packaged in. I still have the signed art prints with certificates of authentication from Penny Arcade as well. However, those prints, as well as the statue and additional prints I got, made their way back into the original boxes or packages they came in. I haven’t had much luck finding simple, lightweight frames for the large prints that I have because they are an awkward size (something like 14″x19″) and I am too lazy to invest in a matte cutter or even get the frames you can put together by buying each piece separately. They’ve survived so far in their cardboard envelope thing. The art prints in the Collector’s Edition did come with a nice frame, but only one print can be displayed at a time. I’m also short on flat surfaces on which these desk frames can be placed on. This is also the reason why Rytlock Brimstone is sitting snugly back in the original Collector’s Edition box.

Don’t get me wrong, I buy the physical collector’s editions of these games because I like collecting the art/artbooks as well as soundtracks. I never got into statues, given how cramped my space is now that I’ve moved back home. Statues are sort of a nice addition and I admire the workmanship that goes into some of the ones that I have, but I simply don’t have any place to display them.

I’m obviously a little more enthusiastic over the physical items and given that I paid $150 for the thing, I wanted to make sure I got my money’s worth. Oh, tack on an extra $30 for the complete soundtrack as the “Best of” collection that was included in the collector’s edition was … a bit paltry, containing only 6 tracks. (The $5 refund I got for buying the CE was enough to cover shipping costs.) I believe I did laugh when I saw the tracklist for that.

Saving the best for last. No, it’s not the collector’s edition key, but that is what got me spending way too much time in game again. My favorite item is the Making Of book. I have been going through it very slowly, reading a few pages at a time before I’m whisked off to GW-land or errands or something else that requires my attention (like writing this much-needed blog post). I even have a few points written down for the book!

I wasn’t able to make it out to the launch party because it was during the weekend that my sister comes down. I probably wouldn’t have gone unless I could have found someone else who wanted to go with me. Hollywood is not a place I like to drive to or be by myself. So, it was a very nice surprise to find an autograph spread of the dev team in the book. It may be a print and not the real deal, but it sure is nice to have. I haven’t picked through all of the autographs, but I did see the current CM’s autograph in there.

There’s a lot of art in the book. I liked that they included the first Guild Wars art in there as well. The majority of the art is, of course, from GW2. I have a feeling that some of the art are newer and not included in the art book (being released 3 years ago in 2009). I plan on writing a post devoted to the making of book itself once I have finished reading it (maybe twice) and taking some pictures with my other new toy (a camera).

I’m quite satisfied with my physical collector’s edition. I realize, from the sheer volume of screenshots I have taken (the game is very photogenic), uploaded (these screenshots must be shared after all), written captions for (it’s good to document what goes on in my mind when I encounter some of these shots), as well as the number of Guild Wars-centric items (collector’s editions of all of the GW1 games, the two novels, GW2 OST, art prints, a PAX shirt), I’m quite the fan. So, I may be biased, but that doesn’t change that I am a satisfied customer.