Fry’s After GDC

On the way home from GDC I did stop at Fry’s.  I have to be pretty damn sick to avoid Fry’s.

(Plus my wife called and said somebody was showing our house, so I had to stay away for a while longer anyway.)

I went to Fry’s because they had Vanguard in their ad for $37.99.  That was not quite the $35 target price I had set previously, but it was close enough for me to weaken some. 

And, as before, there were a lot of copies of Vanguard on the shelf.  Not as many as last time though.  They appear to have been selling at a modest rate. 

But as I stood there eyeing the box I saw two things. 

First, Echoes of Faydwer was on the shelf for just two dollars more

Second, the original GuildWars was on the shelf for eight dollars less. 

Something about those two comparisons destroyed the whole value proposition for Vanguard.  Both of those boxes carry much more value to me.

I have neither the time nor inclination to play Vanguard yet, but SOE games do tend to have veteran rewards and such for long term subscribers, so I thought if I got in there and had an account, even if I let it lapse for a year afterwards, I would have some sort of additional benefit when and if I decided I wanted to play.

But I couldn’t bring myself to drop $38 + tax on a game I might not ever play.  Oh well.

One other thing I did see at Fry’s was more Burning Crusade Collectors Editions.  A quick count of boxes on a display and on the shelf went beyond 200.  And that is in just a single store.  I think Fry’s might have gone overboard on the CE.  I would look for a sale sometime in the near future on those.