COH Tales of Valor Debacle

Anxious and excited about Relic's latest expansion pack, I purchased a copy of Tales of Valor on Saturday from our local Future Shop.



I put the disk in, happy that I would soon be able to start blasting away in my favorite RTS (arguably the best RTS series around, up there with Starcraft and Homeworld). However, when it asked me for a cd-key, I realized that the game had not shipped with the English manual which has the key! I did a double-take, checked again. Nope, no manual.



OK, this happens, I said to myself - probably a publishing error. Sure enough, I checked the support website and the 1st post indicated that this indeed was a documented problem. OK, no probs - I'll send them a note through their website (along with a scan of the back of the French manual and store receipt, which, by the way assumes I have a scanner) and be up in no time. They just need to send me a valid key , right?



Wrong! 2 1/2 days later, and not only do I have a useless DVD copy of the game and no key, but they haven't responded with any acknowledgement. Not cool. These guys have to learn that there is a risk that copy protection schemes cost more sales than supposed piracy would. I am returning my copy of the game tomorrow. If you have the same issue, please spread the word and post a reply to this message. COH Tales of Valor Debacle
Relic is aware of this issue and have set up a special support line via their website for people who need a cdkey, go check that out.COH Tales of Valor Debacle
No kidding - if you read my post, you'll note I tried that.



That's the problem - I am following the ''process'' to resolve the issue and am not getting any follow up or help from Relic Support.



I just want to play the game I bought. I'm just saying that copy protection is dumb and useless.
Right, missed that part. But you said 2 1/2 days later...I wouldn't expect any processing to be completing for atleast a week. They got alot of claims to handle.
Yeah - I get that. 2 1/2 days can be a long time when you go and buy a new game, anxious to play it and not able to over something as plain dumb as this.



Again, the point is that copy protection is a huge hindrance - remember Bioshock? Or how about Spore? Going further back, remember the Sony Rootkit?



Now this. The issue is that there is no ''good'' form of copy protection and ultimately, it doesn't work, anyway. Stardock seems to get it and somehow they seem to survive without any cd keys.



From a business perspective, it's a question of risk mitigation and revenue leakage. I get that, too. But what I don't get is why these publishing houses are willing to spend big $$$ and risk customer satisfaction to fight a losing war.
''sigh''Do I have to listen to more people rant about DRM? and DRM that has been in games for years?Really this is just a mistake by Relic. Just be patient and they will respond to you. It takes about 2-5 days for them to respond mostly.
You are not missing much
Yeah there is only a very small amount of new content in it :( Seems more like something that should of been DLC or a Booster pack then a Expansion..
[QUOTE=''Sinestro6969'']Anxious and excited about Relic's latest expansion pack, I purchased a copy of Tales of Valor on Saturday from our local Future Shop.



I put the disk in, happy that I would soon be able to start blasting away in my favorite RTS (arguably the best RTS series around, up there with Starcraft and Homeworld). However, when it asked me for a cd-key, I realized that the game had not shipped with the English manual which has the key! I did a double-take, checked again. Nope, no manual.



OK, this happens, I said to myself - probably a publishing error. Sure enough, I checked the support website and the 1st post indicated that this indeed was a documented problem. OK, no probs - I'll send them a note through their website (along with a scan of the back of the French manual and store receipt, which, by the way assumes I have a scanner) and be up in no time. They just need to send me a valid key , right?



Wrong! 2 1/2 days later, and not only do I have a useless DVD copy of the game and no key, but they haven't responded with any acknowledgement. Not cool. These guys have to learn that there is a risk that copy protection schemes cost more sales than supposed piracy would. I am returning my copy of the game tomorrow. If you have the same issue, please spread the word and post a reply to this message. [/QUOTE]

I take it you live in Quebec? I do too. NEVER under any circumstances buy a french pc game ever ever ever!
[QUOTE=''eclarkdog'']You are not missing much[/QUOTE]



Yeah, I'm not trying to break your heart - but Tales of Valor is a disaster for Relic as well as CoH series.
[QUOTE=''Dr_Brocoli''][QUOTE=''Sinestro6969'']Anxious and excited about Relic's latest expansion pack, I purchased a copy of Tales of Valor on Saturday from our local Future Shop. I put the disk in, happy that I would soon be able to start blasting away in my favorite RTS (arguably the best RTS series around, up there with Starcraft and Homeworld). However, when it asked me for a cd-key, I realized that the game had not shipped with the English manual which has the key! I did a double-take, checked again. Nope, no manual. OK, this happens, I said to myself - probably a publishing error. Sure enough, I checked the support website and the 1st post indicated that this indeed was a documented problem. OK, no probs - I'll send them a note through their website (along with a scan of the back of the French manual and store receipt, which, by the way assumes I have a scanner) and be up in no time. They just need to send me a valid key , right? Wrong! 2 1/2 days later, and not only do I have a useless DVD copy of the game and no key, but they haven't responded with any acknowledgement. Not cool. These guys have to learn that there is a risk that copy protection schemes cost more sales than supposed piracy would. I am returning my copy of the game tomorrow. If you have the same issue, please spread the word and post a reply to this message. [/QUOTE] I take it you live in Quebec? I do too. NEVER under any circumstances buy a french pc game ever ever ever![/QUOTE]



actually all games sold in canada HAS to include both the english and french manual. he probably only got the french manual and is missing the english one that contains the cd key. As for the quality of this expansion pack, it still has more content than the soviet assult of world in conflict IMO.
True that about Soviet Assault that game had like what 6 extra missions for like 40 bucks..
[QUOTE=''Dr_Brocoli'']I take it you live in Quebec? I do too. NEVER under any circumstances buy a french pc game ever ever ever![/QUOTE] Why do you assume he brought the French version? I thought this missing key issue affected all versions in Canada.[QUOTE=''Shadowhawk000'']True that about Soviet Assault that game had like what 6 extra missions for like 40 bucks.. [/QUOTE]I am avoiding both until they are much cheaper, WiC forces you to replay the entire game just for 6 missions, and COHToV is all about MP... :(
who said ''he's not missing much''?..



he's not missing anything!!



this game is a real shocker. it took me best part of the morning to load it then download the infuriating patches etc etc.. and then when i finally get to play it..its over in an hour. what the hell is that all about. i am really, really angry. the additional 'direct control' feature is not worth the cost of what amounts to little more than a quick expansion pack %26 should have been costed at a much lower level than it is. i am goig to think twice before i buy another relic game. COH is pretty much my all time favourite strategy series, but this is a dreadful addition.



dont bother waiting for the english manual, take it back to the retailer %26 get your money back my friend...



im certainly going to.
[QUOTE=''AzNs3nSaT1On''][QUOTE=''Dr_Brocoli''][QUOTE=''Sinestro6969'']

[QUOTE=''wigginender''][QUOTE=''Dr_Brocoli'']I take it you live in Quebec? I do too. NEVER under any circumstances buy a french pc game ever ever ever![/QUOTE] Why do you assume he brought the French version? I thought this missing key issue affected all versions in Canada.[QUOTE=''Shadowhawk000'']True that about Soviet Assault that game had like what 6 extra missions for like 40 bucks.. [/QUOTE]I am avoiding both until they are much cheaper, WiC forces you to replay the entire game just for 6 missions, and COHToV is all about MP... :([/QUOTE]

Cause he bought it at furtureshop which is a store only in Quenec, as far as i know. Im not sure if they are in other provinces.
[QUOTE=''Dr_Brocoli''] Cause he bought it at furtureshop which is a store only in Quenec, as far as i know. Im not sure if they are in other provinces.[/QUOTE]Futureshop spans across Canada, including my home province of Newfoundland (Entirely English). Basically, due to us having 2 official languages, game companies include 2 sets of instruction manuals. The English instruction manual usually is printed in colour and contains the CD-Key while the French manual is printed in black and white and has no CD-Key.
Man, delaing with 2 languages is difficult. I don't know how I lived in a country that has 20!
[QUOTE=''chandu83'']Man, delaing with 2 languages is difficult. I don't know how I lived in a country that has 20! [/QUOTE]

I don't think anywhere else but India has more than 20 languages assigned as country's official languages.



So is this expansion worth getting it? I'm thinking of getting CoH with Opposing fronts, should I get this aswell?
[QUOTE=''Shadowhawk000'']Yeah there is only a very small amount of new content in it :( Seems more like something that should of been DLC or a Booster pack then a Expansion.. [/QUOTE]Couldn't agree with you more ;) I was sooo disappointed with the ''new'' content and I don't think the first 2 parts spoiled me, it's just too damn short ! I finished it in like 4 damn hours with a bitter taste in my mouth afterwards. All that is left to do is to wait COH 2 - THE SEQUEL (NOT MISSION PACK) !
Sorry to hear about your issues, while I really wanted to buy the game I stopped with the expansion as I just can't stand how horrible the patching system is. Go a couple percent crap out... couple more crap out. I know I could manually install the patches but eventhere official site makes you torrent them.I actually game on my work pc so I try to keep it very lean on apps and have never wanted to install a torrent p2p app, so i'm pretty much done with the series until they can get there crap together and make it easier for people to patch there games.All that said, I think CoH is one of the best RTS games ever so that's very sad.