Collector editions used to be... collectable. It was the pay-to-win prestige game of the days of 'ol in which you bought some stupidly expensive collector's edition to be the envy of the neighborhood and oust the kid whose uncle owned / ran / controlled Nintendo and was mere seconds away from uniting Mario and Sonic in the best game ever. Now, collector's editions are a way to get more cash out of your pocket in order to give you... some mounts or some DLC or something. Boxed collector sets are becoming more and more rare, with it being basically a bonus card you apply a code to your account with.

I love the physical copy stuff, and the Mirror's Edge edition looks awesome. Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games, a game of both trial and error as you work out the best parkour course throughout the map. The graphics were wonderful and the sounds were just, so apropos for the entire situation. Each foot step felt so satisfying, like a mouthful of pink marshmellows, as you bite down and get that hnnnnnnngg feeling that everyone craves.

The Mirror's Edge box is awesome, because it's stupidly expensive so it'll probably never sell out, and no one will probably want it due to the price point, since basically you get some cool stuff, but I mean I still want it. I paced outside of GameStop today for a total of about 15 seconds before continuing on my journey to my car because the price is such a turnoff, I can buy a sealed copy of a rare collector's edition of something I'm much more into for that cost. I really like it though, I like just the feeling and pride of saying I love something so much I'm willing to go the extra mile - which of course I think is one of the reasons pre-orders became such a thing, because we can all love something before we even get to play it.

Which brings me over to talk about the WoW collector's edition. The original collector's edition, sealed, sells for anywhere between $1,000 and $4,000, which I've confirmed on eBay and a few other sites is like, a real price people have paid for it in the recent history. Which kind of sucks, because the opened version of it is only about $200, because the pet code has been used. World of Warcraft when it launched was never going to be as big as it ended up being. At the time, a good friend of mine had to purchase WoW for me because I didn't have any money (and to this day I'm still very thankful for his generosity). I couldn't afford the collector's edition, much less actual WoW, in my young teenage years, but now the reason that the collector's edition is even rare doesn't honestly happen anymore.

For instant, I can upgrade my FFXIV subscription and gain whatever pets I want. The same for later WoW collector editions and for any online game in the recent years. The physical copy isn't required for the goodies. This is both good and bad, because the collector's edition must stay SEALED to maintain its value, while doing so doesn't let you have the prestige of the neat trinkets inside. Yet, there is no prestige when it's a quick $20 upgrade versus something that was a limited print run.

I'd like to see the virtual sales of the trinkets that you get in the collector's edition be limited as well, either a cutoff date or some form of lottery to see if you can purchase it or not. Maybe even select one in-game trinket that's physical box or limited online sale only, just so that it's notable. I mean, this might not be the best solution, it might be terrible for reasons that I can't invest the mental brain power into thinking about (cough Skyforge cough). I don't know, I just think that it's novel to have things in a game no one else can get.

Sort of like how founder packs often just continue to be for sale, changing what boxes they give away, and keeping the core components for eternity. Really doesn't make you feel that special in the long run that you're not reward for your early loyalty.