Arenanet have answered questions about Pre-purchase availability on the FB page today. People will be aby to pre-purchase until shortly before launch, but pre-purchase may be turned off and on at various points if beta capacity is exceeded:

https://www.facebook.com/GuildWars2/posts/10150710638754209

Many of our community members are asking about how long the pre-purchase offer will last.

Pre-purchase will run up until shortly before launch. However, we also want to maintain a high quality of service for those who have pre-purchased and are participating in the Beta Weekend Events.

With that in mind, if we max out our beta server capacity, we may *temporarily* make pre-purchase unavailable until we can bring more capacity online. Bottom line is if you want to participate in the Beta Weekend Events, don’t wait. ~RB2

Still waiting on Amazon.com (US) pre-purchases. They probably shouldn't have announced that.

I expect pre-purchase to be halted at least once then.

A ploy to get more people to buy now, perhaps?

Damn, that statement has two opposite tells in it.

The, we may need to stop pre-purchase, could mean they are selling more than they expected and are getting overrun.

Or

Rubi's little, bottom line get in now or it may be too late- could mean they haven't sold enough to make Ncsoft happy and are trying to push up sales with a little threat of being locked out.

Originally posted by jdlamson75

A ploy to get more people to buy now, perhaps?

Agree

Originally posted by Quenchster

Still waiting on Amazon.com (US) pre-purchases. They probably shouldn't have announced that.

I don't think amazon will do that. I thought it was a conflicting business model with amazon.

Originally posted by Bunks

Damn, that statement has two opposite tells in it.

The, we may need to stop pre-purchase, could mean they are selling more than they expected and are getting overrun.

Or

Rubi's little, bottom line get in now or it may be too late- could mean they haven't sold enough to make Ncsoft happy and are trying to push up sales with a little threat of being locked out.

They all do this, yet to see any of them halt sales, even if they're overrun.

Originally posted by Kuppa

Originally posted by Quenchster

Still waiting on Amazon.com (US) pre-purchases. They probably shouldn't have announced that.

I don't think amazon will do that. I thought it was a conflicting business model with amazon.

I made a thread with some GW2 tweets about retailer issues that more than likely relate to Amazon here.

Originally posted by Quenchster

Originally posted by Kuppa

Originally posted by Quenchster

Still waiting on Amazon.com (US) pre-purchases. They probably shouldn't have announced that.

I don't think amazon will do that. I thought it was a conflicting business model with amazon.

I made a thread with some GW2 tweets about retailer issues that more than likely relate to Amazon here.

Thanks! Unfortunately unless they somehow convince amazon US to 1. change their business model and 2. Make changes to the product listing we wont see this happen soon :(

They just want people, who prepurchased gw2 in order get into beta, to be able to enjoy it. If too much people prepurchase then we could end up waiting in queue whole day for beta that lasts for only 48 hours.

Originally posted by jdlamson75

A ploy to get more people to buy now, perhaps?

 Probably, but I also expect to see pre-purchase suspended at least once, even if just for good measure. So if you do want in on all the betas then your best bet is pre-purchasing the game.

Originally posted by JoeyMMO

Originally posted by jdlamson75

A ploy to get more people to buy now, perhaps?

 Probably, but I also expect to see pre-purchase suspended at least once, even if just for good measure. So if you do want in on all the betas then your best bet is pre-purchasing the game.

I really don't think there'll be too much trouble selling the game.  Even those on the fence, once the game gets closer to release, might figure "Ah, eff it - it's $60 and no sub" and buy it up. 

I hang out with a gaming community, and they're having a photoshop/subtitle/goofy GW2 image contest, with the 6 winners getting copies of the game bought by other members of the community.  Winners should be announed by the weekend, so I'll know whether I'm in or I have to save up me pennies and raid the kid's piggy bank (which is actually a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, ftw).

When Blizzard doesn't invite everybody into the MoP beta from day 1, people throw a fit and threaten to sue. When Arena net doesn't oversell to make sure everyone can get in the beta, people jump right to the conspiracy theory that they're just doing to get everyone to buy RIGHT NOW so they can make more money.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

Originally posted by kanezfan

When Blizzard doesn't invite everybody into the MoP beta from day 1, people throw a fit and threaten to sue.

LOLWUT?

I think the announcement is because they've probably sold many more copies than they originally anticipated to sell and now they're trying to hedge in case they can't fit everyone in for beta.

Because, if they hadn't sold a bunch . . . why bother with this message? They would just remain quiet and keep advertising the pre-purchase. 

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Originally posted by Eir_S

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Originally posted by kanezfan
When Blizzard doesn't invite everybody into the MoP beta from day 1, people throw a fit and threaten to sue.

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LOLWUT?

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I'm comparing the reaction of the moves that both companies made, I know this thread is about GW2 and not WoW. I'm just saying it's ironic that when Blizzard doesn't invite the whole world into the MoP beta, people want to start class action lawsuits even though the wording on the annual pass agreement never guaranteed access on the first day that the beta started. Anet however tells people hey we're not gonna sell too many copies because we want everyone that pre-purchases to get in all the betas and they are met with conspiracy theories about trying to get as much money as they can.

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Originally posted by Kakkzooka
I think the announcement is because they've probably sold many more copies than they originally anticipated to sell and now they're trying to hedge in case they can't fit everyone in for beta.
Because, if they hadn't sold a bunch . . . why bother with this message? They would just remain quiet and keep advertising the pre-purchase. 
 

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Conspiracy theorists need a reason to make tinfoil hats. I agree with you and I don't see why some people want there to be some evil reason for them to announce this lol

they just should have made a larger scale beta tests, so that people can see what they are buying, basically most players are going to pre-order it blindly without testing it first.

thats only reason i didnt pre-ordered it.

I already prepurchased myself.

Honestly? It's the first time I've ever bothered to do so, and the first game I've honestly thought worth it.

I don't think Anet said this just because they want people to buy more right now, I think it's more that there has already been a lot of prepurchases and they want to be sure they don't breach capacity. If they breach capacity and their servers aren't ready for it, that's a lot of people promised Beta access who suddenly can't play.

This seems more a method of trying not to accidentally start fires after all of the PR and marketing efforts made up until this point so as not to lose customers. The aim appears to be more in line with trying to keep their promises. Saying what they said on facebook gives them a lifeline. People can't say it wasn't said now, because it was.

Edit: To clarify, I prepurchased because for once I have a good feeling about a game for once. Not out of being a fanboy.