Overview of Russian Collector's Editions: World of Warcraft
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Hello, dear readers. With this post, I will begin a whole series of stories about collectible editions released in Russia. I believe this is quite an interesting and profound topic that is not only underrepresented on Gamer.ru but also in Runet as a whole. Many would like to see what awaits them in a collector's edition, so as not to buy a pig in a poke.

I will start with one of the most popular games in the world – World of Warcraft. The European collector's edition was sold for a limited time in October 2007 in a single store – SOYUZ Atrium in Moscow for a hefty 6999 rubles. I was fortunate enough to obtain one copy of the collector's edition, and it is about this that I will tell my story.

This is the box that came into my hands:

Here’s how it opens:

And here’s all the contents:

Now let me go into detail about what awaits inside. First of all, it includes the game on CD (4 pieces) and DVD (one piece).

Secondly, there’s the user manual. It takes up an impressive 209 pages, dedicated to the role-playing system of the game, maps of all locations, as well as many tips for newcomers (in English, of course). I considered the collectible value of the manual to be small until I glanced at the back cover:

Yes, indeed, autographs from the entire development team. Wonderful! Let’s move on. The next item is the soundtrack disc. It contains the following compositions:

**World Themes**

1. Main Title: Legends of Azeroth 2:40

2. Exclusive Track: The Shaping of the World 2:24

3. Exclusive Track: Legacy 2:25

4. Exclusive Track: Song of Elune 2:13

5. Exclusive Track: Echoes of the Past 1:53

6. A Call to Arms 2:18

7. Intro Movie: Seasons of War 2:57

City Themes

8. Stormwind 2:14

9. Orgrimmar 2:14

10. The Undercity 2:27

11. Thunder Bluff 2:35

12. Darnassus 2:44

13. Ironforge 2:14

Ambient Music

14. Elwynn Forest 3:03

15. Duskwood 6:01

16. Dun Morogh 7:30

17. Burning Steppes 2:26

18. Shimmering Flats 4:07

19. Felwood 2:37

20. Stranglethorn Vale 4:12

21. Tanaris 2:31

22. Teldrassil 3:55

Intro Cues

23. Tavern 1:13

24. Moonfall 0:48

25. Ruins 1:16

26. Temple 1:03

27. Lurking 1:00

28. Sacred 1:10

29. Graveyard 1:07

30. War 0:49

Overall, listening to it apart from the game is fine, but I like the music from the expansions much more. But these are not downsides of the original; rather, they are the positives of the expansions. There’s also a catalog of Blizzard games in the collector's edition, which besides Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3, has an entire spread dedicated to the never-released Starcraft Ghost:

Now let’s move on to the main perks of the collector's edition. The first is a cloth map of WoW, rolled up and secured with a golden ring. When unrolled, it looks like this (the ring is on top):

A beautiful and practical bonus – it looks great on the wall. The second bonus is the disc containing video material. This disc is in DVD-video format and plays without issues on regular DVD players. It contains the following items: an introductory video in all European languages (not in Russian, which is logical, as localization didn’t appear until 2008), a storyboard for this video (artwork for each scene), an eleven-minute story from a designer about the Warcraft universe starting from the very first part (very interesting!), interviews with the artists and composers of the game. And also, for the first time on DVD, both videos from Warcraft 3: the Frozen Throne (I remind you that videos from Reign of Chaos were released on DVD as part of the collector's edition of Warcraft 3).

And this is what the disc looks like:

As for digital bonuses, the edition includes a key for obtaining an exclusive pet for the player. The pet can be one of three options: mini-Diablo, zergling, or panda. The original pets are much more interesting than those offered in the expansions. It’s a pity that you can't choose several at once...

And finally, the main highlight of the collector's WoW – the art book. Hard cover, huge format, and 205 pages of illustrations of the highest quality. A true gift for a fan! For example, here’s a photo of a page with drenai – this is what they were planned to look like before the release of WoW. I remind you that in Burning Crusade they were made completely different, more similar to night elves.

That concludes my review, thank you for your attention. I kindly ask you to leave comments on whether such reviews are needed for gamers. After all, if there’s no demand, then it’s not worth the effort...