Confirmed by stopping by the local Fry’s this morning that the CE didn’t make it to store shelves. Looks like it was pre-order only.

Having been to this same location for the previous WoW releases it was interesting to compare the public reaction. The Burning Crusade release had at least 50 people camped in front of the store for hours waiting for it to open. Many began sprinting to the software section once allowed inside…only to discover that both the collectors and standard versions were housed in an enormous display in the center of the store. Contrast that with this morning where some old guy shopping for cameras and myself were the only customers in the store. WAR didn’t even make it to end-cap status, just a dozen or so copies sitting on the bottom shelf of the MMO section.

Clearly less hype was to be expected, WoW is a juggernaut. Is this an ominous sign of lacking interest in the MMO community, a successful proliferation of the pre-order concept or is WAR just not worth getting out of bed early for?