If you want to know what’s been going on at the EQ2 forums, the quickest way to sum it up is this — I have been banned for the first time ever from the EQ2 forums for “excessive negativity”.

ProSiebenSat.1/Alaplaya — A Company Unfit for SOE Customers

Six weeks ago, an exclusive distribution deal affecting all Europe-based SOE customers was announced with a German TV media company named ProSiebenSat.1. Within minutes of the announcement, players discovered that ProSiebenSat.1’s gaming division is called Alaplaya, a company known for IP Region Locking, publishing the personal details of customers in violation of EU and German privacy law, shady dealings with customers, and a lineup of poorly supported low-grade pay-to-win browser games riddled with exploits which even Alaplaya’s official moderators have admitted the company plans to do nothing about.

This Tuesday afternoon, after six weeks of silence, SOE finally came forward with a Frequently Asked Questions about the ProSiebenSat.1 deal. Our worst fears were realized.

When the deal goes into effect, U.S. players will no longer be able to access EU servers. For a variety of reasons, this is a serious problem.

Also, no new EU-based players will be able to access U.S. servers — only current players will be grandfathered in. The end result being that the hundreds of Euro-based guilds on U.S. servers will no longer be able to recruit new players from the EU.

But the real elephant in the room is: NOBODY who has done even the most cursory of investigation wants to do business with Alaplaya.

From CheesePirate.com

The ProSieben-Sony Online Entertainment distribution deal announced over six weeks ago has finally got some Frequently Asked Questions answered:

ProSieben FAQ in French

ProSieben FAQ in German

ProSieben FAQ in English

Can players still access the U.S. servers?
Under the new partnership between SOE and ProSiebenSat.1 Games, European players of the above mentioned SOE games will be able to play via ProSiebenSat.1 Games’s service and will not have access to U.S. servers.  However, existing EverQuest II players in Europe that have played on U.S. servers before the transition will be allowed to continue playing on those servers through their SOE accounts.

Can U.S. players log on to the European servers?
U.S.-based players will have access to the U.S. servers only.

Will International servers be merged with the U.S. servers?
No, European and U.S. based servers will exist independently of each other.

I’m a European player; after I create my ProSieben account, will my SOE account be shut down?
Your SOE account will not be shut down, but you will only be able to play the above mentioned games through a ProSiebenSat.1 Games account.  As discussed above, we will provide a simple way to have your characters and game progress transferred and the value of your Station Cash granted to your new ProSiebenSat.1 Games account.  Also, existing EverQuest II players in Europe that have played on U.S. servers before the transition will be allowed to continue playing on those servers through their SOE accounts.

Can players continue to use Station Cash?
European players will be able to use a new virtual currency similar to Station Cash.

After previous indications that only Australia’s pricing of Destiny of Velious was being looked into, today brings the news that UK pricing will see an adjustment as well. From the EQ2 Forums:

UK Customers:

The DoV collector’s edition is now priced at 44.99GBP. The standard edition remains at 29.99GBP. Both prices include the required 20% VAT Tax.

Australia Customers:

The DoV collector’s edition is now priced at 67.95AUD. The standard edition is now priced at 45.95AUD.

NOTE: Customers who have already pre-ordered will be charged at the new lower rate.

Do the Math

With this change, the UK now has complete parity with the US on the pricing of the Destiny of Velious Collector’s Edition:

$60 + 20% VAT = $72.

£44.99 = $71.90.

Europe and Australia are still a bit higher, about $5-8. And this does not take monthly subscriptions or StationCash into effect, which have long since been overpriced.

We applaud this change to fair pricing, and would have willingly held Wednesday’s article for comment had we known this news was coming.

The American prices for the Destiny of Velious digital downloads are well known — the regular edition is $39.99, while the collector’s edition runs $59.99. We are very happy to see that the days of preferential treatment for the Retail version are over. Last year’s 7 day retail headstart and the confusion leading up to the launch for European customers was the source of much frustration, so we are quite satisfied with this year’s simplified options. So then all is wine and roses, right?

Well, it may surprise American players to learn that customers in some other countries are seeing prices up to 33% higher for the collector’s edition than US customers are seeing. Here is the current pricing for the digital collector’s edition outside of the US:

• UK current price is £49.99. That’s $79.96 USD, a 33.3% markup.

• Europe current price is €54,99. That’s $74.90 USD, a 24.9% markup.

• Australia current price is $74.95 AUS. That’s $74.18 USD, a 23.7% markup.

Kiara has officially announced the Digital Download partners for International customers.

Greetings!

We’re pleased to announce the International Digital Download Distributors for Sentinel’s Fate.  Our international customers will be able to digitally download the expansion and begin playing on February 16th!  We appreciate your patience as we’ve worked out all the details.

Accepting Orders Today

DLGamer – £29.95 (34,95 €) ($46.88)
English | French | German

Direct2Drive – £29.95 (34,95 €) ($46.88)
English | French | German

Accepting orders February 16th

Steam
visit Steam

International customers will be able to DD the expansion on February 16th and take advantage of the headstart offer.

They will receive the DD version of the game and the things included in that package:

• These include:
  • 500 Station Cash
  • LoN Fall of Erudin scenario
  • 30 days free play time for new accounts
  • In-game armor piece – Guarding of the Learned

Continuing Coverage

EQ2Wire is continuing to follow this story. If you are unable to purchase the Digital Download through these sites outside of the United States and Canada, we’d like to know about it! If you find any tips or tricks on how to order the product through these websites, please let us know either by Comment or by sending us e-mail.

Sentinel’s Fate Digital Download

We are getting reports that the Sentinel’s Fate expansion has appeared on Digital Download websites for customers outside the United States and Canada. If you hear of other sites, please let us know! We are still expecting a formal announcement at 9:30am PST today of the Digital Download partners.

If you are outside the United States and Canada, you should now be able to purchase Sentinel’s Fate from these websites (of course we would be curious to know if any of you have trouble with these sites):

DLGamer – £29.95 (34,95 €) ($46.88)

Direct2Drive – £29.95 (34,95 €) ($46.88)

Bad News for Amazon.com Pre-Orders

We’ve gotten a report that Amazon is telling its Sentinel’s Fate pre-order customers the following:

Severe Weather Alert: Due to winter storms on the East Coast of the United States, many packages will be delayed.

With hardly a moment to spare, we will soon find out where the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate expansion will be available for purchase as a Digital Download.

We will be releasing the distributors and the links to their sites tomorrow morning after 9am PST. It will be up in this thread about 9:30am PST as soon as I walk in the office. The list will be updated as more information comes in, but will be good to get everyone started. — Kiara

Current wisdom indicates that if your IP address is recognized as being outside of the United States and Canada, you will be able to play the DD on February 16th. If not, you will be waiting until February 23rd.

Commentary

I’d like to know…Are there any positions open in the SOE Marketing Dept? I’d love to be able to completely fumble the international launch of a top 10 MMORPG expansion, take late lunches, and not lose a wink of sleep at night, all while its Developers and Community team are working 14 hour days including weekends to develop and release a game that a lot of people won’t be able to play. Must be nice.

It seems sanity has prevailed at SOE. From EQ2 Forums:

The status of retail distribution for Sentinel’s Fate at launch internationally is still uncertain. However in an effort to properly serve our international community we have partnered with several digital distributors who will be providing the expansion to our international customers only starting on Feb 16th 2010. The digital downloads will be IP locked so that only the international community can take advantage of this.

When it became apparent that whoever at SOE Marketing signed deals with Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy forgot about the rest of the world, this should have been immediately addressed.

Instead, we’ve had 2 months of fear, uncertainty, and doubt about whether players in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Rim would even be able to play the expansion before late February.

I’d just like to personally thank whoever was SOE Marketing Dept‘s secret santa and got them this great gift:

There have been some questions popping up on the EQ2 Forums as well as EQ2Flames about whether the Sentinel’s Fate expansion will be pushed to European servers at the same time as North American servers. Kiara has this to say:

All the servers will patch at the same time.  I’ll be posting a schedule closer to release day, just so everyone knows what to expect.  But the plan is that the servers will be up and ready for folks to begin patching their games by 8am PST.

And just to clarify, we have confirmed that just as with previous expansions, most of the updated files will be sent out as downloads through the Launcher (or Station Launcher) days in advance of the expansion so that only minimal patching is required on February 16th.

Also, we are continuing to track the current situation with European customers having limited options in acquiring Sentinel’s Fate on February 16th. If we have more to report on this subject, we’ll let you know.

Since our exposé on the lack of options for anyone outside the continental United States to order the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate expansion, it seems we stirred up a hornet’s nest behind the scenes, causing the resolution of at least  some of the issues facing EverQuest II customers.

We are now able to report that BestBuy.com has corrected its release date to February 16th, Amazon.com is now offering shipping outside the U.S., and Amazon.ca is now offering Sentinel’s Fate for sale directly to Canadian customers. We are still awaiting word of the selection of one or more international distributors.

The official news from Marketing posted on the EQ2 forums by Kiara (who has been repeatedly and completely unjustly thrown under the bus on this issue):

Update from sales regarding shipping from Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop:

Amazon.com – Amazon will have all the information fixed by Friday AM.  They will also have all the shipping options spelled out for both International and N.A. customers.  Players will be able to choose an option for release date delivery in the continental U.S.  International customers will have the ability to get the expansion day one but that all depends on how early the order is placed and willingness to pay shipping costs.  They are also working with Amazon to start shipping on the February 9th to get to international players on day one and working with Amazon Canada to have release day delivery.

Best Buy.com – Best buy has added the pre-order button and put the 16th as the date of release.  They will have the site perfect by Thursday night.  They do not guarantee same day delivery; but like Amazon, they may start shipping on the 10th to hit houses on the 16th.  They are working with Best Buy to on this.

GameStop – They know they need to add more information for our customers and will do so ASAP.  Also GameStop Canada is going to be ready for this release.  They just put the GameStop Canadian site up yesterday.

When I have further word on international distributors, I’ll pass that along as well.  There currently is no updated information on how those discussions are working out.

SOE are apparently in talks with 2 international distributors and looking at options to make sure that Sentinel’s Fate is available locally in countries outside the U.S.

Kiara has posted the following update regarding SoE’s efforts to locate one or more international distributors for EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate.

Answers!  Not all the answers that everyone wants, naturally, but definitely better than nothing, for certain.

1)  The coupon in the retail box for the $10 in the Station Store is for the DD version of SF only.  Good for folks with more than one account or for those who want to gift to a friend to get them into the game.

2)  Still waiting on the lists of where Amazon and GameStop will ship.  Sharp sticks have been employed in the poking phase of “Can we please have this?”

3)  Best news for last!  I don’t have details and couldn’t release them even if I did… However, our sales team is speaking with a couple of publishers and trying to work out details of international distribution.  As soon as we have the deals signed, we’ll make sure to give you the details on this.

Thank you all very much for your patience with all of this as we try to smooth out wrinkles and get you the information you need.

EQ2Wire deduced that SoE were “between distributors” when international retail storefronts listed and then de-listed the expansion. When questioned, they reported that they had “no source” to order the product. EQ2Wire will keep you updated on further news as we hear it.

EQ2Wire is working on a story covering the overseas marketing and distribution strategy for EverQuest II’s sixth expansion — EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate.

While there have been some concerns expressed on the EQ2 Forums regarding the 7-day headstart release strategy of Sentinel’s Fate from American customers (specifically within the 48 contiguous states with guaranteed arrival by February 16, 2010), specifically from American customers who have traditionally purchased the Digital Download, this has been nothing compared to the outcry from hundreds of international EverQuest II customers.

According to the EQ2Players Announcement, the only means for EQ2 players outside of the United States to acquire either the retail box($39.99), or Collector’s Edition retail box ($69.99) and play the expansion on release day, is to purchase the game from an American retailer (Amazon.com or GameStop.com), including shipping and import duties, and gamble that the parcel will arrive in time.

Including import duties, shipping cost, VAT, and the currency exchange rate, international customers are expecting to pay upwards of $80 for the expansion, or $130 for the Collector’s Edition, with no guarantee that the box will arrive by February 16th, 2010.

Due to a breakdown in communication, Amazon.com refuses to ship the expansion outside of the United States, leaving GameStop.com as the only international option. Further breakdown in communication has resulted in BestBuy.com not offering the product at all — even to domestic customers.

EQ2Wire would like to know why EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate is not available for purchase from international online retailers, especially from suppliers with which SoE already has a business relationship. For example BestBuy.ca (Canada), Amazon.co.uk (UK), Amazon.de (Germany), EBGames.com.au (Australia).

Follow the discussion on EQ2 Forums: [pre-order discussion] [7 day headstart discussion]

EQ2Wire is providing SoE an opportunity to respond to these concerns and we’ll get back to you as soon as we hear from them.

~EQ2Wire~

The news is coming quickly about EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate’s new Retail strategy.

Kiara brings us this:

Fan Faire attendees with accounts in good standing will receive a complimentary digital copy of the retail version.  You will have the early access and items associated with the retail version of the game.

We’re looking into Best Buy not having the listing yet.

Amazon and GameStop are shipping overseas.  I’m trying to get a list of the countries that will be shipped to.  Retail boxes ordered online and shipped, SHOULD be shipped in time to arrive on release day to allow people to take advantage of the early access.

In response to concerns that Amazon.com does not currently offer International shipping, and that Amazon.co.uk does not yet carry this expansion Kiara followed up:

This is being looked into.  The agreement is very specific that GameStop and Amazon will be shipping overseas.

Please let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater juuuuuust yet.  Also, since we won’t be shipping until February, we’ve got a little time to work this all out with our distributors.

Additionally, retail boxes **should** be shipped in time for people to have them on release day if they pre-ordered, rather than waiting a week to get it.

Street Dates

The issue is that retailers, both online and stores, are scared sh*tless about breaking Street Dates. They’ve faced huge fines and browbeatings by Microsoft, Electronic Arts, etc.

The important part here, is for CLEAR communication between SoE Marketing and the retailers that there IS NO STREET DATE and that boxes should be shipped as soon as they are ready.