If you live near a 7-11 (they used to be widely popular in the U.S., then mostly pulled out and moved into Europe, and are now slowly trickling back into the U.S.), then this StationCash deal may be of interest to you. We have not been able to confirm if this deal applies cards bought from European 7-11 locations (or if they carry the cards). While there are nearly 500 7-Eleven stores in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), I’ve confirmed that they do not carry the cards.

Stock Up Now!

Buy a SOE Pre-Paid Card at 7-Eleven and redeem it for Station Cash this weekend only to get Double SC!

Offer valid on redemptions from 12:01AM PDT April 27, 2013 to 11:59PM PDT April 28, 2013. Cards can be purchased in advance but must be purchased at 7-Eleven stores.

Time Zone Conversions

• PDT: Saturday April 27 @ 12:01am ~ Sunday April 28 @ 11:59pm
• EDT: Saturday April 27 @ 3:01am ~ Monday April 29 @ 2:59am
• BST: Saturday April 27 @ 8:01 ~ Monday April 29 @ 7:59
• CET: Saturday April 27 @ 9:01 ~ Monday April 29 @ 8:59
• AEST: Saturday April 27 @ 5:01pm ~ Monday April 30 @ 4:59pm

UPDATE: Looks like SOE has figured out a way to add days to months as their original headline said Double SC at 7-Eleven ran until 4/48.

Traditionally, when an item has been placed in a Guild Hall, that item has been considered as “donated” by the person placing it. As there is no cash value to items acquired in-game, donation seems an appropriate paradigm.

However with the introduction of furniture and other placeable items to the StationCash Marketplace, you are entering the realm of items with cash value. The ability to place items purchased with StationCash in Guild Halls has been inconsistent at best, mostly because of the Customer Service implications of thousands of players asking for their StationCash money back (or items) if they are booted from a guild they just finished placing $30, $40, or more dollars worth of items into.

This issue has been endlessly discussed on the EQ2 forums, with players arguing both sides, either that all items placed in a Guild Hall should be considered forfeit, or that Marketplace items are special because of the inherent cash value, and some even advocating that ALL items placed in a Guild Hall should be re-claimable by the placer.

Personally, I am in the camp that when you start factoring real money into the game, then you have to be very careful about transfer of ownership, and I’m not sure that placing an item in a Guild Hall should automatically be considered transfer of ownership. This isn’t chump change either. Some of the furniture sets in the Marketplace costs in excess of $30.

A player brought an issue to our attention with inaccurate StationCash balance. We can confirm this as on the SOE website, we show the correct balance but in-game, it shows not even 0SC, but just a blank space where the value should be. As a result, I’m not able to buy anything. Even players without a corrupted SC value are reporting that buying items and adding funds with a credit card are not possible.

UPDATE: StationCash values were corrected about 1 hour after this was written.

The details of the Welcome Back program have now been specified.

Members with a Station Access account get:

• 500 StationCash

And all EQ2 players will see these events all active on all accounts for the next WEEK through May 22nd:

• Double XP
• Double Guild XP
• “Loot Bonanza”
• All Aether Flying Races
• All City Festivals
• Moonlight Enchantments

From EverQuest2.com:

Between April 22 and April 25, get Double Station Cash when you redeem an SOE Game Card or buy StationCash (excluding SC by SMS)! Plus, check participating games for special Spring-themed or sale items. See eligible Game Cards here. (Excludes original 30-Day Game Card which doesn’t redeem for Station Cash.)

Participating games include EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest II Extended, Free Realms, Star Wars Galaxies, Magic: The Gathering – Tactics, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, and PoxNora. Check back later in the week for more details on game-specific Spring items and sales!

Presumably, this is from April 22 at 12:01am [4:01am EDT, 8:01am GMT] until April 25

If $25 for a set of armor, furniture, or mount seemed to stretch your definition of microtransaction, you’re not alone. Many items in the EQ2 Marketplace have had their prices permanently lowered by an average of 35%. Additionally, a Marketplace Sale which shall run until April 4th has temporarily reduced some items by 65%.

SmokeJumper started a thread entitled Massive price cuts in the marketplace:

If you like the items in the marketplace, but never felt like they were in your price range, be sure to check it out now. We’ve been thinking a lot about the prices there and we came to the conclusion that many of the prices were just too high.

So now, most items are reduced by more than half what they used to be. EQ2X’ers should definitely check out the “Consumables” category, because those are the items that you get but aren’t available to the EQII Live folks. Stuff like Power and Heal potions, Self-Rez scrolls, Portable Globes, Unlockers, etc. have all had their prices slashed. You should find them a lot more affordable now.

But not for the actual people who live in Ireland, open to residents of the fifty US states only:

The Luck of the Irish is coming your way March 17 – March 20, 2011.

Beginning on Thursday, March 17th, and continuing through March 20th, every time you add station cash to your account or make a purchase through the in-game marketplace in participating games you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a Sony® Cyber-shot® Digital Camera, a Sony® Vaio® F Series Laptop, or a 55″ Sony® BRAVIA® NX810 Television with 3D Sync Transmitter and 4 pairs of 3D Active Glasses!

So go here to check out all the details or view the Official Rules! Enter as many times as you like, and don’t forget the bonus station cash when you redeem one of the new SOE Game Cards.

Just when you thought there wouldn’t be any SC discounts for a while, we see this announcement on EverQuest2.com:

Between March 17th and March 20th, get 1000 bonus Station Cash when you redeem an SOE Universal Game Card. That’s a $10 value!

You’ll also be eligible to an entry in the upcoming Luck o’ the Irish Sweeps*! Check back next week for details on the sweeps.SOE Universal Game Cards are available at GameStop locations nationwide. Be sure to stock up this weekend so you’re ready for the promotion next week!

I wanted to bring you an update on an issue we raised over the weekend regarding Direct Debit from your bank as a Payment Option for EQ2 Expansions, Subscriptions, and StationCash. Amnerys, EQ2 Community Manager, has raised the issue with the appropriate departments and is seeking an answer. There is no need to panic yet, as no orders have been cancelled or affected.

From the EQ2 Forums:

I am currently in talks with a few departments so we can get this straightened out.

It sounds like the option to use Direct Debit might be removed for purchasing SC going forward. It was the source of a lot of fraud (much more fraud than valid payments) and unfortunately we may lose that option because of it.

As for the pre-order and monthly subs, it seems like Direct Debit should still be an available option for those two types of purchases. I am getting clarification on that right now. Perhaps the messaging that you’re seeing on your confirmation pages is unclear. It is our standard practice to charge for the expansion on the day it launches, but I will make sure that we get a definite answer on whether or not the Direct Debit charges will go through for those purchases.

Thanks for your patience while I work all this out!

In an alarmist posting on the EQ2 Forums, Moonflake of Splitpaw has brought to our attention the disappearance of the Bank Transfer and Direct Debit payment option for purchasing StationCash, monthly Subscriptions, and the upcoming Velious expansion. Bank Transfer may seem unusual in the US for a small amount such as StationCash, subscription, or an expansion, but Bank Transfers and Debit cards are both common means of making even small purchases in Europe.

Payment Options page in Germany (before the changes) showing Bank Transfer (upper right) and Direct Debit (center left).

With 6 and 7 room houses now outstripping the storage capacity of even medium-sized Guild Halls, some players figured out that the StationCash Marketplace Item Expanders could be placed in guild halls.

Today’s hotfix changes that:

• Fixed a bug where players could use marketplace item expanders on guild halls.
• Players who have done that will have the item expander applied to their personal house when they next zone into their personal house and the item expander will be removed from the guild hall.
• If this puts a guild hall over its item limit it will still have the items but you will not be able to add more items until the item count is reduced.
• The character house item bonus from the marketplace expander now properly applies to your home and shows in the total number of bonus items in the UI.

EQ2 developers are trying to track down the exact cause of certain Freeblood characters unable to use (or see) their Inner Demon appearance. Zoltaroth requests feedback here on the EQ2 Forums:

Is anyone still having this issue? We are having trouble reproducing it and would like to see a sample character if possible. If anyone is having this issue still please PM me your character name and server.

The Freeblood vampire race as well as premium accessories are now available on the StationCash Marketplace.

From EverQuest2.com:

The Freeblood race is now available on the Marketplace in EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended.

You can watch a video of the Freeblood race over at Facebook.

CheesePirate.com for EQ2Wire

Cyliena over at EQ2 ZAM noticed new items in the StationCash Marketplace, specifically the new Freeblood vampire race. Remember, if you have an active subscription for December 14, January 17, and February 8, and buy the Destiny of Velious expansion some time in 2011, you will get the Freeblood race for free. However if you can’t wait, or don’t intend to buy the expansion any time soon, then it’s time to pay up.

UPDATE: This is expected to go live today, Wednesday December 22nd.

By itself, the Freeblood race will cost you 2000SC ($20 at normal price). It is an account unlock which means once bought, you can create as many Freebloods as you want on your account.

Now what about those extras, like the fearsome “attack mode” appearance, or the ability to turn into a swarm of bats and travel at 65% speed, or the special Freeblood estate? Well, they’re what we call extras.

It seems like StationCash bonuses have been coming more and more often. One might think that there’s no need to get in on this campaign if another one is just around the corner. SmokeJumper has some news:

I think this is the last one for a while also. I think there’s a minor one coming on the heels of this one, but then we won’t be doing another one for several months, probably. (We reserve the right to change our minds, but that’s the plan currently.)

Unfortunately, the maximum StationCash that can be held on an account is 20k, or $100 with the discount. That sounds like a lot, until you add up services like Character Slots, Racial Changes, etc.

From the EQ2X Forums.

SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums perhaps being too truthful:

It was basically the other way around and our announcement wasn’t very smooth. The [vampire] race was originally intended as a marketplace-only offering and then we decided to also create a way for players to get it as a promotion also.

The marketplace offering comes out sometime this month (it’s not done yet, so dates aren’t exact), but the winter promotion doesn’t end until Velious comes out, so that’s when we’ll give it away to those that want to wait for it.

Lemin summarized it thusly:

Frankly I don’t know which of the two announcements i find more deplorable, you actually come to the live servers and post you intended to add a race through the marketplace? You expect not to lose accounts over that? Quite a lot of people will find that this was your original intent an unforgivable betrayal giving it to us as a afterthought probably wont soothe these people.

to which SmokeJumper said:

I’m sorry that this bothers you, Lemin. But frankly, that offering breaks none of the rules we set for this marketplace on Live. And we are giving it away if you’re patient…and we decided to give it away before we told you about the race in the first place. I don’t see the issue here.

Since putting races on the Marketplace is something that has never been announced to the players until today’s ham-handed announcement, I’m not quite sure how we can compare it to any preconceived set of “rules”.

As has been widely reported, when StationCash Item Gifting was added to SOE games, players realized that they could create new accounts and sign up for trials of SWG, EQ2, and other games and receive free StationCash in each game. With the ability to Gift items, players were able to gift hundreds of StationCash items to themselves without spending a penny.

Item Gifting will be coming back sometime this week, with suitable controls to prevent further exploits. More details after the jump…

From the EQ2 Forums:

We’ve found a problem with the Gifting option for the EQII Marketplace, so the service will be temporarily disabled until early next week when we can patch a fix for this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Commentary

It is unknown how many players exploited the StationCash Gifting feature, what punishment they can expect, or when exactly this feature will be restored.

In response to a conversation about the division of development time between EQ2, StationCash items, and Legends of Norrath, Calthine of EQ2 ZAM made a statement that elicited a response from SmokeJumper. That response confirmed on Thursday what many of us have believed but been unable to prove.

Since the introduction of StationCash Marketplace, StationCash Items have been designed and tested by the main EQ2 team and not, as has been posited, by a separate team of artists and programmers. SmokeJumper indicates that this is changing, and with the revenue from SC/LoN, SOE have been able to justify hiring an artist to create said items.

Editor’s Note: Post has been updated with 2 additional quotes.

SOE have brought back their StationCash Discount program ‘Super Fan’ again, this time offering 25% off and 35% large denominations, as well as special items each day for SOE’s major games. Remember, StationCash can be used for character slots (normally $10 to buy a lifetime character slot), character transfers, and other items. And in time for Frostfell, StationCash items can now be gifted to other players.

From the EQ2 Forums:

File this under “It was only a matter of time”.

New this week on the StationCash Marketplace is a 5 charge item for 250 SC ($2.50 normally, $1.25 if you stocked up during the sale) which opens a portal which you and nearby friends can use for up to 30 seconds to all World Travel Bell locations.

If you’ve been thinking you might want to stock up on StationCash to buy Character Slots, Name or Race change potions, Server Transfers, Vitality potions, etc. or the latest set of appearance armor, or even a set of furniture for your house, today is the last day to buy StationCash at a 50% price discount. Unlike past Double StationCash Weekends, this promotion works with credit cards and Paypal-funded StationCash and thus can be funded in Europe and other parts of the world.

As part of SOE Super Fan days, every day has also brought an additional 50% discount to one item. Today’s 50% off item (a total of 75% off if you buy StationCash at the discount as well) is the Smoked Leatherhide Armor Crate:

The latest news story on EverQuest2.com (formerly EQ2Players.com) is an article about a new SOE marketing program called “SOE Super Fan Days“. After reading the article, I still have some questions, especially as I am now stationed in Europe, where StationCash cards are not available. There seem to be two aspects to this promotion.

First, is that every day, one SOE game will have a special item that is 50% off. So on one day, it seems EQ2 will have 1 item for 50% off the StationCash price.

Second, it seems that under some circumstance(s), StationCash can be purchased at half price. It’s not clear which circumstances, and understanding is further clouded by the fine print:

Promotion does not include purchases made via SMS or pre-paid cards. See promotional email for details.

We haven’t seen the e-mail, but when we do, we’ll update this article as needed.

Is it time to just rip off the Band-Aid™ and be done with it?

Unannounced in this week’s additions to the StationCash Marketplace were the addition of in-game merchant-bought arrows (no great shakes compared to woodworker-made ones) to the StationCash Marketplace. When prompted on the EQ2 Forums, EQ2 Senior Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson had this response:

They’re just the basic arrows you can get from merchants. It’s a convenience thing for folks that run out of arrows in the field.

and later in a similar topic in the Tradeskills forum:

It’s pure convenience. Some players are willing to spend a buck to avoid leaving a raid or dungeon to resupply with arrows.

Player response has varied from “Get this crap off the live servers and put it back on EQ2X“, to “if my group/raid expects me to buy items from the Marketplace to stay competitive, I’ll tell them to pound sand” to “Why not just rip off the Band-Aid and put RMT on the live servers, since that’s where we’re headed anyway.”

UPDATE: In response to player concerns, these arrows have been removed from the StationCash Marketplace. From SmokeJumper:

We never intended to start a fight here, folks.

They’re removed.

I think SOE have demonstrated a lack of self-discipline in what items they will add to the Marketplace. They’ve continued to push the envelope, seemingly until players will accept full RMT on the live servers. Is it time to just rip off the Band-Aid and go full RMT on the live servers? Most of you probably clicked delete on this weekend’s announcement that Pirates of the Burning Sea is going full RMT/Free-to-Play. I read it with interest, because it’s like a pair of binoculars (or a spyglass and sextant, if you will) into the future of EQ2, EQ2Next, and beyond.