Feldon Today’s notifications at SOE Facebook and SOE Twitter explain that services will not be restored today. With no indication that we’re any closer to a resolution, the question on everyone’s minds is: When will SOE, and by extension EQ2, become available again?
Crossed Wires About Dates
Bloomberg.com latched onto a terse quote from a Sony spokesman and published a service restoration date of May 31st, leading many publications to report that the PlayStation Network and SOE networks had little hope of recovery before then. But that’s incorrect, according to Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold. In fact, Sony has yet to announce a date for the restart of the PlayStation Network, which has been down since April 20th, or the games and websites of Sony Online Entertainment, down for 9 days now. At one time it was hoped that service could be restored by Friday May 6th but that deadline was scrapped once the extent of the intrusion into the SOE customer database became known.
Speculation Running Rampant
The lack of information from Sony and SOE, with communications to the public no doubt being funneled through a team of Sony lawyers, has encouraged a great deal of speculation. CNET‘s Erica Ogg certainly had a red letter weekend, posting articles thinly sourced from unknown individuals in an IRC chatroom, first prognosticating a third attack, and then basking in the credit for Sony’s alleged thwarting of said attack. Apparently the idea that there was no attack even planned never occured to her. 😉
Other news sites have posted missives no less farfetched, with conflicting theories as to whether Sony’s PSN and SOE networks were running outdated Apache software, and trying to pin the blame on Anonymous, perhaps a splinter group, or maybe profiteers hoping to acquire reams of credit card data. Readers interested in the lengthy and tangled speculative mess of the PSN/SOE Compromise have had a virtual buffet of editorials and articles to choose from by security professionals, linux gurus, and players big and small inside and outside of Anonymous and other hacking crews.
But is all this speculation helpful?
Sony could tell us more, a lot more. Most of us are not demanding a restoration date so much as a window when it *won’t* be done. Checking several times a day has only magnified our perception of time. For those asking “Well, how would you handle it?” look no further than this exemplary press release which might serve as a model for how Sony should be handling this situation:
Amazon EC2 Service Outage notification
Yet none of this helps to pinpoint a date. The 51% of our readers who voted “After May 11th” in our How Long Do You Think SOE Will Be Offline? were right on the money, but the only prize forthcoming seems to be a bit of grim satisfaction.
Make It a Date
With last night’s Playstation.com blog post pegging PSN restoration as still “a few more days away”, We are fairly confident in predicting that the SOE network and thus EverQuest II will not be restored until next week. Even Monday seems optimistic at this point. And it remains unclear whether the restoration of the SOE network is predicated on restoring PSN, or if they’ll come online simultaneously. We may be waiting for PSN.
As for game patches, Game Update 60 had just made its debut on the Test and Test Copy Servers on April 29th. With a previously announced launch date for GU60 of May 17th, that would have allowed for 18 days of crucial testing of the new group zones, raids, new 18 vs. 18 Battleground, as well as substantial PvP changes. It stands to reason that when SOE’s servers do eventually come up, at least 2-3 weeks will be allocated for players to finish testing and feedbacking GU60 before pushing it to live.
Incidentally, EQ2Wire received a player inquiry from Kitalya on Antonia Bayle wondering whether the in-game clock has continued to run in our absence. Have events continued to happen week-in and week-out in EQ2? For instance, the City Festival was entirely missed this month. There is also a matter of house rent, lockouts on persistent dungeons and raids which will have expired, Vitality, Faction repetables, etc. Truthfully, we just don’t know how this will be handled. Today’s announcement indicates a free month’s rent is being credited to our houses (and hopefully guild halls). Hopefully, some live in-game events and activities are being planned to try to make up those missing days.
In other news, we’ve been able to confirm with a source close to SOE that Fan Faire is still on track for July 7-9th. As we found out on Twitter, the Fan Faire early bird ticket price (it’s just $10 off to be honest) will be held over until a few days after SOE’s websites come back online.
Looking further ahead, we’ve been told to expect further Game Updates through the end of the year and into 2012 which will fill out the Destiny of Velious storyline with new zones, new dungeons, raid zones, and other content. One wonders if developers will still be able to hit SmokeJumper‘s suggested window of August for Game Update 61.
Speaking of next year, several folks I’ve spoken to in the EQ2 community now believe that EQ2’s next truly new expansion (not Velious Part II) may not make an appearance until November 2012. Obviously this is pure speculation, and we’ll learn more (but maybe not much more) at Fan Faire.
For everyone predicting a net loss of subscribers (especially for games such as DCUO which lack housing and other ‘sticky’ features which will undoubtedly draw players back to EQ1 and EQ2), there’s others predicting that players who haven’t logged into EQ or EQ2 for years will come back in droves to see what they’ve been missing. Time will tell who is right. We’d just like our game back. For all of Velious’ flaws, it’s one of the better expansions and there are only so many times we can beat Portal 2.
More as we have it…
UPDATE: This article was substantially redrafted as of 8:40am PDT to improve its clarity.
After reading some comments and analyzing the economics of what is going on especially with regards to recent economic troubles with SOE lately, my “never” percentage has now ticked up to 2.
However, I think we are looking at at least 10 more days.
Not that any of my opinion really matters at all.
I’m not going anywhere though, will be ready to play again when and if the servers do come back up.
Why would EQ2 development team need to make up for lost time? We can’t play doesn’t mean they are not working on projects.
I highly doubt the EQ2 development team is working on the network Infrastructure upgrades.
I agree Steve, no matter how much browsing around I am doing, nothing out there compares to EQ2. This downtime really does make me appreciate all it has to offer.
Thanks Feldon. I can see you’re not under a gag order. 🙂
Thanks feldon we know you try your best, at least we can trust what you have to say. To bad the legal team at soe has evrything tied into a not and has all the avenues of comunication locked tighter than a gag order at Richard Scrucies trial.
Thanks for keeping us up to date. The information we get from you through the EQ2 Wire, though disappointing at this time, at least is keeping us informed.
Thanks again.
Lately, I’ve been thinking that if this goes on for two weeks, they should just stretch it out to a month. I think they might have a good opportunity at a complete EQ2 relaunch – and other games as well.
There are some other potential positives. The devs might be able to work at a more efficient pace without having to cruise the forums. They ordered all that new server hardware and hopefully that will be installed and gtg when we go live. – expect work is progressing towrads gu 61.
I think they could leverage all of this if they had a media blitz of win back events and loyalty drives. I know this is a tall order for a marketing dept that seemingly eats paint chips for a living, but the tools there for them to use. The question is, will they?
It should not have taken this long, if not longer. SOE will find themselves with far less subscribers after this. I for one have partly moved over to fallen earth, RIFT, and a little time for minecraft on the side.
Just an honest eta to having our game back would be nice. I (like so many others) miss EQ2. Yes, even the PQ SG lag 😉
Thanks for the post Feldon! This is honestly the best reading we have had in a few days and I know I for one appreciate it. And to quote you “We’d just like our game back.” /applauds, couldn’t have been said any better:)
I only hope they have been using this unexpected downtime to do things to the servers, databases and the game in general that they have not been able to do in the past.
What do you think the result of the masses will be if the games return after a downtime of 2 to 4 weeks and the performance is the same as it was before the shutdown?
Do you think there should be a nice long list of things that were changed or tweaked during the shutdown or at least a list of what they had been working on?
“Hopefully, some live events are being planned to try to make up those missing days.”
Guides don’t come to The Bazaar server. Even when ALL the other servers get live gm events, we get squat. 🙁
Hats off Feldon! We really appreciate the updates, even if it’s nothing substantional. Ok, now back to Left 4 Dead 2…working on full campaign on Expert. Man, the Atrium SUCKS!!
Actually, I almost thank SOE for EQ2 being down. I’ve done more work this week than I have in a long time and my yard and garden look great! I know my neighbors appreciate it. Still the fiending for ever-crack is there…I tried the EQ1 emulation server but EQ1 is to dated for me to enjoy now and I just don’t have the will to level there. The need for the EQ2 fix gets weaker by the day though so SOE better hurry or they might lose subscribers like me for good.
Your on the money james they should take this situation and turn it into a positive. The release of EQ2 was over 6 years ago now and is in need of a good clean up not just the software but the server hardware also. I have seen mobs run into walls for years and my necro pet vanish for years in ceilings floors and so on,that is just one of the many bugs that have pissed me of for years. The hardware the servers run on is low spec compared to what we have now now 7 years later this could be updated im sure at very low cost.
If there going to give us 2 stat armor i dont mind as they have replaced what was the original sta wiz int agi str with 2 main stats and then recast reuse potency and crit + crit bouness so the armor has more stats now than it ever did. I would like to see all the lower level gear also changed to the 2 stats it makes it confusing and most of the pre 80 armor pointless and confusing for new players. A new class would be a fantastic addition not just new races the addition of an extra class i would assure them millions would return out of intrigue.
So you would ask what class could be included when we have so many well its simple They would be called Cronus the devourers of life and in full respect of the mythical Cronus would devour there enemies feeding from there physical form they would be a true mix of caster and scout duel wield in cloth there buff would massively increase the groups health for each enemy devoured and the buffs of the fallen foe would be passed onto the group as a temp 45 second buff thus aiding whatever mobs you are slaying. Throw in a few good high melee attacks that are positional stealth and the casting spells positional also. Tanks have positional scouts have positional it would be nice to have a caster/scout positional class.
FLAME NOW GO GO GO!!.
I have a feeling that the devs haven’t done much. It would not surprise me to see the servers all collapse once they do come back up and be down for a few additional days to just further tick everyone off.
Hopefully, SOE realizes this will be a “make or break” moment for EQ2 and other SOE games and rewards their loyal customers. If they screw this up or go cheap, the players who have left won’t have incentive to come back.
screw your positional, I’d much rather stick with my auto-targeted hits while the idiot mobs dance around me like it does them some good.
Hi hum Ho hum, well still here waiting waiting lol. I will certainly be back to play eq2 just getting tired of the old log in and then the big sigh as it tells me yet again not up sob.
I hope it comes up sooner than we all think and if so well done to Sony.
Hope all my friends in the game are well and coping with real life and see you soon.
Giavania
To be honest i think its almost too late for eq2 to survive in its current form.
Most of my raid guild have already bought or signed up for other mmorpg games and from the chat on our forums alot of them are looking like staying there…despite all the bluster there are plenty of good games out there these days. 9+ days is more than enough to get hooked into another game…at least short term.
Only thing thats stopped me cancelling has been the inability to do so.
Well I have been playing Rift pretty fanatically, at this stage another week should see me with 3 max levels characters with max level crafting in the three gathering skills and the six crafts. I will have done all the quests on the guardian side and might have started on the Defiant. Two weeks and I will have ‘clocked’ the game. Nope back to EQ2 as soon as it comes up
Beginning to wonder if SOE’s going to have half of it’s dwindling player base actually return after this fiasco! After 7 years of mismanagement, poor communications with – if not visible contempt for it’s players, Is SOE not putting out a restoral date because they are being cautious, or are they just actually Clueless!!
The recent Server mergers which yielded total populations less than half that of the two servers they threw together should have been a forewarning to them. Loyalty/Trust comes with a price in any organization, much less in Life itself. SOE’s lacking in this regard has effectively killed 7 years worth of my own misguided loyalty to the Game, much less to their inept Company. Best of Luck & Good Hunt to all who stick it out with them!
Thunda
i also dont like that there is no infomation or eta from sony.but the amazon example does not fit now.
”
closeSummary of the Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS Service Disruption in the US East Region
Now that we have fully restored functionality to all affected services, we would like to share more details with our customers”
This was made after they get rid of the Problem. Even that this problem was solved faster. But comparing a logistic expert with a software company is difficult. I would like to read a summary of what happend after sony has fixed what is broken. i spare throwing my foul eggs after that happend, or if i see that this dosnt happend.
Hopefully they come back with something more than a free 30 days, They already owe me 9 days and then some. Free 30days is nothing to them, so they best not cheep out, they better really come up with something to entice the folks I know who are enjoying other games to come back, otherwise were going to have to roll up servers again.
They had better come up with some interesting things to customers, ingame.
30 free days of something which doesn’t interest people, isn’t going to be a splendid succes.
However knowing SoE, they’ll probably offer a double station cash & double xp weekend, give us some free time & call it the best deal ever.
Editor’s Note: Amway website censored.
Rift : Thank You , SOE
WoW : Good Job , SOE
Diablo 3 : We meet soon , SOE
Guild war 2 : Wait for me , SOE
Time is Money , SOE , your customers all playing other games!!!!!
I’m wondering the same thing as Isest, I have heard what Sony is giving DCUO but has anyone heard what we are getting? Is 30 days + downtime days it? Where’s our batman mask? ><
If anyone would like to try out Rift while EQ2 is offline, you can download a free 7-day trial here:
http://t.co/DmDQqYN
I would be happy to help out those who buy the game by giving you some coin for a mount plus some bags on Sunrest.
Only thing i have seen for EQ2 as an initiative is a months rent on any of our houses that require it. I wonder if that will include the guild halls.
I am beginning to think conspiracy theories. I can’t believe that ANYTHING could have happened to cause this length of downtime unless it directly impacts gameplay. I mean, they could have replaced all of the servers, reloaded, re-secured and restarted the services in 3, maybe 4 days. So what could cause this kind of delay? My overactive imagination is thinking that maybe they lost ALL OF THE PLAYER DATA? Think about it – it is the only really solid explanation. If they are trying to forensically recover the data, that could take some time – if it’s even possible.
I know this much, don’t expect any answers from Sony. If something sinister has happened, we will find out with a carefully worded press release and a “sorry bout your luck” message, probably immediately followed by a bank withdrawal for $14.99 which we can’t stop, since we can’t get into the game to stop it.
Oh well, in the meantime – Rift is a pretty good game. Thank goodness, because WOW makes my brain bleed.
I hHave to wonder about all the folks who are convinced they’re done with SoE and EQ2, why are they still posting on this and other forums? I think those who are TRULY done with SoE/EQ2 have moved on and aren’t looking back.
@Endelon
I know you are desperate to pimp Rift, but even with SOE’s woes its suffering population issues for reasons all of its own.
And that link looks like it goes somewhere that involves Malware, where is the official website?.
GU 60 hits next tuesday 🙂 Oh, gonna be awesome not being able to enjoy that update :S
@ Murfalad – that is because the free rift trial runs over “invite a friend” which has an enormous link attached 😉
http://eu.riftgame.com/en/products/ascend-a-friend/invite.php?voucher=yxnxmqq2e3wle9wthjkh&utm_source=manual&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ascend_invite
I just sat here reading half these comments and I am really rofl cuz tbh its a joke to hear people saying stuff like eq2 is over, or I am off playing yada yada. And wont be back! If Your off playing it then troll there forums, and dont worry about eq2?
I am here for one reason only, just like I believe 99% of u are! INFO! we arent recieving any so VENT out our anger! But if u were honest, even as CRAP as EQ2 customer servers is, the dang game rocks all others! Thus we are raging wanting it back.
The main thing to keep in mind at this point is we arent just dealing with sony and there slow ass updates.. now they have lawyers they also have to pass everything thru.. but either way when they are back most all will be too.. due to the fact there isnt a better mmo out there at the moment.
Seriously this we should expect
1) The new server hardware installed, tested and running.
2) GU60 best be the most polished game update in the history of EQ. With zero client interaction the devs, testers, GMs staff have nothing else to do.
3)Time has passed. Players should get the better of this deal, Faction Research time in our favor. Rents in our favor (frozen – included Guild Halls). Raid/instance timers reset or still available – our choice.
4) Play time for. If you charged my card while the game was down, its refund time. double exp/AA/faction weeks
5) Full body Kevlar suits for devs at Fan fair, Smedley and Smokejumper in a dunk tank w/ video on youtube. (I know SJ is not to blame for the server outage but still it would make me happy)
You get the idea if its even a thought of did our paying customers get hosed even slightly, give it to them. I know some what station cash etc and I am all good with that. It just doesn’t motivate me personally.
Nice summary, Feldon. I had to write to a couple local TV stations to smack them for reporting faulty information about the hacks and ensuing downtime during the past few weeks.
I imagine at least some of the extended downtime is due to them re-writing some of the software. I would guess that they are now encrypting more data and therefore the data layer of the application has to be modified to use it. Which means that higher level software also has to be tested to ensure that the mods didn’t break anything.
This is too long for it just to be a matter of patching servers and network gear.
As Breanna mentions, don’t forget that it’s not just the devs and operations team involved here. Sony’s lawyers are certainly involved. There are also (as of last report) 3 security consulting firms doing work on this. Then there is the FBI investigation which could be delaying things. And further if Visa or Mastercard get involved, they may want their own modifications and validations to be successful before allowing Sony to accept their credit cards again.
Nice post, and I really liked that amazon example. It just upped my respect for them and I hope Sony follows suit.
Regarding my feelings on the outage, I am also with the person who said they only reason they haven’t canceled is the inability to do so. I was already on a 2-month hiatus after a 6 year run and serious burnout. Maybe the perfect time to come back will be when all this is behind SOE and the world is full of juicy lures to come back. 😉
Does anyone know if SoE already purchased the new servers that Smokejumper said they were recently authorized to get? If not, I highly doubt that we will see new servers anytime soon. This is costing SoE a lot of money, so they will probably put a hold on buying new servers.
As for conspiracy theories, I heard once that the US military was using Sony PS3’s for “research”. (http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/11/sony-still-subsidizing-us-supercomputer-efforts.ars)
With Osama dead, maybe they’re now using the PS3’2 and the Sony network/servers to defend our country from a retaliatory strike? 😉
Indeed, i will go back to EQ2 when/if it ever comes back up. But I will NOT be paying the $30 subscription fee for the extended service. No… it’s back to basic for me.
I hear good people on here that have been addicted to EQ2 like myself for years speaking ill of any other MMO out there. This is simply sour grapes and you know it. Yes Yes, EQ2 is down and I feel your pain. But there are TONS of MMO’s out there that are just as good if not better than EQ2. SOE has disappointed me. I’m in business for myself and if I EVER failed at service like SOE has done to us over the past few weeks, I would personally close my doors due to the disrespect for customers it shows.
Again, don’t get me wrong… Like an ADDICT, i will be back to play EQ2 once again. But it won’t be like it was before. And that isn’t posture… That’s fact
Elderon of Zippy
Thank you so much for all the information you bring to this community. I think without EQ2wire I probably would have no idea whats going on. It’s a p.i.t.a to search around for all the “correct” info. You guys do a good job. I can’t wait to get playing again. Forget all the naysayers.
@Dok
I wonder too on the new server hardware, all that was confirmed before the hack was that the purchase order was raised. But since that was a few weeks before the hack I guess that the cost has already gone through and cannot be cancelled.
Its one of the things though I’m hoping is going to be handled right, Sony can either bunker down and try and squeeze PSN and SOE for all the money they can to try to preserve profits, or take a one off hit and look to repair the damage.
If its the former then cancelling any purchases and perhaps more layoffs is possible, if its the latter then free promotions+other actions to repair their image and regrow their business will be done.
So far it sounds like the latter, I’m hopeful here. This sort of outage has happened to a major MMO though before, WoW for example. In China the government shut it down while swapping operators for almost a year, in addition they laid on heavy censorship.
They went from 5 million players to zero, and the operator was losing millions per a day. The government even prevented them from charging at one point until they had made more changes, so they ran it for free. Now there are >6 million people playing WoW over there, I think that backfired on the government and it shows how to do it for other companies.
I do wonder what a great campaign, a free month + a few days and promotions to get people in will do for the game long term.
How about new copies of DoV coming with RAF enabled for levels 1-80 and AA<200?
How about 90 days free time with DoV for new accounts?
We are all getting at least a free month, how about open the live servers free to play for the whole first month?
All things that could possibly really help the game longterm.
Let’s back up for a bit. Pan your camera way out. SOE is a multinational corporation balancing the finances, successes and failures, of several different separate entities. Speculation aside unless they have AI’s monitoring 24/7 human ingenuity (or greed) will find a way. It’s a big target, an enormous playground, and the teacher might be watching out for an even bigger problem. The games and services seem to (judging by comments on forums and interaction with players) provide entertainment for a lot of people who are tech savvy to say the least (hat off to you the demanding and smart consumer). Unfortunately for SOE and anyone else entangled or interested, the internet is huge, the possibilities limitless, and while criminals are not usually credited with anything more than luck or cunning the pay day would seem to more than worth the risk for some fairly smart people. Criminal investigations do not blog, post, talk to, notify, or contact the public. That would be extremely foolish. If an investigating entity private or public tells you to say nothing–you listen, if you want even a small chance of catching the culprit. Your analog would be shoplifting–cops tell the store how to set up security, how to set up the sting, and the people working there say nothing; because a shoplifter will hightail it the minute they are at risk for actually being caught. In that situation most of the consumers don’t even know what’s going on. Be happy, SOE feels confident enought to reveal even a little bit of information to us the (hopefully ignorant) consumers at risk. Don’t forget the pressure comes from the top down. Nobody who handles your information wants any kind of risk attatched to that at all, ever. It’s headache they really don’t want, and if they respect you the consumer enough to give you a quality product then their security and countermeasures can probably be measured in kind. Just saying…
Honestly, I’ve been wondering if they are just using this as a scapegoat and sinking there “old” games, claiming it was all due to the hack so they can collect insurance and save face to there old customers without pissing people off by simply shutting down very low profiting games.
Although the PSN situation makes this seem less likely but still possibly.
@Murfalad
IMO, they’re going to have to do something better than just free playtime, free rent, and bonus XP.
I’m not upset with SoE or anything, it’s just that I am sure that a lot of people, like me, are getting hooked on other games, so free playtime on a game that you are no longer interested in playing isn’t much of an incentive. They need to do something more creative that will makes us want to log on in spite of being hooked on another game.
shyler,
You’ve described Sony. SOE is a relatively small organization.
Nercissa wrote:
—-
Why would EQ2 development team need to make up for lost time? We can’t play doesn’t mean they are not working on projects.
I highly doubt the EQ2 development team is working on the network Infrastructure upgrades.
—-
If I were on the EQ2 development team, what I’d be working on is polishing up my resume and getting ready for the next round of cutbacks that are likely going to be coming within three months or so once SOE “re-evaluates” their cash flow and the state of their games post-hack. Don’t be surprised if you see a number of folks from San Diego depart for greener pastures in the near future.
Whoever decided to have a no-communication policy in this matter should be canned. This will ultimately cost them the most players IMO. It’s a slap in the face of their paying customers. Unfortunately, they are very routined at not giving a damn about their customers and spitting into their faces. Kinda sad.
I would seriously love to be a fly on the wall at SOE San Diego and see if anyone is actually working on the game right now. My guess — no.
Sounds too good to be true that everyone is being productively busy while their company is in complete turmoil.
Believe me, I would love to be wrong! But wouldn’t it be the best if one of the devs came here, or on Facebook, and posted something like “we are working on the game to polish it up so it will be even better when it comes back online. We miss you guys!”
I suppose legal problems prevent them from posting anything like that …
Great timing to slowly start to roll out this plan thats been waiting for release. Nice way to make it seem necessary!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CYBERSECURITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-12-03-21-30
@Mike 48
If Sony/SOE go the route of trying to claw back the money they’ve lost then I think your right that more cuts will be coming. But so far they’ve been going the other direction with promotions and free time added, turning around now to try and recoup lost money would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
@51 And yes, the anonymous “hackers”, or more accurately spoiled brats who want to pirate PS3 games and run botnets are justifying getting more big government onto the internet, and cyber security bills will even win politicians votes now after this, great going guys…
So if I ever find one of these Anonymous twerps I’m going to be giving them a good, solid, punch in the face, but alas in reality when they have tried to run real world demos no one turned up…
I can’t believe how many people are so eager to stay on the SOE bandwagon after this. I’m certainly not an SOE hater. I love EQ2. I’m just a consumer. But since this company has proven to me that they can’t be trusted with my financial or personal information. They’ll have to earn back my trust. My addiction to EQ2 isn’t as strong as my backbone.
And for anyone out there that says that’s it’s not SOE’s fault.. BS. Of course it is. Their security practices were completely amateur. They didn’t even encrypt our financial records? Seriously?
@Kalvaine I don’t have a choice. EQ2 is the only game on the market I currently find enjoyable. I’ve tried everything else and nothing stacks up to the fun I have in EQ2. It’s noone’s fault but my own.
Does anyone have a link to anything that actually says how vunerable they really were? I’ve heard everything from no firewall and no encryption (which I seriously doubt) to it was behind 3 firewalls and was gotten to anyway.
In any case I’m very reluctant to place blame anywhere but on the people doing the illegal stuff here, the hackers. As far as I know no matter how badly made your lock on the front door is someone breaks in they are still at fault.
Thanks for the great updates Feldon, they’re just perfect.
I’ll be back the day servers are back up. Meanwhile, I’m caring for my sick husband, my teething babe, trying to update my website using ZAM and planing my house decorations.
I’m very happy by the news on rents. They spoke of every house needing rent and i sure hope my T2 guild hall will benefit from this.
I hope that the developpers are able to work as I’m not sure the SOE network is running and that they’re able to use it (and I’m pretty sure they need it).
I’d venture to say the no communication or lack there of policy stems from the legal department from Sony and not SOE on this..wrong move tbh as its hurting SOE community relations. Only hope when they do come back on line do a good job working on improving the badly damaged community relations….on a side note across just about every forum out there I noticed quite a few known 3rd party exploiters from eq2 bitching about this damm problem…on some level it is ironic
@ Robert — Of course you have a choice! Not playing EQ2 IS an option. Yeah it sucks to be without an MMO that you truly love but to me, my peace of mind is worth more than that. This has been the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.
@Kalvaine – I know what you mean, and I completely agree with you…which is why I blame only myself :D. However, I remedied the situation by re-subbing to Rift tonight. It’s a good alternative for now.
I don’t know why I keep going back to SOE and EQ2. It seems the playerbase has more passion for the game than the developers do. I hope they don’t suffer the same fate with EQ Next, and learn from companies like Blizzard and Trion and actually put forth some television marketing rather than rely on their dwindling playerbase from years past…which, frankly, after all this, is going to deplete tremendously…and I fear the company’s reputation has suffered a great deal. Sony should either rename SOE, or just sell the SOE brand off to another company and stick with their PlayStation console development. Granted, all this has probably been said 1000x so far, just had to repeat it.
I’ll go back to EQ2 as soon as the servers open back up…I can’t help it. I guess I’m a masochist that way 🙂