Feldon
Adding to the Identity Theft Protection plan already announced for US customers, today, SOE has announced a similar program for EU customers. For customers based in the United States, we have made arrangements with Debix, Inc., one of the industry’s most reputable identity protection firms, to offer AllClear ID PLUS at no cost to Station Account holders for 12 months from the time an account holder registers for the program. To qualify, Station Account holders must enroll by June 28, 2011. US – based customers will receive an email in the next few days, confirming how to access their...
Month: May 2011
If you follow EQ2 devs on Twitter, this is likely old news to you, but Kyle “Kander” Kyle Vallée has posed some questions: What #EQII zone would you love to see revamped into new heroic content ? Note, this would be an alternate version perhaps scaled up to level 90 as a “revisit” zone, just as Nek Castle can be revisited at level 50 and 70. These changes would not affect the original zones. Here are some of his responses: Estate of Unrest: “great the way it is” Obelisk of Lost Souls: “not a bad idea”. Rivervale: “does indeed...
While SOE and by extension EQ2 were offline during the 12 day downtime, what were the devs doing? Scrapbooking? Needlepoint? Actually, they continued work on Game Update 60 (now slated for a May 31st debut according to SmokeJumper) as well as looking ahead to Game Update 61 and beyond. While players were not able to test Game Update 60, the developers have continued to polish it up and add new things while the servers were down, as well as addressing the feedback from players during the short testing period.
We’ve been hearing about a new Adornments System in Game Update 60. System is perhaps too strong a word for what we’ve seen on Test. But the changes indeed help to visually distinguish adornments from other items which makes finding them in bags a lot easier. Item Examine windows have seen a change, as adornment text has been replaced by subtle Adornment “badges” for each color the item supports. Adornments themselves have been given bold new icons which are unique, color-coded, and stand out from other items in both recipe books and inventory bags. Your Feedback Does this go...
One of the side benefits of the Welcome Back program, which has seen all City Festivals (Qeynos, Freeport, Neriak, Kelethin, and Gorowyn) live simultaneously, is that we now have access to items on the merchants which weren’t going to make an appearance for several months. From Domino: The new stuff was originally intended to slowly be revealed over the next half year as the festivals cycled around … but with them all turned on at once you have a bit of a deluge of new goodies! Glad they are enjoyed anyway. There may be some new things coming in...
So it turns out that some Research Assistants took a little vacation while the servers were inaccessible and did not continue dutifully researching upgrades for all players. After thoroughly investigating the issue, SmokeJumper has posted the planned solution: Hi, folks, When we came back online, we intended that Research would have continued to tick along while the outage occurred, so that you all would come back with a fully researched spell. However, that didn’t happen. And there’s no real way to make it automatically happen. So…in next Tuesday’s hotfix (2011.05.24) we will grant you five (5) potions, each of...
If you’ve toured Destiny of Velious, you know of the unused Wizard Spire in the Eastern Wastes and abandoned Dragon Ring in the Great Divide. An upcoming live event, recently pushed to Test and Test Copy by Gninja, seeks to rebuild them. These events will be more like Public Quests than past events. Both events share one currency [tokens] and currency can be obtained in two ways. There are blue collectibles that spawn around the event area. The number of collectibles vary based on the progress of the event. The second way is by defending the respective areas from...
Dethdlr
Here are your update notes for May 9th (17th?), 2011: USER INTERFACE Fixed a bug with dragging currency to the currency list in the Character window. Fixed a bug with the Character window’s location not saving correctly between session. HOUSING Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause stubborn portals to come back after being picked up. Fixed a potential bug with buying a house in a zone that instances. House portals should no longer port you while they are being moved around. Fixed an issue with item placement in the Maj’dul Vacation Suite. QUESTS Hold of Rime: The Ascent...
After nearly 2 weeks off the air, EQ2 came back online today. Between the new Password requirements, and any underlying changes made in favor of security, it was not surprising that players have reported a variety of problems from Timeout errors, Patch failed messages, etc. SOE Customer Service has been answering phones all day today despite it being Sunday to help players get back into the game after the extended downtime. There will always be issues that can’t be resolved immediately, but today it seems to have been all-hands-on-deck to get things working again.
A new issue has arisen affecting many players trying to login to EQ2. They are getting this error: “This account is for an underage user. You are not old enough to access this game.” SOE are aware of the issue and it’s being given the highest priority. The EQ2 forums are back in operation, so you can address this there as well. If you having a problem logging in BESIDES this issue, we’ve gotten a report that Tech Support is working today despite it being a Sunday. UPDATE: This problem has been resolved. UPDATE 2: Some players are showing...
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.
Now that EQ2 has been resurrected, some players have had issues with the mandatory password resets. Others who have gotten into the game noticed issues with Research Assistants. Some EQ2X players at the Bronze and Silver levels feel there should be compensation. EQ2X players at Gold and Platinum already have a compensation package. Finally, players are curious about when Game Update 60 will hit, since we are just 3 days away from the original announced launch date, and there had only been a couple days of testing. Details after the jump…
Defying our predictions, Sony Online Entertainment began restoring gaming operations approximately 9 hours ago, with EverQuest 2 servers coming online about an hour after that announcement. Before you can log back into EQ2, the forums, or any other SOE games, you must first reset your password. It may be necessary to clear your browser cache or attempt a couple of times (As I did on the forums) to login. WARNING: DO NOT MESS UP ENTERING YOUR ORIGINAL STATION USERNAME AND PASSWORD OR YOU MAY BE LOCKED OUT FOR 24 HOURS!!! EQ2 Patch Errors Some players have reported getting the...
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 SOE.com: Services Return Following Implementation of Increased Security Measures; Consumer Data Protection a Full-Time, Company-Wide Commitment SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2011 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that restoration of its game services will begin today. The phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of SOE’s portfolio of online games, the reinstatement of SOE’s game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords. Increased Security Measures As the result of a criminal cyber-attack on the company’s network, SOE shut down its game services in order for the company to...
That’s right! The servers are back up! I’ll let Feldon fill in details or replace this with a “real” article about the servers being back up. I’m headed in to play! Just wanted to get the word out. WE’RE UP! From Everquest2.com: Restoration of SOE’s game services will begin today. This phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of our portfolio of online games, the reinstatement of our game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords.
On Facebook, in the #eq2 chatroom, on guild websites, and yes on EQ2Flames, players have been chiming in that they have been charged by SOE on May 2nd and beyond, with some customers seeing charges hitting as late as May 3rd, 4th, 5th, and even May 6th, well after the games went down. Is it time to call Shenanigans? Is SOE’s billing department on the rampage? We certainly thought so, and ran a story about it (we’ve since pulled the story, but the comments are still visible). With communications in and out of SOE tighter than a snare drum,...
I woke up this morning to an urgent e-mail from SOE’s Linda Carlson asking if I was able to verify that customers had in fact been billed since the SOE downtime started on May 2nd. I went with the story that billing was still happening based on direct comments in the #eq2 chat, comments on the SOE Facebook wall, and of course some comments on EQ2Flames. It seemed unlikely that people on all 3 sites would lie about being billed after SOE services went offline. But you know what they say about assuming. If it turns out that I’ve...
From the SOE Facebook site: We wanted to let you know that we just announced our complimentary Debix “AllClear ID PLUS” identity theft protection program in the United States. For more details, click here: http://www.soe.com/securityupdate/debix.vm
Posted on SOE’s security website: May 12, 2011 We thank you for your patience as we continue to work around the clock to restore our game services. We know this has been a frustrating time for you and appreciate your understanding as we work to confirm the security of our network. In light of the recent outage of Sony Online Entertainment’s game services due to April’s cyber-attack, we are committed to compensating our loyal player base for the inconvenience caused by the data breach and lost game time while we improve our security measures. We are currently in the...
Well, I’m sure we’re just a few minutes away from today’s “Not Today” announcement on Facebook or Twitter, but it’s no longer captivating enough for me to stay awake for it. 😉 And with Sony’s luck these days, there’s no way they’d risk bringing PSN or SOE back up on a Friday the 13th. Toodles. 😉
UPDATE: The contents of this article have been removed until such time as we can verify that credit cards have been charged after May 2nd, the date of the outage. SOE has e-mailed me to indicate that their Billing system was taken down at the same time as all other Account services. Thus, any charges would have already been authorized or pending prior to that time. We are attempting to verify that cards have been charged after this date. If you have been billed by SOE after May 2, 2011, please Contact Me.
This news has been making the rounds so we thought we’d address it and season with a bit of perspective. From Kotaku.com: John Blakely, a nine-year veteran of Sony Online Entertainment and most recently its vice president of development, has apparently left the company for casual-games behemoth Zynga. Blakely’s LinkedIn resumé has him departing SOE as of last month to become general manager at Zynga. Update: Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed Blakely’s resignation and departure. In a statement provided to Kotaku, SOE thanked him for “the passion and leadership he brought to work every day and fully support him...
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...
From SOE Facebook: All SOE games and sites are still offline as of May 11th and will not return today. Thank you again for your continued patience and support as we diligently work on these issues. More information on SOE’s “Make Good” plan to come! UPDATE: All houses requiring rent will have one month added free to help offset any costs incurred during this outage. UPDATE 2: Since a few folks seem unaware of this, SOE has already promised 30 days of free subscription plus 1 day for each day the servers are down. This was posted on SOE’s...