ProSiebenSat.1 Games Group FAQ Feedback Thread - Page 31

Lempo · 02-22-2012, 04:47 PM

One thing that everyone should keep in mind the mods are volunteers to the best of my understanding and at times I have saw over zealousness from all of them, of course I'll admit that when I get modded they are just doing their job lol.

That said I think the volunteer mods should just leave this thread alone, this is SOE's mess and it comes from higher up than Amnerys and Isulith they are being thrown under the bus here, so if they choose to continue to be a rag doll and nothing more than a punching bag then that is their choice but there are things in here that need clarifying and the player base deserves to have these question acknowledged.

I don't know how I've not posted something that earned me a ban/temp ban as of yet, I think I am so awestruck by the sheer lunacy of this I just can't bring myself to post what I really think of it. I'm sure Kim Jong Il probably likes the direction this is going but nobody else seems to.

vallean · 02-22-2012, 04:49 PM

I m a french player on STORM and don't want to go to prosieben, i don't want region segregation.

SOE you kill Eq2 , my account is canceled i m seeking for another game, but not Sony related.

Helmarf · 02-22-2012, 04:49 PM

So the damage is allready done. And the deal was probably done a long time ago and i guess it dosent matter what we say or do here, the question is only when we start to pay and play on prosieben?

But for some reason i have a bad feeling that customers in eu will be caught in the middle with prosiebensat on one side and us soe on the other side blaming each other that this problem is not their problem if there should be something.

Wonder what will hapend if eq2 in prosiebensat.1 custom will be very popular in a milkcow kinda way?

Shiruki · 02-22-2012, 04:52 PM

Resstful wrote:

I still read that CURRENT players with SOE accounts can still play on their CURRENT servers. They will not be able to create new ACCOUNTS on those servers.
They can create new characters as long as they want to so I can't see that as a problem either.

They don't tell us if we can create NEW alts on US servers with these accounts though.

And, considering in how little esteem they seem to take their customers, I for one wouldn't bet that european players will be allowed to play on US servers long term; Nothing to prevent them from deciding that, in the end, whether you've been playing for years on an US server or not, that you shouldn't be with all the other europeans and ditch us in a few months...

Meliane · 02-22-2012, 04:56 PM

After so many years, playing EQ1 since 1999 and EQ2 since open beta, and planning

to play to EQnext, I don't want to be a Prosieben customer.

I need to know now if you will offer some transfer tokens, and if I settle on a US server

could I be able to create characters?

If I can't continue to play on US server normally, I will sadly stop to play SOE games and

I know a lot of people who will do so.

RIP Storms.

Andemon · 02-22-2012, 04:56 PM

Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...

Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.

"You guys now know exactly as much as I do. I'm sorry it took so long to get this information out to you. I'll bring the issues you guys have up to the "powers that be", but my job is making games not business development, so I don't have a ton of sway here to be honest."

"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."

Funny thing about that first post...it was posted within two hours of the announcement. Over here? Just mods and no answers for past 24 hours.

yadlajoi · 02-22-2012, 04:58 PM

I can already see the hype. A new player from eu create a new account. 3 server available.... NOPE. Good job on getting ride of the eu server and still get money for selling your players like they are goods. Seriouy SOE i m impressed

Dibblecogs · 02-22-2012, 05:00 PM

Its shocking how soe has treated there player base,,,best lie was FTP wont affect sub accounts... yet selling 8 games over to a unknown company that has issues with keeping player details off there own forums is laughable..

cancelled 3 accounts and all card details. 586 days played.. on main.. 6 lv 90 toons and no.12 world quester..

going to miss the good people..i have met and talked to! good job .. cant see ever playing a SOE game ,,again..

SOE your proffit margin will drop... hope the price your about to pay was worth it...

Kenazeer · 02-22-2012, 05:03 PM

Krinte@The Bazaar wrote:

Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...
Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.
"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."
...and over here? Just mods and no answers.

It's a difference in leadership abilities and style. Some people have them, some don't. Abilities and style that is.

Seffrid · 02-22-2012, 05:03 PM

EQ2 Wire has a complete and perfect analysis of the situation:-

"The news that SOE will be dividing the EQ2 community by Region, in order to secure a lucrative distribution deal with ProSiebenSat.1’s Alaplaya gaming division, has gone over like curry-flavoured ice cream. Besides the outrage at splitting up a community whose strength has been players hailing from all over the world, SOE seems to have neglected some of the more mundane technical and historical details. We’ve collected a few:

U.S. players who play EQ2 during the daytime have always had the option of grouping with players on Splitpaw (UK) where it’s afternoon/evening.

European players paid upwards of 30 Euros for SOE Authenticator keyfobs including shipping to Europe. They will not work with Alaplaya/PSS1

French Canadian players have traditionally played on the Storms server. After the cutoff, North American players will no longer be able to connect to EU servers.

U.S. Military and Expats residing in Europe won’t be able to start on US servers, and will instead be forced to roll on European servers. When they get orders back to the States, they won’t be able to access their established characters/guilds/alliances/friends.

Australia and New Zealand haven’t been mentioned, suggesting that they will be region-locked to U.S. servers. These players have had the choice of servers, such as Splitpaw (UK).

It seems there will be no PvP in Europe, as EU players will not have access to the Nagafen server.

Splitpaw players will go back to a single-server Battlegrounds environment, which has never had enough players to field 18 or 24 person events.

Some of the most dedicated testers are based in Europe. With this change, European players will be cutoff from the EQ2 Test server.

EQ2X (Extended) joined the other EQ2 servers in a unified Free-to-Play setup to avoid “dividing the player base“. This change will do just that.

SOE already went down the road of region-locked servers in 2003. At the height of its popularity, SOE licensed EverQuest to Ubisoft for a UK-only server named Venril Sathir. It was unsuccessful and this server was brought back into the U.S. fold in 2005.

The last time SOE tried segregated servers was LiveGamer. Two servers (Bazaar, Vox) arbitrarily became RMT-enabled and players were locked in and could not transfer off. This move was extremely unpopular and after a few years, SOE cancelled their contract with LiveGamer, merging these players back to standard servers.

Although existing EU players on U.S. servers will be “grandfathered” in, support may be limited/unavailable, and new EU players will not be able to join them. And there is no obligation for SOE to preserve this “grandfathering” forever.

Players who have characters on both US and EU servers will now have to pay twice, once to SOE, once to Alaplaya.

EU players could lose access to SOE forums if they no longer have active Station accounts but instead Alaplaya accounts.

What will players with Station Access (nee All Access Pass) accounts do who have a mixture of characters on games that are included and excluded from the ProSiebenSat.1 deal? What about players who took advantage of StationCash deals and bought up to 1 year of subscription in advance?

Some European guilds have players from Russia who have chosen not to restrict themselves to Akella-run servers. What happens to them?

Alaplaya/PSS1 is known for poorly-supported, security flaw riddled Korean-style browser MMOs. Not only does Alaplaya have a history of hacked accounts due to poor security, but they’ve done little to resolve the matter. More than a few players have expressed concern at the prospect of dealing with this shady company.

SOE just went through a lot of trouble to arrange deals to get StationCash cards into GAME, GameStop, and other UK and European vendors. Was all this effort for naught since ProSiebenSat1 games will use Alaplaya’s own cash shop currency?

EU players who choose to play both EQ1 and EQ2 will have to accumulate both StationCash and Alaplaya’s cash shop currency.

A number of guilds, including leading raid guilds, depend on drawing from a mixture of players from around the world. There is no large guild in EQ2 that does not have members from different continents. There are a substantial number of Euro guilds located on U.S. servers due to population and/or time zones.

UPDATE: It’s been pointed out that Legends of Norrath is not mentioned in any of the ProSiebenSat.1 announcements or FAQs. Will this card game be unavailable in Europe?

UPDATE: Alaplaya reserves the right to DELETE accounts and character data (Part 6) after 90 days of inactivity. Will this apply to SOE games?

UPDATE: In violation of German and EU privacy laws, Alaplaya publishes the real names on accounts which are past-due.

There is no excuse for a worldwide company like Sony which sells products in Europe, Japan, North America, etc. to rely on a two-bit distributor as well as isolating players from each other who have been forming friendships for 7 years. This change will fracture the EQ2 community and not bode well for EQNext.

Also… I just have to ask. Region Locking in 2012?"

http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/21/break...er-sc-currency/

Lempo · 02-22-2012, 05:03 PM

Krinte@The Bazaar wrote:

Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...
Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.
"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."
...and over here? Just mods and no answers.

So I guess Smedley is about to work up a deal to segregate the Far east users onto their own server?

kalaria · 02-22-2012, 05:06 PM

Lempo@Everfrost wrote:

Krinte@The Bazaar wrote:
Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...
Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.
"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."
...and over here? Just mods and no answers.
So I guess Smedley is about to work up a deal to segregate the Far east users onto their own server?

Actually,

there USED to be entirely separate Asian servers as well when the game released... but they were eventually merged into the existing servers (with literally ZERO notification. One day all of a sudden there were just a bunch of players on certain servers with box names and box chat. lol).

Varixx Tarnok · 02-22-2012, 05:10 PM

Lempo@Everfrost wrote:

Krinte@The Bazaar wrote:
Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...
Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.
"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."
...and over here? Just mods and no answers.
So I guess Smedley is about to work up a deal to segregate the Far east users onto their own server?

This does set a questionable precedent.

Now that SoE has effectively blocked the Euros and NAmericans from each other, what will come next? Will we block the Aussies? The Far East? Maybe the Canadians?

Is this going to be like the F2P debacle where there was a separate server for a year before it effected the whole game? ie will Euros on US servers plan on playing where they are, then one day get locked to Pro7Sat1 servers through IP blocks?

OnoremDil · 02-22-2012, 05:13 PM

Krinte@The Bazaar wrote:

Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...
Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.
"You guys now know exactly as much as I do. I'm sorry it took so long to get this information out to you. I'll bring the issues you guys have up to the "powers that be", but my job is making games not business development, so I don't have a ton of sway here to be honest."
"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."
Funny thing about that first post...it was posted within two hours of the announcement. Over here? Just mods and no answers for past 24 hours.

It pretty much is that simple. Could a red name cut/paste the blue portion of that quote to post as their own and make us feel like someone whose job isn't simply to delete posts and ban valuable contributors is actually seeing any of this feedback? You ignored the initial thread for over 5 weeks. Surely someone has something to say by now.

A-Dent42 · 02-22-2012, 05:14 PM

Armawk@Everfrost wrote:

I have no damned idea how this affects me. I live in New Zealand. I have 3 accounts. two of them were bought in the UK as boxes originally. The third was bought digitally from SOE after I moved here. Am I a euro player on 2 accounts and a US player on the other? Do I even exist any more? If I simply ignore prowhatsit and keep paying sony will this have any effect on me at all? Are they simply not going to take money from people whos accounts say 'united kingdom'? Does any of this make sense? Do I even care any more?
Good Grief.

I guess I am in the same boat and what scares me more is that half the email I receive from Sony is in German the other half English so it appears they really have no idea where we are either.

Ah well I survived the NGE I didn't expect to see another from the same company.

Guy De Alsace · 02-22-2012, 05:15 PM

Lol...I've looked at some gaming websites and feedback and have not seen a single positive post about this, even from unaffected players.

warkid · 02-22-2012, 05:17 PM

i wounder... what would sony do if someone like sky news ect made a story... about the fact SOE have made this change but continue to sell the game without informing new customers....

false advertising

Seffrid · 02-22-2012, 05:17 PM

Having looked into the ProSiebenSat.1 terms of service, I see that not only are they "entitled to delete your Account, and with it your personal information, if you go for a period of more than 90 days in a row without using the Services", but that in the event if your having purchased Alaplaya points (APs) they "will delete your Account and revoke any remaining APs if you have not used the Services for a period of at least one (1) year".

(my bold italics)

http://en.alaplaya.net/pages/http:/...-currency/terms

I seriously question whether Smed knew about these terms along with the company's open publication of the real names of customers who's payments, for whatever reason, have failed to clear when he decided to sell his loyal European playerbase to these people. Let's hope that someone draws these points to his attention.

dawy · 02-22-2012, 05:20 PM

Krinte@The Bazaar wrote:

Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums...
Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions.
"You guys now know exactly as much as I do. I'm sorry it took so long to get this information out to you. I'll bring the issues you guys have up to the "powers that be", but my job is making games not business development, so I don't have a ton of sway here to be honest."
"I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention."
Funny thing about that first post...it was posted within two hours of the announcement. Over here? Just mods and no answers for past 24 hours.

And to me thats the scandal

Lempo · 02-22-2012, 05:21 PM

warkid wrote:

i wounder... what would sony do if someone like sky news ect made a story... about the fact SOE have made this change but continue to sell the game without informing new customers....
false advertising

I wonder what you would post if you had a clue as to what you are talking about.

SOE-MOD-02 · 02-22-2012, 05:23 PM

This post has moved: /eq2/posts/preList.m?topic_id=49996...post_id=5720719 Reposting removed posts is not permitted. Please stay on topic.

warkid · 02-22-2012, 05:23 PM

Lempo@Everfrost wrote:

warkid wrote:
i wounder... what would sony do if someone like sky news ect made a story... about the fact SOE have made this change but continue to sell the game without informing new customers....
false advertising
I wonder what you would post if you had a clue as to what you are talking about.

they are still selling the game to new players after making this deal and selling over EU server.... there for they should stop selling the game and re market it to inform buyers of the new set-up....

lils · 02-22-2012, 05:24 PM

Considering in Germany it's already past 9 pm ... I doubt there are any discussions between those two companies going on still and I really wonder when we will hear anything from SOE about this ... if ever.

Andemon · 02-22-2012, 05:25 PM

Seffrid wrote:

I seriously question whether Smed knew about these terms along with the company's open publication of the real names of customers who's payments, for whatever reason, have failed to clear when he decided to sell his loyal European playerbase to these people. Let's hope that someone draws these points to his attention.

How could he not know that? Alaplaya is infamous for getting hacked and for ruining games.

Here's what to expect from the Euro version of EQ2:http://mmohuts.com/editorials/alapl...n-arena-shooter

WeatherMan · 02-22-2012, 05:25 PM

Just logged into Splitpaw (North America resident) with no issues, so whenever the cutoff for Yanks and Canucks on EU servers is, it hasn't happened yet (that, or I was able to log in when I shouldn't have been able to).

Due to region, my CC information won't transfer (as I will, administratively, remain an SOE customer). And none of my Splitpaw characters have made it further than the Enchanted Lands, so it isn't as if I have gobs of time invested in any of them. But I'm sorry, this irks me.

I do, however, understand why no red names past the moderators have made an appearance. Regardless whether it's their fault or not (and I strongly suspect it is not), they'll be torn to virtual shreds the moment they utter an electronic peep on the forums. And until we know beyond a doubt who is responsible for this ridiculous sellout, we need to be very careful what we say should one of them actually show up and start interacting with us. There's a lot of (justifiable) anger here...I suspect this thread will get into three digits worth of pages, that or finally be shut down, before any sort of point actually gets across.

The ink on the contract is dry. The wall is going up. To all our EU brothers and sisters who did not have the fortune to join us on a NA server, we will miss you (and I suspect the ones that were lucky enough, will one day be ushered off of the NA servers, anyways). EU servers will either become ghost towns, or populated with the 'Alaplaya Generation' (and to me, the latter fate seems far more frightening). Your not-insignificant presence will be missed on NA servers as well...we will endure a while longer than you, I am sure...those of us who don't simply cancel and walk away (like my wife plans on doing), that is (I am still debating). But if SOE (not necessarily the devs) gets what it deserves, Crushbone and AB will ultimately fare no better than Splitpaw and Storms.

We'll see.

stayx · 02-22-2012, 05:26 PM

Its a shame to separate european and us players i mean whats wrong with soe to doing this?

This is an MMORPG and worldwide i dont know what you are thinking about this change i dont know whats wrong with you...

You kill your own game with this changes, you kill the best mmorpg on earth with this changes, i cant believe whats happened.

I lost after this change some of my playing friends and i think we search another game to play together, i cancel all my subscriptions and my friends to.

warkid · 02-22-2012, 05:29 PM

is it a perma contract or for say 5 or 10 years ect?

Daalilama · 02-22-2012, 05:29 PM

I see the forum mods doing SOE's dirty work of trying to stifle (I mean clean up) their own feedback thread.....

...Question: WHAT DID SMED KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT!

Secondary Question: IS SONY CORPORATE AWARE OF THE PARTICULAR DEATILS OF THIS AGREEMENT OR ONLY THE POTENTIAL $$ WINDFALL?

One would gather given the recent PR disaster from the hacking scandal SOE would have made every effort to avoid lighting a fire of disgust under the community?

Moldylocks · 02-22-2012, 05:30 PM

The one thing EQ2 had, above all else, was its sense of community. When poo storm after poo storm hit, people stayed because of friends and family relations that were built up over the years. That is the main thread that has always stayed true in this, that it was the strength of community and loyalty that kept people here.

Now the game has changed. In fact, you could almost time the shift to, oh..a year and a half ago when the new dog came on board. What the loyal, international customer base saw was a gradual, insidious decline in what EQ2 always was. Even after lies, spin, and a 180 turn on game focus, community loyalty and fans weathered through because they always believed the folks at EQ2, at the end of the day, really had their best interests at heart.

I don't think the writing can be any clearer at this point regarding where Smedley and SJ's best interests are anymore.

The previous feedback thread went unanswered for almost a month and a half. That in itself was ridiculously unacceptable. Even for SOE's sordid track record of Customer Relations, that raised a new bar for them.

And now there is this. All the snake-oil salesman pitches and cheerleading from The Man regarding EQ2's direction, about how they care and blah blah blah has come to a head. They care all right, and I am sure there is a fattened bank account somewhere to show for it.

Community? Loyalty? Fans who stuck around through the thick and thin? You have all been sold out to the highest bidder. Our community is shattered now.

The only thing SOE understands is $$$. If you keep paying, then you are sending them the message that all of this is a-ok. My account is cancelled and all my CC info is scrubbed off it. No, its NOT ok to be kicked in the teeth like this, and I sure as heck am going to send that message in the only language they seem to understand.

Guy De Alsace · 02-22-2012, 05:30 PM

UPDATE: In violation of German and EU privacy laws, Alaplaya publishes the real names on accounts which are past-due

Lol...anyone who wants an Alaplaya account should check that link.

I wouldnt touch that company with barge poles of any length.

02-22-2012, 04:47 PM	#901
Lempo Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,179	One thing that everyone should keep in mind the mods are volunteers to the best of my understanding and at times I have saw over zealousness from all of them, of course I'll admit that when I get modded they are just doing their job lol. That said I think the volunteer mods should just leave this thread alone, this is SOE's mess and it comes from higher up than Amnerys and Isulith they are being thrown under the bus here, so if they choose to continue to be a rag doll and nothing more than a punching bag then that is their choice but there are things in here that need clarifying and the player base deserves to have these question acknowledged. I don't know how I've not posted something that earned me a ban/temp ban as of yet, I think I am so awestruck by the sheer lunacy of this I just can't bring myself to post what I really think of it. I'm sure Kim Jong Il probably likes the direction this is going but nobody else seems to. __________________ All actions have consequences and repercussions. Somewhere in Norrath a guild is about to dissolve.

02-22-2012, 04:52 PM	#904
Shiruki Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 33	Resstful wrote: I still read that CURRENT players with SOE accounts can still play on their CURRENT servers. They will not be able to create new ACCOUNTS on those servers. They can create new characters as long as they want to so I can't see that as a problem either. They don't tell us if we can create NEW alts on US servers with these accounts though. And, considering in how little esteem they seem to take their customers, I for one wouldn't bet that european players will be allowed to play on US servers long term; Nothing to prevent them from deciding that, in the end, whether you've been playing for years on an US server or not, that you shouldn't be with all the other europeans and ditch us in a few months...

02-22-2012, 05:00 PM	#908
Dibblecogs Server: Kithicor Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: uk Posts: 3	Its shocking how soe has treated there player base,,,best lie was FTP wont affect sub accounts... yet selling 8 games over to a unknown company that has issues with keeping player details off there own forums is laughable.. cancelled 3 accounts and all card details. 586 days played.. on main.. 6 lv 90 toons and no.12 world quester.. going to miss the good people..i have met and talked to! good job .. cant see ever playing a SOE game ,,again.. SOE your proffit margin will drop... hope the price your about to pay was worth it... __________________

02-22-2012, 05:03 PM	#909
Kenazeer Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,178	Krinte@The Bazaar wrote: Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." ...and over here? Just mods and no answers. It's a difference in leadership abilities and style. Some people have them, some don't. Abilities and style that is. __________________ Come play EQ2...we have SOEmote, Dungeon Finder, and Dungeon Maker.

02-22-2012, 05:03 PM	#910
Seffrid Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 583	EQ2 Wire has a complete and perfect analysis of the situation:- "The news that SOE will be dividing the EQ2 community by Region, in order to secure a lucrative distribution deal with ProSiebenSat.1’s Alaplaya gaming division, has gone over like curry-flavoured ice cream. Besides the outrage at splitting up a community whose strength has been players hailing from all over the world, SOE seems to have neglected some of the more mundane technical and historical details. We’ve collected a few: U.S. players who play EQ2 during the daytime have always had the option of grouping with players on Splitpaw (UK) where it’s afternoon/evening. European players paid upwards of 30 Euros for SOE Authenticator keyfobs including shipping to Europe. They will not work with Alaplaya/PSS1 French Canadian players have traditionally played on the Storms server. After the cutoff, North American players will no longer be able to connect to EU servers. U.S. Military and Expats residing in Europe won’t be able to start on US servers, and will instead be forced to roll on European servers. When they get orders back to the States, they won’t be able to access their established characters/guilds/alliances/friends. Australia and New Zealand haven’t been mentioned, suggesting that they will be region-locked to U.S. servers. These players have had the choice of servers, such as Splitpaw (UK). It seems there will be no PvP in Europe, as EU players will not have access to the Nagafen server. Splitpaw players will go back to a single-server Battlegrounds environment, which has never had enough players to field 18 or 24 person events. Some of the most dedicated testers are based in Europe. With this change, European players will be cutoff from the EQ2 Test server. EQ2X (Extended) joined the other EQ2 servers in a unified Free-to-Play setup to avoid “dividing the player base“. This change will do just that. SOE already went down the road of region-locked servers in 2003. At the height of its popularity, SOE licensed EverQuest to Ubisoft for a UK-only server named Venril Sathir. It was unsuccessful and this server was brought back into the U.S. fold in 2005. The last time SOE tried segregated servers was LiveGamer. Two servers (Bazaar, Vox) arbitrarily became RMT-enabled and players were locked in and could not transfer off. This move was extremely unpopular and after a few years, SOE cancelled their contract with LiveGamer, merging these players back to standard servers. Although existing EU players on U.S. servers will be “grandfathered” in, support may be limited/unavailable, and new EU players will not be able to join them. And there is no obligation for SOE to preserve this “grandfathering” forever. Players who have characters on both US and EU servers will now have to pay twice, once to SOE, once to Alaplaya. EU players could lose access to SOE forums if they no longer have active Station accounts but instead Alaplaya accounts. What will players with Station Access (nee All Access Pass) accounts do who have a mixture of characters on games that are included and excluded from the ProSiebenSat.1 deal? What about players who took advantage of StationCash deals and bought up to 1 year of subscription in advance? Some European guilds have players from Russia who have chosen not to restrict themselves to Akella-run servers. What happens to them? Alaplaya/PSS1 is known for poorly-supported, security flaw riddled Korean-style browser MMOs. Not only does Alaplaya have a history of hacked accounts due to poor security, but they’ve done little to resolve the matter. More than a few players have expressed concern at the prospect of dealing with this shady company. SOE just went through a lot of trouble to arrange deals to get StationCash cards into GAME, GameStop, and other UK and European vendors. Was all this effort for naught since ProSiebenSat1 games will use Alaplaya’s own cash shop currency? EU players who choose to play both EQ1 and EQ2 will have to accumulate both StationCash and Alaplaya’s cash shop currency. A number of guilds, including leading raid guilds, depend on drawing from a mixture of players from around the world. There is no large guild in EQ2 that does not have members from different continents. There are a substantial number of Euro guilds located on U.S. servers due to population and/or time zones. UPDATE: It’s been pointed out that Legends of Norrath is not mentioned in any of the ProSiebenSat.1 announcements or FAQs. Will this card game be unavailable in Europe? UPDATE: Alaplaya reserves the right to DELETE accounts and character data (Part 6) after 90 days of inactivity. Will this apply to SOE games? UPDATE: In violation of German and EU privacy laws, Alaplaya publishes the real names on accounts which are past-due. There is no excuse for a worldwide company like Sony which sells products in Europe, Japan, North America, etc. to rely on a two-bit distributor as well as isolating players from each other who have been forming friendships for 7 years. This change will fracture the EQ2 community and not bode well for EQNext. Also… I just have to ask. Region Locking in 2012?" http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/21/break...er-sc-currency/

02-22-2012, 04:49 PM	#902
vallean Loremaster Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 11	I m a french player on STORM and don't want to go to prosieben, i don't want region segregation. SOE you kill Eq2 , my account is canceled i m seeking for another game, but not Sony related.

02-22-2012, 04:49 PM	#903
Helmarf Loremaster Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 237	So the damage is allready done. And the deal was probably done a long time ago and i guess it dosent matter what we say or do here, the question is only when we start to pay and play on prosieben? But for some reason i have a bad feeling that customers in eu will be caught in the middle with prosiebensat on one side and us soe on the other side blaming each other that this problem is not their problem if there should be something. Wonder what will hapend if eq2 in prosiebensat.1 custom will be very popular in a milkcow kinda way?

02-22-2012, 04:56 PM	#905
Meliane Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Paris Posts: 5	After so many years, playing EQ1 since 1999 and EQ2 since open beta, and planning to play to EQnext, I don't want to be a Prosieben customer. I need to know now if you will offer some transfer tokens, and if I settle on a US server could I be able to create characters? If I can't continue to play on US server normally, I will sadly stop to play SOE games and I know a lot of people who will do so. RIP Storms.

02-22-2012, 04:56 PM	#906
Andemon Loremaster Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 155	Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "You guys now know exactly as much as I do. I'm sorry it took so long to get this information out to you. I'll bring the issues you guys have up to the "powers that be", but my job is making games not business development, so I don't have a ton of sway here to be honest." "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." Funny thing about that first post...it was posted within two hours of the announcement. Over here? Just mods and no answers for past 24 hours.

02-22-2012, 04:58 PM	#907
yadlajoi Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 155	I can already see the hype. A new player from eu create a new account. 3 server available.... NOPE. Good job on getting ride of the eu server and still get money for selling your players like they are goods. Seriouy SOE i m impressed

02-22-2012, 05:03 PM	#911
Lempo Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,179	Krinte@The Bazaar wrote: Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." ...and over here? Just mods and no answers. So I guess Smedley is about to work up a deal to segregate the Far east users onto their own server? __________________ All actions have consequences and repercussions. Somewhere in Norrath a guild is about to dissolve.

02-22-2012, 05:06 PM	#912
kalaria Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 121	Lempo@Everfrost wrote: Krinte@The Bazaar wrote: Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." ...and over here? Just mods and no answers. So I guess Smedley is about to work up a deal to segregate the Far east users onto their own server? Actually, there USED to be entirely separate Asian servers as well when the game released... but they were eventually merged into the existing servers (with literally ZERO notification. One day all of a sudden there were just a bunch of players on certain servers with box names and box chat. lol).

02-22-2012, 05:10 PM	#913
Varixx Tarnok Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11	Lempo@Everfrost wrote: Krinte@The Bazaar wrote: Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." ...and over here? Just mods and no answers. So I guess Smedley is about to work up a deal to segregate the Far east users onto their own server? This does set a questionable precedent. Now that SoE has effectively blocked the Euros and NAmericans from each other, what will come next? Will we block the Aussies? The Far East? Maybe the Canadians? Is this going to be like the F2P debacle where there was a separate server for a year before it effected the whole game? ie will Euros on US servers plan on playing where they are, then one day get locked to Pro7Sat1 servers through IP blocks?

02-22-2012, 05:13 PM	#914
OnoremDil Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 35	Krinte@The Bazaar wrote: Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "You guys now know exactly as much as I do. I'm sorry it took so long to get this information out to you. I'll bring the issues you guys have up to the "powers that be", but my job is making games not business development, so I don't have a ton of sway here to be honest." "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." Funny thing about that first post...it was posted within two hours of the announcement. Over here? Just mods and no answers for past 24 hours. It pretty much is that simple. Could a red name cut/paste the blue portion of that quote to post as their own and make us feel like someone whose job isn't simply to delete posts and ban valuable contributors is actually seeing any of this feedback? You ignored the initial thread for over 5 weeks. Surely someone has something to say by now.

02-22-2012, 05:14 PM	#915
A-Dent42 Loremaster Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 56	Armawk@Everfrost wrote: I have no damned idea how this affects me. I live in New Zealand. I have 3 accounts. two of them were bought in the UK as boxes originally. The third was bought digitally from SOE after I moved here. Am I a euro player on 2 accounts and a US player on the other? Do I even exist any more? If I simply ignore prowhatsit and keep paying sony will this have any effect on me at all? Are they simply not going to take money from people whos accounts say 'united kingdom'? Does any of this make sense? Do I even care any more? Good Grief. I guess I am in the same boat and what scares me more is that half the email I receive from Sony is in German the other half English so it appears they really have no idea where we are either. Ah well I survived the NGE I didn't expect to see another from the same company.

02-22-2012, 05:15 PM	#916
Guy De Alsace Loremaster Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: England Posts: 1,902	Lol...I've looked at some gaming websites and feedback and have not seen a single positive post about this, even from unaffected players.

02-22-2012, 05:17 PM	#917
warkid Lord Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 13	i wounder... what would sony do if someone like sky news ect made a story... about the fact SOE have made this change but continue to sell the game without informing new customers.... false advertising

02-22-2012, 05:17 PM	#918
Seffrid Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 583	Having looked into the ProSiebenSat.1 terms of service, I see that not only are they "*entitled* to delete your Account, and with it your personal information, if you go for a period of more than 90 days in a row without using the Services", but that in the event if your having purchased Alaplaya points (APs) they "*will* delete your Account and revoke any remaining APs if you have not used the Services for a period of at least one (1) year". (my bold italics) http://en.alaplaya.net/pages/http:/...-currency/terms I seriously question whether Smed knew about these terms along with the company's open publication of the real names of customers who's payments, for whatever reason, have failed to clear when he decided to sell his loyal European playerbase to these people. Let's hope that someone draws these points to his attention.

02-22-2012, 05:20 PM	#919
dawy Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,373	Krinte@The Bazaar wrote: Meanwhile, on the Planetside forums... Thread up to 36 pages, hardly any postitive comments besides a couple of trolls. No deleted posts and no bans. Creative Director is taking his time to answer questions. "You guys now know exactly as much as I do. I'm sorry it took so long to get this information out to you. I'll bring the issues you guys have up to the "powers that be", but my job is making games not business development, so I don't have a ton of sway here to be honest." "I reached out to John about this tonight. He's off in Japan right now but was aware of the issues that everyone was bringing up (he's on here more often than you guys know about) and wanted to be sure you guys knew we were hearing the feedback and paying attention." Funny thing about that first post...it was posted within two hours of the announcement. Over here? Just mods and no answers for past 24 hours. And to me thats the scandal

02-22-2012, 05:21 PM	#920
Lempo Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,179	warkid wrote: i wounder... what would sony do if someone like sky news ect made a story... about the fact SOE have made this change but continue to sell the game without informing new customers.... false advertising I wonder what you would post if you had a clue as to what you are talking about. __________________ All actions have consequences and repercussions. Somewhere in Norrath a guild is about to dissolve.

02-22-2012, 05:23 PM	#921
SOE-MOD-02 Community Moderator Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 1,001	This post has moved: /eq2/posts/preList.m?topic_id=49996...post_id=5720719 Reposting removed posts is not permitted. Please stay on topic. __________________ \|\| Forum Guidelines \|\| Knowledge Base \|\| Tech Support \|\|

02-22-2012, 05:23 PM	#922
warkid Lord Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 13	Lempo@Everfrost wrote: warkid wrote: i wounder... what would sony do if someone like sky news ect made a story... about the fact SOE have made this change but continue to sell the game without informing new customers.... false advertising I wonder what you would post if you had a clue as to what you are talking about. they are still selling the game to new players after making this deal and selling over EU server.... there for they should stop selling the game and re market it to inform buyers of the new set-up....

02-22-2012, 05:24 PM	#923
lils Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 54	Considering in Germany it's already past 9 pm ... I doubt there are any discussions between those two companies going on still and I really wonder when we will hear anything from SOE about this ... if ever.

02-22-2012, 05:25 PM	#924
Andemon Loremaster Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 155	Seffrid wrote: I seriously question whether Smed knew about these terms along with the company's open publication of the real names of customers who's payments, for whatever reason, have failed to clear when he decided to sell his loyal European playerbase to these people. Let's hope that someone draws these points to his attention. How could he not know that? Alaplaya is infamous for getting hacked and for ruining games. Here's what to expect from the Euro version of EQ2:http://mmohuts.com/editorials/alapl...n-arena-shooter

02-22-2012, 05:25 PM	#925
WeatherMan Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 772	Just logged into Splitpaw (North America resident) with no issues, so whenever the cutoff for Yanks and Canucks on EU servers is, it hasn't happened yet (that, or I was able to log in when I shouldn't have been able to). Due to region, my CC information won't transfer (as I will, administratively, remain an SOE customer). And none of my Splitpaw characters have made it further than the Enchanted Lands, so it isn't as if I have gobs of time invested in any of them. But I'm sorry, this irks me. I do, however, understand why no red names past the moderators have made an appearance. Regardless whether it's their fault or not (and I strongly suspect it is not), they'll be torn to virtual shreds the moment they utter an electronic peep on the forums. And until we know beyond a doubt who is responsible for this ridiculous sellout, we need to be very careful what we say should one of them actually show up and start interacting with us. There's a lot of (justifiable) anger here...I suspect this thread will get into three digits worth of pages, that or finally be shut down, before any sort of point actually gets across. The ink on the contract is dry. The wall is going up. To all our EU brothers and sisters who did not have the fortune to join us on a NA server, we will miss you (and I suspect the ones that were lucky enough, will one day be ushered off of the NA servers, anyways). EU servers will either become ghost towns, or populated with the 'Alaplaya Generation' (and to me, the latter fate seems far more frightening). Your not-insignificant presence will be missed on NA servers as well...we will endure a while longer than you, I am sure...those of us who don't simply cancel and walk away (like my wife plans on doing), that is (I am still debating). But if SOE (not necessarily the devs) gets what it deserves, Crushbone and AB will ultimately fare no better than Splitpaw and Storms. We'll see. __________________ "The graveyards are full of indispensable men." - Charles De Gaulle

02-22-2012, 05:26 PM	#926
stayx Loremaster Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Quynos Harbor Posts: 615	Its a shame to separate european and us players i mean whats wrong with soe to doing this? This is an MMORPG and worldwide i dont know what you are thinking about this change i dont know whats wrong with you... You kill your own game with this changes, you kill the best mmorpg on earth with this changes, i cant believe whats happened. I lost after this change some of my playing friends and i think we search another game to play together, i cancel all my subscriptions and my friends to. __________________

02-22-2012, 05:29 PM	#927
warkid Lord Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 13	is it a perma contract or for say 5 or 10 years ect?

02-22-2012, 05:29 PM	#928
Daalilama Server: Nagafen Guild: Illuminati Rank: Senior Officer Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 437	I see the forum mods doing SOE's dirty work of trying to stifle (I mean clean up) their own feedback thread..... ...Question: WHAT DID SMED KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT! Secondary Question: IS SONY CORPORATE AWARE OF THE PARTICULAR DEATILS OF THIS AGREEMENT OR ONLY THE POTENTIAL $$ WINDFALL? One would gather given the recent PR disaster from the hacking scandal SOE would have made every effort to avoid lighting a fire of disgust under the community?

02-22-2012, 05:30 PM	#929
Moldylocks Loremaster Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 189	The one thing EQ2 had, above all else, was its sense of community. When poo storm after poo storm hit, people stayed because of friends and family relations that were built up over the years. That is the main thread that has always stayed true in this, that it was the strength of community and loyalty that kept people here. Now the game has changed. In fact, you could almost time the shift to, oh..a year and a half ago when the new dog came on board. What the loyal, international customer base saw was a gradual, insidious decline in what EQ2 always was. Even after lies, spin, and a 180 turn on game focus, community loyalty and fans weathered through because they always believed the folks at EQ2, at the end of the day, really had their best interests at heart. I don't think the writing can be any clearer at this point regarding where Smedley and SJ's best interests are anymore. The previous feedback thread went unanswered for almost a month and a half. That in itself was ridiculously unacceptable. Even for SOE's sordid track record of Customer Relations, that raised a new bar for them. And now there is this. All the snake-oil salesman pitches and cheerleading from The Man regarding EQ2's direction, about how they care and blah blah blah has come to a head. They care all right, and I am sure there is a fattened bank account somewhere to show for it. Community? Loyalty? Fans who stuck around through the thick and thin? You have all been sold out to the highest bidder. Our community is shattered now. The only thing SOE understands is $$$. If you keep paying, then you are sending them the message that all of this is a-ok. My account is cancelled and all my CC info is scrubbed off it. No, its NOT ok to be kicked in the teeth like this, and I sure as heck am going to send that message in the only language they seem to understand.

02-22-2012, 05:30 PM	#930
Guy De Alsace Loremaster Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: England Posts: 1,902	UPDATE: In violation of German and EU privacy laws, Alaplaya publishes the real names on accounts which are past-due Lol...anyone who wants an Alaplaya account should check that link. I wouldnt touch that company with barge poles of any length.