Sony: So Much For A Final Warning


Cheaters have a high rate of recidivism, especially when punishment is lax and not at all intimidating. Earlier this month, Sony unveiled a final warning on their forums, for cheaters to give up and play legitimately, or pack up and go home. Today, the developer announced that 700 accounts have been suspended as a first warning.

Remember that these suspensions are merely the first wave, and further action is on the horizon. We will not rest, but will instead continue to gather data and take action as necessary on behalf of the entire player base.

An unspecified number of players were discovered to have been flagged mistakenly and had their suspension removed with a small time credit to their account (one week according to a couple of users on the forums). Hopefully the suspension will be taken seriously by those involved.

(Source: Everquest forums)

Aion Free To Play In February…For Europe.


Considering the other titles lately to make the transition, an announcement of free to play from NCSoft or Sony Online Entertainment might be welcoming, but hardly surprising. Over in Europe, NCSoft announced that Aion will be undergoing a change in publisher, to Gameforge, who will be taking care of transitioning the European service, and its community, to a new free to play model. Starting in February 2012, players will be able to enjoy everything* that Aion has to offer for no fee.

In order to combat gold farming, “starter” accounts will be limited to two characters and have limitations from certain chat channels and private trading. Former subscribers will have access to almost everything, sans the increased instance cooldown and limited fortress siege rewards. You can read everything at the F2P matrix. Otherwise, NCsoft continues what has started as a rather generous program for free players, offering everything but the kitchen sink to anyone willing to sign up an account.

This does not affect the North American servers, and there are currently no announced plans to bring such a transition to the states.

(Source: Eurogamer)

(Additional: Free to play matrix)

Square Enix Members Hacked:


[Update] Square Enix has confirmed that no member information was stolen.

 As a result of our continuing investigation, we have now confirmed that the database in which we store personal information was NOT accessed during the recent server intrusion. Therefore, your personal information was NOT compromised by an unknown third party.

Square-Enix is planning to restart the Square Enix Members service by the end of December. Details of the schedule will be announced at a later date.

We deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused our customers and fans, and appreciate your patience.

Square Enix has taken down its Members service while it investigates a security breach, in order to assess just what may have been taken and what damage has been done. In a message posted on the website, Square confirms that while usernames and passwords may have been taken, “there is no possibility of any credit card leak from this incident, since the server in question stores no credit card information.”

We have reason to believe that unknown parties may have gained unauthorized access to a particular Square Enix server related to the free SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS service offered in North America and Japan. In response, Square Enix, Inc. has temporarily suspended operation of the SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS service starting at 10PM (PST) on December 12, 2011.

There is no information at this time that Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV players have anything to worry about, although I would still recommend changing your passwords on your respective games.

Play Richard Garriot's MMO While It Is Developed…


There are a select few articles here on MMO Fallout that garner attention after, say, six months of their publishing. It’s been ten months since I published the article about Second Star Interactive, a new development studio formed out arguably the greater minds of Ultima Online, Warhammer, and Dark Age of Camelot, and that article is still on the traffic radar. The comments on the article are just a small portion of the attention that my article brought in, and my tease about three factions and full pvp cause more than one urinary incident among fans.

Daoc 2? OMG i got the shivers

I already have my 50 bucks buried in a coffee can, counting the seconds until this happens…

SO longing DAOC2 or summat like it. I almost started to cry

Richard Garriot is talking to Electronic Arts about a relationship to create a spiritual successor to Ultima Online, as mentioned in a Eurogamer article today. Whether or not that deal is struck will place little sway on the direction of this MMO, however, as Garriot points out:

“I actually think it’s time to move on from that regardless, so even if we were to have access to the properties of my historical work, I don’t think I would change my current plans. I’m very confident of the current plans as the right way to evolve my creation, regardless.”

The interview reveals a number of details regarding Ultimate RPG:

  • Fantasy setting, although likely intertwined with science fiction.
  • Will likely preserve Ultima’s isometric view.
  • Ultimate RPG will be free to play.
  • Plans to make the game accessible via browser, client, iOS, and Android.
  • Target release date is 2012, 2013 (one of those two, says Garriot).
  • Ultimate RPG will take advantage of social media.
  • There are 25 people working at Portalarium (Garriot’s company)

Tantalizing readers even further, Garriot goes on to reveal that the game will be released closer to a Minecraft style format, allowing people to play as the game is developed.

“As soon as we have a viable game, we will immediately get it into players’ hands so that they can be a part of that creation process.”

(Source: Eurogamer)

Play Richard Garriot’s MMO While It Is Developed…


There are a select few articles here on MMO Fallout that garner attention after, say, six months of their publishing. It’s been ten months since I published the article about Second Star Interactive, a new development studio formed out arguably the greater minds of Ultima Online, Warhammer, and Dark Age of Camelot, and that article is still on the traffic radar. The comments on the article are just a small portion of the attention that my article brought in, and my tease about three factions and full pvp cause more than one urinary incident among fans.

Daoc 2? OMG i got the shivers

I already have my 50 bucks buried in a coffee can, counting the seconds until this happens…

SO longing DAOC2 or summat like it. I almost started to cry

Richard Garriot is talking to Electronic Arts about a relationship to create a spiritual successor to Ultima Online, as mentioned in a Eurogamer article today. Whether or not that deal is struck will place little sway on the direction of this MMO, however, as Garriot points out:

“I actually think it’s time to move on from that regardless, so even if we were to have access to the properties of my historical work, I don’t think I would change my current plans. I’m very confident of the current plans as the right way to evolve my creation, regardless.”

The interview reveals a number of details regarding Ultimate RPG:

  • Fantasy setting, although likely intertwined with science fiction.
  • Will likely preserve Ultima’s isometric view.
  • Ultimate RPG will be free to play.
  • Plans to make the game accessible via browser, client, iOS, and Android.
  • Target release date is 2012, 2013 (one of those two, says Garriot).
  • Ultimate RPG will take advantage of social media.
  • There are 25 people working at Portalarium (Garriot’s company)

Tantalizing readers even further, Garriot goes on to reveal that the game will be released closer to a Minecraft style format, allowing people to play as the game is developed.

“As soon as we have a viable game, we will immediately get it into players’ hands so that they can be a part of that creation process.”

(Source: Eurogamer)

Veteran Rewards For Free Players? Sony Breaks The Rules


If 2011 is any indication, Sony Online Entertainment has been working hard to keep their players in good faith and put the old Sony (the one that would fundamentally alter a game years after release) behind them, even if it means busting the norms of free to play conversions. Everquest 2 players are already aware of Sony’s offer to activate any existing characters for free, refunding race/class packs that were purchased over the past two days.

To sweeten the deal even more, Sony announces their next treat with a question: Why should veteran rewards be available only for subscribers? After all, players may not subscribe but they might spend money in the cash shop as a silver member. So beginning December 9th, all Everquest II players will enjoy veteran rewards based on the date of their account creation.

(source: EQ2 Forums)

Warhammer Online: Too Far Gone For Free To Play?


Back in October, VP of Bioware Mythic Eugene Evans told us that Warhammer Online is alive and kicking and, much like the Christmas cookies in the closet in July, remains an undiscovered treat. In fact, Evans was confident enough in Warhammer’s future to announce that subscription numbers had risen since the announcement of WAR’s free to play half-brother Wrath of Heroes, and that Mythic has absolutely no plans to take the game free.

In a move to increase server population, Mythic announced that players on the Gorfang and Karak Azgal servers will need to transfer to Badlands and Karak Norn respectively. Starting December 14th, the transition will be optional for three weeks before the aforementioned servers (Gorfant/Azgal) are marked as legacy servers and shut down.

The game play experience of our customers is something we highly value.  We don’t make changes like this lightly.  A lot of metrics and analysis accompanies this type of decision. We feel that these changes will help to ensure that server options continue to facilitate that best RvR experience out there.  Thanks for playing and see you on the battlefield!

This move leaves North America and UK players with one server to choose from each, and at least this writer wondering: Is Warhammer too far gone to go free to play? Playing devil’s advocate, an easy comparison can be made to Lineage II, of which I personally anticipated the game to shut down around the time NCWest had shuttered all but a single remaining server in North America.

We know from past interviews with Derek Smart and Stephen Calender that the process of moving an MMO to a free to play model is immensely time consuming and expensive for the developer, and occasionally a better business option to just shut down rather than invest the money without a clear indication of what revenue can be brought in.

One thing I can say for certain is that Electronic Arts is going to drag Warhammer Online until the product is no longer financially viable, and then probably continue running the game after that. The early bankruptcy of Realtime Worlds and the performance of Warhammer Online has dealt a great deal of damage to Electronic Arts’ relations with their investors, so much so that Gamasutra ran an article that investors were turning down The Old Republic out of fears of similar performance and support.

As for shutting down, Warhammer Online will not be shut down until The Old Republic is in the clear and bringing in so much money that the investors don’t even notice WAR die in the corner as its once loving parents now spend their time fawning over their new baby that looks a bit like the old one, but with cuter dimples.

Sony Grandfathers In Existing Everquest II Characters


Good news, everyone! Back when Sony Online Entertainment announced that the two Everquest II services would be merged, players were left wondering how extra characters would be dealt with once the slot restriction went into effect. For players with accounts on both services, which characters would be available and which would be locked? What if a player stopped subscribing? If your character is created after December 6th, you’re out of luck. However, Dave Georgesson announced that existing characters (created before 12/6) will not be subject to race/class locks, even if the account is silver.

*Every* character that was created before 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am will be grandfathered in without race or class restriction. This means that regardless of your membership level, you will be able to play any character created before 12/6 without paying for race- or class-pack unlocks.

A welcome announcement for returning Everquest II players. In addition, if you spent Station Cash on race/class packs after the free to play transition, but before the announcement above (12/8), Sony will be offering refunds for your purchase.

(Source: EQII Forums)

Everquest II's Free To Play Meets Minor Delay


Everquest II: Age of Discovery is the eight expansion in a growing list for Everquest II, and also marks a rather substantial undertaking for Sony Online Entertainment. Yesterday, servers for both Everquest II and Everquest II Extended were brought down in preparation for a merger of the two games into one free to play service, to coincide with the release of a brand new expansion pack and a fully revitalized city of Freeport. Needless to say, the twelve hour window offered by Sony was not enough, and technical difficulties have delayed implementation well past the twenty four hour mark.

The servers won’t be up until 10am PST (estimated) or 1pm EST, but until then players can still make time by ensuring their launcher is updated and downloading the updates Sony has made available so far.

Everquest II’s Free To Play Meets Minor Delay


Everquest II: Age of Discovery is the eight expansion in a growing list for Everquest II, and also marks a rather substantial undertaking for Sony Online Entertainment. Yesterday, servers for both Everquest II and Everquest II Extended were brought down in preparation for a merger of the two games into one free to play service, to coincide with the release of a brand new expansion pack and a fully revitalized city of Freeport. Needless to say, the twelve hour window offered by Sony was not enough, and technical difficulties have delayed implementation well past the twenty four hour mark.

The servers won’t be up until 10am PST (estimated) or 1pm EST, but until then players can still make time by ensuring their launcher is updated and downloading the updates Sony has made available so far.