Tag: Sony Online Entertainment

Stream Of Thoughts: Everquest Online Adventures


I’ve never had an opportunity to play Everquest Online Adventures on the Playstation 2. Released in 2003, Everquest Online Adventures was one of the first MMOs to hit the consoles, and reportedly still has a rather healthy community to this day. For the fact that the game hasn’t been sold in brick and mortar stores for years, it still manages to get by with a subscription and minimal updates.

[This article is ongoing, and will be updated as I play]

4:30: That’s enough for today, I have to get to an evening class.

4:25: I prefer to play with the controller over the keyboard. It keeps me from talking to other people, or at least it would if there were any other people.

4:16: Everquest Allakhazam says I need to be level 10 for the next quest.

4:15: Did I say level 13? I meant level 8.

4:13: I am level 8.

4:06: False alarm. Adessa is sending me to Logger Kripps to convince him that the monster is dead.

4:05: Guess I don’t have to go to Logger Kripps after the quest, I have to go to Adessa.

3:57: I have a thousand monies, my wallet has outleveled my ability to equip anything that the vendors have to offer.

3:52: Only in Everquest can the same NPC that killed me with three quarters of its health left be completely demolished the next.

3:50: I killed the rat and I’m heading back to the Logger to turn in the quest. How many other MMOs can boast 40 minutes for a quest that runs down to killing a single rat? None, that’s how many.

3:25: The usual ritual while I wait for half of my health bar to recover. Laundry, quick trip to Greece, etc.

3:20: The rat despawned. Turns out he respawned in an area filled with other monsters I can kill even less.

3:05: I never get tired of the old Everquest model of placing aggressive over-leveled mobs right next to the ones I need to kill.

3:04: Still working on grinding up to kill that giant rat.

2:45: Turns out I should look before I laugh. Guard screams about monster, turns out it’s just a rat. It killed me anyway.

3/6: 2:44: I’m playing again. Still level 7 warrior, working on a quest to find a guard.

Continue reading “Stream Of Thoughts: Everquest Online Adventures”

Did ProSiebenSat.1 Accidentally Leak Vanguard Free To Play?


Color me interested. For at least a year now, Sony has slowly escalated the slow moving striptease that is the prospect of a free to play Vanguard. John Smedley has made comments of the Vanguard team hiring new staff, who have begun patching the game and even adding in an updated new player experience, and back in November a user tweeted to John Smedley: “how about making vanguard saga of Heroes ftp… If not just kill the game already,” to which Mr. Smedley responded “stay tuned.”

Sony’s ongoing fiasco with Alaplaya over European hosting may have accidentally produced some juicy tidbits of information. In an IRC discussion, the community manager for Alaplaya may have accidentally let slip that Vanguard is heading free to play:

With the launch of DC Universe, we will introduce a new in-game currency that is similar to StationCash. It will not be Alaplaya Points. Your Station cash will be converted to our currency and you will be able to use it with EQ2 and Vanguard.

Granted, this could just be a misunderstanding. Vanguard isn’t even listed as one of the games set to transition to Alaplaya.

(Source: EQ2Wire)

Cleanup In Aisle 5! SOE Community Explodes In Response To Europe Deal


In the land of MMOs, few have ginned up more controversy than Sony Online Entertainment. Sony announced that they would be partnering with Alaplaya, gaming division of ProSiebenSat.1 to publish most of Sony’s MMOs in Europe, transitioning European players off of Sony’s account system and on to PSS. The deal has an astounding laundry list of negative impacts on both the North American and European communities which you can read here at EQ2Wire, and the drama only increased when allegations arose that PSS once had a policy of publishing personal details of its customers, and how Alaplaya’s current library is mostly filled with cheap free to play Korean grinders with pay-to-win cash shops, servers riddled with exploits and gold farmers, and mostly absent GMs.

The community has exploded over this news, and the forums were set ablaze by angry customers resulting in numerous posts deleted and users banned for “excessive negativity,” including Morgan Feldon of EQ2Wire. Sony has been mostly silent, saying little more than that the deal is not a done deal and nothing is set in stone yet, while ProSiebenSat has set up a forum and has been talking to users about specific complaints.

There will surely be more information on this as it appears.

Everquest Mac Accidentally Diagnosed As Dead


How much does John Smedley love you? Enough that, earlier tonight, he posted this on Twitter:

Ok EQ Mac Players. You are a wonderful group of players. We will leave it running with no changes or subscription fees. Details soon.

Sony announced with sorrow last month that Everquest Mac would come to an end on March 29th. Players mourned the loss of what many play for the experience of a “near classic” Everquest, what with EQMac still being based in the Planes of Power (4th expansion, 2002).

Additional details will no doubt come this week or next, but it is reassuring to see the game being run with no changes or subscription fees.

(Source: John Smedley Twitter)

Sony Shuttering Everquest On Mac


Everquest on Mac is interesting, to say the least. Almost like Everquest Online Adventures, Everquest Macintosh is a rather different game than Everquest on Windows. Released in 2003, EQMac lost pace with Everquest’s development a long time ago, leaving it very far behind in terms of development. But even without the same level of support as standard Everquest, the servers have gathered a rather close community of players, not to mention regular events with Sony staff. So, naturally, more than a few hearts will be broken with the announcement that Everquest Mac will be shutting down in March.

On Thursday, March 29, 2012, the Al’Kabor server and the EverQuest: Macintosh Edition will be closing. EverQuest: Macintosh Edition has had a wonderful run, seeing an incredible tightly-knit community band together to accomplish feats of heroism that remain unsurpassed in the annals of MMORPGs. Overcoming the challenges of the Planes of Power in their near original form is not a task for those who are not dedicated to victory, and we here at SOE are in awe of your dedication and commitment.

As far as compensation goes, Sony is going as far as sending a check by mail if you paid far in advance via SOE game cards or other retail cards.

We will stop all billing for EverQuest: Macintosh Edition on January 31, 2012. For players who have purchased prepaid time via a membership/subscription plan, SOE Game Card or other retail game card that extends the subscription period past January 30, 2012, SOE will provide a pro-rated refund for the time left on the subscription after that date. If a valid credit card is active on your account, any refund will be applied to such credit card. If your account is paid via an SOE Game Card or other retail game card, we will send a check in the refund amount to your current billing address within 90 days after the game ends. Please be sure to update your email and mailing address in your Station Account as this may be critical to the refund process.

It’s always disappointing to see a game shut down, especially in cases like this where only a specific section of the community is being cut off.

(Source: Everquest Forums)

Everquest Officially Free to Play in March


Someone call my doctor, nutritionist, and accountant, and find me enough provisions to last until I die. With Sony’s multitude of announcements over free to play, the titles have been falling like dominos. Everquest 2, Planetside 2, DC Universe, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and the possibility of Vanguard at some point, the idea that Everquest might go free to play is both exciting and unsurprising at the same time. So, behold! Everquest is moving free to play in March.

So what can I expect for free, you ask patiently. Everything, well mostly. Everquest is following a similar tier of payment to its predecessors. Tiers are divided between free, silver (past subscribers and gold subscribers. Free players have access to all content up to the seventeenth expansion (House of Thule) with Veil of Alaris purchasable. Free players are restricted to Human, Erudite, Barbarian, and Gnome races, as well as warrior, cleric, wizard, and rogue classes, with the rest purchasable. Free and silver members are also restricted to rank 1 spells, among a few other restrictions you might expect. Bag slots, mail and chat, guild, coin purse, quest limit, etc.

you can find the whole matrix here, there is really too much to discuss here.

More on the transition as it appears.

Playstation Network Down (For Most) For Most of Today


If you plan on doing anything that requires logging into Playstation Network, you have approximately ten minutes (until 11am eastern) to do so, otherwise you will be locked out for thirteen hours until tonight. Sony is conducting routine maintenance on the PSN servers, meaning during this time players will be unable to sign into the service in order to access the Playstation store, account management, and Playstation Home.

This also means being unable to sign into Playstation Network to access your games online. To the best of my understanding, however, if you are signed in before the deadline, you will still be able to play multiplayer games, so make sure you do so in the next seven minutes (I’m going to waste half of that time writing this article). This includes, of course, Free Realms, DC Universe, and Massive Action Game.

Any trophy you receive during the off time will sync when the servers come back up, as normal.

DC Universe Introduces Crafting!


I love combat as much as the next person, but any MMO needs things to do in the off time between snapping Batman’s spine or turning The Joker into kebabs with your mighty blades of glory. So crafting in DC Universe has been a long time coming, oft talked about but not in much detail since the game launched last year. The update, going live today, allows players to gather blue prints and materials throughout the world, and use them to create new equipment mods and consumables.

(Source: DC Universe)

John Smedley’s Twitter: Everquest II Free To Play Statistics


John Smedley strikes me as a guy who likes to display his company’s achievements. After all, who can blame him? Sony Online Entertainment has one of the most dedicated group of jaded gamers than any other company, so the opportunity to throw your achievements in their face is one that should be taken at any opportunity. Everquest II went fully free to play in December, and John Smedley is ready to give some figures. Through Twitter!

We are seeing some amazing growth in EQ2. 40% increase in daily logins since going f2p. 300% increase in new players. And 200% increase in Item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market.

The only thing this announcement is missing is Neil Patrick Harris.

John Smedley's Twitter: Everquest II Free To Play Statistics


John Smedley strikes me as a guy who likes to display his company’s achievements. After all, who can blame him? Sony Online Entertainment has one of the most dedicated group of jaded gamers than any other company, so the opportunity to throw your achievements in their face is one that should be taken at any opportunity. Everquest II went fully free to play in December, and John Smedley is ready to give some figures. Through Twitter!

We are seeing some amazing growth in EQ2. 40% increase in daily logins since going f2p. 300% increase in new players. And 200% increase in Item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market.

The only thing this announcement is missing is Neil Patrick Harris.