Sony Online Entertainment – Page 8

Everquest/Everquest II Becoming Even More Free

Good news, Everquest gamers! You are probably well aware by now that Sony Online Entertainment has announced some pretty big changes to the free/silver membership tiers, particularly with the opening of all classes and races to free/silver tiers. Dave Georgeson has posted a list of updates coming mid-next week, which you can see in this article, that will open features of the game without requiring a subscription or Station cash payments.

We are opening up ALL CLASSES.*
We are opening up ALL RACES. **
All bag slots are unlocked.
All players can now use the shared bank slots.
The quest journal restrictions are lifted entirely. Quest away!
Additionally, EverQuest is allowing all players to send delivery parcels! (This change is for a game-specific change in EQ, so it doesn’t happen in EQII.)
* “All free classes” exception for EQII only: Beastlord is still only accessible via the “Age of Discovery” expansion pack.
** “All free races” exception for EQII only: The Freeblood race is still an SC-only marketplace option.

Georgeson notes that Sony is still committed to membership having perks that are entirely unavailable to free/silver players.

(Source: Everquest)
(Source: Everquest II)

Wizardry Online Compensates For Issues

Wizardry Online is live and, for some at least, kicking. For others, however, their experience has been hampered by technical issues. Sony Online Entertainment has posted a notice that players will be compensated for downtime.

At SOE, we strive to provide the best possible service at all times. Our engineers have been working tirelessly to address the issues and we’re confident that you will have a better experience now. To thank you for your patience, we are applying a 300 Station Cash credit to accounts which have logged in prior to March 7, 2013.

In addition to the 300 Station Cash, subscribers will enjoy an extra seven days of membership, and a 7-Day Dimento Medal, an item which offers several bonuses including 25% exp gain.

(Source: Wizardry Online)

John Smedley Deploys Lawyer-Grade Weaponry To Fight Planetside Cheaters

Sony Online Entertainment has been taking the fight to cheaters in Planetside 2, and the battle has not been an easy one. Whenever the development team comes up with a new way to combat aimbots and other cheats, the people making said cheats simply find a new way to work around the system. So in a post on the Planetside subreddit, John Smedley appeared to clarify a few misconceptions about the policy against cheat users. In addition to the usual discussions of zero tolerance and constant development, Smedley also pointed to Sony’s newest battle tactic: Lawyers.

After having personally viewed some of the major cheat sites I can tell you I’m blown away by how sophisticated some of these operations are. They are making money on this. We’re working on that from another angle too that I’m not going to go into just yet (hint. it involves lawyers) . But we have the resources to fight this fight and we will keep doing it.

Fighting cheat makers in court will be a lengthy and expensive process, but more power to Sony if they are willing to go through with it.

(Source: Reddit)

MMOrning Shots: Everquest Online Adventures

Everquest Online Adventures probably should have been shut down years ago, but Sony Online Entertainment has a habit of refusing to let their games die until the very last minute.

I had a Playstation 2 last year when I was covering Everquest Online Adventures shortly before it shut down. I have no idea what happened to it, but it disappeared.

Wizardry Online Pulled From Steam To Address Issues

Wizardry Online has officially launched, and the problems appear to be stacking against Sony Online Entertainment. Players are reporting issues including being unable to create characters, rampant server instability, a mass of gold farmer spam in chat, disconnections and other bugs resulting in item loss and permanent death, and more. While Sony runs around performing maintenance on the servers and releasing patch after patch in an attempt to fix the issues, several keen players on the forums noted that Wizardry Online has been removed from Steam.

SOE Community Manager Piestro posted to confirm that Wizardry has been removed, but that the removal was voluntary and performed by Sony itself, not Valve.

It wasn’t steam, we’ve removed the download for the time being as we resolve the current issues.

Wizardry Online will presumably be added back to the Steam library once the issues are ironed out.

(Source: Wizardry Forums)

Bullet Run Sunsetting March 8th

Back when I reviewed Bullet Run by Sony Online Entertainment, I noted that while the game was fun, it seriously lacked content. At launch, Bullet Run carried just two game modes (Team deathmatch and Dominion) while at the same time featuring a fully fleshed out cash shop. Bullet Run faced the same problem that many other free to play shooters do: There simply wasn’t enough content. The game itself could be functional and mostly bug free, as well as free itself, but in an era where first person shooters are literally a dime a dozen, and the competing free to play FPS titles have an insane amount of content and have long established their user base, the competition is cut throat.

Whether you put it up to a lack of content, an overbearing cash shop, or some other reason, Bullet Run is coming to an end as of March 8th.

After much review and consideration, Acony Games and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) have mutually made the decision to discontinue development on the free-to-play FPS game, Bullet Run. As a result, SOE and Acony will sunset the game and end all game services for Bullet Run on March 8, 2013. We would like to thank the players for their dedication and support of the game.

As with any other shut down, players will be refunded for any membership extending past February 1st on a prorated level.

(Source: Press Release)

Planetside 2 Roadmap Outlines Six Months

I know what you’re thinking. Given the MMO industry is addicted to launch delays like they are crack, what could possibly be interesting about yet another roadmap being released? Well, Planetside 2’s roadmap (assuming you can convince it to load) is a bit different than those you’ve seen in the past. Released just recently by Sony Online Entertainment, the roadmap reveals the next six months of Planetside 2’s development schedule. The list includes a new continent, adjustments to various skills, new weapons and features to be implemented, and more.

But you’ll also see that the roadmap isn’t just a list of things that are on their way. Rather, they are a list of suggestions by Sony Online Entertainment being proposed to the community. Players are able to vote various features up and down, and while that doesn’t guarantee that they will be included or excluded, it is a way to gauge interest in a feature before the development team goes through all the hard work of actually implementing it. Players are also able to leave comments and suggestions for the developers to read.

Planetside 2 isn’t perfect, but Sony Online Entertainment is dedicated to fixing it up as well as they can.

(Source: Roadmap)

Vanguard Opens Up More Features For Free

What are you thinking about, Vanguard? Why so distant all the time? Reaction to Vanguard’s free to play transition last summer has been rather positive, but at the same time pretty lukewarm, with players noting the very restrictive free to play model that SOE had implemented as the primary reason behind the negativity. Before Vanguard even went free to play, Sony Online Entertainment was already doing patchwork on opening the game up more to free players, and since then the team has been working on fixing bugs, working on content changes, and planning for future updates.

In a post today, Producer Henry Burgess has revealed that both free players and members will receive a boost in Vanguard:

We have decided to expand and improve on the free- to-play offering for Vanguard. That means everyone can play any race, any class, to any level for free. You can also own a house, create guilds, and do a bunch of other things.

Free players will have full access to all of the game’s races and classes, as well as enjoying an unlimited gold purse and the game’s 50 active-quest limit. Free players will be able to have four bag slots, normal broker fees, 75 bank slots (compared to 25), as well as full access to caravans, brotherhoods, the ability to create a guild, and the ability to own a house. Members will enjoy a boost of 50% bonus experience, 12 character slots, double faction gains, a 10% discount at the marketplace, 20% discounted broker fees, two houses (20% discount on upkeep), 20% discounted mail fees, and a 20% discount on most other fees in-game. All of this with the other features members are already accustomed to (500 Station cash, customer support, etc).

(Source: Vanguard)

Wizardry Online Launching January 16th

Boy how the time flies. It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about Wizardry Online being a blip on the horizon and now the game is in open beta and preparing for launch. In an email sent out to beta members and SOE members alike, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that the beta servers for Wizardry Online will shut down on January 14th. Two days later, on January 16th, the game will officially go live.

I think this goes without saying, but considering Wizardry Online is a game with player vs player combat, full loot, and the distinct possibility of perma-death, I can only give one warning: Be cautious on launch day. PvP combat will make certain zones a death trap for new players, while the inevitable server lag and outages will be a pain when you throw perma-death into the mix.

Come Back To DC Universe Until January 16th

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Sony Online Entertainment has an early Christmas/Holiday present for you, well as long as you are an ex-subscriber. Over the past year, DC Universe Online has added in three DLC packs, 14 game updates, with another DLC pack (Home Turf, containing player housing) on the way. So to celebrate the holidays, Sony is offering a free month of Legendary membership to anyone who has had an active subscription between January 11, 2011 and December 10, 2012.

The offer does not extend to current subscribers.

(Source: DC Universe)

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