3rd May Update: We now have the following Press Release.:
Tokyo, May 3, 2011 – Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that their ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE, the company) systems revealed yesterday morning (May 2, Tokyo time) that hackers may have stolen SOE customer information on April 16th and 17th, 2011 (PDT). SOE is based in San Diego, California, U.S.A.
This information, which was discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems, showed that personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007. The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.
With the current outage of the PlayStation® Network and Qriocity™ services and the ongoing investigation into the recent attacks, SOE had also undertaken an intensive investigation into its system. Upon discovery of this additional information, the company promptly shut down all servers related to SOE services while continuing to review and upgrade all of its online security systems in the face of these unprecedented cyber-attacks.
On May 1, Sony apologized to its customers for the inconvenience caused by its network services outages. The company is working with the FBI and continuing its own full investigation while working to restore all services.
Sony is making this disclosure as quickly as possible after the discovery of the theft, and the company has posted information on its website and will send e-mails to all consumers whose data may have been stolen.
The personal information of the approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts that was illegally obtained, to the extent it had been provided to SOE, is as follows:
name
address
e-mail address
birthdate
gender
phone number
login name
hashed password.
In addition to the information above, the 10,700 direct debit records from accounts in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, include:
bank account number
customer name
account name
customer address.
SOE will grant customers 30 days of additional time on their subscriptions, in addition to compensating them one day for each day the system is down. It is also in the process of outlining a “make good” plan for its PlayStation®3 MMOs (DC Universe Online and Free Realms). More information will be released this week.
Additionally, the company is committed to helping its customers protect their personal data and will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in each region.
It’s grating that non-US credit card details were being kept on a substandard database. Any compensation package is appreciated, of course, but I’d much rather just have a secure environment for my data, and that had better be what we end up with by the end of this. We had previously been told that SOE’s data had not been affected by the break in. What this means is that the hackers have had our information for two weeks already.
This whole business is incredibly unfair on the game development teams, have pretty nothing to do with any of what has gone wrong.
2nd May:
We don’t have any information other than the following:
We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday).
If you’re still in game you’re alright for now, but nobody can log in, and I’d advise against trying to change character.
Maltheas bounced down the stairs of his home, looking forward to a fine day of adventure and good deeds of the exciting variety!
Cheeves: Good morning Sir. I trust you slept soundly. I must apologise that your breakfast is not quite ready. I fear I was delayed by a rather obtuse postal deliveryman, who was unwilling to allow me to sign for your “book of the month club” tome. A small tip settled his concerns, rather than disturb Sir early, but it did throw our routine out by several minutes.
Maltheas: It YOUR routine Cheeves! I not mind when you makes me the breakfasts! I’s not even ever eatings breakfasts before you’s got heres!
Cheeves: It is the most important meal of the day, Sir, or so I have been reliably informed. And a well run household is like clockwork, with each task taking place at its appointed time. I am, however, most gratified that you are willing to overlook any discrepancies, though I shall nevertheless strive to do better.
Maltheas: I was just rememberings! I’s not in a book of the month club! Is yous sure it not my’s cheese of the months?
Cheeves: I considered that, Sir, and I took the liberty of unwrapping it, just in case, so as to avoid another episode of finding it under your correspondence in three months time. It is definitely a small book, Sir, accompanied by a letter.
Maltheas: It was still tasties. But enoughs of the happy cheesethoughts. Lets be solving this mysteries!
Taking the letter from Cheeves, Maltheas scanned it briefly. The change over him was sudden, catching his butler quite by surprise, as Maltheas turned to him with a piercing look, and spoke sharply in perfect Tier’dal. This was not a time to be muddling through in Common.
Maltheas: Did you read this?
Cheeves: No. No, Sir. I could not even begin to tell you what language it is written in. I have never seen anything quite…
Maltheas: Good. Pass me the book also, if you please. Breakfast will have to wait, though I will take some coffee in the study shortly.
Cheeves: Very good, Sir…. Ah, Sir… It’s not my place to ask, but is anything wrong?
Maltheas: I don’t know yet. But good news seldom comes from Freeport.
And with that, Maltheas turned up the stairs to the landing that leads to his library, leaving a shaken Coldain in his wake. Shaken or not, he set off towards the kitchen.
Maltheas settled down into his favourite chair, the one that had been carved from a giant acorn by wood elf artisans. They would probably frown if they saw how Maltheas had absent-mindedly nibbled on the edges of it. He was relieved that Cheeves had not been able to read the letter, as it was likely that the sender would expect him to take drastic measures to preserve it’s secrecy. Of course, Maltheas had no intention of killing anyone over a letter, let alone loyal Cheeves, but it would have been awkward. The secrets of the Ratonga are still such because the Ratonga take their secrets very seriously indeed.
The letter was in a written form of Ratongan. Maltheas settled down to read, his brow as furrowed as that as any slighted artisan.
Maltheas Shadowsqueak of the Celestial Watch,
May your whiskers never cease to shine,
We felt that you should be forewarned of certain events which shall soon occur. Your work, and that of our other kin who received special dispensation to remain in Qeynos, has reached fruition. As you know, there have long been members of the Council of Qeynos who oppose our presence, out of superstition or prejudice, and sometimes even less forgiveable motivations. The recent changes in the Council makeup have worked in our favour, and we understand that Queen Antonia over-ruled the objections of the remaining holdouts. She has come to understand that we are not the enemy of any who does not force that upon us, seeing the truths that the Ratonga of Qeynos have shown to her. In particular, we suspect that she was moved when it was a Ratonga who rescued her, when her trusted Kerran bodyguard became possessed by her ancestor.
Don't worries, Murrar Shar fans! He still breathings!
In this coming month, expect a pronouncement which will grant Ratonga the same residency rights as humans. We have many in place awaiting this, and they will arrive soon after. Please give them any and all assistance you can in acclimatising them, and helping them find their feet.
It will not initially be popular with the citizenry, but we are confident that the Qeynos Guard will uphold her decision, and that our kind will be free to safely travel within Qeynos, and make our homes there. In time, the public will get used to us, when they discover that not only do we not give them the plague, but we actually craft, eat, and spend coin like anybody else.
Qeynos has come to its senses not a moment too soon. A dark procession of dreams have come to our nightseers. That which we have long dreaded is upon us, though I don’t imagine a child of your mother needs to be told.
A common-tongue translation of the book which accompanies this letter is to be printed in large quantities, and delivered to booksellers across Norrath. In the past we tried to convince the leaders of the great cities of the threat of our dread cousins, but perhaps if we spread the knowledge widely enough, it will find enough powerful open minds for us to find the allies we need. In particular, we would like you to ensure that Al’Kabor receives a copy, as we understand that he has taken a great interest in the prophecies of Age’s End, and that you assisted him in some capacity.
Maltheas recently assisting Al'Kabor with his research.
I know you will do everything within your power. Try not to get yourself killed. Your mother worries. She’s well, by the way. Perhaps she’ll be able to pay you a visit soon, if all goes to plan!
Thaliath Glimmerstep, 3rd Whisker of the Freeport Gathering
Panic averted, Maltheas opened the book. Titled “Out of Necessity”, it told the tale of how the Ratonga came to the surface, and ended up in Freeport. It would be a great relief to no longer have to keep those particular secrets. Perhaps, Maltheas hoped, some of the more suspicious Qeynos residents might finally end their rudeness.
Out of Necessity
The quaking had stopped. those of us that were left took stock as well as we could, searching for survivors, and trying to regroup. It wasn’t enough that we were still hunted by those that branded us as traitors, now we had to contend with the terrible aftermath of the apocalyptic shaking. however, we had survived the wrath of our creator, and near genocide of our horrendous cousins – we were determined to survive this as well.
There was an unexpected benefit to the mighty earthquakes, which we only discovered later. Cracks had emerged in the Underfoot, which opened to a new, mysterious place. Those that went through first and returned told stories of a world outside of the tunnels, brilliantly bright, covered in new creatures and green plant life. It was daunting to imagine a place like that, but we recognised it as something important. It was a place to escape those that pursued us.
The light was blinding, and hot on our fur. the air was crisp, and full of smells we had never experienced before. It was open and spacious, which is something that none of us were used to – it was hard not to feel exposed and vulnerable without the walls of the tunnels around us. It was difficult to get used to being outside like this, but we were quickly able to adapt, moving through the shadows to keep from being seen.
They were surprised to find civilisations living in this new environment, and we took some time to observe them. The seemed industrious, and even though their cities were devastated, they banded together and began to rebuild. there were some unique individuals amongst them, more powerful than the rest, who adventured through the world, and possessed impressive power.
We knew the Roekillik would stop at nothing to exterminate us, and ensure that their Dark Agenda would come to pass. If there was any hope to stop them, we would need to employ powerful agents to stand against their plan, and these surface dwellers seemed to have the potential that might be needed. After debates amongst ourselves, we decided to approach them with our warning.
We chose the city of Qeynos first. The people there seemed just and fair, and we believed they might be welcoming. a few of us were selected to emerge and speak with the people there. too our horror, we were very far off in our assessment of their nature. We were viewed as vermin, accused of being disease-infested, of sneaking about in the sewers, stealing what little food the city had. some even attacked us outright. It was clear that we were not welcome.
It was a long trek to the city of Freeport, the only other standing city we were able to find. It was more militaristic, being run under the direction of a single leader as opposed to a cooperative. some of us were wary about speaking with these people, as if we were rejected once again, we might find ourselves once again under the sword of an oppressor. However, we reasoned it wasn’t necessary to impress the population as much as it was to impress the one in charge.
A few of us were able to bypass the cities’ defences and enter the chambers of the leader himself. At first, he was quite angry that we intruded and ordered our emissaries imprisoned. After torturous days in the prisons of Freeport, an offer was made to our fellows. the leader, while upset, was still impressed that we were able to bypass his security so easily. If we were to swear loyalty to him and become scouts for the city, he would spare us and allow us entry.
We attempted, at this point, to explain the danger possessed by the Roekillik, but the leadership of the city was uninterested in our warnings. Perhaps it was the immediacy of their current problems, or their own arrogance, but all we said fell on deaf ears. In the end, it was advantageous for us to remain here. Freeport offered protection and a home, and if the Roekillik were to emerge, they would make a suitable buffer between us and our ancient enemies.
Thus, we came to reside within the city…for now at least. There might come a time when the Roekillik return, and we must choose to flee, or try to rally the races of Norrath to stop them and their Dark Agenda. We continue to hope that day never comes.
Cheeves: Your coffee, Sir. I hope all is well.
Maltheas: It is!!! But we is having much work to be doings! Cheeves, please prepares for guests! Lots and lots of guests!
“Out of Necessity” will be sold on the city sages from Game Update 60. At the same time, Ratongans will officially become a neutral race (or rather, they always were, but now Qeynos will stop being mean), and be able to start in the good cities. Huzzah!
Turbine announced today that it will be expanding its global operations and will assume full control of The Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO) in Europe beginning June 1, 2011. As part of this transition, Codemasters Online will continue to operate the European LOTRO service until June 1st when the existing European players will begin the migration to Turbine’s global service. For more information on the transition, please visit http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews/1157.
“We are working very closely with our partner Codemasters Online to facilitate a smooth transition to our new global service. We will be providing free account transfers to our new global service and players will be notified when the transfer utility is available,†said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “We thank Codemasters for the outstanding job they have done publishing and operating LOTRO and we look forward to continuing to deliver one of the world’s best online entertainment experiences to the gamers of Europe.â€
“After 4 years of successful publishing and operations we are proud to be handing over a vibrant and healthy service to Turbine,†said David Solari, Vice President and General Manager of Codemasters Online. â€I’d like to thank our many customers over the years for their commitment and look forward to bringing more service-based entertainment to them in the future.â€
It’s a shock because when the DDO server merger announcement was made, LotRO players were understandably concerned the same might be happening to them. The impression that we got was that this was not going to be happening any time soon, if ever, and that Codemaster’s contract still had many years yet to run. Perhaps both parties came to an agreement to cut it short.
I spend a lot of time wondering what’s going on in the minds of EQ2 producers. They are beings of awesome power, but frequently indecipherable motives. But what if a common player could get a taste of that power, just for one day? What wonders might be wrought upon the world?
There’s a limit to what you can get done in a day, even with the might of the EQ2 Dev team behind you, so I’m going to limit myself to what I think would be reasonably quick jobs that someone could do in a day or less.
1. Fix Heritage Quest rewards.
This should be a pretty quick one, seeing as there’s really not that many items to worry about. Heritage quest rewards are supposed to be amongst the best gear for their level, but the older ones have fallen behind further with each update. Not only that, but stat-simplification has rendered some of them utterly useless other than as furniture.
Take the Dwarven Ringmail Tunic. This is the lowest level HQ, and gives a quite nice chainmail top, with strength and stamina. However, strength is entirely useless to any chainwearing class now, who want either wisdom or agility. That’s not putting our best foot forward for new players on their first HQ. So, I’d go through all the rewards and make sure that their stats make sense under the new regime, increasing their power where appropriate, to at least bring them in to line with modern Legendary gear.
For extra credit, make sure that the level 20 Qeynos and Freeport class armour quests, and the Blood Iron class-set recipes from Deathfist are also suitable for their intended classes. Currently they are frequently not.
2. Restore Removed Quests
At some point in the first year, as my memory serves, a large number of quests were removed from Qeynos and Freeport. These were high quality content, complete with voice-overs. Apparently players were “confused” by having so many options. Pffft. Any that would work correctly out of the box should just be turned back on. The NPCs are still hanging around for the most part anyway. Some might require a little bit of tweaking to work with the current zone populations. We’ve got a day. Get done what you can, going for the easy ones first. Update any item rewards if needed, or maybe see if the crafting team have any spare furniture items that could be used for that purpose. Change the level of the quest if necessary, or if it would fill a gap somewhere.
There have been a great number of quests removed elsewhere for often impenetrable reasons, which I’d also like back, but restoring the city ones would be my priority. Bring them back with a triumphant fanfare, as for most people they would be all new content.
3. Turn the Isles of Refuge back on
Same as the previous entry. No good reason why they needed to be removed. Give ’em a polish if they need it. I’ve ranted enough about this in the past, and won’t bore you with it again!
If we could get just two of those tasks accomplished, I’d consider that a good day’s work, and I think the lower end game would be much stronger for it
The Coming of the Cloakbearer, by Maltheas Shadowsqueak.
From the Crafting Channel!
I thought I’d ask the good folks of the crafting channel what they would do with a few hours dev time.
4. Mara Housing
Doesn’t have to be fancy. One of the Qeynos inn room type instances would do for now, but we’d love to see player housing on the Isle of Mara. Failing that, maybe the entrances to the prestige homes that are currently only found in Qeynos and Freeport could be put there. An actual Mara style house would be fantastic, but would take longer than we have here.
5. Collectables filter
Currently, when searching for collectables on the broker, any that you no longer need are greyed out. It would be very nice to be able to tick a box to have them not appear at all.
I kept the list deliberately short, as we only have one day, after all, and I might do another post in the same vein soon. What small change or fix would you do, if you had just a few hours of dev time to play with?
We’ve just had a Press Release regarding the near future of Everquest 2. GU 60 will be concentrating on expanding Velious, and also improving the Battleground system.
The Fortress of Drunder
The plans of Rallos Zek are beginning to come to fruition and the mighty Fortress of Drunder, which once sat within the Plane of War itself, has appeared on Norrath, and now rests high above the Kromzek city of Kael Drakkel. From Drunder, Rallos Zek plans to rally his war parties, scale the massive sheer cliffs leading to the Western Wastes, and execute his plan to steal the power of Roehn Theer. It will take bold and daring adventurers to enter the fortress itself, unlock the secrets to the salvation of Norrath, and thwart the destructive agenda of the God of War.
PvP & Battlegrounds improvements, including but not limited to:
Lobby system so players can hang together between matches with PvP merchants available locally
New Velious battleground map (“The Frozen Tundraâ€)
New Battleground game type! (“Vanquish!â€)
PvP and Battlegrounds rule modifications for better balance and fun factor
Fame system improvements
New PvP armor
Itemization:
New Adornments interface to make this system easier to understand
Continued honing of the itemization system
Drunder!
Three new instanced dungeons
Three new raids with all new bosses
New daily missions
Crystal Caverns
Solo shard quest
Two new heritage quests
Additional signature quest line
NOTE: Drunder content is locked to DoV expansion owners only. All other GU content affects all players.
Sounds like a decent lump of content for the high end. Not quite so sure about concentrating efforts on the Battlegrounds, but some people enjoy them, and perhaps more will after the changes.
There’s also a free week for all inactive accounts starting from this Thursday:
From April 14 to April 21, 2011, former players are also invited to log back in and experience the unparalleled depth and adventure that can only be found in EQII with the Take Flight Winback promotion. Eligible inactive accounts can log back in for free for 7 days, claim their free flying mount and reunite with friends and enemies alike for 7 days!
And they’re getting flying mounts! How is that going to work? Will be a bit of a swizz if its a unique one and folks who have stuck around can’t get their hands on it. And will it require high level? Much is yet to be revealed about this promotion!
Update: The flying mounts will only last for 12 hours. You can go claim another one when your current one runs out, but they will only be available for that week. So returning players get to have some fun with them, without cheapening the effort everybody else has to go through to attain them.
It has been a mere 20 days since last we had a look at the Extreme Quester Leaderboard, but Maltheas has been a busy bee during that time. So much so that the moment has come to include the level 70-79 tier in the calculations.
The good news is that that means that my friends Annyya and Kirskax are back at the top! Ahoy up there! Since the server merge, we’ve even found common cause against a few particularly insidious quests, and I’m sure we’ll continue to work together! With the addition of the 70s Maltheas has plummeted back down to 13th, but he’s by far the lowest level there. He’ll begin his mysteriously both painful and fun struggle back up with his eyes wide open about what needs to be done!
The majority of Maltheas’ new quests in the past weeks have been from getting back up to Master Carpenter, and devouring the delicious new Velious crafting quest lines. This has had some material benefits for his adventuring. Meet Snowberry the Gryphon!
The Isle of Mara from the sky.
For a low level adventurer to be able to get a flying mount through crafting is wonderful, though I miss having the gryphon as a little pet that followed you about as you care for it over the course of a few days, until it grows big enough to fly on! I got rather used to it! It has been great to visit all my favourite old zones and have a fly around. I must be careful to not get too used to it though for general adventuring though. It’s only when you’re down in the muck that you learn what makes a zone tick.
I decided it was time for an update because this is a special day for Maltheas. I’m going to let him level to 43, and he’s terribly excited about it. Mostly because he’s going to be able to use all the jars of mechanical spiders that he stashed away when levelling tinkering. Before he unleashes his spiderbot army, to Cheeves’ dismay, let us have one final look at his current quest journal.
Maltheas' Quest Journal, April 8th 2011
Theoretically, he should be able to polish off the two Bloodline Chronicles (Marked as Nektulos Forest above) quests he has left, but they don’t seem to be working properly, with the necessary items that need to be clicked not spawning after many attempts. Apart from those two, I’m pretty happy with taking a level. There’s a few I could probably accomplish with sufficient gruntwork, but what the heck. It’s been at least 6 months since he last levelled, and the little fellow needs a bit of cheese from time to time to keep going.
