you got to be kidding, I pay for a game I cant play and I get free upkeep on a house I dont want LOL ***** me SOE ***** me.

Hello everyone :) I play Everquest II and I have a question on the free month we'll be getting when the servers are back up, please. If someone pays for their Everquest subcription on May 3rd (which I believe is the same day the servers went down) and the servers come back up around May 31st, they have already paid for a month correct? But that month they didn't get to play. So, when they get back to Everquest II and they receive a free month, it's not really free because they already paid for a month they didn't get to play. They actually just received thier money back is all. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this. I don't expect anything free from Sony. I just want to make sure they aren't calling something free when actually it's just a refund.

Thanks in advance for you input.

Laleena
(Antonia Bayle)

Edited, May 11th 2011 11:30pm by Laleena

WOW, there is no end to the amount of crap you guys will cover for SOE. They took 100 million people, many of whom had been loyal customers for over a decade, and told us all we mean nothing to them. When you sign up an account with SOE they ask for personal information. In expecting you to provide that information in order to get the service, they have a good faith responsibility to at the LEAST follow best practices in securing your data. 'Best Practices', for those of you not in the know, are like being 'up to code' in building. It doesnt mean you will always be covered, it just means your not being terribly negligent or unforgivably incompetent. SOE was GROSSLY, no, OUTRAGEOUSLY negligent as it turns out, and essentially handed your and my data to anyone who wanted to peek. The kind of simple security measures they could have taken, like updating server software, having a more secure configuration, etc, would take little to no money, and hardly anymore time to setup than the corner-cutting way they did things. Every person in Sony who has ever even seen their network security setup should be fired immediately, and we should make a website just for them so that no other company has the misfortune of hiring these bums. This, as if you werent aware, comes immediately following one of (imo) the most fun, and most bugged, expansions ever, in any game. SOE, you out did microsoft, congrats. If this was a launch, the game would fail like vanguard.

It boggles my mind how some of you people not only hang in there abuse after abuse, but actually summon up the energy to defend SOE in what can only be described as Stockholm-riddled rhetoric. Your bruised and bloody, and yet SOE is 'not the bad guy'. SOE shares EVERY bit of responsibility for this with the actual thieves. When you accept private information in order to provide a service, it is your responsibility to make all reasonable efforts to secure that information or warn your clients that it will be broadcast to the masses. The privacy policy states that they will not share your private information, and I would argue that having no security measured in place is akin to sharing the data.

All i want is my dam J5 merc tank to be fixed and running the way it did before the 12 year anniversary glitch, and dam it i want my MTV.

I agree with the composed people who understand reality.

I have had an account since EQ started and have played on and off since then depending on what has been going on in RL. As of the last 6 months I have played more hours than I work in my fulltime job. Does it make me angry that it is still down all this time, no. I miss it being online because the people I play with are cool and it something I really enjoy doing. This only proves what a good game it is. I would bet that Sony wants to get it as soon as they can.

Do I actually care what the updates says besides "great news the servers are up, go play", not at all because that does not get the servers online any faster. Each day I check to see if they are up. It takes only a few minutes and it is no different than when the servers were online. If I do not get it log on for a few hours after they come up who really cares, I will just be glad they are up.

Sony does not owe me anything besides what I have paid and I will appreciate the free month. With the amount of time I have been playing lately I would say that EQ costs me less than 10 cents an hour to play for each of my accounts. Even when I was not playing as much 15 dollars a month is still a bargain for something that you can interactive with and is as entertaining as EQ. Personally, I am glad it has lasted this long.

For those complaining about the breech of our user data, first, we do not have all the facts yet so any assertion on where the blame should go is premature. Fact, the people that stole the data are the most to blame. Perhaps it will be found that Sony could have been more secure, time will tell this and I would guess that the government will place even more regulations on this. Mass breech of personal data is not a new thing and is only going to get worse. We want all the convenience of services online (one click away), want to pay nothing for it and then when something bad happens we want to point the finger at everyone but ourselves. We have turned into the take no personal responsibility society. No one made any of us play these games. If we did not play any of Sony's game then our information would not have been taken directly from them. Most of the information that they have stated was released can be found in public record, stolen when you go out to eat, from your mailbox, etc.

As a company gets bigger they can do some great things but the negative side is they become unwieldy so it is not surprising they have these issues. In addition, you can find greed at every level from the big corporation all the way down to the individual.

Now are the servers up yet?, LOL =)

SOE CS and Marketing can't be handling this worse if they tried. They are not communicating with their client base in any proper way. They are not offering any means to protect your identity (such as a free subscription to an identity theft program --ps that is the standard practice now). Basically they are alienating their client base in just about every way possible. After playing for over 10 years I can say I will be joining the class action lawsuit and I will be cancelling my account along with any purchases from sony. SOE people talk and can communicate. You should try it before you sign your final epitaph.

I have only this to say: It's what corporations do; they are unaccountable private tyrannies that we have zero control or influence over. Go ahead now, start calling me a Marxist or some other four-letter word for your amusement. I'm not here to argue. I'm just making an analysis of their behavior. Based on this, no one should at all be surprised by the way we're being treated. They're fulfilling their function, which is to maximize profits. What happens in the process of achieving that goal is of no consequence if they can get away with it. Love it or hate it, it is what it is.

For years ive looked/hoped for a game with a mixture of Star Wars Jedi Knight and X-wing alliance/X-wing vs Tie Fighter and finally found it 4.5yrs ago with Star Wars Galaxies.

Now ive had to resort back to playing X-wing Alliance and KOTOR to get my space combat and ground combat fixes lol

Now the free time is ok but would like to see a free (no trade) pick any TCG loot card :) (but doubt it will happen)

Pls come back up soon my house is getting too tidy and am edging toward repainting rooms AAAHHHHHH!!!

Many of SOE's customers here are acting unreasonable. Many aren't though. I am completely fine with SOE keeping the EQ and other online game servers offline as long as they feel it's needed. However, I've written a short guide for SOE on how to best keep their **reasonable* customers less unhappy in the meantime.

(NOTE: Almost all of the customers including myself will be unhappy about the current situation to some degree. The unreasonable customers will be as unhappy as they are going to be no matter how good or bad of a job SOE does of keeping us informed. The reasonable ones however would be less unhappy and much more understanding of the situation if SOE would just fulfill some basic, logical responsibilities for a service provider in their position.)

A Guide on How to Keep Your Reasonable Customers Reasonably Informed:

1. If you must keep offline the gaming services you are selling, then what is the next best thing?

2. Think about your customers...while the service is offline, are they the type of people who will be actively checking the forums and various online sites everyday to see if the servers are back up? Yes.

3. If so, you should consider how to make the wait and transfer of information to them as easy and structured as possible. You do not want them to have to check online more than once a day for updates. You want them to feel confident that they will know they can check once a day for current info. How to best accomplish this?

Do the following:

- If you have no clue how long the servers will be down, then structure your updates to the customers so that the customers only have to check the website and forums for updates once a day at most.

- If you know the servers will be down for any minimum amount of time, make that minimum amount of time known as soon as possible in the daily update.

- For example...

"We at SOE will provide an update everyday at 10am eastern time with the following information, if known: whether the server will be up today, whether the server even has a chance at being up today tomorrow and this week, whether we know the minimum amount of time the servers will be down, whether we even have a rough ballpark guess, and last when we think we will know the minimum amount of time the servers will be down."

Update that information everyday as the information is made known to you.

4. Now you have shown your customers respect and are treating them as if you actually understand them for a change.

Does anyone know the names of the individual(s) at Sony who are in charge of Cutomer Relations?

Seems to me that that individual needs to be replaced.

OK, I've just let the days go by without saying too much of anything (expect to the real A-hole posters that want to bring a political climate to this issue). But are you F*CKING kidding me...the most recent update from SONY is as of May 4. Hey SONY, you do realize that today is ONE WHOLE WEEK since your latest update!

I don't have any illusions that SONY is paying attention to the posts that are going on here, but this is a place to vent, and so be it. However, I'm giving them until the end of the weekend to have things back up and running or I shall take my business else where. Now, do I think that SONY will miss my $15/month - not in the least, but with a few hundred thousand players deciding that being treated like **** isn't a good thing, perhaps the mass exit from EQ/Sony products will make it through the heads of the Boards.

I cannot believe for one second that this HUGE Corp. has a 6th grader running their PR, but the way things look from a customers end (no updates for a week on their own site) makes it look as though that is exactly who/what they hired to run this campaign! HOLY SH*T!!!

What a convenient time for rift to offer a 7-day free trial.....someone is paying attention over there and you can bet that when eq2 comes back up they will have lost enough casual players to finally move it's popularity status in the video game market to below games like ddo...

Hail SOE!
"Greetings Insignificant Customer"

What News?

"Would you like [canned news], [excuses], [phoney ETA's] or [self-generated testimonials]?"

Canned News.

"Our servers will not be up today. We are working around the clock to resolve this issue and the servers will be up [soon]"

How soon?

"We are working around the clock to resolve this issue and our servers will be up soon"

Look people my account got charged the 24th of of last month... so my next bill would be may 24th...... but since there giving 30 days free it's june 24th plus w/e days the server are down..... there not ripping anyone off by charging you! unless u play 24/7 your paying for a service your not using! i mean come on people pay for insurance there whole life and never see a dime, because nothing bad happens......... what about the US government taking SS out of your check? us young people are never gonna see it, so in essence your paying for a service you won't get! if your mad at sony for downtime, lack of communication FINE! but don't say there ripping you off by charging you YOU SOUND STUPID!

I just realized I can see the future.............

UPDATE, May 11, 5:33 p.m. EDT: According to Facebook, "We thank everyone for their continued patience as work continues on SOE services. They will not be up today, May 11th, but we are working as quickly as possible to resolve this."

I will let you all know if I start seeing anything past the next 24 hours