SOE Begins Restoration of Services

UPDATE, May 14, 7:15p.m. EDT: SOE has slowly begun restoration of their services.

SOE - Restoration Announcement
SOE - Welcome Back Program
SOE - Recent Updates

SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2011 - Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that restoration of its game services will begin today. The phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of SOE's portfolio of online games, the reinstatement of SOE's game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords.


For details on the hacker attack that has kept SOE down since May 2 and compromised the personal information of players, check out SOE's brief FAQ and all of our previous coverage. See this article for the May 12th news on the "Make Good" program details.

During the downtime you are welcome to join us in ZAM's IRC chat. Feldon of EQ2Wire also has set up a ZAM IRC java applet that you can use.


Game-specific May 11th updates:

EverQuest: Players with an active house will be credited one month of upkeep costs and the inactive period will be extended from 90 to 150 days.

EverQuest II: All houses requiring rent will have one month added free to help offset any costs incurred during this outage.

Free Realms: The Free Realms birthday event and the New Member Bonus Bonanza will be extended to give everyone a chance to participate in them. Don’t worry about your farms; they’ll be taken care of too!

Star Wars Galaxies: All Galactic Civil War point decay has been suspended and inactive citizen removal time temporarily increased by 14 days. Item and vendor expiration timers have also been increased by 14 days.

Vanguard: One day for each day lost will be added to every player's Upkeep Bank to help offset any costs incurred during this outage.

Comments

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consoles
# May 14 2011 at 11:41 AM Rating: Decent
Im sure Psn will be up way before Soe.
Ps3 is a dumbed down pc with a blue ray player.
dont know much about how Psn patches work, so ill just stick with Soe.
now Soe has harder time as real Pc's are all different , from win xp home pc's to win7 there's lot of hardware differences as well as software differences.
ok with that said
i will give Psn another week before its up , and little less then remaining two weeks for Soe.
So we are looking at June before all is up and running :(
Knowing how Soe Patches things i will give soe a major first Patch with new system, an two patches to fix the first Patch.
so we are looking at about two free months of play time roughly.


Greydeeds Darkestnight 88 Necromancer of Drinal

Edited, May 14th 2011 1:45pm by corwin155

Edited, May 14th 2011 2:32pm by corwin155
my thoughts
# May 14 2011 at 11:09 AM Rating: Decent
well when the servers come back up for EQ i think there should be a dummy toon in guild hall with no face called nameless hack that we can cast spells slash hack and whatever to skill up on. pickpocket and intimidate.. all of that good stuff.

Edited, May 14th 2011 1:11pm by bearwith
my thoughts
# May 14 2011 at 12:14 PM Rating: Good
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94 posts
Quote:
dummy toon in guild hall with no face called nameless hack that we can cast spells


That would be awesome....my toon could finally get the Evocation skill maxed. ;-)
my thoughts
# May 14 2011 at 11:34 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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344 posts
Again the fact that the servers are down this long is not the hackers - its Sony.

Its kind of like if you had no lock on your front door and a burglar walked in and stole your tv, then left a note saying "Dude you should get a lock, lol". You can blame the burglar for stealing your tv but the fact that you have to wait 5 hours for a locksmith is entirely your own fault. He didnt break your lock, you never had one.
my thoughts
# May 14 2011 at 1:00 PM Rating: Decent
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509 posts
Thats a fantastic analogy. Maybe the best quote about Sony in general.
____________________________
Cactuszach Rathebringer- [EQ]85 Human Pally Karana
-retired

Cactuszach- [FFXI] 75 Galka Monk Hades server
-retired

Cactuszach- [LOTRO] 50 Dwarf Guardian Vilya server
-retired
ETA!
# May 14 2011 at 10:07 AM Rating: Decent
I know it's been mentioned before, but at this point I'd just be really happy with a general ETA on the EQ2 servers being up and functional.

I've heard all the gossip and Bloomberg nonsense... I'd just like to hear something official from SOE. Just give us an ETA. That's all we ask for >8/

Today? Next weekend? End of the month? December 22, 2012? Anything!

"And the EQ2 servers are officially back u--" BOOOM!!!!
ETA!
# May 14 2011 at 11:02 AM Rating: Good
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60 posts
Personally, I don't care when or if the EQ2 servers will come up. I am self absorbed and want to know when the EQ servers will be up. -P


Here is something to consider though.

SOE has/had a network security problem. What this means is that SOE is going to have to install new software (or at least update what they have). They will probably have to alter the network topology. They may need to make changes to databases. Essentially, they need to or needed to rip everything apart and put it back together again.

We also know that the games used account information to determine if various features (zones, levels, AA's, etc.) are authorized for an account. What this means is the code for the games will probably have to be changed. Definately the game code residing on the servers will, possibly the client code as well. The short of it is that the security changes will probably break the games, so the games need to be fixed.

As near as I can figure, the difficulty in making a game function with the security changes would, for the most part, depend on two things. The licensing options for a game and the age of the code behind the game. An example of this would be EQ, which appears to have one of the simpler set of licensing options. Access to EQ's features only depends on which expansions are owned. In EQ there isn't anything remotely like free basic game and pay to unlock various features. Conceptually, EQ should be easier to modify than many if not most of the other games, except it has the oldest code. Generally speaking, the older the codebase is, the more difficult it is to modify.

What all this boils down to, is that it is extremely unlikely that all games will be ready to be opened back up at the same time. If I had to guess, I would say that DCOU and Free Realms will be the first that are ready.

So how is SOE going to handle bringing the games back online? Do they bring each game up as it is ready, or hold off until they can bring them all up at once? Both have their disadvantages and advantages.



Edited, May 14th 2011 1:04pm by Bariag
who's next?
# May 14 2011 at 8:58 AM Rating: Decent
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344 posts
I wonder how many other corps are as exposed to hackers as sony was. Will other corps be forced to upgrade security soon?
who's next?
# May 14 2011 at 10:06 AM Rating: Decent
with people running to rift and wow it wouldnt surprise me if they get hit next..I hope this crap dont happen again i need my eq fix
who's next?
# May 14 2011 at 11:29 AM Rating: Decent
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173 posts
Rift and WOW? Try LOTRO...the longer Sony takes, the more I like the game...
who's next?
# May 14 2011 at 12:02 PM Rating: Decent
Yeah... I do too. So much so that my friend and I bought subscriptions. There's a lot of fun stuff in Lotro.
who's next?
# May 14 2011 at 9:51 AM Rating: Good
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60 posts
svann wrote:
I wonder how many other corps are as exposed to hackers as sony was. Will other corps be forced to upgrade security soon?



It would be a safe bet that some are more exposed and some less. As for others being forced to upgrade...

This is kind of like installing stoplights at intersections. A governmental agency will not go though the expense of installing, operating and maintaining a traffic light until an intersection becomes dangerous without it. The way a government is typically (but not always) alerted to an increasing level of danger is by an increasing frequency of traffic accidents.
Time
# May 14 2011 at 8:19 AM Rating: Decent
Avatar
14 posts
2 weeks = 1/2 month
2 weeks = 1/24 year
2 weeks = 1/240 decade
2 weeks = 1/2400 century
Waiting for someone to catch my math error.
Time
# May 14 2011 at 11:50 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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344 posts
A year is 365.2564 days.
Time
# May 14 2011 at 10:08 AM Rating: Decent
Are you bored or something? WTF is your point? >8/
Time
# May 14 2011 at 8:52 AM Rating: Decent
artitude wrote:
2 weeks = 1/2 month
2 weeks = 1/24 year
2 weeks = 1/240 decade
2 weeks = 1/2400 century
Waiting for someone to catch my math error.


Errm OK....

All of em (other than the first line is correct in 3 out of 4 February's)
2 weeks = 1/26 of a year and that flows down into the rest of your lines.

Happy?
Time
# May 14 2011 at 9:28 AM Rating: Good
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60 posts
Actually, 1/26 is inaccurate also.

In a standard year there will be 52 weeks + 1 day, leap years would be 52 weeks + 2 days.

Each decade will contain 2 or 3 leap years. This means that each decade will be 521 weeks + 5 or 6 days. And of course just to throw a monkey wrench into all this there is the whole year divisible by 100 or 400 thing.




Edited, May 14th 2011 11:35am by Bariag
Time
# May 14 2011 at 8:55 AM Rating: Decent
Avatar
14 posts
Yup you got it.
make good event
# May 14 2011 at 8:09 AM Rating: Decent
i think you should make the mech guardian into a giant human, call him "The Smed" and let players kill him for a month.
?
# May 14 2011 at 7:23 AM Rating: Decent
I wonder if SOE will give us an update today during the day time and not like last nite after 9:30pm EDT.?
?
# May 14 2011 at 12:45 PM Rating: Decent
guitatzan wrote:
I wonder if SOE will give us an update today during the day time and not like last nite after 9:30pm EDT.?


which is 6:30 pacific - end of business day for for SOE USA, so it came at the right time
?
# May 14 2011 at 7:31 AM Rating: Decent
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60 posts
guitatzan wrote:
I wonder if SOE will give us an update today during the day time and not like last nite after 9:30pm EDT.?


SOE didn't give an update at all yesterday. That little blurb up at the top was ZAM saying that they will keep us updated if they hear anything.

Bored to bits
# May 14 2011 at 7:15 AM Rating: Decent
Oh well at least getting a few jobs done around the house lol. Finally bit the bullet and painted spare room to transfer home office into, tomorrow morning will probably re-run phone cable/network cables after a 2nd coat lol

Now have nothing to do as servers still down 11pm on sat night (when they are usually back on after a reset) crap on TV, nothing new worth downloading.

oh well $h!t happens, will check the status prob tomorrow as was very little movement on forum here today

Night all
QSnoopy
# May 14 2011 at 7:07 AM Rating: Decent
24 posts
in a time of EQ darkness....where is QSnoopy jr?
/sigh.........
QSnoopy
# May 14 2011 at 12:47 PM Rating: Decent
miltduhilt wrote:
in a time of EQ darkness....where is QSnoopy jr?
/sigh.........


probably laughing his *** off at all of you...
sad =(
# May 14 2011 at 6:48 AM Rating: Decent
24 posts
rainy saturday......cant play EQ......guess its Waffle House time...then nap time! hahahaha....oh well....in another 2wks, this will all be a blur.....and everything will be back to normal....

Edited, May 14th 2011 8:50am by miltduhilt
Loyalty
# May 14 2011 at 4:16 AM Rating: Decent
How about instead of Station Cash, 2x Exp, Faction and Named spawns SOE gives us LOYALTY points for sticking it out without our fix for 2 weeks. I could use an extra golden ticket and a few bags of plat. Plus those purity aug distillers are quite nice. Just a thought...
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 12:43 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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269 posts
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-sony-idUSTRE74C70420110513
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 2:13 PM Rating: Decent
Adani wrote:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-sony-idUSTRE74C70420110513

JHC!! Sony you ever use the GD auto=update feature that comes with most software ?
You keep saying it was the Hackers that broke in , when all the GD time you left the door open for them to break in.
from everything ive been reading , it was NOOB stuff you left un-patched .
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 6:38 AM Rating: Decent
Now I know why they brought in second firm. Sony probably brought in some cheap no name firm to save money which was milking them for several weeks. Then once this "outsider" exposed some areas that they had brought in second firm and decided to redo its networks which is lot more work than just some of security servers. The artcile explains the scope of Sony's network problems and why Sony was taking this much of time. Pretty funny actually. Any decent network security administrator would have found those flaws and take actions after getting the job within 1 month. Maybe they did but Sony did not anything. Oh well. At least Sony is getting close to "few days" of its proclaimed go live date.
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 2:18 PM Rating: Decent
panzeronenine wrote:
Now I know why they brought in second firm. Sony probably brought in some cheap no name firm to save money which was milking them for several weeks. Then once this "outsider" exposed some areas that they had brought in second firm and decided to redo its networks which is lot more work than just some of security servers. The artcile explains the scope of Sony's network problems and why Sony was taking this much of time. Pretty funny actually. Any decent network security administrator would have found those flaws and take actions after getting the job within 1 month. Maybe they did but Sony did not anything. Oh well. At least Sony is getting close to "few days" of its proclaimed go live date.


"milking them" milking US you mean , GD sony isnt going to pay for this WE will be.
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 4:56 AM Rating: Decent
have to lol that 3 weeks after the initial attack on Sony, some guy decides to try and go after their employees information and succeeds. After reading that I have a hard time believing that Sony has hired anyone worth their salt to come in and fix the problems.
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 6:19 AM Rating: Decent
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60 posts
Naggy2000 wrote:
have to lol that 3 weeks after the initial attack on Sony, some guy decides to try and go after their employees information and succeeds. After reading that I have a hard time believing that Sony has hired anyone worth their salt to come in and fix the problems.


Well, SOE <> Sony. PSN <> Sony.

There is no indication that Sony hired anyone to fix these problems. There is every indication that SOE did. There is every indication that PSN did.

Yes, yes, SOE and PSN are parts of Sony. As in, SOE and PSN are owned by Sony. What this means is that Sony dictates to SOE and PSN, not the other way around.

So SOE brings in some hired guns to fix a problem with their systems. These people will only look at SOE's systems and not ALL systems under the Sony umbrella. SOE can't order the other organizations withing Sony to open their systems for inspection by the consultants they hired, nor can they tell them to change anything. SOE only has control over SOE systems. The same is true for PSN.

In short, SOE is working on SOE's problems, only. PSN is working on PSN's problems, only. The rest of Sony will have to deal with their problems themselves.

Edited, May 14th 2011 8:24am by Bariag
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 9:57 AM Rating: Decent
Ahh I see, makes sence.
And it continues...
# May 14 2011 at 11:11 AM Rating: Decent
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60 posts
Btw, what I said doesn't mean that the consultants hired are worth their salt (I am guessing they are, though). It just means the determination cannot be made by comparing what they are doing with a criticism of something they are not involved in.

Lol and what about our stuff?
# May 13 2011 at 11:24 PM Rating: Decent
What is gonna happen with our stuff?
Make Good???
# May 13 2011 at 9:28 PM Rating: Decent
Personally I could care less about double rare mob spawn rates and faction modifiers. Give me Bonus EXP so my gimp casual playing toons can get a nice AA boost :)

17 Toons (MTD = Multiple Toon Disorder) I need some serious AA's lol...

I need a fix!!!

Edited, May 13th 2011 11:30pm by DoctorEQ
Offline
# May 13 2011 at 9:14 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
20 posts
All SOE games and sites are still offline as of Stardate 8439.6 and will not return today. Thank you again for your continued patience and support as we diligently work on these issues.
goodbye eq hello rift
# May 13 2011 at 9:04 PM Rating: Decent
2 posts
as i write this i am downloading rift i dont blame sony for what happened but posting at the end of the day saying they wont be up is too much.if i like rift i doubt i will be back i hope they have more concern for their customers then sony.oh well eq was fun while it lasted keep ignoring customers and there will be no rush to get the game back up. see ya on rift guys almost loaded now.
goodbye eq hello rift
# May 13 2011 at 11:54 PM Rating: Decent
Rift will give you a fix for a while. I am not sure why some idiots are bitter about people leaving. Good luck in Rift. If you play solo, it will be all about clicking and no challenge. Join a guild and do some PVP . It is lot of fun. But once Rift no longer gives satisfaction, I know people will be back. I will be playing both anyways. I won't bother with cancelling and rejoining drama this time around. Good luck and enjoy playing time.
goodbye eq hello rift
# May 13 2011 at 11:47 PM Rating: Decent
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63 posts
See ya when you get back.
goodbye eq hello rift
# May 13 2011 at 10:17 PM Rating: Good
21 posts
Then have fun helping your quest givers fight mobs from a rift. Then waiting for the quest givers to respawn after the rift mobs kill them over and over. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
getting my fix
# May 13 2011 at 8:13 PM Rating: Decent
5 posts
OK, I understand that what happened, happened. I can't change history. I've been playing EQ from 1999 to date. I have 5 accounts but I consider myself a very casual player. Saying that, I need my gaming fix. I've tried WOW and it's OK for my playing style but not really what I'm looking for.

I've started playing Rift and it's looking great! I miss my EQ but with this game, a little less and less each day. Maybe after 28 days of no EQ, I'll have my EQ habit kicked. We'll see Smiley: nod

Good luck Guys and Gals, Hope you get your fix soon. Smiley: grin
getting my fix
# May 13 2011 at 8:42 PM Rating: Decent
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94 posts
Rift?

Really?

I couldn't get past 4 days of the free 7 offered of that game. You claim to have played EQ since 1999...and Rift seems great?
it's like a mmo that has the style and play of tradeskilling.
click
click
click
click
click
But hey, whatever floats your boat.
getting my fix
# May 14 2011 at 12:26 AM Rating: Decent
18 posts
I like the part about playing for 10+ years with 5 accounts yet he is a casual player. Not being rude, I just thought it was funny in a denial kind of way.
getting my fix
# May 13 2011 at 8:11 PM Rating: Decent
5 posts
OK, I understand that what happened, happened. I can't change history. I've been playing EQ from 1999 to date. I have 5 accounts but I consider myself a very casual player. Saying that, I need my gaming fix. I've tried WOW and it's OK for my playing style but not really what I'm looking for.

I've started playing Rift and it's looking great! I miss my EQ but with this game, a little less and less each day. Maybe after 28 days of no EQ, I'll have my EQ habit kicked. We'll see Smiley: nod

Good luck Guys and Gals, Hope you get your fix soon. Smiley: grin
bets?!?!
# May 13 2011 at 6:45 PM Rating: Decent
So.... any bets that the servers will be up and functional by next weekend??! ugggghhh im tired....
So close to 1000.
# May 13 2011 at 6:16 PM Rating: Good
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94 posts
Oh well....onto the next thread.
faction for orbs
# May 13 2011 at 1:57 PM Rating: Good
48 posts
well, as far as faction and solteris kills go for purchasing pure orbs.....peoe can make the pure orbs with tradeskills and if u have raid progression in any decent amount for any expansion from that one or after, you can buy the pure orbs in the bazaar and open them.

While faction is semi useless in the current expansion, it is somewhat worthwhile in the previous ones.
faction for orbs
# May 13 2011 at 2:19 PM Rating: Decent
22 posts
Yes, but what do you do with the empty pure power sources that you buy/make?

They sell back to the elite energiean vendor in Katta for one of what ever the alternate currency is...phosphines...phosphites...whatever. Now, I've never bought one from the vendor, but my thinking is, even if it takes me selling 50 made/bazaar bought power sources to get a "free" one, I'm all for that.

Granted I was assuming that being able to open the pure power sources would also qualify one to be able to buy them. But the way I read the response given, it was made to sound like 1-2 specific Solteris raid event wins are needed.
faction for orbs
# May 13 2011 at 8:08 PM Rating: Decent
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60 posts
BladesBeforeSpells wrote:
Yes, but what do you do with the empty pure power sources that you buy/make?

They sell back to the elite energiean vendor in Katta for one of what ever the alternate currency is...phosphines...phosphites...whatever. Now, I've never bought one from the vendor, but my thinking is, even if it takes me selling 50 made/bazaar bought power sources to get a "free" one, I'm all for that.

Granted I was assuming that being able to open the pure power sources would also qualify one to be able to buy them. But the way I read the response given, it was made to sound like 1-2 specific Solteris raid event wins are needed.



That is about it. Using the Metal Orb as an example: You can do the Queen Malarian event and that will allow you to open and use a Sealed Metal Orb, but this event will not allow you to purchase Metal Orbs in Katta even with maxed faction with the Elite Vendors.

In order to purchase Pure energeans in Katta you have to complete Solteris events. Two Gods will unlock the ability to purchase (assuming proper level of faction) Metal and Death Orbs. Other events will unlock the ability to purchase other orbs.


gimme gimme gimme
# May 13 2011 at 11:34 AM Rating: Decent
ALIDAN... For the love of God and all that is holy, please just stop posting! You are clogging up all the space for dumb comments with comments that do not even qualify as dumb because they are below the required stupidity level that the rest of us strictly adhere to.

I will FedEx you the cash to go play something different and leave us all alone. Or perhaps you can do some pan-handling.

You are NOT getting Quad-XPs, and no one cares that all your friends are parapelegics in wheelchairs missing out on their final days of life without EQ! Take up better company and stop your begging >XO

My God, I could make a comedy website out of all your posts >8\
gimme gimme gimme
# May 13 2011 at 1:41 PM Rating: Decent
Lol outstanding!!
Idiot People
# May 13 2011 at 11:04 AM Rating: Default
lolz "granite" lmfao
SOE updates
# May 13 2011 at 10:39 AM Rating: Default
Lets hope this last message is an indication of what is to come from customer service in the future until the system is up and running again. Perhaps the VP in charge who felt that 5 or 6 days in a row of no news was adequate for the customer base has been fired. Daily updates at the same time and place, even if it is to say that there has been no changes, is preferable to not hearing anything.

Servers will be up when they are up. Anyone who expects anything else is in for disappointent. Those of you who are leaving.... go now. More mobs for me when things come back. In the meantime I loaded dosbox and have fired up my old X-Com game and have found that despite being old as dirt in the gaming world and having played it a million times, it is still entertaining. Go have dinner with your kids, help them with their homework, say hello to your wives and girlfriends. Live your real lives for a while.
SOE updates
# May 13 2011 at 10:06 PM Rating: Decent
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60 posts
Pro Tip:

Saying hello to your wives and girlfriends is a good idea.

Saying hello to all of them at the same time is considered a strategic blunder.


SOE updates
# May 13 2011 at 11:18 AM Rating: Decent
I LOVE YOU X-COM!!!

pew pew pew... :)
link too Debix
# May 13 2011 at 10:13 AM Rating: Decent
Here is the link to Debix for the insurance

https://www.allclearid.com/sony

"Over the next few days Sony will be emailing activation codes to register for AllClear ID PLUS. Once you have an activation code you will have until June 18th to sign-up and redeem your activation code."

above info is from the Debix website


Greydeeds Darkestnight 88 Necromancer of Drinal
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