Mr QQ Says: POL Maintenance

SE are performing a server maintenance to the POL face to FFXI, on the 23rd November, which will take down FFXI and Tetra Master.

Expected times of maintenance:

8:00am - 13:00pm PST
10:00am - 15:00pm EST
4:00pm - 21:00pm GMT

Presumably "fixing stuff" LoL.

Nice to finally see whom ever is writing the system messages finally gets GMT time, rather than the last 4 years of always being wrong by an hour. /amused.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style=""><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a>SE are performing a server maintenance to the POL face to FFXI, on the 23rd November, which will take down FFXI and Tetra Master.<br /><br />Expected times of maintenance:<br /><br />8:00am - 13:00pm PST<br />10:00am - 15:00pm EST<br />4:00pm - 21:00pm GMT<br /><br />Presumably "fixing stuff" LoL.<br /><br />Nice to finally see whom ever is writing the system messages finally gets GMT time, rather than the last 4 years of always being wrong by an hour. /amused.

Mr QQ Says: Emergency maintenance!

Perhaps none-too surprising as it has happened every single time there has been an update in the history of updates in FFXI, servers will be going down for a while today from 9:00am - 11:00am (PST) while they fix what they cocked up in the update.

12:00noon to 2:00pm (EST)
5:00pm to 7:00pm (GMT)

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a>Perhaps none-too surprising as it has happened every single time there has been an update in the history of updates in FFXI, servers will be going down for a while today from 9:00am - 11:00am (PST) while they fix what they cocked up in the update.<br /><br />12:00noon to 2:00pm (EST)<br />5:00pm to 7:00pm (GMT)

Mr. QQ Says: POL Down? Oh Noes!

Mr. QQ Says is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

Looks like POL is having issues today. There have been many reports of people being unable to log into FFXI from POL. Right now, getting kicked from the game means you aren't able to log back in. Most of these issues are handled pretty quickly but today it seems like the issues are persisting.

Follow-up: Looks like the issue has been resolved.

Check below the cut for more information!

The original announcement:

Regarding the previously reported issue where users cannot log in to or log out of PlayOnline or its contents, we are continuing our investigation and working to resolved the issue. However, it appears that it will take some time before a resolution is reached.

We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Additionally, as a result of this issue, the following services are currently unavailable:
- Register or unsubscribe PlayOnline accounts
- Review, purchase, cancel, or reactivate Content IDs
- Review or update member information
- All registration code services
- Apply for the World Transfer Service
- Register Reward Codes
- Purchase Square Enix Security Tokens
- Purchase expansion pack registration codes

- PlayOnline Mail, Friend Messages, Group Messages, Messages from the GMs, and all other messaging systems on PlayOnline

- Log in to the FINAL FANTASY XI Linkshell Community Beta Version
- Log in to Friend List Plus
- Access to Register New Site and Owner Menu on the Community Sites section from the official PlayOnline web site
- Access PlayOnline Membership Information from the official PlayOnline web site (http://www.playonline.com)
- Apply for the Character Reactivation Service

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

[Date & Time]
Sep. 3, 2009 from 5:10 (PDT)

[Details]
Login difficulties with PlayOnline and associated contents

[Cause]
Issues with the PlayOnline Central Servers

[Affected Services]
PlayOnline

Here is the follow up:

During the following period, an issue occurred where users were unable to log in to or log out of PlayOnline and its associated contents. Recovery work is now complete, but there is a chance that the following information, if edited during the issue, may have been reset to how it was before Sep. 3, 2009 at 5:05 PDT:
- Friend Lists in PlayOnline or its associated contents
- PlayOnline Profiles

If you registered friends or updated your PlayOnline profile during the below period, we regret to inform you that you should once again perform these actions.

We would like to deeply apologize for the major inconvenience this issue has caused.

[Date & Time]
Sep. 3, 2009 from 5:05 to 8:41 (PDT)

[Details]
Login difficulties with PlayOnline and associated contents

[Cause]
Issues with the PlayOnline Central Servers

[Affected Services]
PlayOnline

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mr. QQ Says</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.</span><br /><br />Looks like POL is having issues today. There have been many reports of people being unable to log into FFXI from POL. Right now, getting kicked from the game means you aren't able to log back in. Most of these issues are handled pretty quickly but today it seems like the issues are persisting. <br /><br />Follow-up: Looks like the issue has been resolved. <br /><br />Check below the cut for more information!<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />The original announcement:<br /><blockquote>Regarding the previously reported issue where users cannot log in to or log out of PlayOnline or its contents, we are continuing our investigation and working to resolved the issue. However, it appears that it will take some time before a resolution is reached.<br /><br />We will provide additional information as it becomes available.<br /><br />Additionally, as a result of this issue, the following services are currently unavailable:<br />- Register or unsubscribe PlayOnline accounts<br />- Review, purchase, cancel, or reactivate Content IDs<br />- Review or update member information<br />- All registration code services<br />- Apply for the World Transfer Service<br />- Register Reward Codes<br />- Purchase Square Enix Security Tokens<br />- Purchase expansion pack registration codes<br /><br />- PlayOnline Mail, Friend Messages, Group Messages, Messages from the GMs, and all other messaging systems on PlayOnline<br /><br />- Log in to the FINAL FANTASY XI Linkshell Community Beta Version<br />- Log in to Friend List Plus<br />- Access to Register New Site and Owner Menu on the Community Sites section from the official PlayOnline web site<br />- Access PlayOnline Membership Information from the official PlayOnline web site (http://www.playonline.com)<br />- Apply for the Character Reactivation Service<br /><br />We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.<br /><br />[Date & Time]<br />Sep. 3, 2009 from 5:10 (PDT)<br /><br />[Details]<br />Login difficulties with PlayOnline and associated contents<br /><br />[Cause]<br />Issues with the PlayOnline Central Servers<br /><br />[Affected Services]<br />PlayOnline</blockquote><br /><br />Here is the follow up:<br /><blockquote>During the following period, an issue occurred where users were unable to log in to or log out of PlayOnline and its associated contents. Recovery work is now complete, but there is a chance that the following information, if edited during the issue, may have been reset to how it was before Sep. 3, 2009 at 5:05 PDT:<br />- Friend Lists in PlayOnline or its associated contents<br />- PlayOnline Profiles<br /><br />If you registered friends or updated your PlayOnline profile during the below period, we regret to inform you that you should once again perform these actions.<br /><br />We would like to deeply apologize for the major inconvenience this issue has caused.<br /><br />[Date & Time]<br />Sep. 3, 2009 from 5:05 to 8:41 (PDT)<br /><br />[Details]<br />Login difficulties with PlayOnline and associated contents<br /><br />[Cause]<br />Issues with the PlayOnline Central Servers<br /><br />[Affected Services]<br />PlayOnline</blockquote></span>

Mr. QQ Says: No More Chargeback Bans?

Mr. QQ Says is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

It looks like SE has changed their policy to deal with the chargebacks they have been getting (presumably by RMT people that never intending to pay in the first place) that have accidentally gotten a few people banned. There are two statements recently released. The first one is a notification that SE is going to use the verification provided by Visa and Mastercard for the next payment cycle. The second one was just an outline of the new POL rules governing this.

What does this mean? If you already bank online then probably nothing, and if you have a decent CC or bank card or whatever, again probably nothing. My bank makes this process part of online banking automatically. If you are using your parents card or someone else's card you should check with them and make sure they have updated it. If you can't do anything else at all, you should call SE. I know, what a wonderful experience, but at least they have thought ahead to allow some kind of recourse for those that just don't have the option to do this verification.

Check below the cut for the full POL details of both SE announcements.

The first post:

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we will soon implement a security feature for your protection known as The Payer Authentication Service (3-D Secure). This will be implemented on July 29 at around 2:00 (PDT) after the scheduled registration server maintenance. You can activate these services now at the below URLs:

Visa customers: www.VerifiedByVisa.com
MasterCard customers: www.SecureCode.com

All customers are encouraged to activate the appropriate service beforehand to avoid any issues once the services are implemented. Anyone updating their payment information after July 29 will need to register with the appropriate service before the change can be made.

* Please be sure to check with your credit card company if you are not sure if this service is supported.

* If you are a current PlayOnline member and your credit card company does not support this service, please contact the Information Center for further assistance. Be sure to have the payment method ready when you contact the Information Center.

If you have any questions about these new services, we encourage you to visit the above URLs. Also, the PlayOnline Information Center can be contacted at the below times for further assistance.

We hope you will find additional peace of mind with these security features.

PlayOnline Information Center
https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/index.html
Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time

The second post:

Changes to PlayOnline Member Agreement

The following section will be added to the PlayOnline Member Agreement under Article 5 "User Responsibilities" and will take effect as of Jul. 29, 2009:

5.2(e) Credit Card Authentication.
For your protection, SEI now requires that all new credit cards used for Fees be registered with either Verified by Visa(R) or MasterCard SecureCode(R). Please go to www.verifiedbyvisa.com or www.securecode.com to register your credit cards. If you do not register your cards on one of these sites, or if your credit card issuing bank has not signed up with either service, you will not be able to access the PlayOnline services. In such case, please contact your place of purchase for return, refund, or exchange subject to the return and exchange policy of the retailer. If:
(1) your place of purchase is unwilling to accept returns or exchanges of opened software AND
(2) you are unable or unwilling to register with Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCard AND
(3) it has been less than 30 days since you purchased the software, AND
(4) you are located in the United States or Canada, THEN you may contact PlayOnline Information Center at (858) 790-PLAY (7529) and request a full refund of your purchase price for the Licensed Software, not including shipping and handling charges. Please note that any refund is discretionary and will be contingent upon SEI's receipt of the complete Licensed Software package and confirmation that your credit card is not compatible with either system.

The PlayOnline Member Agreement can be found under "Rules & Policies" on the FINAL FANTASY XI official website or from "Rules & Policies" within "Service & Support" on the PlayOnline Viewer. Please read them carefully and make sure you understand them before you play the game.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mr. QQ Says</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.</span><br /><br />It looks like SE has changed their policy to deal with the chargebacks they have been getting (presumably by RMT people that never intending to pay in the first place) that have accidentally gotten a few people banned. There are two statements recently released. The first one is a notification that SE is going to use the verification provided by Visa and Mastercard for the next payment cycle. The second one was just an outline of the new POL rules governing this. <br /><br />What does this mean? If you already bank online then probably nothing, and if you have a decent CC or bank card or whatever, again probably nothing. My bank makes this process part of online banking automatically. If you are using your parents card or someone else's card you should check with them and make sure they have updated it. If you can't do anything else at all, you should call SE. I know, what a wonderful experience, but at least they have thought ahead to allow some kind of recourse for those that just don't have the option to do this verification.<br /><br />Check below the cut for the full POL details of both SE announcements. <br /><span class="fullpost"><br />The first post: <br /><blockquote>We would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we will soon implement a security feature for your protection known as The Payer Authentication Service (3-D Secure). This will be implemented on July 29 at around 2:00 (PDT) after the scheduled registration server maintenance. You can activate these services now at the below URLs:<br /><br />Visa customers: www.VerifiedByVisa.com<br />MasterCard customers: www.SecureCode.com<br /><br />All customers are encouraged to activate the appropriate service beforehand to avoid any issues once the services are implemented. Anyone updating their payment information after July 29 will need to register with the appropriate service before the change can be made.<br /><br />* Please be sure to check with your credit card company if you are not sure if this service is supported.<br /><br />* If you are a current PlayOnline member and your credit card company does not support this service, please contact the Information Center for further assistance. Be sure to have the payment method ready when you contact the Information Center.<br /><br />If you have any questions about these new services, we encourage you to visit the above URLs. Also, the PlayOnline Information Center can be contacted at the below times for further assistance.<br /><br />We hope you will find additional peace of mind with these security features.<br /><br />PlayOnline Information Center<br />https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/index.html<br />Monday through Friday<br />9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time</blockquote><br /><br />The second post:<br /><blockquote>Changes to PlayOnline Member Agreement<br /><br />The following section will be added to the PlayOnline Member Agreement under Article 5 "User Responsibilities" and will take effect as of Jul. 29, 2009:<br /><br />5.2(e) Credit Card Authentication.<br />For your protection, SEI now requires that all new credit cards used for Fees be registered with either Verified by Visa(R) or MasterCard SecureCode(R). Please go to www.verifiedbyvisa.com or www.securecode.com to register your credit cards. If you do not register your cards on one of these sites, or if your credit card issuing bank has not signed up with either service, you will not be able to access the PlayOnline services. In such case, please contact your place of purchase for return, refund, or exchange subject to the return and exchange policy of the retailer. If:<br />(1) your place of purchase is unwilling to accept returns or exchanges of opened software AND<br />(2) you are unable or unwilling to register with Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCard AND<br />(3) it has been less than 30 days since you purchased the software, AND<br />(4) you are located in the United States or Canada, THEN you may contact PlayOnline Information Center at (858) 790-PLAY (7529) and request a full refund of your purchase price for the Licensed Software, not including shipping and handling charges. Please note that any refund is discretionary and will be contingent upon SEI's receipt of the complete Licensed Software package and confirmation that your credit card is not compatible with either system.<br /><br />The PlayOnline Member Agreement can be found under "Rules & Policies" on the FINAL FANTASY XI official website or from "Rules & Policies" within "Service & Support" on the PlayOnline Viewer. Please read them carefully and make sure you understand them before you play the game.</blockquote></span>

Mr. QQ Says: More LM-17 Mistakes?

Mr. QQ Says is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

Looks like SE is having a few more billing issues, as a thread over on BG points out. Looks like some of the people that were having issues last month with getting accidentally banned because of CC errors on SE ends are getting banned again. After a few costumer service issues it seems that the issues are working themselves out, but only after a call into SE to get things straightened out. SE is claiming a 48 hour turn around but it looks like the accounts are getting unbanned faster than that.

Interestingly enough, it looked like the SE community rep was on BG and checking out the thread, so that may be one of the reasons the customer service people got their heads out of their asses on this one. So maybe this costumer contact thing is working out after all?

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mr. QQ Says</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.</span><br /><br />Looks like SE is having a few more billing issues, as <a href="http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/77075-lm-17-wtf.html">a thread over on BG</a> points out. Looks like some of the people that were having issues last month with getting accidentally banned because of CC errors on SE ends are getting banned again. After a few costumer service issues it seems that the issues are working themselves out, but only after a call into SE to get things straightened out. SE is claiming a 48 hour turn around but it looks like the accounts are getting unbanned faster than that. <br /><br />Interestingly enough, it looked like the SE community rep was on BG and checking out the thread, so that may be one of the reasons the customer service people got their heads out of their asses on this one. So maybe this costumer contact thing is working out after all?

Mr QQ Says: Is King Kupofried still having personal issues?

Mr. QQ Says is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

Another week, another emergency maintenance? Well, it's not that bad, but it looks like SE is taking down the servers again, but there is no indication at this time as to why they need to do it. The only clues that I have seen so far have been on BG saying that there is a bit of an issue with the text reporting the buffs from the Kupofried event. As this is event is different than most as it is ongoing rather than just a week or two, it would seem that if it was necessary to take the servers down to fix the issue it would be better to do it now than wait until the next full update. It does seems relatively minor assuming it isn't the "everyone on my server has been DCing, so they must be fixing that when it is just probably my own crappy ISP" complaint that normally happens when people can't figure out why an emergency maintenance happens. Is it important enough to screw up Kings for the people that care? Should we even care about Kings? Are the buffs from Kupofried now better than most King gear anyway? The emergency maintenance is from 10AM to 12PM PDT which is... whatever time it is where ever you are at the time.

UPDATE: Looks like the fixes really were for Kupofried, and two other issues, one with server transfers that doesn't really look like it matters much and "an issue where gil could be obtained using an improper method". Looks like they stuck it to the RMT again.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mr. QQ Says</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.</span><br /><br />Another week, another emergency maintenance? Well, it's not that bad, but it looks like SE is taking down the servers again, but there is no indication at this time as to why they need to do it. The only clues that I have seen so far have been <a href="http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/75871-all-worlds-emergency-maintenance-jun-1-a.html#post2769807">on BG</a> saying that there is a bit of an issue with the text reporting the buffs from the Kupofried event. As this is event is different than most as it is ongoing rather than just a week or two, it would seem that if it was necessary to take the servers down to fix the issue it would be better to do it now than wait until the next full update. It does seems relatively minor assuming it isn't the "everyone on my server has been DCing, so they must be fixing that when it is just probably my own crappy ISP" complaint that normally happens when people can't figure out why an emergency maintenance happens. Is it important enough to screw up Kings for the people that care? Should we even care about Kings? Are the buffs from Kupofried now better than most King gear anyway? The <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news16309.shtml">emergency maintenance</a> is from 10AM to 12PM PDT which is... whatever time it is where ever you are at the time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">UPDATE:</span> Looks like the fixes really were for Kupofried, and two other issues, one with server transfers that doesn't really look like it matters much and "<a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news16313.shtml">an issue where gil could be obtained using an improper method</a>". Looks like they stuck it to the RMT again.

Mr. QQ says "Emergency Maintenance for Kupofried? Oh Noes!"

Looks like we are in for a little bit of maintenance in the near future to fix something with the Kupofried ongoing event. SE did a bit of maintenance last week to fix the issue with mobs moving too quickly when they were in a fully rested state. Insert jokes about spaghetti code here. This might bring back the considerations I brought up in my late post about whether SE should or should not take down the servers in the case of a minor but important repair that might need to be done.

As much as I don't have a problem with it, the issue of King's is relevant for those that do camp them. It is important that the times of King's rotate through the day so that all time zones get a chance to claim the different King's. This actually can take quite a bit of time depending on when they previously spawned, so it is important to keep the servers up for extended periods of time. It may also raise the question of why there are still mobs that require this situation to exist, and that it is far past the time to consider doing away with 21-24 (or longer) spawns.

A site note: This is the beginning of the new format style even if the new format has not yet changed. Mr. QQ will be the column for information on technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> Looks like we are in for a little bit of maintenance in the near future to fix something with the Kupofried ongoing event. SE did a bit of maintenance last week to fix the issue with mobs moving too quickly when they were in a fully rested state. Insert jokes about spaghetti code here. This might bring back the considerations I brought up in my late post about whether SE should or should not take down the servers in the case of a minor but important repair that might need to be done. <br /><br />As much as I don't have a problem with it, the issue of King's is relevant for those that do camp them. It is important that the times of King's rotate through the day so that all time zones get a chance to claim the different King's. This actually can take quite a bit of time depending on when they previously spawned, so it is important to keep the servers up for extended periods of time. It may also raise the question of why there are still mobs that require this situation to exist, and that it is far past the time to consider doing away with 21-24 (or longer) spawns. <br /><br />A site note: This is the beginning of the new format style even if the new format has not yet changed. Mr. QQ will be the column for information on technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.