Hey all,

Ut oh, Zatozia's playing around with html and scripting again...

If you can't change the code, work around it!

My internet connection isn't stable enough to play right now so...

We aren't able to make any permanent changes to the CSS script for the forums, we have to get the forum devs to do that, however, I did manage to do a work around for removing the underlines for links on the pages with the header.  They were making my eyes bleed.  Now it looks more like the old forums!

Like? Dislike? Pie? Cake?

/discuss

Congratulations to the winner of the Billboard Anagram Contest - JuryRig!

Read the News!

Greetings Everyone,

Here's a brief update for you!

Combat Engineering
We're currently working on the Combat Engineering profession.  We're on target for the end of January / first week of February time frame for a release on to the Test Server.

As mentioned before, there will be two branches of the Combat Engineering profession - Offensive and Defensive.  We've already mentioned the specifics of what each role would be getting but we'll be working on the balance where needed.

Here's a sneak peek at what some of the new deployables look like:

We'll get more sneak peeks for you soon.

Vehicles
After the Combat Engineering project is completed, we'll be working on the vehicles we mentioned in the past - the buffed up Sunderer, the Galaxy Gunship, and the new and elusive Phantasm.  More details about these will be given as we get closer to working on them again.

Other Development Projects
After the vehicle project is completed, we'll be working on the Advance Hacking profession, next the Sniping profession, and then the Advanced Medical profession.

Events
We'll be starting the event calendar back up again in February for the Tuesday and Thursday event days.  We'll also be working on some holiday events for the future.

We're working on the Outfit Wars schedule for the remaining battles and playoffs. The battles should start back up in February. 

Chats
The dev chat will be making a return.  We're trying to schedule one in for February. 

Note:  The priority order could change but this is what we have planned out so far.

All PlanetSide servers will be coming down on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 3:00 am US Pacific Time (4 am MST, 5 am CST, 6 am EST,  -8 GMT) for a brief Game Update.  Estimated downtime is 1 hour.

Date corrected.

Update Features

• Xmas hats, presents, lights in trees, etc. have been turned OFF
• /appeal should no longer crash the game when logged in with Quick Launch.

We would like to wish you all an enjoyable three day weekend as we celebrate and remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here is a little info on the life of Dr. King, and a link for those who would like to know more:

Martin Luther King was a civil rights activist in the 1950's and 1960's.  He was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and at the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Technical and Account Phone Support will be unavailable on Monday January 15th, 2007 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Phone support is normally available Monday through Friday 10am through 7pm PST.

On the holiday, support will be offered through Live Chat, Email, and our Technical and Account Support Knowledgebase:

Live chat is available Monday through Friday 10am through 7pm PST at http://station.son...om/chat

Email support is available any time at http://station.sony.com/email

The technical and account support knowledgebase is also available any time at http://station.son....com/kb

Hail Soldiers!

You have until 10:00 am PST, Thursday, January 11, 2007 to obtain your holiday merits. 

Find your holiday spirit while you still can!

From time to time reminders about keeping your account secure are a good thing. So here is SOEs policy about Account Security and some useful tips on how to keep your account secure.


As the population of online internet gaming increases, so do issues regarding stolen or compromised accounts, and/or accounts that have been transferred from one player to another in violation of the User Agreement. This also applies to the amount of issues relating to Accounts that have had their login information "shared" with friends, relatives, and Guild members. These issues (and the time it takes to investigate and attempt to resolve them) hugely detract from the time that SOE's Customer Support staff have to provide quality customer service. Accordingly, SOE must remind all customers that:

(1) Account security is the responsibility of the account owner. This includes password protection, running virus checks, disabling file sharing, or any other means of checking that the owner's account has not been stolen or compromised.

(2) Any and all stolen, compromised, or shared accounts that are reported to SOE may be *suspended* in order to conduct an investigation and prevent further malicious acts upon the accounts in question. If characters on the account are deleted maliciously by someone, or items and coin removed from a character, a Customer Service Representative may offer a "character-restore." This will restore the player's character to its most recent backup if a backup is available. Experience points, items, etc, that are lost due to this type of character restoration will not be reimbursed. Please understand that once characters are deleted from an account, SOE does not guarantee they can be restored.

This character-restore service will only be offered once per player account. Subsequent occurrences of character deletion or item/coin/experience loss due to account theft, compromised accounts, or sharing of account information will not be reimbursed.

If a player account has been stolen or compromised, he or she must first recover the account by following the Account Recovery Procedure (detailed here) and then submit a Customer Service help-ticket immediately. Note: Due to the availability of character backups, Customer Service may be unable to help if the request for assistance is not received within a reasonable amount of time.

(3) Any customer found to be involved in an account theft may have any and all of his/her accounts banned. Prior to taking any action against accounts reported as compromised, SOE will conduct a thorough review of the accounts and determine the appropriate course of action. Accounts will only face disciplinary action based on information gathered through our investigation and not as a result of external allegations.

Account Security Tips

We strongly recommend that you change your current password periodically and keep your registration information updated including choosing a secret question if you have not already done so. Please make sure that you have provided us with your current and valid email address, we will use the email address on record to notify you of any changes or activity regarding your Station account and in retrieving lost passwords (this email address will not be used for marketing purposes unless you specifically opt-in for newsletters and announcements.)

Please remember to NEVER give out or share your Station name or password, including with friends and Guildmates.

Account security reminders:

Haiku of the New Year

The basis of a haiku is 3 lines with 5, 7, 5 syllables.  Here's an example:

Fog in the distance
A battle was being fought
Will it come this way?

Fog (1) in (1) the (1) distance (2) = 5
A (1) battle (2) was (1) being (2) fought (1) = 7
Will (1) it (1) come (1) this (1) way? (1) = 5

Count your syllables!  And make sure you are writing a haiku and not a poem or caption.

Duration:  On January 15, 2007 at 10:00 am Pacific Time this challenge will end and winners will be announced by January 16th.

Reward:  Based on the number of submissions, we will determine winners and put them into placement.  Those receiving a placement will each receive a unique forum rank and the ability to use external avatar images. 

Notes:  Submit as many entries as you wish.  You will only receive placement for one of them though.  We'll decide which we like the best.

Feedback:  Feel free to offer your feedback on the submissions of others.  We enjoy reading the comments on entries for these challenges just as much as the entries! Just remember to be constructive.

Congratulations to the winners!

Darth_Wraak and DaDaTR

The PlanetSide's Billboard Anagram Contest is still open for submissions. Read the News

The Winner of this challenge is TheHomeslice!  Congratulations!

Congratulations to the Honorable Mentions:  DaDaTR, VSMarineCorps, VanuHero

All PlanetSide servers will be coming down on Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 3:00 am US Pacific Time (4 am MST, 5 am CST, 6 am EST,  -8 GMT) for a Game Update.  Esitmated downtime is 1 hour.

Here's some information about the Game Update.

Here's the information about Thursday's Update:

Update Features

More Holiday Fun:

Watch out for the new objects appearing all over Auraxis during the holiday.  In certain locations you might run across a snowman, gingerbread man, sled, or xmas tree.  Exploring the world to find these objects might just earn you a few merits:

• Holiday: Snowman - Earned by finding all 9 snowmen.
• Holiday: Gingerbread Man - Earned by finding all 10 gingerbread men.
• Holiday: Spirit of Youth - Earned by finding 7 sleds and 7 xmas trees (there are 9 of each).

Players that participate in the event and earn the awards may get a special prize at the end of the event!

Miscellaneous Changes:

-Engineering merits should all list requirements
-News Ticker has been updated with news about new merits and the xmas event
-Equipment support merits should all list requirements
-Players that use /humbug to hide the santa hat should now be able to keep their usual hat flair (i.e. beret, etc)

Hey all!

Let your friends know to check their emails for the announcement about the 30 day free period for their former PlanetSide Accounts.   If they never opt'd in to receive emails about PlanetSide, they wouldn't have gotten the news.

However, there's still one last chance for them.  YOU can tell them to try logging in.  Here's the information.

To celebrate the holidays, we've reactivated all former PlanetSide accounts that were in good standing and that were closed on or before October 15, 2006 for a special trial period.

The trial period begins whenever you log in, but you must take advantage of this special offer on or before 11:59 P.M. (PST) January 16, 2007. Once you log in, you can play for 30 consecutive days of free service (beginning on the date on which you first log in). When your 30-day free service period ends, your account will not remain active without entering payment information to re-activate billing.

• Qualifying accounts have automatically been activated for this trial period. All you have to do to take advantage of this offer is log in! Launch PlanetSide on your PC, log in to your Station account and click on Play!
  
  
• If you no longer remember your username or password to access your old account, click on the Forgot Password link below the login box to have your password sent to the e-mail address on your account.
  
  
• Don't have your PlanetSide discs anymore? We can help! Click Here to install PlanetSide.
  
  
• Please feel free to contact us if there are any questions about the status of your account.

Take your favorite holiday song and change the words to PlanetSide terminology.

Here's a link to ones that were done last year.

Share your winter holiday traditions!

During the many holidays over this winter season, what special activities do you take part in with you friends and family?

Download the free trial now at http://piratesonline.station.sony.com/ to get your fill of swashbuckling captains, galleons at full sail, and devastating sea monsters!

Beginning Monday, December 18, 2006 (12:01 am, US Pacific Time), PlanetSide's Billboard Anagram Contest will be taking place.

Read the News

Beginning Monday, December 18, 2006 (12:01 am, US Pacific Time), PlanetSide's Billboard Anagram Contest will be taking place.

Read the News

We would like to take a moment and say Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication."

‘Tis the season for giving and good will, and that goes for pirates too!

Sony Online Entertainment is teaming up with the Child's Play charity to bring some joy to hospitalized children this holiday season. All launch-day purchases for Pirates Constructible Strategy Game Online will go to Child's Play. That means any product or registration purchases made on December 14, 2006 will help provide presents for children who can't be home for this holiday.

So set sail in Pirates CSG Online today and help out a worthy cause!

You can find more about the Pirates Constructible Strategy Game at http://piratesonline.station.sony.com/

If you would like to find out more about the Child's Play Charity Drive or to make a donation directly visit http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Ahoy matey!  The ground-breaking collectible card game comes to life in Sony Online Entertainment's Pirate's CSG Online!  Go head-to-head with your friends in mighty sea battles, explore islands and amass treasure in a rich 3-D environment.  This all-new miniatures strategy game features legendary ships and animated firing cannons and all the fun of the runaway constructible card game pioneered by WizKids.

Set sail for high adventure!

Click here to find more details about the game on the official web site.

Click here to read the rules and learn how to play the game.

Join us for the latest Official SOE Podcast!  This is Podcast #10 and we are all about the Holidays this time around!!  We have a new email address for you to send us your feedback to!  So let us know what you think at Brenlo@soe.sony.com or post your feedback over on the Station forums!

Click here for the download link and show notes on the Official Podcast Page.

Some of our websites are experiencing temporary issues that we are working to resolve. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Account and Technical Phone Support will close at 6:00pm PST on Friday December 8th.

Phone support is normally offered Monday through Friday, 10:00am through 7:00pm PST.

Live chat will remain available, Monday through Friday 10:00am to 7:00pm PST at http://station.sony.com/chat

Email support is always available at http://station.sony.com/email

The Account and Technical Support knowledgebase is also available any time at http://station.sony.com/kb

All PlanetSide servers will be coming down on Thursday, December 7, 2006 at 3:00 am US Pacific Time (4 am MST, 5 am CST, 6 am EST,  -8 GMT) for a Game Update.  Esitmated downtime is 1 hour.

Here's some information about the Game Update.

Here's what's coming up for the update on Thursday:

Update Features:

• Merit Enhancements:
• Several new merits have been added.
• New advanced progress ranks of Titanium and Auraxium have been added to allow continued progress.
• Existing merits that stopped at gold or platinum have been expanded up to the Titanium and Auraxium ranks.
• Requirement fields have been added to all merits 
  
  
• Holiday Features: Santa hats, present box corpse graphics, and lights in the trees on arctic continents.
• Related Command: The /humbug command is available for those not wanting to see the new santa hats or present boxes.

My main character only has about 4 or 5 merits but I'm hoping to rack up on some soon.

On Tuesday, December 5th from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM PST, PS may or may not be available while maintenance on station network systems is performed.  The service interruptions are not expected to last longer than 6 hours, but should it exceed that, we will update this announcement.

Thank you!