EVERQUEST ONLINE ADVENTURES Being Taken Offline

[Viscosity]

Just got an email today:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR
EVERQUEST.® ONLINE ADVENTURES SUBSCRIPTION
Dear EverQuest Online Adventures Community Member,
We write to you today to inform you that on March 29th, 2012, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will end all services for EverQuest Online Adventures (EQOA). The shutdown of EQOA is a very difficult decision, but we have decided that the end of March is the appropriate time to end the game.
We will stop all billing for EverQuest Online Adventures subscriptions on March 1, 2012. For players who have purchased prepaid time via a membership/subscription plan, SOE Game Card or other retail game card that extends the subscription period past February 29, 2012, SOE will provide a pro-rated refund for the unused time left on the subscription after that date. If a valid credit card is active on your account, any refund will be applied to such credit card. If your account is paid via an SOE Game Card or other retail game card, we will send a check in the refund amount to your current billing address within 90 days after the game ends. Please be sure to update your email and mailing address in your Station Account as this may be critical to the refund process.
If you have an All Access pass, please note that billing for All Access passes will continue after March 1, 2012 and we will not be issuing any refunds for All Access Passes.
We are extremely grateful to all of the EQOA fans and we truly appreciate the support we’ve received from each and every one of you over the course of the past nine years.
As a token of our appreciation for your loyalty, EQOA subscription holders will get 3 months of Gold Membership status in both EverQuest and EverQuest II (to those with accounts in good standing) beginning 3/16/12. Those who already have an EQ or EQII Gold Membership will have 3 months of free time added to their account at the end of their current billing cycle. If you are an All Access customer with an account in good standing you’ll get 3 additional months of All Access time added to your current plan.
Again, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our player community for making EQOA one of the best online communities in gaming history.
Sincerely,
Sony Online Entertainment

Sony said they would support the game as long as it remained profitable. Obviously something happened. I always thought this was one of the main reasons why they kept DNAS server online as they got money from the game. Now that this game is going offline I wonder what will happen to DNAS and the rest of the SONY servers. They already took down killzone, I have a feeling socom games will be next. I just hope that you guys can enjoy these games before they go offline.

[21SkAt3r21]

All i can say is i hope someone has all of the info they need to host a DNAS server. Killzone and now this = not good at all.

[Viscosity]

Well it takes way more then info. We have the info we need to crack the encryption and then make a server that the ps2 can repsond too. It's definatley not that easy.

[lazyhoboguy]

Hmm yea since killzone just went down it does make me fear that they might take dnas sometime soon.

[Masquarr]

...I just hope that you guys can enjoy these games before they go offline.

Yes, that's my mindset on this issue. Lordnikon of OnlineConsoles has been encouraging people to only focus on games with a LAN mode, but I think that one should, "enjoy it while it lasts." That's why I recently bought a copy of Amplitude, a game that isn't "online forever." That does remind me of how the SOCOM master server is still up, in spite of SOCOM not being dependent on DNAS. SOCOM's been out of print for years and years, so that gives me some hope that Sony might continue to run the DNAS servers, even after they drop support for Final Fantasy XI. And look, the PAL DNAS servers are still up, even though all Sony-hosted PS2 games have been taken offline and the PS2 version of FFXI was never released in Europe.

[Viscosity]

Well another thing may be that some psp games uses dnas and the Ps3 uses
the technology so idk what will happen with that. But I know that socom combined assault has plenty of people playing and they host map packs so I'm not sure what Sony is going to do next.

[Mytho]

Thanks for giving us a timely heads-up Sony! NOT!

Seriously, screw them for giving us literally hours to prepare for the shutdown. It feels like they're trying to sweep this under the rug as fast as possible, the fans be damned.

I think I have about 3 game cards left for EQ:OA. I have one reserved for Masquarr since he already asked. I'm debating whether or not I'll be participating, so 2 are potentially up for grabs. This is, of course, contingent on me finding the vouchers over spring break.

If I can find the vouchers in a timely manner, we need to call SOE Customer Service and ask if we can still redeem them. They have nothing to lose by letting us on the servers.

[21SkAt3r21]

The only ps2 games left by Sony with DNAS are Socom. If they dont shut the DNAS now, it will be when Socom dies. And like Favrenation said, there are still lots of PSP games that use DNAS and PS3 does in some areas as well so they might not go down any time soon. You never know...

[Masquarr]

A minor correction; The NTSC versions of Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Ratchet: Deadlocked are still playable online, and they are both hosted by Sony. Also, PAL PS2 games authenticate to different DNAS servers than the NTSC PS2 games. The last of the Sony-hosted PAL game servers got shut down in 2011, yet the PAL DNAS servers are still up. Therefore, I bet that the NTSC PAL servers will be kept up for a little while after SOCOM 3 gets shut down.

[jacobgrocks]

The only ps2 games left by Sony with DNAS are Socom. If they dont shut the DNAS now, it will be when Socom dies. And like Favrenation said, there are still lots of PSP games that use DNAS and PS3 does in some areas as well so they might not go down any time soon. You never know...

The PSP still uses DNAS, FFXI is still up, and Socom CA/3 has plenty of players still.