Japan UOCode Store now blocking US IPs.

[WarUltima]

Just like the title said. I brought some items from them 2 days ago and I decided to buy 7th char slot from them (you get free gift), and tried to connect. And WTF, US IPs now will be redirected to uoherld.com. Some secret agreement between EA and EA Japan to stop use from getting items that all JAPANESE players can get?

I mean come on, I can just use a japanese proxy server and complete my transaction but why blocking all US IPs.

 

[Zodia]

Did you read the EA-Japan's response to the Arcane Circle thing? One gets the feeling that these 2 teams do not have the best communication with each other and might even see each other as rivals for what is "best" for the game.

I would bet the Japan store items went on sale without proper coordination with the EA-USA. In response, (since the US team hasn't finished coding the stuff yet and putting up the items for sale) they did this in the meantime to halt the flow of money from their region to the Asian region.

Someone will be here shortly to tell us everything is fine, don't worry, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

 

[guum]

I would bet the Japan store items went on sale without proper coordination with the EA-USA. In response, (since the US team hasn't finished coding the stuff yet and putting up the items for sale) they did this in the meantime to halt the flow of money from their region to the Asian region.

This explanation makes a lot of sense. I smell sales figures protection.

 

[Basara]

More likely, the IP Protection that USUALLY has been there every other Japan-only promotion, was accidentally forgotten this time, until someone caught it.

Remember, it was the Japanese EA, that made an unbreakable commitment for a KR Boxed set for 2Q 2007, that resulted in the premature birth of that client (so premature, it would be like comparing it to a baby born at 22-24 weeks - you might get it to live, but odds are its health will never be that of a normal person, regardless of the extent of medical care).

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

Thank goodness I have a korean IP!!

 

[WarUltima]

Its not like I do not want to buy from US-EA, they are simply too slow paced, and we never ever get any kind of promotions like spending over 1000yen (which is not much) and you get a free gift that worth 300 to 500 yen.

How come we never get those goodies. And the price is indentical between japan and us EA store. Other than us missing out on sweet deals they simply do NOT offer the items they have here. While a japanese xsharder came to say atl and making 20+ mill per 3 dollor worth of item gotten from japanese gamecode store, we are still sitting her going "wtf is that mate? Something ive never seem before wtfmate???" "Hey that crimson hair dye is only selling for 25m with a unique shaped bottle too!, maybe a super rare, imma go buy it and get ripped off"

Do you people see the point I am trying to make? Now if you cannot xfer between japanese and western shards then i wouldnt even give a jack, but you CAN.

Is asking to be equal too much here in this free country?

 

[Xalan Dementia]

after the first japan only items appeared they shoulda made it impossible to xfer to/from oriental shards, just to stop the greedy xfer vendors and the illegally made items from corrupt asian gms/ems. too bad the us shards dont post notices around in and out of game that explain to people not to overpay for the items and to wait for the us tokens to be ready for sale. Thats why ive never spent more than 1 mil on an item i didnt know the story behind.

 

[Velandra]

Thank goodness I have a korean IP!!

I bought the ladybugs - they are adorable! They're on my stairs if you need a push to order

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

I bought the ladybugs - they are adorable! They're on my stairs if you need a push to order

I think the lady bugs look silly. I just want the rugs.

 

[Velandra]

their sillyness is what makes them so adorable!

 

[Borric]

Really? Thats a crappy thing to do. The Dev's do great, the EM's do great. Why do they higher ups always dump on us in the US?

I can see it taking 1-6 months for the items to made available to us in the US. WITHOUT any promotion extras.

I may be juping the gun here, but I fell s**t on right now.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

Okay, actually, I just tried this.
I live in South Korea and thought I should be able to use this feature (makes sense, right? A lot of koreans can read japanese and I would understand them using the japanese site over the US site) but the Japan UO site has blocked ALL IPs other than japanese IPs.
It is pretty ridiculous that everyone has been banned from these items. There's no reason Japan's Dev team is more on top of it than America's/the rest of the world's, and I think this should be seen as a huge embarrassment for our Dev team. This is, quite possibly, WHY the site has been blocked.

 

[Harlequin]

Thank goodness I have a korean IP!!

Would you mind testing and see if you can still access the store? I tried using my company's proxies in US, UK and Japan. All getting redirected. (edit: nm, just saw your second post.)

So, no need to panic yet, could be a technical issue.

 

[Borric]

Would you mind testing and see if you can still access the store? I tried using my company's proxies in US, UK and Japan. All getting redirected.

So, no need to panic yet, could be a technical issue.

I didnt even think of all the work you and stratics put into a very well done guide to use the store. Seems no one wants to make any money. Its prolly easier to just cry to the government and get a hand out.

Thanks again Harlequin on a well done guide.

 

[Flora Green]

(so premature, it would be like comparing it to a baby born at 22-24 weeks - you might get it to live, but odds are its health will never be that of a normal person, regardless of the extent of medical care).

Wow.

 

[WarUltima]

Would you mind testing and see if you can still access the store? I tried using my company's proxies in US, UK and Japan. All getting redirected. (edit: nm, just saw your second post.)

So, no need to panic yet, could be a technical issue.

I was able to make a purchase just now via a japanese proxie.

 

[dum3886]

"I would bet the Japan store items went on sale without proper coordination with the EA-USA. In response, (since the US team hasn't finished coding the stuff yet and putting up the items for sale) they did this in the meantime to halt the flow of money from their region to the Asian region."

This arguement is flawed... if JP EA wanted to increase their cash flow they wouldn't block US IPs and would rather have all the US customers buy of them first because USA EA releases the same items but 6 months later.

 

[UOKaiser]

Either way they can't stop it. Like war ultima said proxy. Where theres a will theres a way, I can think of plenty of counterattcks they might try and I can find a way to counter act each one, If we want to spend our money and become homeless well thats our money to spend. Either take it or we will force our money on you heh.

 

[Eman Resu]

Those promo items are for cross-shard traders who know how to use a proxy server and nobody else! You can buy yours in Luna! lol

Clownshoes.

EDIT: By the way, EA-Japan has basically run this game for years now. You didn't really think this pack of noobs was really calling the shots did you?

 

[WarUltima]

Those promo items are for cross-shard traders who know how to use a proxy server and nobody else! You can buy yours in Luna! lol

Clownshoes.

Actually that's a very good idea.
I know someone wants the red hair dye for 25m and the chaos blue like one for about the same.

Its like those free blessed japanese dresses and specially hued cow statues they handed out ONLY on Japanese shards and those were xfered ne mass and was selling at around 1m a pop for dress and 2m for the cows. You can have your US friends to go on those shards and get hundreds of them, spend 18m on a xfer token and go to ATL and make 200mill and spend 20m more and came back to your home (japanese shard) with 150+m profit for doing literally nothing.

 

[Slayvite]

This maybe nothing to do with UO atall though, They get very 'iffy' about westerners accessing their internet over in Japan, or is it China. All part of them sensoring there internet.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

This maybe nothing to do with UO atall though, They get very 'iffy' about westerners accessing their internet over in Japan, or is it China. All part of them sensoring there internet.

Lol, that's China. Japan isn't like that at all.

 

[Harlequin]

Lol, that's China. Japan isn't like that at all.

Yup, that's China, not Japan. Weird policy that relies on withholding information/access which anyone can use open proxies to circumvent...(ermm...ahem...any parrallels that the reader may draw from the above statement are purely coincidental)

The IP-based redirection seems to be coming from the Japan UOStore page, meaning the Japan UOStore folks put it in.

Could be pressure from the US Store/Japanese players, could also be they are concerned with support/tax/credit card related issues.



Though I'm guessing that my guide made certain folks real upset in EA

See? That's why I never post my char name! Hehe.

 

[Slayvite]

Knew it was one of them, remember seeing something on the news about how their goverment is sensoring the internet. Didn't think that was possible but apparently it is

 

[Zodia]

"I would bet the Japan store items went on sale without proper coordination with the EA-USA. In response, (since the US team hasn't finished coding the stuff yet and putting up the items for sale) they did this in the meantime to halt the flow of money from their region to the Asian region."

This arguement is flawed... if JP EA wanted to increase their cash flow they wouldn't block US IPs and would rather have all the US customers buy of them first because USA EA releases the same items but 6 months later.

I meant that EA-USA demanded the block thru EA corporate and argued to them that it was only fair since they would be selling similar items soon. EA corporate took a couple days and then said yeah, EA-Japan must block. But still, just my speculation.

 

[Littleblue]

This is upsetting.

I made a trip to the bank just yesterday to deposit a few shopping dollars. I really wanted to get some of these things, and some of the original ToT1 dyes.

 

[Coppelia]

Just like the title said. I brought some items from them 2 days ago and I decided to buy 7th char slot from them (you get free gift), and tried to connect. And WTF, US IPs now will be redirected to uoherld.com. Some secret agreement between EA and EA Japan to stop use from getting items that all JAPANESE players can get?

I mean come on, I can just use a japanese proxy server and complete my transaction but why blocking all US IPs.

Don't use a proxy, it's baaaad.
http://www.samair.ru/proxy/

 

[Cailleach]

I just tried using my own IP and a proxy. Each time, when I clicked on the UOstore icon, I was redirected to uoherald and the client update notes.

I don't think it's unreasonable for USA/UK/European customers to want equitable treatment. We pay the same, after all. However, that's like me wanting tech support that runs with my timezone and that isn't in the USA, which will cost me a freakin' fortune to call. And that's not gonna happen either

 

[Nyte Doombringer]

Oh well will have to wait now. I too wish at least we would get some nice promotion as well.

 

[Zodia]

Posted by CalMythic on August 1:

We will have this on the gamecodes store quite soon, and you should see an announcement early next week.

Almost 5 days now since Cal said we would have these "early next week"...

To me, when someone says "early next week" on a Saturday, they mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday maybe.

We are now at Thursday, about 5am EST as I post this.

Where is the announcement that the items are now for sale?

 

[Slayvite]

"early next week" - This month
"soon" - This year

 

[BartofCats]

Posted by CalMythic on August 1:


Almost 5 days now since Cal said we would have these "early next week"...

To me, when someone says "early next week" on a Saturday, they mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday maybe.

We are now at Thursday, about 5am EST as I post this.

Where is the announcement that the items are now for sale?

Five on Friday in December maybe?? LOL

 

[Yalp]

I made this point before when the Asian store offered special items.. cows, muffins, 11th anniversary... etc

If they can't release items to all shards (at the same time.. no not a year later) across the spectrum (European, American. Australian, Asian) then it needs to be an account bannable offense to have any of these items in your possession if you are not on those shards. Like any dupe... having items that are exclusive to an Asian Shard while you are playing on, oh say an American Shard, .. page on ya.. get your account banned.


This crap of providing special items through EA store sites is absolute and complete garbage and a slap in the face of every paying customer.

 

[Flora Green]

This is upsetting.

I made a trip to the bank just yesterday to deposit a few shopping dollars. I really wanted to get some of these things, and some of the original ToT1 dyes.

10 people don't like the dyes and the rest can't have them.

 

[Chrissay_]

The new items will be available shortly. The moment they are available I will post an announcement on the Herald.

 

[RaDian FlGith]

The new items will be available shortly. The moment they are available I will post an announcement on the Herald.

Will the US stores ever get cool purchase attractions like Japan does, or are we simply going to get "items only" again?

About the random nature of the "free" gift... I understand you're hoping to increase revenue simply by having people play lottery with those very things until they get what they want, but wouldn't it be better to allow people to choose which item they get from the promo? (Presuming of course we get the promo here.)

 

[IanJames]

What happens when a traveling asian UO player is in the US and cannot buy game time code on the japanese site?

 

[IanJames]

The new items will be available shortly. The moment they are available I will post an announcement on the Herald.

I guess we need a definition for "shortly" now.

 

[IanJames]

Will the US stores ever get cool purchase attractions like Japan does, or are we simply going to get "items only" again?

I'm not really a betting person, but I would gamble that we aren't going to get anything extra as usual.

 

[Cailleach]

The new items will be available shortly. The moment they are available I will post an announcement on the Herald.

Will the issue of inequalities like this be addressed, so they don't happen again? Will we get the same deal as the Japanese shards, or will it be items only, no 'free gifts'? Who took the decision to block UK/USA players from accessing the Japanese store, thus preventing us from buying the items that we would like to have, and, incidentally, reducing EA's revenue? (Whoever it was really didn't think that one over too well, did they?)

In short, why the inequitable treatment, when we all pay the same subscription fee?

 

[Aboo]

Posted by CalMythic on August 1:


Almost 5 days now since Cal said we would have these "early next week"...

To me, when someone says "early next week" on a Saturday, they mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday maybe.

We are now at Thursday, about 5am EST as I post this.

Where is the announcement that the items are now for sale?

Wait, wait, wait, I know the answer to this. Ummmm it will be like the 11th Anniversary items and we still have 5 months to go?

Sorry that was rude of me especially since Chrissay is trying really hard to keep all of us step-children (those that are not Japanese players) happy. Thanks Chrissay!

 

[Borric]

Well, it has not been said. UO is still a great game, and I play just about everyday. It would be real nice for the suits (not DEV's or EM's, who do a great job) to show us even just a little that our loyalty to UO is appreciated.

I totally agree, stuff for sale on the stores should be out at the same time. Its not that "they get it, we dont" kind of thing. Its more of a feeling that we have to pay insane ammounts of gold for items that should be available to any who want them, even if thru an online store. Some folks wont buy anyting from the online store, and thats fine. At least we will be able to buy some for friends and give as gifts, or even sell them without having to mark up the price from shard transfer fees (cows anyone?).

It just seems like most of us are in full support of UO, but the suits dont support us. Its sad really.

 

[phantus]

10 people don't like the dyes and the rest can't have them.

Pffft! You don't know what you are talking about. People have had some very serious retinal damage as a result of those bright dye colors and can no longer play UO. Also it was 11

 

[jbfortune]

The new items will be available shortly. The moment they are available I will post an announcement on the Herald.

Is that really all the info you can give us?

Also, how about we get free gifts for spending a certain amount too, otherwise we might as well get them from the Japan store.

 

[yanaki2]

so no free gifts for us unless were japanese? sounds kinda racist to me..

 

[WarUltima]

so no free gifts for us unless were japanese? sounds kinda racist to me..

Hmm...

Anyways I got a hair dye as my gift for purchasing 2 earring of protections.
thats just a bit over 1000 yen mark and the gift along is already worth over 33% of that.

And a pure white BoD cover for buying 7th char slot...

In case you dont know the price for japanese and US stores are identical, its like you are getting a 30% discount compare to buying from UA stores.