This week's PSO2 JP maintenance, which was recently extended, is now complete and the update is available for download. Unlike last week's massive 1.6 GB patch, this week's client update is just 17MB in size. Here's what was changed:

EXcubes have been distributed to the people who had enough experience to get to level 51 or above before the update on the 7th. They'll be in the withdraw only system storage area.

A bug where you could accidentaly sell equipped units was fixed.

Tail items (White Tail, Yellow Tail, & Devil's Tail) are now harder to get stuck in costumes.

A bug where disks where displayed in the quest record at a different level than what they actually were has been fixed.

It was also noted that ship names may not be appearing after this update, due to a known bug. Players should be using client version 1.0103.1 after patching.

A big thanks to Mike for posting the news and translations in our forums! Additional information and discussion can be found in his PSOW forum thread, linked above!

Update 11/12/12: The registration page is now working again for players outside of Japan. A big thanks to juliox for letting us know!

A flood of reports came in during the early morning hours today that SEGA had initiated a block on new SEGA ID registrations from outside of Japan. The block has since been confirmed, though the reasons behind it and its duration are still unknown. Players attempting to access the SEGA ID registration page for Phantasy Star Online 2 are receiving a plain white page with a single error message on it:

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(Essentially says, "Not available from your area.")

While initial reports speculated that the PSO2 client downloads were also being blocked, this does not seem to be the case at this time. In addition, existing SEGA ID accounts created from outside of Japan can still be logged in to and managed.

Also worth noting, is that these changes are not specific to Phantasy Star Online 2. SEGA ID registrations for SEGA's other online games, such as Rusty Hearts, are also giving the same error page when attempting to create an ID outside of Japan.

We'll keep an eye out for some kind of official statement from SEGA on this change, so stay tuned to the front page and forums for more info as it becomes available. There could be a number of reasons behind the block and it may just be a temporary measure.

There were a couple of updates released by SEGA today for Phantasy Star Online 2's upcoming content update, Destroyer of History: Part 2. The update is scheduled for a November 21st release and , as previously mentioned, will include some great new content. SEGA has released a new video highlighting what players can look forward to. Check it out:

Some of the new content and features being added in this update include:

New Story Content - Chapter 8: The Beginning of the End

New Story Boss - Falz Hunar

New Costumes & Accessories Scratch

Male costumes for females

Arks trainee costumes

New cast parts

New Mag Evolution Device

Arks Ceremony Event, celebrating the anniversary of Arks being founded

A big thanks to PSOW member mailsonds (as well as Chik'Tikka and Demon-) for posting the news and screenshots in our forums.

We'll keep this article updated with any other new info that surfaces. In the meantime, head to the above forum thread for the latest info and discussions!

The official PSO2 JP players site was updated today with a notice that the game servers will be coming down for maintenance Friday, November 9th from 10:00am to 11:00am JST (for those of us in the West, starting Thursday, November 8th at 8:00pm EST / 7:00pm CST / 6:00pm MST / 5:00pm PST). This irregular maintenance is taking place in order to address cheat programs being used with the game. The announcement is also being made through in-game notifications.

This isn't the first time SEGA has specifically mentioned new anti-cheat measures, with another update taking place at the beginning of October to add additional cheat detection. Combined with the recent banning of over 13,000 accounts for malicious activity and RMT (Real Money Trading), it certainly appears as though SEGA is on the offensive in the war against cheating in Phantasy Star Online 2.

In related maintenance news, the regularly scheduled maintenance for November 14th has been increased to an 8 hour window and will take place from 4:00am to 12:00pm JST (starting at 12:00pm EST / 11:00am CST / 10:00am MST / 9:00am PST November 13th in the West).

The official Japanese players site was updated today with information regarding the November 7th content update for Phantasy Star Online 2. Weighing in at a massive 1.6GB, the update includes some significant additions and improvements. Here are some of the highlights, with links to previous articles that cover them in more detail:

Destroyer of History: Part 1 (including new Ruins field)

Ex-Cube System & Photon Drop Shop

Multiple improvements based on player feedback, including:

Reduced experience required from lvl 41+

Reduced item requirement on level cap client orders

Improved spawn rate for Rare Bosses

Improved drop rate for 7-9 star items

Techer class improvements

Improvement of some 10-star items

and more!

The third PSO2 Live Broadcast also took place today in Japan, revealing that there will be a Destroyer of History: Part 2 content update. This update is scheduled to release later in November and will include new story missions, costumes, accessories, bosses (including a new story boss, Falz Hunar), and more. Further information and discussion can be found in this thread!

In a post to the official Japanese players site for Phantasy Star Online 2, SEGA gave a little update on their fight against RMT and other malicious activity in the game. During the period between October 1st, 2012 and October 31st, 2012, a total of 13,707 accounts were suspended for violating the game's terms of use.

Well, they did give fair warning. SEGA went on to say that they will continue to investigate their findings and take strict actions against any accounts found to be violating the terms of use. Players can also report suspicious activity through the malicious user report form on the official site.

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. posted its 2nd quarter earnings summary Friday, covering everything from its Pachislot and Pachinko business to its consumer software division. Among the highlights (again), is Phantasy Star Online 2, which has continued to perform well in Japan and exceed the company's expectations.

In a consolidated report covering the first half of the current fiscal year, SEGA's consumer business division, which includes packaged software and digital sales, showed noticeable improvements compared to the same period last year. The company continues to undergo restructuring in an attempt to become more profitable and focus on digital mediums.

Strong software sales and performance of digital titles, such as Phantasy Star Online 2, helped produce ¥35.7 billion ($44 million) in net sales, a 5.6% increase over last year. While the company did still show an operating loss of ¥780 million ($9.7 million) for this division, it is a huge improvement over the ¥6 billion ($74.5 million) loss during the same period in the previous fiscal year.

Looking on toward the future, SEGA still plans to bring numerous titles to the market and notes its continued intention to develop and release the smartphone and PS Vita versions of PSO2.

SEGA has announced that their third live broadcast for PSO2 will air on November 6th on Niconico Nama. The show will by hosted by Haruko Momoi, Ichitaro Ai, guest Atsuko Enomoto, and PSO2 producer Satoshi Sakai. Here's a brief rundown of what will be included:

Over 100 minutes of Live PSO2 gameplay and information

Updates on November 7th's "Destroyer of History" content update

Additional information on updates coming later in November

A tour of the new PSO2 Arks Briefing Room

Live coverage of the hosts taking on a new PSO2 stage

Questions and answers

The broadcoast starts at 9pm in Japan, with doors opening at 8:50pm JST. To those of us in the Western hemisphere, this should be around 7:00am EST / 6:00am CST / 5:00am MST / 4:00am PST, as daylight savings time ends this coming weekend. To view the broadcast, click here.

A big thanks to Mike for posting about the upcoming event. More info and discussion can be found in this thread.

On the official Japanese players site today, PSO2 producer Satoshi Sakai released a detailed list of player feedback and demands, along with details on how they will be addressing each one. In addition, an approximate release date was given for each improvement. Throughout November and December, players can expect to see a number of welcome changes to the game. Here's is a summary of what was posted (organized by month), translations courtesy of PSOW member Z-0:

Early November:

[Considering] Further reduction of experience required from level 41+.

Reduction of items required for level cap client orders.

Increase in the spawn rate of rare bosses.

Increase in drop rate of 7 to 9 star items (they believe 10 star items will also be easier to obtain, as a result of the increased rare boss spawns).

Overall improvement of Techers.

[Possible] Increase in performance for the following 10-star rare items:

Berkverger

Noise Blower

Vardha Cannon

Umblla Stick

Vardha Beat

Magical Wand

New option to hide Team Chat Balloons

December:

Guaranteed drop of rare matter boards after killing a set number of enemies.

Premium Set improvements, including:

Extra FUN gained

Maximum number of COs held raised to 40

Increased number of Symbol Arts held*

Addition of a premium-exclusive drink to the medical center*
  (*exact release date not yet finalized)

New checkbox option to block NPCs from MPAs (automatically applied to anyone joining the room).

New matchmaking option to "Find Party in Another Block" for chosen quest.

Players removed from friends list will no longer have the Friend Partner option.

Options added to stop unwanted auto-following by players.

Time Attack Quests and client orders will be adjusted to support solo completion.

New feature allowing advanced downloading of large game updates, as well as ability to play while downloading.

There was also one demand in the list that the development team was not able to meet, which involved partial match searches in My Shop. Due to the load this would cause on the servers, there was no way for this to be implemented at this time. Instead, they will be focusing on reducing the load caused by My Shop searches by implementing convenience features that should help reduce the number of searches required. One such feature, which is targeted for a December release, will allow players to check the market price on items when viewing them in shops.

For more details and the rapidly-growing discussion on these changes, head on over to this thread in our forums!