Interesting, as soon as I attempt to use State.setPersonalization with a plugin installed on the platform, I get these 2 lines in my APS trace log:
|1C90950BA5634D01BACE24EB83383CC5e|2014 11 10 15:09:20.386|-0600|Error| |>>|E| |aps_(my_server_name).AdaptiveProcessingServer|10668| 157|Transport:Shared-4/18| |157|0|1|0|OpenDocument.WebApp|(my_server_name):1308:1068.46250:1|OpenDocument.WebApp|(my_server_name):1308:1068.46250:1|.executeBIRequest|(my_server_name):10668:157.6733:1|CpS9koM9aUl6hLaPBcbbUWkb4a8|||||||||||Warning: org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser: Feature 'http://javax.xml.XMLConstants/feature/secure-processing' is not recognized.
|1C90950BA5634D01BACE24EB83383CC5f|2014 11 10 15:09:20.387|-0600|Error| |>>|E| |aps_(my_server_name).AdaptiveProcessingServer|10668| 157|Transport:Shared-4/18| |157|0|1|0|OpenDocument.WebApp|(my_server_name):1308:1068.46250:1|OpenDocument.WebApp|(my_server_name):1308:1068.46250:1|.executeBIRequest|(my_server_name):10668:157.6733:1|CpS9koM9aUl6hLaPBcbbUWkb4a8|||||||||||Warning: org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser: Property 'http://www.oracle.com/xml/jaxp/properties/entityExpansionLimit' is not recognized.
I'll run through a few more tests to be sure it's plugin related...
EDIT: I get that error whether plugin is present or not.
I think this is BIAPP related, as even after removing all plugins, I can break personalization. But I save a copy of the BIAPP as a new object on the CMS, thus generating a new CUID, I can make personalization start working again... Hmmm... The plugin part may be a red herring.