Last week, MMORPG posted an interview with Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson.

The article is a bit light on revelations and threw a few softballs like “The Dungeon Maker is a brilliant addition to the game.  Can we expect more functionality now that it seems like the community loves the feature so much?” , it could still be an interesting read, especially players looking for any scrap of information about the upcoming fourth game in the EverQuest franchise (you didn’t think we forgot about EQOA, did you?).

Great ideas only really shine if you’re first to market with them. So we’re giving ourselves lead time against our competitors by being as close-mouthed about the game as we can until we feel like we’ve got a bit of a lead for launch. And then we’ll talk about it. You can’t imagine how much we want to talk about it. We’re bursting.But for now, all I can say are the things I’ve said before: a) It’s a reimagining of the Norrathian universe of characters and places; b) It’s utilizing the same Forgelight MMO engine that “Planetside 2” is using (and that engine is looking incredible right now), and c) this is not the MMO you’re used to playing. We aim to make something extremely different this time around. High-fantasy? You betcha.  Norrath? You bet, but expect some twists. Magic? Swords? Sorcery? Yup, yup, and yup. But beyond that…imagine all you want. Our aim is to make something cooler than what’s in your head.

Although EQNext is still pretty much top secret, Zoltaroth did post a picture of some members of the EQ2 and EQNext teams at a paintball range. Hey, we’ll take anything we can get including a pic of Rothgar’s armory.

It is now two weeks since the announcement that ProSiebenSat, a TV and radio broadcast firm based in Germany, will become SOE’s ‘Exclusive Partner’ in Europe. ProSiebenSat’s gaming division, Alaplaya, is mostly known for poorly supported region-locked free-to-play browser games.

The announcement immediately raised fears which, to date, have received no official (or unofficial) response from SOE beyond two posts from SmokeJumper asking for more patience:

I can’t give you the official answer yet. I’ve been specifically asked to wait until the full FAQ and everything is created for this.

However, this should be really big for EQII in Europe. Partnering with Proseiben.1 gets us access to television ads in Europe, which means we should be able to greatly enlarge our European server populations with new players. That would just be astoundingly cool for everyone involved over there.

I need to wait to talk about other details until all the p’s and q’s are arranged. (When we partner with folks, the discussions always take longer because it’s not just us making the decisions, and this is a big arrangement with many details to hash out.)

I am sorry this is taking so long, but the answers are coming soon.

After the jump, we address some of the issues that players are uncertain about:

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Last Thursday we noticed a curious tweet and Facebook post from EQ2’s Community Manager Isulith regarding the Freeport server and Free-to-Play players:

Just as a friendly reminder for Facebook users on the EverQuest II FB page: please do not use the term “freeps”.

If you have been playing on PvP servers for a while (especially back when there was more than one) you probably wondered how “freep” could be offensive, since it has traditionally referred to players aligned with City of Freeport faction.

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The Vox and Bazaar server merges have been rescheduled. From the EQ2 Forums:

We have an update for players on Vox, Nagafen, The Bazaar and Freeport servers! Originally, we had planned to start server merges on Friday, December 16, 2011. In order to minimize complications as much as possible, we have decided to delay the merges. Below is a schedule of the planned server merges:

• Vox will be going down on December 18, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST.
• Nagafen will go down on December 19, 2011 at 5:00 AM PST.
• The Bazaar and Freeport merge is scheduled for December 21, 2011 but we do not yet have an exact time for this.

The server merges will take approximately 24 hours to complete once they have started. We will of course update you as we get any more information and updates.

**Please note: the times *may* change, I will update you when we have more information!

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Paying for your EQ2 subscription has gotten more flexible over the years, leading many to migrate from providing their credit info to SOE to using 30-day game cards. But before you make the jump, realize there are a few drawbacks to consider:

• First, month-to-month players don’t get the 500SC monthly stipend which is now given to all Gold subscribers.

• Second, to use the in-game Character Transfer Tokens require an account to be on a recurring subscription.
• UPDATE: You can /petition customer service to initiate a Character Transfer.

• Third, if perchance you forget to renew your subscription at the end of the month, instead of receiving e-mails warning you that your subscription is about to run out, you might wake up to find your account at Silver. It could take some time in e-mails, petitions, or on the phone to sort out the problem. We’ve only heard this from 2 players but it’s a potential problem.

• Fourth, prior to the Destiny of Velious release, a variety of rewards were made available to recurring subscribers. Players with 30-day cards eventually won those rewards back, but it didn’t happen overnight.

So if you are on the fence about using a credit card or 30-day cards, think about whether you want the hassle of entering a card number every month, or dealing with the above limitations.

We can only speculate on why month-to-month can be a problem for SOE over the traditional recurring subscription, but spammers, scammers, and farmers are always looking for avenues to separate players and their money through fraud.

From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums:

Until now, veteran rewards were only accumulated by subscribers. That seemed fair because, we, we were all subscribers back when the program was created.

But now, there are a lot more options available to folks, and it just doesn’t make sense that a Free or Silver player shouldn’t be able to accumulate veteran rewards.

So starting from today, that’s what’s going to happen. All players will get veteran rewards based on the date of their account creation.

It’s already happening now. You’re accumulating time as we speak. Enjoy!

Discuss this on the EQ2 Forums

UPDATE from SmokeJumper. This change is NOT retroactive. So if you played EQ2 at launch and were hoping to login and get 1-8 year vet rewards, sorry Charlie.

This change doesn’t do anything retro-actively *at all*.

The veteran time that you’ve accumulated to-date is still valid and is preserved.

The change mentioned is from that date going forward. So everyone is earning time now, but this changes nothing at all for the vet time accumulated to-date.

When EQ2 went Free-to-Play two days ago, emails were sent out to people who had played in the past but were not current subscribers.  The emails mentioned the conversion to F2P and that they would be able to return and play at the Silver level for free.  But when a lot of these players made it back, they were hit with quite a surprise.

After installing 14 gigs worth of game files (for those that didn’t choose the streaming client) they headed to the character select screen.  That’s when they were kicked in the teeth.  Unless they got really lucky and picked a race/class combination that was free, they were staring at a list of locked characters.  In order to play, they would have to pay for race/class unlockers.  If they wanted to create a new character, they would have to delete all but three of their old characters since silver membership only has four slots.  The only other choice was to create a new account that wouldn’t have silver access.  This was not a good way to welcome back returning players.

SmokeJumper agreed.  Today this announcement was posted:

Hi, folks,

We’ve been listening to you since we launched the Free-to-Play service across all servers. One of the most frequent issues is from folks that used to play EQII Live and are now coming back to the Silver membership level and becoming very confused because they’ve never played under those restrictions. “Why can’t I play my characters? Why are they locked?”

Of course, the reason is because those players are returning to a Silver membership (which is free of charge) and those older characters are often locked behind the Silver membership race/class restrictions. There are two easy ways to get around those restrictions: Upgrade to Gold, or buy the race/class packs.

But, we don’t really want to force those decisions on returning players. It’s not a fun experience to come back to something that seemed exciting (F2P) and then get hit with a bill as soon as you arrive, just for the privelege of using your current characters.

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If you thought all the bases had been covered on Character Slots with November 12th’s announcement about the Free-to-Play conversion of EQ2, there was one group who still had questions. These players are in the unique position of having characters on both the EQ2 and EQ2X servers AND having also bought character slots.

If you feel a math headache coming on, feel free to run away. To quote SmokeJumper “This situation only affects players that have characters *both* on Live server(s) and EQ2X.If you don’t have characters on Freeport, then this is a non-issue.”

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So despite the exhaustive EQ2: Free-to-Play Frequently Asked Questions, as well as SmokeJumper’s lengthy Producer’s Letter, there were still a few details and questions that got missed in last Thursday’s announcements.

These EQ2X items are leaving the Marketplace (some previously announced):

• ‘Wand of Obliteration’
• ‘Rune of Devastation’
• Mastercrafted Gear
• Tradeskill Rares
• Crafted Arrows
• Self-Rez Scrolls
• ‘Guild Charter’ unlocks for creating guilds

These EQ2X items are staying in the Marketplace:

• Research Reducers (for researching Adept, Expert, and Master spells faster)
• Regular Bags

Other Points of Interest:

• Free StationCash for recurring EQ2 subscriptions paid with a Credit Card.
• What do Gear/Spell/Class/Race Unlockers actually cost?
• Returning EQ2 players who are considering the Free-to-Play option are less than happy about needing to buy Class/Race Unlocks if their class/race isn’t a Free one.

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From the EQ2 Forums:

EverQuest II: Free-to-Play Webcast Recap

On Thursday, November 10, 2011, we had a very special webcast going over the big announcement: EverQuest II going free-to-play! This week’s webcast featured EverQuest II Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson and EverQuest II Associate Producer Emily “Domino” Taylor. The two were interviewed by SOE’s Director of Global Communication, Linda “Brasse” Carlson. We learned about many of the specifics associated with the free-to-play conversion and a bit about the new expansion “Age of Discovery.” At the end of the video, screenshots of the Collector’s Edition items were also shown.

After the jump, our question about the new EQ2Players and Data Feeds gets answered…

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So there will have been a lot of myths and “the sky is falling” posts since Thursday’s announcement of EverQuest II going Free-to-Play and eliminating the “separate but equal” EQ2X service. Let’s see if we can knock out a few…

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SmokeJumper has answers for four of the biggest questions regarding the changes announced this week with EverQuest II becoming a Free-to-Play game rather than having a separate EQ2X service.

Okay, folks,

We promised you answers to four big questions that kept coming up on the forums yesterday. (We promised info by early next week, but we’re ready with the info now, so here ya go.)

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You’ll likely remember last year’s EverQuest II: Extended Trailer. It had great music, good editing, and was quite attractive to watch. Now that EverQuest II is going Free-to-Play without a separate service, that trailer has been remixed with some new clips.

We provide the new trailer below with the new motto “EverQuest II Free to Play. Your Way!™”.

So the biggest kerfuffle about today’s announcement about EverQuest II going fully free-to-play was an unexpected one for me. A larger-than-expected number of players have multiple characters on both the EQ2 and EQ2X services and they are concerned that they’ll get locked out of some of those characters when the transition completes and will be forced to buy character slots to continue playing those characters.

A player asked:

I have 12 slots on live full and 14 on eq2x.. when the merge what happens to all the characters? do I need to delete toons before hand that I don’t want?

also most of my toons have the same name on different servers. how am I going to deal with that?

Please give me a response I need to know if I need to delete the toons I don’t want..

SmokeJumper has responded thoroughly on this issue:

Don’t delete anything!

I’m chasing this answer for you now and expect to announce a resolution early next week (after many discussions in the meantime). As far as I know, this is our only unresolved question on the changeover.

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Here is the updated Free-to-Play Frequently Asked Questions page from EverQuest2.com. You may also go straight to the Membership Comparison Grid which compares Free, Silver, and Gold subscription levels.

1. When will I be able to play EverQuest II for free?

We do not have an exact date at this time, but we are anticipating releasing EverQuest II as Free-to-Play early December 2011.

2. How much does EverQuest II cost to play?

Basic access in EverQuest II is free! This includes access to a large portion of the game. However, there are also paid memberships that grant access to different content that are also available. Free membership gets access to seven years worth of gameplay and diverse zones released from EverQuest II’s launch through EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate. Free members will not have access to the most recent expansion packs EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious and EverQuest II: Age of Discovery. However, both Destiny of Velious and Age of Discovery are available for purchase.

You can play all the way up to level 90, the highest level available in the game. You have access to the game’s eight character classes, and four of the most popular races in the game from which to create your character. Additional choices can be purchased both a la carte and with memberships.

3. What are the differences between Free, Silver, and Gold memberships?

The features and benefits of Free, Silver, and Gold memberships are detailed on the EverQuest II membership matrix page (click here).

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EverQuest Executive Producer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson has unveiled the news that EverQuest II is fully going Free-to-Play on all servers, and the segregation between EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended (F2P)  is going away (as is the ‘powerful cash shop’ and the LiveGamer service).

From EverQuest2.com:

Many of you reading this letter are long-time EverQuest and EverQuest II players. You’ve been part of the SOE family for a long time (earlier this week was EQII’s 7-year anniversary!) and our aim is to take care of you and keep you entertained for years to come.

Part of caring for our customers is listening to you and hearing what you have to say. Additionally, we need to be aware of changes in the industry, changes in player expectations, and larger economic trends in general.

We’ve listened to your concerns about the complexity of the subscription structure, how the separate forums between EQII and EQ2X divide the community unnecessarily, that the Live Gamer servers are under-populated, and that many people want more flexibility with payment options so they can better manage their personal budgets.

We believe the key to meeting your expectations is to provide more flexibility and to deliver what you want when you want it, whether it’s basic game content, full subscription access to the game, or something in-between. So in early December we’re going to change things to be “Free to Play. Your Way.” Let me explain what that means…

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From EverQuest2.com comes this notice about ‘very exciting news for EverQuest II’:

Come check out this week’s EverQuest II Webcast! Host Linda “Brasse” Carlson (Director, Global Community Relations) will interview Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson (EQ2 Executive Producer) and Emily “Domino” Taylor (EQ2 Associate Producer) to talk about some very exciting news for EverQuest II! You won’t want to miss it!

Join us on Thursday, November 10, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. US Pacific Time*, as we live stream this webcast on the Twitch TV! The webcast is expected to last about 20 minutes.

Note that SOE has switched live stream services from Stickam to TwitchTV.

Time Zone Conversions:

• PST: November 10, 2011 @ 4:30pm
• EST: November 10, 2011 @ 7:30pm
• GMT: November 11, 2011 @ 0:30
• CET: November 11, 2011 @ 1:30

Yes that means I’ll be staying up quite late to see what this is all about.

One year ago, the EverQuest II Extended “Free-to-Play” service launched. In its wake, the EverQuest II Free Trial was unceremoniously discontinued. At Fan Faire, we learned that the Trial was coming back, and today it has.

Past trials have been very limited:

• Play the Fae — A 7 day trial of one starting zone (Faydwer) and limited to level 20.
• Trial of the Isle — A trial limited to level 6 on the Qeynos and Freeport starting islands.
• Both had limited access to chat channels, private messaging, and joining groups and/or guilds.

Unlike those past trials, this one is a full 14 days and allows starting in any of the four current starting cities, as well as providing players access to every expansion except Destiny of Velious.

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It was easy to interpret SmokeJumper’s suggestion that StationCash purchases could count as “time” towards Veteran Rewards and, taken to its logical conclusion, allow players on EQ2X or even Live to “buy” Veteran time. However this is not what he meant! Here’s a clarification:

Veteran subscribers that have been here forever have already received their rewards. That would be a “no” for [taking previous time into account]. We’d only give them “backlog” credits from the last vet reward time to now.

But for EQ2X’ers, you’ve never received credit, so you’d get credits as far back as August last year when we launched if you’ve been here that whole time.

There are many details to work out before we implement however, so I should stop throwing out details. We may want to change our minds about some things.

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The announcement of EverQuest 2 Extended (EQ2X Free-to-Play) to the world was not a complete surprise to everyone. In addition to the various individuals within the EQ2 team and SOE involved in its planning and implementation, a few players were notified and their feedback solicited. What would be the community reaction? Should the services stay separate? There were many questions.

At last year’s Fan Faire, once the EQ2X cat was out of the bag, I spoke to Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson about the future of EQ2 and EQ2X, and how the latter might choke off the former. My feedback was simple:

• If the website promoting EQ2/EQ2X gives the two services equal weight, and if players are given a REAL choice between the two games, then I think your best bet is to keep the 2 services separate.

Georgeson assured me and many others that both EQ2 and EQ2X would be equally marketed, with a ‘fair’ choice between the two games. On that representation, having the two services separate made sense. And yet, when EQ2X went live, this is the first thing I noticed on EverQuest2.com:

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In an interesting turn of events, Bronze and Silver players of EQ2X are being given 30 days of Gold access as part of SOE’s “Make Good” program. You’ll recall that Bronze is the free-to-play level of service, while Silver pay a one-time fee. Although players of both Bronze and Silver levels can and do buy various race and item unlocks, some have played EQ2 entirely for free. From SmokeJumper on the EQ2X forums:

Hi, folks,

We don’t want the Silver and Bronze members to feel like they’re being left out in the cold on this Make Good program that we’re running currently. Gold and Platinum members are already receiving 45 days of membership for free. So we’re going to do something similar now for Silver and Bronze members.

Obviously, Silver and Bronze members don’t pay for subscriptions, so extending “free time” to them is meaningless. Therefore, for the next 30 days (starting today), we’re going to treat all Silver and Bronze members as if they are Gold members instead.

Thus, Silver and Bronze members have 30 days to use the broker freely, equip and use items, use any class packs, etc.

All Silver and Bronze members have all rights and privileges of Gold members until June 17th.

Enjoy!

If you have been considering playing EQ2, I can’t think of a better offer. If only there was a way for EQ2X players to transfer their characters to the live servers.

When prodded about upgrading the graphics engine of EQ2, if not to improve the graphics, at least to address the spate of flickering graphics and shadows which seem to have plagued the game for some players (including me) since the launch of Velious.

SmokeJumper addressed this concern and others including graphical glitches and performance slowdowns in Public Quests:

We redirected our efforts yesterday to trying to resolve some of the PQ issues. We fixed one issue last night, and although I had been getting similar behavior to what you describe on my home rig, I couldn’t make that duplicate last night, so I’m hoping the improvement we made was a good one. (Admittedly, I was still turning my graphics down to High Performance when multi-raid groups were in the PQ area.) We’re not done yet and there will be more improvements next week.

Engine improvements are also on our list for this year. Those definitely take time to accomplish but there are some obvious things we should do to bring the engine up to par with other modern engines.

Server upgrades are something we want to complete also. In the last six months, we’ve upgraded Antonia Bayle, Crushbone, Nagafen, and Freeport because they were the most highly populated servers. Since the merges, it’s obvious that Splitpaw and Unrest (at least) need upgrades also, and we would like to just go ahead and upgrade all of the remaining worlds. Budget requests have been made.

Stay hopeful.

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If there is any doubt that EQ2 devs are working as hard as they can to resolve the persistent Receiving Zone Info issues affecting Freeport and (to some extent) other servers, know that Zoltaroth and Rothgar put in 16 hours on Tuesday, and I know that Zoltaroth worked again until midnight this morning. Sleep is overrated!

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If you are an EQ2X player with Bronze or Silver access (a Gold monthly subscription is roughly analygous to an EQ2 live subscription), and are thinking about buying Destiny of Velious, you may wish to read this excellent post by Claviarm on the EQ2 Extended Forums about some extra fees you may be on the hook for:

So now that the NDA has been lifted, I just wanted to let all the bronze and silver players out there know ahead of time that Destiny of Velious may not be a wise purchase unless you also set aside some money for equipment unlockers. Right from the beginning, the solo quests give out legendary gear. I didn’t spend a lot of time playing the beta, so it’s entirely possible I missed something, but I didn’t run across a single item that was TREASURED or below.

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Despite prophecies and predictions declaring EQ2X overpriced and underdelivered, it seems EQ2X’s popularity has nonetheless led it to be a victim of its own success in recent weeks. Several threads on the EQ2X forums about server crashes, instability, and lag have been created which got some reaction from SmokeJumper. Currently, EQ2X runs on but a single server called Freeport.

• Hmm, lets make SOE notice us..
• Sony, you’re going to have to allow Freeport copies to live.
• Now I keep getting flung back to character select screen….
• BING BANG SONY WAKE UP

After the jump, responses from SmokeJumper…

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