Feldon 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…
| 1 | The price of my EverQuest II subscription is going up.
According to SmokeJumper, “nothing is changing”. An EQ2 subscription will continue to be $14.99/month and will continue at that pricing for the foreseeable future. In fact, you’ll be able to pay your account with StationCash. If you stockpiled SC (up to the annoyingly low limits allowed), then you could pay as little as $3.75/month for your EQ2 account. We have not heard any word on whether pre-paying 3, 6, or 12 months will still get provide a discount. If this goes away, then those who prepaid at $11.99 a month now will see a price increase to $14.99 when their 12-month subscription is up for renewal. |
| 2 | As an EverQuest II subscriber, I’m going to have to start paying extra “unlocks” for Races, Classes, Dungeons, Raids, Quests, etc.
Players with an EQ2 subscription are going to start being called “Gold”. Otherwise, nothing is changing about the EQ2 subscription and you won’t be asked to buy “unlocks” to access the Broker, Bank, Races, etc.. The only race that costs extra is the Freeblood, and the only class that costs extra is Beastlords which will require the Age of Discovery expansion. There has been no indication (or substantiated rumor) that dungeons, raids, or quests will be going to pay. In fact SmokeJumper recently stated that that’s not a payment plan that SOE considers desirable. |
| 3 | EverQuest II servers are becoming EQ2X servers.
This is not really true. More like, the “separate but equal” concept of EQ2X is going away. The “Freeport” server will join the ranks of other EQ2 servers as a “regular” server, and have all the same rules as a standard EQ2 server. You’ll be able to use the same Launcher to get to Freeport that you do for Antonia Bayle, Butcherblock, etc. Anyone will be able to transfer to and from the Freeport server for the standard fee of $25. In fact, the Free Trial is going away because now EverQuest II has essentially become an infinite Free Trial. With the exception of Legendary and Fabled Gear, the Broker, a selection of Races and Classes, some limits on Currency and Guild membership, and the latest Velious content, anyone can now play EQ2 for as long as they want for free. |
| 4 | The “powerful cash shop” of EQ2X is coming to EverQuest II.
You know, perception is 9/10ths of reality. People have used the term “powerful cash shop” for a long time. Here’s what was actually for sale on the Freeport (EQ2X) server besides the standard Marketplace items:
Of those, the only one which was not available via deity miracle or other means were the Wand of Obliteration and Rune of Devastation. That said, ALL of these items are being removed from the EQ2X Marketplace and won’t be returning without serious community interaction (and probably a survey/poll). |
| 5 | Won’t SmokeJumper just re-add “powerful cash shop” items later on without asking the players?
This comes down to trust and people have thoroughly expressed themselves on that subject already. 🙂 If you want to hear SmokeJumper‘s comments, they follow:
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| 6 | I’m paying $15 a month for EQ2 and these Free-to-Play folks are getting to play EQ2 for free.
FALSE. “Free” (previously known on the EQ2X service as Bronze) must buy “unlocks” to wear Legendary/Fabled gear, and play certain Races. “Free” players cannot use Expert or Master spells, carry more than 5 gold pieces per level, Send Mail, use Shared Bank slots, carry more than 20 Quests, use Public Chat channels (1-9), create Guilds, and cannot open Support Petitions. “Free” players only get 2 character slots. “Silver” is a one-time payment of $5. “Silver” players get 4 character slots, can use Expert (but not Master) spells, can use more Bag slots, can carry more Gold, can carry more Quests, can use all Chat channels, can create Guilds, and can make limited use of the Shared Bank (2 slots). |
Once again the crusader for accuracy. Thank you, Feldon. 😀
what kind of station cash magic do you have to do to get your account sub down to 3.75 a month?
Buy 1,500SC cards at Wal-Mart and redeem them on a Triple SC weekend. They have 500SC bonus on the card and it triples. 6,000SC for $15 baby. 🙂
Chances of another Triple SC…. .0001%
Here are the myths I would like to see evaluated:
– Smokejumper is continuing to say that classes can be unlocked by free/silver players, but the current version of the matrix is using the old language from the F2P launch that these classes can be obtained by upgrading to gold. (Unlike races, which say “purchaseable”.) Is the Matrix just downplaying the ability to unlock classes for some reason?
– The FAQ says that free/silver players cannot access the broker, including to remove items/cash that was listed while they had Gold status. On EQ2X currently, silver players can remove items and gold, purchase items that other players have listed, and use Station Cash to purchase credits allowing them to list items for sale. Will the new EQ2 revert to the original form of broker access?
– You write in your last point that free/silver players can pay per item for legendary item usage. This is currently true on EQ2X, but I have not seen any confirmation that it will be true in EQ2-reunified.
If you go to the eq2x server you will see that there are class unlock packs. So you can unlock them by going gold or unlock them by an unlock item.
@Kruzzen: That is the case on EQ2X now, However, as Feldon notes (“myth 3”), there is no more EQ2X.
They are skillfully skirting the question of whether 3, 6 and 12-month recurring memberships will receive a discount. If you read the wording of the FAQ, it is vague at best and makes reference to the “matrix.” The matrix simply reads $14.99/mo. I will not be surprised when they announce there are no discounts for recurring membership.
What this equates to is a price increase, OR forced purchase of 500 station cash per month. And if I can’t use station cash towards my recurring membership, what’s the point of having a recurring membership if I don’t buy stuff off the marketplace already?
I AM surprised that there aren’t more people making a stink about this apparent price increase. Perhaps the subscriber base is a lot smaller than I thought.
Aliscious,
I am hoping that it’s just an omission based on not wanting to add even more detail to an already very dense FAQ.
Feldon,
I’m hoping it is too. But my cynical side says it’s not. Let’s see what excitement Monday brings 😉
You won’t need to buy a race or class pack…unless you downgrade to free. Then you have a 66% chance of being locked out of your characters based on what class you play.
I may have missed it somewhere, but how do we keep bronze and silver toons out of our guilds and from attempting to be pick ups in raids? Many guilds have a hard enough time being successful on the raids without the restrictions imposed upon the bronze and silver toons.
sirchivar,
Most Free/Silver members will look like everyone else. They just will have restrictions on the spells and gears they can use. You can go around an inspect peoples gear to see if they are decent to survive the raid. It wont be much fun doing that. I do understand where you are getting at with the raids. It will be hard to run T9 zones with a raid full of people in treasured or handcrafted gear and no spells
And so it begins! SOE may end their segregation practice, but the players will pick it right up and keep it going in a more vicious form than we’ve yet seen. 😛
The reality is that Free or Silver players can be just as powerful as subscribers, thanks to gear and spell unlock tokens. I use a silver account, and I’m wearing fabled gear and using almost all master skills. Moreover, there’s nothing stopping a subscriber from trying to join a raid with sub-par gear and skills. It’s an issue that has nothing to do with account type.
So, the question ought not be “how do I keep free/silver out of my guild/group,” but rather “how do I keep treasured/journeyman characters out of my guild/group.” And the answer is “the same way you always have, with the inspect window.”
Will Free and Silver members be able to sign up for Dungeon Finder or BG? (Hope not.)
so if I decide to join back for free (I canceled and went to Rift) – do my characters (raid ready before DoV arrived) get stripped and lose their plats? or how does it work?
ah nm – got it answered in the webvideo above… I just won’t be able to log in on my old alts…
As far as to number 5 on the list, trust Smokejumper?? You got to be kidding me we trusted him and now were at this point.
Sorry but trusting smokejumper is what got us where we are hear, and if you think they will not add items back to the cash shop later you got to be crazy.
Silver members have an upper coin limit of 18 plat at level 90. As of now, before the F2P model goes global, if I end my subscription for a month (going on vacation, death in the family, can’t afford it, health reason, etc.) and come back a month later, ALL of my items and especially my coin will still be there.
Now, if I stop paying for a month, (and having already bought at least 500 SC) my account, I presume, reverts to Silver membership. What happens to all my excess plat? Even if I have as little as 100 plat, does that all vanish minus the 18 plat limit for Silver? And what happens when I re-sub? Do I lose all that extra cash or will it magically re-appear in my bank and/or inventory again?
Basically, are paying subscribers now held hostage by SoE to never lose our Subscription or we’;; lose almost all of our plat? Heaven help me if my credit card should be denied one month if that’s the case . . . That would end my relationship with Sony, for sure and for good.
Well from what I read, point 6 takes care of peoples concerns with raids. Both free and silver can purchase an unlock for legendary, and fabled gear. And we know that Silver can have up to Expert spells. Those two options alone are more then enough to get a free player raiding well, at a low cost.
I’ve been playing eq2 from the start. So I’ve been around for all seven years. The only thing that keeps me playing these days is the raiding with people I like. The servers have been dieing slowly the last couple of years. There has been a ton of games that have come out that are FTP, and not all of them stink either. SOE has to do something to keep up in this new market. And if you think it is only SOE failing at this, just take a look at WoW. While they are still a beast, they continue to bleed subscribers. When the largest, and most popular mmo currently is starting to show signs of pay to play market fatigue, due to FTP games in the market, you have to stop and say to yourself, “Self. Yes self? Do we want to continue to lose our player base by hanging on to the old ways, or do we want to accept some change so the game we enjoy playing, can continue?”
Am I happy with everything that is going on? No. I will not blow smoke up your arse. What I am saying is that the FTP change over isn’t going to harm those that want to pay to play. What it will do is get more people playing the game. And at this time, that is what all of EQ2 needs badly.
On a side note. As for these “Powerful” Marketplace items on Freeport. I’ve played on the Freeport server, and I can tell you that after I looked through the whole marketplace, I was laughing pretty hard at the people who claimed the items would be game breaking, or unfair. Now mind you this is the Freeport server where they could put any marketplace item they want on the server, as it was their test bed, and the best they could do is have the ability to buy crappy armor, and rares. I think allot of people really have overblown the marketplace issue, and really have to step back from the nerd rage and take a breath. I understand the concern of proliferation, but if they haven’t gone crazy with the marketplace on the Freeport server by now, then they aren’t going to start now.
Well said Fievall.
Playing from 2005-2007, then returning in Oct 2010. I went “gold” then and other then a month when i unlocked gear for lvl 85-90 I was silver. I then went to live to get my one toon and copied to eq2x. Being gold is just unrestrictive. Being silver you can play about 90% of the game with unlockers but you still are limited on journal quest and can’t send mail.
As for powerful items in station cash shop:
Aside from an occasional guy (non-priest) coming back to life for no reason when we wipe(rez scrolls) and an occasional non-raid mob exploding (wand of obliteration). There power items don’t add that much and are convenient time savers. The reuse timers on the items prevent abuse, again in my opinion. So, in the end I’d vote to have them.
Again, these are just my views. I’d think in a couple months peeps will appreciate the large population.
@Charn: No, your plat doesn’t vanish if you drop to silver/free. You just can’t get more until you’re gold again.
Nothing about their F2P model is ridiculously broken. If anyone finds themselves wondering “will all my plat vanish from inventory/bank/broker” or “will my characters get deleted” or “will I be unable to cast spells” (I’ve seriously heard that one posited, believe it or not) any other such outlandish worry, you may safely assume it’s not the case. Unlike some games, bouncing between subscriber and non-subscriber here will not cause you any undue problems.
I think many people will take a look @ EQ2 after this change, i mean People without a Subscription anymore. But in the End i think EQ2 will dying faster then before, personally myself Cancelled 1 Month ago, and i will Only look one or two days on Guildchat to talk to a few People. When i see that my Characters are lost, three of seven. Then my Motivation will be low, and im gone again. I think im not the only one.
“Trust” and “SmokeJumper” in same sentence?
A Self-Rez Scroll, no wonder our veteran reward blows, they don’t want these to stop selling… Ya, giving veterans a reward for self rezzing would break the game, but in 3 months we will sell em to ya, no problems.
Screw SoE, and smokejumper
Personally what i’m more worried about is the following reply from smokejumper:
You can only buy non-recurring memberships with station cash.
Recurring memberships are credit card only…and those are the memberships that grant 500SC per month.
So no, unfortunately, you can't get the 500SC grant if you buy a membership with SC.
——
Quite a few people (mostly EU i guess) don’t use credit cards but currently can still have a recurring membership … but if this is true i’m stuck with getting it each time through SC and also no chance to get the extra 500SC.
Now i wouldn’t mind dropping to Silver … except for the plat limitation, i mean 18 plat that’s not much lol. If i could buy an plat unlock i’d probably go Silver completely as it would be cheaper lol even with raiding.