EverQuest II Extended – My Two Coppers and a Tour

[Savanja]

<p>Sony Online Entertainment <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/everquest-2/news/eq2-goes-free-to-play" target="_blank">dropped a bombshell</a></em></span> last week announcing that one of their most notable games, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2" target="_blank">EverQuest II</a></em></span>, is opening a free-to-play server. While not quite in the same style as predecessor MMOGs that have tossed subs out the window, EQ2 now joins the ranks of games such as Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online offering potential players a completely free gaming experience. As an EQ2 veteran myself I was overcome with curiosity so I braved my way onto the EQ2 Extended server to see what it had to offer. Read up on what I found and whether or not it was magical enough to entice me from my server home of Kithicor <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/editorials/EQ2-Extended" target="_blank">in this editorial: My Two Coppers and a Tour</a></em></span>.</p>

[Raahl]

<p>Check today's patch, they changed the timers on the popup asking if you want to upgrade.  You might want to update your review.</p>

[Savanja]

<p>I read that this morning! I'm happy to see that half the popups will be occuring but I'd still much rather only have popups occure when a limitation is ran into. It seems more compelling to say "Hey! Is that something you'd like to do? Upgrade now and you can!" rather than the hourly popups of "Didja buy yet? Didja buy yet? Didja buy yet?"</p>

[Brook]

<p>Nice writeup, seemed fair and honest.<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Iskandar]

<p>In FreeRealms, the marketing popups occur when you first log in (like the current EQ2 Welcome screen) and when you zone (in lieu of the artwork splash screens like we see in EQ2). hmm... I would have expected SOE to follow a similar pattern with EQ2X, instead of the more intrusive model currently in place.</p>

[Purr]

<p>One correction: An armor set would contain 6 pieces - the imbued legs and chest piece are listed further down than the regular, non-imbued pieces.</p><p>And the suggestion to sell plat directly would unfort. not work for Bronze/Silver, the soE made coin restrictions would limit SoE's sales of plat. Kind of a catch-22.</p><p>Great article otherwise, only thing I'm missing is mentioning of the default SOGA models which might not be first choice for Westerners.</p><p>Purr~</p>

[Savanja]

<p><cite>Purr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>One correction: An armor set would contain 6 pieces - the imbued legs and chest piece are listed further down than the regular, non-imbued pieces.</p><p>And the suggestion to sell plat directly would unfort. not work for Bronze/Silver, the soE made coin restrictions would limit SoE's sales of plat. Kind of a catch-22.</p><p>Great article otherwise, only thing I'm missing is mentioning of the default SOGA models which might not be first choice for Westerners.</p><p>Purr~</p></blockquote><p>Brain fart on the armor pieces as I did pick up 6 when I bought them at level 1 and at level 12.</p><p>I always wondered how many players use SOGA. I use a combo personally so setting them individually works better. Westerners may not neccessarily be the target market 100%. Micro-transaction business models are most popular in Eastern gaming and with the younger gen who appreciate anime style art a bit more who are probably the markets that EQ2 doesn't really touch currently.</p>

[gourdon]

<p>There should be some scaling of the price for MC armor and rare harvestables with tier 1 being maybe half the price of the highest tier.  I don't recall if tier 9 stuff was for sale, but if it is, there should be a pretty big bump for that tier since it will be in high demand.</p>

[Alteri_1]

<p>Well thought out and fair.  FtP and micro transactions are becoming the compelling model for gaming, and Sony did mention long before Free Realms that they were interested in embracing it.  As for Extended, it has generated a LOT of static in a LOT of venues.  Honestly, I can't see why.</p><p>When the concept was first announced, I went to the EQ2Players to see what it was all about for myself.  After reading the release I said, Nice for newbies coming in, but nothing I'd alter my sub over.  In all honesty, I said anyone that would like to continue playing would be better to sub on the 'Live' servers then continue to pay to play on Extended.  That being said, I want to dovetail into a comment you made in your post. </p><p>Once a player has invested both time and money into an Extended character, the motivation to scrap him/her and restart might not be so high.  How about a concession allowing people that convert to subsription based play to bring their character over to live?  x-Atleri-x pending a new name would be preferable to starting from scratch.  The x-fer fee could be waived by way of purchased stat items being converted into appearance only items.</p><p>Just my two coppers.</p>

[Lorriana]

<p> Just a note about the idea of selling plat.  Turning items bought on the Marketplace into plat via the broker is a whole different thing than selling plat.  Any plat you make on the broker is just moving plat around.  Selling plat via SC is bringing large amounts of plat into the system without sinks to take it out.  You think inflation of plat is bad now?  It would be crazy if plat could be bought that way.</p>