EverQuest II: Free-to-Play Webcast Recap [Archive]

Isulith

11-11-2011, 09:33 PM

<img src="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/images/en/logos/EQII/EQII_Logo.png" width="350" />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. If you missed Thursday’s webcast, you can watch it below, or head over to our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/soevideos" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>. Check the video out here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtaEY_NSFvk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtaEY_NSFvk</a><a href="http://www.everquest2.com/news/read/current/5031" target="_blank"><img src="http://everquest2.com/images/en/community/buttons/readmore.png" border="0" width="175" height="44" /></a>

IceStormx

11-12-2011, 01:45 AM

HiyaIs there any chance at getting a Lifetime membership for Everquest II like DC Universe Online has?

Keikoku

11-12-2011, 12:23 PM

Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "Yes."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.

TalisX1

11-12-2011, 12:30 PM

Keikoku

11-12-2011, 12:38 PM

<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "No."SmokeJumper said "Not going to happen."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.</blockquote>Not sure if you mistyped the question or not but if not then you received the answer all live players wanted to hear.Silat</blockquote>Yes, I mistyped. Sorry. Edited to make more sense. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> You'll have to forgive me. It's early and it's Saturday. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I haven't had my coffee yet.

TalisX1

11-12-2011, 01:20 PM

No worries bud. You did get me to watch the webcast though. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Silat

Cyliena

11-12-2011, 01:47 PM

<cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "Yes."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.</blockquote>Look at it this way: Before a F2P shift, if you stopped paying, you would have NO access to your characters.They have limited classes and races available to Free and Silver tiers because they know a large amount of new people will not subscribe and will stay at those freebie tiers. Those people can unlock classes and races to play. SOE has to make money somehow I wouldn't doubt for a second that this is a huge method of how they made money on Extended.So as a subscriber, if you stop paying, and your character is not one of the freebie classes/races, you too will have to unlock whatever race/class is restricting you to play that character. It is a one-time fee and even if you subscribe again, and then go to freebie again, once you have it unlocked you will always have it unlocked. It is also possible that your character will NOT be restricted (for example, I have a Human Swashbuckler, both the race/class are part of the freebie tiers) and you won't have to pay a thing.If you stay a subscriber, nothing will change. If you drop your subscription be prepared for a lot of one-time fees (equipment, class, race unlockers) to be able to play as you once were.However, it's better than the current model of NOT being able to play, isn't it? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" />

TalisX1

11-12-2011, 03:16 PM

<cite>Cyliena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "Yes."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.</blockquote>Look at it this way: Before a F2P shift, if you stopped paying, you would have NO access to your characters.They have limited classes and races available to Free and Silver tiers because they know a large amount of new people will not subscribe and will stay at those freebie tiers. Those people can unlock classes and races to play. SOE has to make money somehow I wouldn't doubt for a second that this is a huge method of how they made money on Extended.So as a subscriber, if you stop paying, and your character is not one of the freebie classes/races, you too will have to unlock whatever race/class is restricting you to play that character. It is a one-time fee and even if you subscribe again, and then go to freebie again, once you have it unlocked you will always have it unlocked. It is also possible that your character will NOT be restricted (for example, I have a Human Swashbuckler, both the race/class are part of the freebie tiers) and you won't have to pay a thing.If you stay a subscriber, nothing will change. If you drop your subscription be prepared for a lot of one-time fees (equipment, class, race unlockers) to be able to play as you once were.However, it's better than the current model of NOT being able to play, isn't it? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.SilatEdit: to fix typos

Keikoku

11-12-2011, 04:13 PM

<cite>Cyliena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "Yes."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.</blockquote>Look at it this way: Before a F2P shift, if you stopped paying, you would have NO access to your characters.They have limited classes and races available to Free and Silver tiers because they know a large amount of new people will not subscribe and will stay at those freebie tiers. Those people can unlock classes and races to play. SOE has to make money somehow I wouldn't doubt for a second that this is a huge method of how they made money on Extended.So as a subscriber, if you stop paying, and your character is not one of the freebie classes/races, you too will have to unlock whatever race/class is restricting you to play that character. It is a one-time fee and even if you subscribe again, and then go to freebie again, once you have it unlocked you will always have it unlocked. It is also possible that your character will NOT be restricted (for example, I have a Human Swashbuckler, both the race/class are part of the freebie tiers) and you won't have to pay a thing.If you stay a subscriber, nothing will change. If you drop your subscription be prepared for a lot of one-time fees (equipment, class, race unlockers) to be able to play as you once were.However, it's better than the current model of NOT being able to play, isn't it? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></blockquote>Again, the problem is that long term subscribers are being punished by this new model they are FORCING on us. Yes, it's being forced on us. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind it. I've seen what it did for games like DDO and LoTRO. But for those of us who've been paying for years to now be nickel and dimed to be able to play characters that we've had for years? I'm sorry, but honestly, that's just silly. I understand that SOE is in this as a business and needs to make money. But you don't have to nickel and dime your long term subscribers.And I have to disagree with Silat. It seems that anyone who buys the expansion gets the class. I'm fine with that, so long as they don't make it a marketplace item later.

Cyliena

11-12-2011, 07:05 PM

<cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Again, the problem is that long term subscribers are being punished by this new model they are FORCING on us. Yes, it's being forced on us. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind it. I've seen what it did for games like DDO and LoTRO. But for those of us who've been paying for years to now be nickel and dimed to be able to play characters that we've had for years? I'm sorry, but honestly, that's just silly. I understand that SOE is in this as a business and needs to make money. But you don't have to nickel and dime your long term subscribers.</blockquote>They're not forcing you to cancel your subscription and therefore actually need to purchase unlockers. I guess I'm failing to see what your argument is when you say it's being forced on you.Keep subscribing and you will not need to purchase unlockers. Nothing has changed there. You can keep playing your characters as normal.<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.Silat</blockquote>You must buy Age of Discovery to unlock Beastlords, that's been stated multiple times. I sincerely doubt we'll see an unlocker for that class in the Marketplace any time remotely soon.

TalisX1

11-12-2011, 07:26 PM

<cite>Cyliena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Again, the problem is that long term subscribers are being punished by this new model they are FORCING on us. Yes, it's being forced on us. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind it. I've seen what it did for games like DDO and LoTRO. But for those of us who've been paying for years to now be nickel and dimed to be able to play characters that we've had for years? I'm sorry, but honestly, that's just silly. I understand that SOE is in this as a business and needs to make money. But you don't have to nickel and dime your long term subscribers.</blockquote>They're not forcing you to cancel your subscription and therefore actually need to purchase unlockers. I guess I'm failing to see what your argument is when you say it's being forced on you.Keep subscribing and you will not need to purchase unlockers. Nothing has changed there. You can keep playing your characters as normal.<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.Silat</blockquote>You must buy Age of Discovery to unlock Beastlords, that's been stated multiple times. I sincerely doubt we'll see an unlocker for that class in the Marketplace any time remotely soon.</blockquote>I said you would have to buy AoD. I also said even with the purchase of AoD bronze/silver subs should have to buy an unlocker to use beastlords. That way it is consistent for expansion triggered race/class combos.In other words I do not want free users to be able to play beastlords without both purchasing AoD and an unlocker...like the people who have purchased the other exppansions have to do to play the races that were included.Silat

Deleroux

11-12-2011, 09:38 PM

Reading the Producer's letter I am seeing that even if buy the AoD expansion you will still have to pay additional for Beastlord class with Character Pack under what will be subscription Gold membership.Am I not getting something or is this intentional?I have been trying to read all over EQ2 site and forums all I see is Freeblood and Beastlord must be purchased additionally.Nowhere is it straight forward stating with AoD you get to play Beastlord with Digital or Collector's Edition download. Although it does show Collector's getting a Beastlord Pet.If, this is what will happen. Definitely cancelling preorder of $59.99 for very little content as is.

Lodrelhai

11-12-2011, 10:17 PM

<cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "Yes."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.</blockquote>I've been a subscriber since a couple weeks after the game started, came straight from EQ1, and have usually had an all-access account. But when I went to play on Freeport server, even though my live subscription stayed active, I had to buy a race pack to play a wood elf. (All-access members had Gold account in freeq, but it did not include all races.)They DID let me play the dark elf dirge I copied over without unlocking the race, but only because I kept my live subscription active. And mind you, I paid $35 to move that dark elf over. I could've unlocked *4* race packs for that price. And if I stopped paying the sub here, I'd lose it. If I just purchased the races, I'd have them even without a sub.This was all explained to us up front - no sub, we have to pay for anything they're not opting to include in free access. It's been this way since freeq went into open beta, which is well over a year now. And *now* you think it's unfair? You're getting a better deal than I did a year ago! Keep your sub paid up, and you don't have to pay to unlock any of the standard races. Absolutely nothing changes.At best, at absolute best, I can see them grandfathering in the specific characters we already have in existence. So like in freeq, a character we've had for a while can be played, but if we don't have a sub we can't make any more of that race without paying. Sort of like the old character copy, but without the $35 fee. But even that much would be a consession to the player base, not a right.

Pewtriid

11-13-2011, 02:33 AM

upon hearing this information, I have been thinking long and hard about staying in this game. Upon finding out that I have essentially wasted my money by buying the expacs and supporting this game, only to find out that F2P is now the prefered people here and stuff I have unlocked by purchasing expansions is actually NOT unlocked (Oh, but a mere "we discussed something with F2P people, so we have to follow up and give them what they want" makes them so happy. Who cares if the people that actually carry this game financially get messed over? ) .I just cancelled BOTH my CE preorders, and will not be buying it. After all, I can downgrade to silver, pay $5 and have lifetime access at that level. MUCH cheaper that way than paying $60 per account, only to be dropped to bronze if I unsub. I had origianlly given this game another year before it has to close the doors. I can see now that I over estimated that by a bit.I will also be cancelling my accounts and moving on to other things. This switch to F2P has cost EQ2 quite a few players, and will cost many more. I need not even log in to tell my guild, as we have a way to communicate outside of the game. I tried, I really did, to stick with it. But with the people that won't be giving a dime now getting preferential treatment while those that actaully pay get the ignored, and now this travesty, I can not in good conscience stay. I enjoyed it, but won't put up with this anymore.

Cyliena

11-13-2011, 11:06 AM

Wow. Everyone, breathe in, breathe out.1. @Silat You had said it as a hypothetical so I wasn't sure what you were getting at, but I understand now. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I have to respectfully disagree, that would be double-dipping imo.2. @Deleroux If you purchase AoD you DO NOT need to also purchase Beastlord seperately. Anyone who purchases AoD will get the Beastlord class. People pointing out that BL need to be purchased seperately are conveying that it requires the AoD purchase.3. @Lodrelhai - Great example. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" />4. @Pewtriid - If you keep paying for a subscription ALL OF YOUR STUFF IS USABLE (including races/classes) AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CHANGES. I really don't understand why everyone keeps coming to a conclusion that they have to unlock things on a paying subscription. If you did downgrade to Silver THEN you would have to likely unlock stuff.

Znurf

11-13-2011, 12:33 PM

Question deleted as it is now inconsequential.

SOE-MOD-04

11-13-2011, 01:37 PM

This post has moved: <a href="/eq2/posts/preList.m?topic_id=500111&post_id=5657796" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">/eq2/posts/preList.m?topic_id=50011...post_id=5657796</a> Removed for trolling

Katz

11-13-2011, 02:13 PM

<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cyliena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Okay, so, after watching this, I need some specific clarification. The question was asked, "I currently play a race/class combo that isn't available to free players. When the game goes F2P, if I stop paying and go to Free/Silver, will I lose access to these characters?"Domino flat out stated "Yes."Now, I have to ask... Why? Those of us who have been around and supported this game monthly are going to be punished by taking advantage of a new subscription model that you guys are forcing upon us. SOE can, and should, mark existing accounts in good standing with the class/race packs so that everything is unlocked. Asking us to pay for what we've paid for for 7 years is a bit silly. A lot of us veterans are quite happy with this change of F2P. Please don't make us regret our support of you in this.</blockquote>Look at it this way: Before a F2P shift, if you stopped paying, you would have NO access to your characters.They have limited classes and races available to Free and Silver tiers because they know a large amount of new people will not subscribe and will stay at those freebie tiers. Those people can unlock classes and races to play. SOE has to make money somehow I wouldn't doubt for a second that this is a huge method of how they made money on Extended.So as a subscriber, if you stop paying, and your character is not one of the freebie classes/races, you too will have to unlock whatever race/class is restricting you to play that character. It is a one-time fee and even if you subscribe again, and then go to freebie again, once you have it unlocked you will always have it unlocked. It is also possible that your character will NOT be restricted (for example, I have a Human Swashbuckler, both the race/class are part of the freebie tiers) and you won't have to pay a thing.If you stay a subscriber, nothing will change. If you drop your subscription be prepared for a lot of one-time fees (equipment, class, race unlockers) to be able to play as you once were.However, it's better than the current model of NOT being able to play, isn't it? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.SilatEdit: to fix typos</blockquote>I'm guessing if you buy AOD and get the beastlords and then go to the free level you lose access to your beastlord.Edit: Is that true or not?

SOE-MOD-04

11-13-2011, 03:31 PM

This post has moved: <a href="/eq2/posts/preList.m?topic_id=500111&post_id=5657852" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">/eq2/posts/preList.m?topic_id=50011...post_id=5657852</a> Removed for trolling and profanity

Resstful

11-13-2011, 03:56 PM

Wow, thread after thread of comments by folks stuck in the 'terrible twos' tantrums.It is a game people. A game many people enjoy playing as family units, solo, raiders, questers, crafters, etc.It is NOT a life style.Party on SOE. I have my pre-orders submitted.

feldon30

11-13-2011, 04:09 PM

<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.Silat</blockquote>You must buy Age of Discovery to unlock Beastlords, that's been stated multiple times. I sincerely doubt we'll see an unlocker for that class in the Marketplace any time remotely soon.</blockquote>I said you would have to buy AoD. I also said even with the purchase of AoD bronze/silver subs should have to buy an unlocker to use beastlords. That way it is consistent for expansion triggered race/class combos.In other words I do not want free users to be able to play beastlords without both purchasing AoD and an unlocker...like the people who have purchased the other exppansions have to do to play the races that were included.Silat</blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.

TalisX1

11-13-2011, 04:13 PM

<cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.Silat</blockquote>You must buy Age of Discovery to unlock Beastlords, that's been stated multiple times. I sincerely doubt we'll see an unlocker for that class in the Marketplace any time remotely soon.</blockquote>I said you would have to buy AoD. I also said even with the purchase of AoD bronze/silver subs should have to buy an unlocker to use beastlords. That way it is consistent for expansion triggered race/class combos.In other words I do not want free users to be able to play beastlords without both purchasing AoD and an unlocker...like the people who have purchased the other exppansions have to do to play the races that were included.Silat</blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.</blockquote>You need EoF for Fae/Arasai and RoK for Sarnak. They give those away free now so people don't notice anymore. However alot of us paid for those expansions to unlock those races...so if beastlords stay unlocked in free those of us that bought eof and rok should continue to have access to those three races for free.Silat

Rijacki

11-13-2011, 06:41 PM

<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.Silat</blockquote>You must buy Age of Discovery to unlock Beastlords, that's been stated multiple times. I sincerely doubt we'll see an unlocker for that class in the Marketplace any time remotely soon.</blockquote>I said you would have to buy AoD. I also said even with the purchase of AoD bronze/silver subs should have to buy an unlocker to use beastlords. That way it is consistent for expansion triggered race/class combos.In other words I do not want free users to be able to play beastlords without both purchasing AoD and an unlocker...like the people who have purchased the other exppansions have to do to play the races that were included.Silat</blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.</blockquote>You need EoF for Fae/Arasai and RoK for Sarnak. They give those away free now so people don't notice anymore. However alot of us paid for those expansions to unlock those races...so if beastlords stay unlocked in free those of us that bought eof and rok should continue to have access to those three races for free.Silat</blockquote>If you pay for a subscription (what will be called Gold membership in the future), you will have full access to all those races for free. It's only when you don't pay for the monthly subscription that you have -any- restrictions. Then, you'll only have the same restrictions as anyone else who doesn't pay which is considerably more access than you would have had in the past.

TalisX1

11-13-2011, 07:39 PM

<cite>Rijacki wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have no problem with this logic as long as beastlords follow it too. In other words it should be that silver/bronze members have to both buy AoD and a beastlord unlocker to play beastlords. Don't know if that is the intention though. If it is then at least they are consistent throughout.Silat</blockquote>You must buy Age of Discovery to unlock Beastlords, that's been stated multiple times. I sincerely doubt we'll see an unlocker for that class in the Marketplace any time remotely soon.</blockquote>I said you would have to buy AoD. I also said even with the purchase of AoD bronze/silver subs should have to buy an unlocker to use beastlords. That way it is consistent for expansion triggered race/class combos.In other words I do not want free users to be able to play beastlords without both purchasing AoD and an unlocker...like the people who have purchased the other exppansions have to do to play the races that were included.Silat</blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.</blockquote>You need EoF for Fae/Arasai and RoK for Sarnak. They give those away free now so people don't notice anymore. However alot of us paid for those expansions to unlock those races...so if beastlords stay unlocked in free those of us that bought eof and rok should continue to have access to those three races for free.Silat</blockquote>If you pay for a subscription (what will be called Gold membership in the future), you will have full access to all those races for free. It's only when you don't pay for the monthly subscription that you have -any- restrictions. Then, you'll only have the same restrictions as anyone else who doesn't pay which is considerably more access than you would have had in the past.</blockquote>That statement is getting older and older and shows how few people actually read the comments they are replying to. I understand that. I have said in multiple posts that that is the way it should be assuming beastlords follow the pattern. I've never said the new system is not better. I have not insinuated it, hinted at it, or in any other way indicated that the new way is not better. All I am asking for is equality between the expansion triggered content. As my post that you quoted said I want free members to have to pay to unlock beastlords in addition to buying AoD. Not unlockable seperately and I do not want Beastlords being available to free members regardless of AoD purchase status. If free members do not have to both buy AoD and pay to unlock beastlords THEN I think that the other expansion triggered content Fai/Arasia in the case of EoF and Sarnak in the case of RoK should be unlocked for people who have purchased those expansions. Not those who got them free. Not those who got theem bundled with another expansion. Those who purchased it.SilatEdit: For clarity and typo.

Rainmare

11-13-2011, 07:47 PM

if I went to EQ2X right now and was a free player, even though I'd have EoF and RoK expansions, I wouldn't have access to fae/arasai/sarnak races. and several of the classes.I imagine what it will be is that getting AoD will probably on purchase unlock the Beastlord class. whcih means the EQ2X playuer or the 'freebie' players will still have to pay the 40 dollars for it. since AoD is NOT included with the 'free to play' model, nor is Velious.*edit*So imagine that if freebies buy AoD, they'll get the beastlord class included with it unlocked. it would probably be a lot of work, considering how they did expansions previously, to try and go back and figure out who bought EoF/RoK directly and who bought say, just TSO or SF and got those expansions included, thus 'free unlocks'.becuase if you want to do it that way that says if your go 'freebie' the the expansions you paid for that had such things as special races should be give you those unlocked, then I would also NOT want people that bought just SF or just TSO or just RoK to get those races auto unlocked either. and that would just make a whole lot of headaches.so I imagine buying AoD will unlock beastlords for them.

TalisX1

11-13-2011, 07:53 PM

<cite>Rainmare@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote>if I went to EQ2X right now and was a free player, even though I'd have EoF and RoK expansions, I wouldn't have access to fae/arasai/sarnak races. and several of the classes.I imagine what it will be is that getting AoD will probably on purchase unlock the Beastlord class. whcih means the EQ2X playuer or the 'freebie' players will still have to pay the 40 dollars for it. since AoD is NOT included with the 'free to play' model, nor is Velious.</blockquote>I realize this is the most likely scenario. I just do not agree with it. I realize I am arguing about something of which I do not have all the details I just felt like putting my opinion out there.If the purchase of the expansion unlocks beastlords for the free users. Then the purchase of EoF and RoK (not the free versions...the purchased versions) should unlock the respective races for free players.Silat

feldon30

11-14-2011, 07:59 AM

<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote></blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.</blockquote>You need EoF for Fae/Arasai and RoK for Sarnak. They give those away free now so people don't notice anymore. However alot of us paid for those expansions to unlock those races...so if beastlords stay unlocked in free those of us that bought eof and rok should continue to have access to those three races for free.Silat</blockquote>Wow I didn't know anyone had bought Faydwer and Kunark for any reason other than the quest/heroic/raid content.And as said above, I'm not sure how someone can say with a straight face that someone who is Free-to-Play who drops $40 on Age of Discovery is getting Beastlords for "free". It's time to change our perception of this "non-contributing freeloader" classism. The number of people who are truly playing EQ2 with absolutely no financial contribution is probably minimal.

Teefuss

11-14-2011, 09:36 AM

At about 15:30-40 ( somewhere in there) in the webcast , Smokey states that Vox and bazaar characters will be appended with an X to their names if Freeport has a character of the same name.... I also heard that he made this comment in error. Please tell us that those of us who have had names for years don't have to lose our identity over a newish server. ...that the regular rules apply for time played or name age. Any help here to confirm ofr deny this? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/0320a00cb4bb5629ab9fc2bc1fcc4e9e.gif" border="0" />

Anestacia

11-14-2011, 12:19 PM

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TalisX1

11-14-2011, 01:21 PM

<cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote></blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.</blockquote>You need EoF for Fae/Arasai and RoK for Sarnak. They give those away free now so people don't notice anymore. However alot of us paid for those expansions to unlock those races...so if beastlords stay unlocked in free those of us that bought eof and rok should continue to have access to those three races for free.Silat</blockquote>Wow I didn't know anyone had bought Faydwer and Kunark for any reason other than the quest/heroic/raid content.And as said above, I'm not sure how someone can say with a straight face that someone who is Free-to-Play who drops $40 on Age of Discovery is getting Beastlords for "free". It's time to change our perception of this "non-contributing freeloader" classism. The number of people who are truly playing EQ2 with absolutely no financial contribution is probably minimal.</blockquote>And as said above, I'm not sure how someone can say with a straight face that someone who is Free-to-Play who drops $40 on RoK and $40 on EoF is getting Fae/Arasai/Sarnak for "free". It's time to change our perception of this "non-contributing freeloader" classism. The number of people who are truly playing EQ2 with absolutely no financial contribution is probably minimal.Like how I did that?Silat

TalisX1

11-14-2011, 01:24 PM

<cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote>Wow I didn't know anyone had bought Faydwer and Kunark for any reason other than the quest/heroic/raid content.<Snip></blockquote>You don't remember anyone looking forward to the fae? No one at all? You don't think that anyone might have considered that the reason they really wanted EoF?I'll grant you this time there is less content to go with beastlords than there was to go with the fae but the logic still stands.Silat

Jemoo

11-14-2011, 02:10 PM

<cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>TalisX1 wrote:</cite><blockquote></blockquote>That sounds unnecessarily punitive. And what expansions are needed for certain races and classes? I'm not aware of such restrictions.</blockquote>You need EoF for Fae/Arasai and RoK for Sarnak. They give those away free now so people don't notice anymore. However alot of us paid for those expansions to unlock those races...so if beastlords stay unlocked in free those of us that bought eof and rok should continue to have access to those three races for free.Silat</blockquote>Wow I didn't know anyone had bought Faydwer and Kunark for any reason other than the quest/heroic/raid content.And as said above, I'm not sure how someone can say with a straight face that someone who is Free-to-Play who drops $40 on Age of Discovery is getting Beastlords for "free". It's time to change our perception of this "non-contributing freeloader" classism. The number of people who are truly playing EQ2 with absolutely no financial contribution is probably minimal.</blockquote>And as said above, I'm not sure how someone can say with a straight face that someone who is Free-to-Play who drops $40 on RoK and $40 on EoF is getting Fae/Arasai/Sarnak for "free". It's time to change our perception of this "non-contributing freeloader" classism. The number of people who are truly playing EQ2 with absolutely no financial contribution is probably minimal.Like how I did that?Silat</blockquote>I didn't start playing the game until Shadow Odessey, I only purchased that expansion for $40 and got everything from previous expansions with that. Should I, and anyone else who hasn't played since lauch, not get anything from the previous expansions too, because that is very much what you seem to be saying?One thing that SoE has done is include the base game and all previous expansions with the latest one (except for AoD's regular edition as has been stated). It's something that makes it a lot cheaper for new players as opposed to WoW in which you have to buy the base game and each expansion seperately. From your statement above, you would like SoE to start making everyone buy each expansion for the full $40?Buying AoD unlocks Beastlord just as buying DoV unlocked everything previous. SoE has provided DoV to every account on the F2P server so they should get the base game and all expasions minus the classes and races SoE has decided to put in the marketplace. AoD should unlock Beastlords for ANYONE who buys it, not different things for each subscription plan, that's just silly descrimination.

Keikoku

11-14-2011, 05:10 PM

So let me get this straight. You guys are fully okay with having paid SOE $15/month for the last however long you've played the game (7 years for me) and losing access to your toon should you have a need to go to the F2P model? I'm sorry, but that's just silly.

Amitee

11-14-2011, 05:39 PM

Now, as a uni student, I have often had small gaps in between months when I get my monthly living expenses where I've had to go without playing for a few days. Sometimes the way my payments fall, I don't get interrupted service, but there have been a few times where I've had 1-3 days gap before I could subscribe again. This concerns me because I hear that if my sub drops then I will be charged for races, equipment, slots, etc as once-off fees and once they are paid, they are always mine. But if I don't drop my sub, I'll always have those features. How about this instead? Everyone who has access to all of that already, go ahead and flag their accounts as having already paid for all of that. In this way, there won't be massive customer aggro when SoE flips the switch to free2play. As it stands, if I'm forced to pay for all the things I've been playing with for years when I get an interruption in my sub, I highly doubt I will be coming back to play EQ2. It depends on how much money we're talking.

TalisX1

11-14-2011, 06:12 PM

<cite>Amitee wrote:</cite><blockquote>Now, as a uni student, I have often had small gaps in between months when I get my monthly living expenses where I've had to go without playing for a few days. Sometimes the way my payments fall, I don't get interrupted service, but there have been a few times where I've had 1-3 days gap before I could subscribe again. This concerns me because I hear that if my sub drops then I will be charged for races, equipment, slots, etc as once-off fees and once they are paid, they are always mine. But if I don't drop my sub, I'll always have those features. How about this instead? Everyone who has access to all of that already, go ahead and flag their accounts as having already paid for all of that. In this way, there won't be massive customer aggro when SoE flips the switch to free2play. As it stands, if I'm forced to pay for all the things I've been playing with for years when I get an interruption in my sub, I highly doubt I will be coming back to play EQ2. It depends on how much money we're talking. </blockquote>F2P only works if the get to nickel and dime you. They are very unlikely to grandfather everything in. I would expect the very best we could hope for would be 1 each of a free class pack unlock and a free race pack unlock.However as has been stated multiple times, under the f2p model free players get more than they do currently which is nada.Silat

Dreyco

11-14-2011, 06:20 PM

<cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>So let me get this straight. You guys are fully okay with having paid SOE $15/month for the last however long you've played the game (7 years for me) and losing access to your toon should you have a need to go to the F2P model? I'm sorry, but that's just silly.</blockquote>Cancel your subscription right now. What do you get?That's right... nothing. You get NOTHING. Nada. Zippo. Zero. Zilch. No Content. No races. No classes. Nothing.After this model, if you cancel your subscription, then pay for a race pack (which I'm not sure the cost, but i'm sure it's less than a subscription), you then GET that race, and can continue playing for NOTHING. $0.So once again...Cancel now = YOU CANNOT PLAY AT ALL.Cancel After F2P = Pay 7.50 or something along those lines to unlock your race and continue playing for ZERO. NO SUBSCRIPTION. NO RECURRING FEE.This is not hard math, nor is it really hard logic. Any counterargument to this is simply "I've played for so long now, and payed for so long now, i'm ENTITLED to play EVERYTHING for ZERO", which makes no sense whatsoever. I would dare you to try to cancel your subscription at THIS point in time, and then scream to SOE to continue allowing you to play without a sub, because you're apparently entitled to do so with your veteren status.My goodness.

Keikoku

11-14-2011, 07:08 PM

<cite>Dreyco wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>So let me get this straight. You guys are fully okay with having paid SOE $15/month for the last however long you've played the game (7 years for me) and losing access to your toon should you have a need to go to the F2P model? I'm sorry, but that's just silly.</blockquote>Cancel your subscription right now. What do you get?That's right... nothing. You get NOTHING. Nada. Zippo. Zero. Zilch. No Content. No races. No classes. Nothing.After this model, if you cancel your subscription, then pay for a race pack (which I'm not sure the cost, but i'm sure it's less than a subscription), you then GET that race, and can continue playing for NOTHING. $0.So once again...Cancel now = YOU CANNOT PLAY AT ALL.Cancel After F2P = Pay 7.50 or something along those lines to unlock your race and continue playing for ZERO. NO SUBSCRIPTION. NO RECURRING FEE.This is not hard math, nor is it really hard logic. Any counterargument to this is simply "I've played for so long now, and payed for so long now, i'm ENTITLED to play EVERYTHING for ZERO", which makes no sense whatsoever. I would dare you to try to cancel your subscription at THIS point in time, and then scream to SOE to continue allowing you to play without a sub, because you're apparently entitled to do so with your veteren status.My goodness.</blockquote>Not only do I have to buy the race pack, but the class pack too. And yes, I would say that given that we have been loyal and continued to pay for this game for 7 years, we shouldn't lose access to anything that we currently have. Why is that so hard to believe? It's not like this would be a difficult thing for SOE to do. Be glad I'm only asking for class and races, and not arguing that I should be able to keep my spells/gear as well. That one would be a valid arguement as well, since I put in the time and the effort into getting them.

feldon30

11-15-2011, 05:59 AM

<cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Not only do I have to buy the race pack, but the class pack too. And yes, I would say that given that we have been loyal and continued to pay for this game for 7 years, I should be able to quit the game, stop playing, and still have access to everything.</blockquote>I fixed it for you.

Keikoku

11-15-2011, 01:14 PM

<cite>feldon30 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>digitalbandit wrote:</cite><blockquote>Not only do I have to buy the race pack, but the class pack too. And yes, I would say that given that we have been loyal and continued to pay for this game for 7 years, I should be able to quit the game, stop playing, and still have access to everything.</blockquote>I fixed it for you.</blockquote>No. I'm not asking for everything. I'm just asking for the ability to play the characters that I've worked on. That I've spent time and effort building up.

piro

11-15-2011, 03:00 PM

heres the way i look at it, soe like any other comercial company owns the product they are selling ( your using) More or less your only renting.take for instance your electric bill you will pay that all your life, ( provided you dont have solar or some other form of in house energy ) should one day you decide to stop paying or cant pay for their service any longer you will not get free time because youve paid for years upon years they just cut you off period. while it sucks, from a business perspective it would not have any beniffits for their company.SOE going free to play will give you an oppertunity to play your characters for free for the life of the game for a set price per unlocking everthing you need. once youve unlocked a character fully its yours to play forever for free. the expacs will be consisting of feature upgrades instead of content so you will get more lands and what not for free and only have to purchase these feature packs should you see something in them you like.Honestly i was worried about when it first started comeing around but after doing some reading it really doesnt seem so bad. though most of it does not effect me because i subscribe and really at 20 bucks a month, i dont about you but it is by far the cheapest of my hobbies lol.

Mairin

11-22-2011, 04:22 PM

Sorry, but I'm still confused about a few things:Did I miss how many bank and vault slots my Gold and about to be Silver accounts will have?Gold question:<ul><li>I currently have 11 slots. I guess that means I've paid for 4. Do I get to keep them? If not, will I be able to choose which toons are active? When I went from $24.95 to $14.95 I didn't get to choose which characters remained, and it left my crappy ones available and made me pay for my 70 + 80 toons.</li><li>There are 2 Freebloods on my Gold account. Do I get to keep them?</li></ul>Silver questions:<ul><li>Will I be able to choose which 4 toons I play?</li><li>If I've already paid for 3 extra slots, does that mean I'll have 7 toons?</li><li>Can I switch which 4 toons I play each month?</li><li>Even though I'm on disability, I'm going to have to pay the $5 for 3-days on each of my inactive accounts to try to make sure I don't lose anything. (This may take more than 3 days, in which case I'm screwed.) Will I have to mail all my belongings to my gold membership toons to make sure I don't lose them? Most of my toons have 40-slot bags in all bank slots.</li><li>When I log onto my inactive about-to-be-silver accounts for the $5 3-days, will I be able to change race/class for free? I have over 30 toons (I lost count years ago) and I have a fear that few have both free race/classes. I'm still not clear if I'm going to be able to keep those races and classes when I make them Silver accounts.</li><li>What will happen to my heirloom items? (I think I saw something about that, but I couldn't find it again, sorry.)</li><li>Will I be able to choose which 40 quests I have access to in my journal?</li><li>Sorry if this was already answered, but if I've already paid an arm and a leg for Masters, am I going to be able to keep them?</li><li>And was someone right when they said that if a Gold membership lapsed a few days (or even a month) that Gold privileges would be lost when they went Gold again?</li></ul>======================And on another note, how do I delete a post here? I don't know how I ended up with two of them.

Mairin

11-22-2011, 04:24 PM

Sorry, but I'm still confused about a few things:Did I miss how many bank and vault slots my Gold and about to be Silver accounts will have?Gold question:I currently have 11 slots. I guess that means I've paid for 4. Do I get to keep them? If not, will I be able to choose which toons are active? When I went from $24.95 to $14.95 I didn't get to choose which characters remained, and it left my crappy ones available and made me pay for my 70 + 80 toons.Silver questions:<ul><li>Will I be able to choose which 4 toons I play?</li><li>If I've already paid for 3 extra slots, does that mean I'll have 7 toons?</li><li>Can I switch which 4 toons I play each month?</li><li>Even though I'm on disability, I'm going to have to pay the $5 for 3-days on each of my inactive accounts to try to make sure I don't lose anything. (This may take more than 3 days, in which case I'm screwed.) Will I have to mail all my belongings to my gold membership toons to make sure I don't lose them? Most of my toons have 40-slot bags in all bank slots.</li><li>When I log onto my inactive about-to-be-silver accounts for the $5 3-days, will I be able to change race/class for free? I have over 30 toons (I lost count years ago) and I have a fear that few have both free race/classes. I'm still not clear if I'm going to be able to keep those races and classes when I make them Silver accounts.</li><li>What will happen to my heirloom items? (I think I saw something about that, but I couldn't find it again, sorry.)</li><li>Will I be able to choose which 40 quests I have access to in my journal?</li><li>Sorry if this was already answered, but if I've already paid an arm and a leg for Masters, am I going to be able to keep them?</li></ul>

Mairin

11-22-2011, 07:25 PM

I don't think it's better than the current state of inactive accounts. I have 5 accounts, usually only 1 of which is active. As it stands now, if I want to (and I often do) I play one of the inactive accounts for $5 for 3 days and I get EVERYTHING. And sometimes I get tired of the account I've been playing, cancel it to stop it from recurring, and play one of the other accounts instead. I will no longer be able to do either of those things. I started paying $24.95 for one account, then 2 accounts, then 3 accounts, for years and years. I downgraded them all to $14.95 for a year or 2, then, when I went on disability, had to only keep 1 active.I didn't pay all that money to Sony all those years to develop those characters then get told the only way I can continue to play them is if I pay $14.95 every month ad infinitum with no breaks. I don't mind at all them holding them hostage unless I pay $14.95 for one month, but I think to lose years' worth of sweat and tears unless I win the lottery is patently unfair.One of the accounts that will be Silver has 4 and exactly 4 toons that will fit the free guidelines. But the other one has only 2. I don't know how much it will cost to buy races and/or classes, but let's say they're $8 each. Then in order to play 4 toons for "free" I'd have have to pay between $16 and $32 to activate 2 toons that have the wrong race, wrong class, or wrong race AND class.

feldon30

11-23-2011, 11:04 AM

Most of your questions have been answered in the Producer's Letter and FAQ.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>I currently have 11 slots. I guess that means I've paid for 4. Do I get to keep them? </li></ul></blockquote>You bought 4 character slots, which you keep. You would still have 11 character slots on your Gold account.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>If not, will I be able to choose which toons are active? When I went from $24.95 to $14.95 I didn't get to choose which characters remained, and it left my crappy ones available and made me pay for my 70 + 80 toons.</li></ul></blockquote>Players were able to choose their 7 characters by logging into them during the grace period.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>There are 2 Freebloods on my Gold account. Do I get to keep them?</li></ul></blockquote>Of course.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote>Silver Questions<ul><li>Will I be able to choose which 4 toons I play?</li></ul></blockquote>Login the 4 characters you want to play before the transition happens.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>If I've already paid for 3 extra slots, does that mean I'll have 7 toons?</li></ul></blockquote>Yes.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>Can I switch which 4 toons I play each month?</li></ul></blockquote>No.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>Even though I'm on disability, I'm going to have to pay the $5 for 3-days on each of my inactive accounts to try to make sure I don't lose anything. (This may take more than 3 days, in which case I'm screwed.) Will I have to mail all my belongings to my gold membership toons to make sure I don't lose them? Most of my toons have 40-slot bags in all bank slots.</li></ul></blockquote>Why buy EQ2 passport? You can start preparing now. If you want to access items on your INACTIVE characters (not the 7 most recently logged-in characters on your soon-to-be Silver account), then yes you'll need to start mailing items, and there's no reason you can't do this now.<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>When I log onto my inactive about-to-be-silver accounts for the $5 3-days, will I be able to change race/class for free? I have over 30 toons (I lost count years ago) and I have a fear that few have both free race/classes. I'm still not clear if I'm going to be able to keep those races and classes when I make them Silver accounts.</li></ul></blockquote>There is no way to magically change the class of a character other than the Betrayal quest which only works on your Subclass (Assassin/Ranger, etc.). You can change the race of a character by buying a race change potion. If your account goes Silver and has characters with races or classes that aren't included, you'll need to buy race/class unlocks. You may find that these unlocks cost more than just keeping Gold<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>What will happen to my heirloom items? (I think I saw something about that, but I couldn't find it again, sorry.)</li><li>Sorry if this was already answered, but if I've already paid an arm and a leg for Masters, am I going to be able to keep them?</li><li>And was someone right when they said that if a Gold membership lapsed a few days (or even a month) that Gold privileges would be lost when they went Gold again?</li></ul></blockquote>Amazing some of the nonsense that's going around. You don't lose Heirloom items, Masters you've already scribed, etc. And it would be kinda dumb if you resubbed a Gold account and it wasn't a Gold subscription...<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote><ul><li>Will I be able to choose which 40 quests I have access to in my journal?</li></ul></blockquote>No. I don't think quests will disappear from your journal, but you won't be able to pickup any more quests until you've gotten your active count below 40.You're aware of the Platinum earning and Legendary/Fabled gear restrictions on Silver, right?

Cyliena

11-23-2011, 11:06 AM

<cite>Mairin wrote:</cite><blockquote>Sorry, but I'm still confused about a few things:Did I miss how many bank and vault slots my Gold and about to be Silver accounts will have?Gold question:<ul><li>I currently have 11 slots. I guess that means I've paid for 4. Do I get to keep them? If not, will I be able to choose which toons are active? When I went from $24.95 to $14.95 I didn't get to choose which characters remained, and it left my crappy ones available and made me pay for my 70 + 80 toons.</li><li>There are 2 Freebloods on my Gold account. Do I get to keep them?</li></ul>Silver questions:<ul><li>Will I be able to choose which 4 toons I play?</li><li>If I've already paid for 3 extra slots, does that mean I'll have 7 toons?</li><li>Can I switch which 4 toons I play each month?</li><li>Even though I'm on disability, I'm going to have to pay the $5 for 3-days on each of my inactive accounts to try to make sure I don't lose anything. (This may take more than 3 days, in which case I'm screwed.) Will I have to mail all my belongings to my gold membership toons to make sure I don't lose them? Most of my toons have 40-slot bags in all bank slots.</li><li>When I log onto my inactive about-to-be-silver accounts for the $5 3-days, will I be able to change race/class for free? I have over 30 toons (I lost count years ago) and I have a fear that few have both free race/classes. I'm still not clear if I'm going to be able to keep those races and classes when I make them Silver accounts.</li><li>What will happen to my heirloom items? (I think I saw something about that, but I couldn't find it again, sorry.)</li><li>Will I be able to choose which 40 quests I have access to in my journal?</li><li>Sorry if this was already answered, but if I've already paid an arm and a leg for Masters, am I going to be able to keep them?</li><li>And was someone right when they said that if a Gold membership lapsed a few days (or even a month) that Gold privileges would be lost when they went Gold again?</li></ul>======================And on another note, how do I delete a post here? I don't know how I ended up with two of them.</blockquote>1. Gold accounts have full access to everything, including bank slots. Silver has 3 personal bank slots (per char) and 2 shared bank slots.2. You will keep your paid slots. As a Gold subscriber, you will have 7 (just like right now) plus you will have whatever slots you have paid for as well (so in your case, 11).3. Since you already have Freebloods unlocked nothing will change. Once unlocked, always unlocked.4. The default in the case of going down to Silver with 4 toons available is that the 4 most recently played toons will be available.5. Yes, any subscription level can purchase character slots, so 3 purchased slots on a Silver account would mean 7 toons.6. The only way you can access inactive toons would be to either (a) unlock them by purchasing enough char slots that they'll be available or (b) subscribe to Gold for a month and at the end of the month make sure the toons you want available were the most recently played ones. Getting character slots would be more efficient in the long run imo.7. I don't even know if the 3-day subscription pass will still be available. Do you have more than 4 toons on those accounts? If not then can't you just pass off stuff without subscribing?8. No, there is no way to change race or class for free. There's no way to change class at all (you'd have to buy unlockers from the Marketplace if it's not a freebie one) and you'd have to unlock the race in the marketplace after the changeover (again, if it's not a normal freebie one) to be able to play that char on a Silver account.9. Nothing happens to your heirloom items.10. You won't lose the quests currently in your journal if the amount goes over 40 but you will not be able to start new quests until you drop the amount below 40. So if you have 60 quests, after doing 21 of those you'd be able to get new quests again. (or you could delete quests you don't want in there I guess)11. Yes, you will keep any scribed Master abilities.12. That makes no sense, why would you lose Gold perks for resubscribing to Gold? Would love to see where someone said that crazy theory.13. You can't delete posts, most people just edit the second post and replace all the text in it with a "double post sorry". It happens. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />

Mairin

11-29-2011, 09:53 PM

Wow, I checked off that I wanted to be notified if there was a response, and I didn't get notified, so I'm just seeing all this now. Thank you so much.In terms of the Producer's Letter and FAQ, there are many ambiguous statements in there which is why I asked specific ones.Doesn't matter any more but I wasn't aware of any grace period when downgrading. To the best of my recollection, the toons disappeared instantly."Login the 4 characters you want to play before the transition happens." ??? How do I log in to an inactive account?"Why buy EQ2 passport? You can start preparing now." ??? I don't understand how to prepare inactive accounts without activating them. Like I said, I didn't see this until just now, and I already dished out the $10 for Passport for 2 inactive accounts to strip the toons I'll no longer be able to play because of class/race restrictions and to pillage the ones that will have no broker, 4 bags, and 2 shared bank slots. (I did 1 acct at a time and it took me the entire time of the Bonus XP period, so I was stuck organizing when everyone else was leveling.)Yes, I had read about the gear and plat restrictions, but thanks for making sure I knew! I robbed all my about-to-be-silver toons of all their plat because I was too lazy to multiply <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Thanks again for your help

Mairin

11-29-2011, 10:04 PM

(I checked off that I wanted to be notified if there was a response, and I didn't get notified, so I'm just seeing all this now.) Thank you so much.1. Crap, I didn't see that about the 3 bank slots, and when I bought the 2 passports I moved everything into the playable accounts' personal bank slots <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />4. It's almost a good thing that Sony is, for all intents and purposes, deleting so many of my toons, beause I always work on my most important toons first, so I would have spent all that time and money over the past couple of days just to have my least favorite toons active <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />6. I guess it would all depend on how much character slots are going to cost.7. You must be joking <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I have over 30 toons, so yes, I have many more than 4 toons on my about-to-be-silver accounts (although some of them are already unusable because I didn't buy the slots for them when I downgraded, and some are on 2 accounts I rarely play anyway) <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> But only 2 of my toons qualify on my oldest EQ2 account and 4 on my 3rd EQ2 account since they're either not humans, barbs, half elfs, and erudites, and/or not swashies, brigs, wizzy's, locks, guards, zerks, templars and inquisitors. If you have any sway with the powers-that-be, please put in my request that passports still be available. Losing 2 or 3 toons would be one thing, but no way to play 14 toons unless I win the lottery? (which would be pretty difficult anyway since I can't afford to buy a ticket)12. I'm pretty sure it was earlier in this thread, maybe a student who said his sometimes lapsed a few days? I guess it might have been somewhere else.Anywho, even though for years I paid Sony $75/mo to build toons, then $45/mo, then $15/mo with the occasional $5 or extra $15, without passport, I am now losing 14 toons. I'll no longer be able to play my dirge, my arasai defiler, my high elf assassin, my wood elf troub, my high elf wiz, my fae wiz, my paladin, my dark elf defiler, my mystic, my conjurer, my bruiser, my ranger, my sarnak necro and my shadowknight.So without passport I'll only be able to play 2 toons on my 11-slot oldest eq2 account (even though I've paid for the extra slots), although it looks like I'll be able to play 4 on my 9-slot eq2 account. It doesn't matter what's more economical in the long run, I'm on a fixed income, so I can only sometimes scrounge up an extra $5 in a month.Anyway, thanks again for your help.

Kurisutaru

12-01-2011, 11:22 PM

Ok.. I normally don't post.. but this subject really caught my attention.. and so I felt the need to comment on it..I'll go ahead and guess/hope that amongst the big wigs at SOE this has been discussed since there's many players out there who have concerns about this matter and that it'll be clarified soon... That accounts who have bought expansions (for ex: EoF, RoK, DoV) to unlock certain races (for ex: Fae/Arasai, Sarnak, Freeblood) will be flagged as such and not asked to pay again to unlock these.. in the event they were to downgrade their subscriptions.My 2cc.. New F2P system looks pretty cool.. for new players just starting out. But (from what I can gather from info available here- <a rel="nofollow" href="http://everquest2.com/free_to_play/game_overview" target="_blank">http://everquest2.com/free_to_play/game_overview</a> ) not for the players out there who have been playing since game first went live and who have bought each and every expansion pack (and even every adventure pack from back when they were sold separately for $7.99 each) as it became available to not only have access to new content but unlock the new races as well. And before someone goes saying once again, "Oh, but if you remain on gold membership you'll have nothing to worry about.." Yes, I get that very clearly. But I'm pretty sure there's people out there who hold multiple accounts.. and are considering they could downgrade some of them to.. lets say, for the sake of the argument, silver membership. I feel that asking them to pay again to unlock races just wouldn't be fair nor right.That being said.. and before I'm accused of trolling or anything else.. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" /> I've been part of the world of Norrath since EQ1 released Planes of Power and EQ2 since it first went live 7+ years ago. I still play EQ1 and even EQOA.. tho not as often as this game.. Obviously I'm a sucker for EQ2 and I love love love this game very much <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" />! So much so.. that you'll find me many times wondering how the plot in ungoing lore will evolve, what new goodies (furniture, recipes, gear, quests and such) will be available to play around with in up coming events.. be for decorating or to make my toons look and do better, or simply awaiting all the new ways/ideas developers will come up with and present to us to keep us entertained. I'm yet to be let down.. and I'm sure I'll be playing EQ2 for many more years to come.. */knocks on wood*Anyhow.. after reading up on the subject.. I've concluded that the point that some were trying to get across is.. they still have questions/concerns with the new F2P system and would really like and appreciate to see these answered a bit more clearly.... <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" />

Mairin

12-02-2011, 08:01 PM

Yuppers<a href="../user/profile.m?user_id=256510"> Kurisutaru </a>it pisses me off that I paid Sony $75/mo for years only to lose 14 toons by going Silver on 2 accounts and having the class/race restrictions. Although technically I guess it would only be 6 toons because I've got 4 that qualify on my 9-toon about-to-be-silver account but only 2 that qualify under my 11-toon about-to-be-silver account. Being limited to 4 toons + purchased slots does't bother me, but being unable to pick which qualifying toons go into those slots does. (Although I guess it doesn't matter in my case since I don't even have enough qualifying toons to fill up my purchased slots.)It kills me that it appears Passport is going away, because that would mean there are 6 toons I'll never be able to play again on 2 accounts because of class/race restrictions, and 8 more that I'll never be able to play again because of a combination of class/race restrictions and slot limitations. I called Sony yesterday to try to speaking with someone in Customer Relations, and finally got someone who said it doesn't matter if Passport goes away, I can call any time and get gold access for 3 days. I hope he knows what he's talking about.And I feel the same way: Norrath is my home. I began playing EQ1 in '02. Whenever I see pics/clips from there I get "homesick". I wasn't even sure EQ2 was going to be able to drag me away. I tried WoW and Vanguard for a few months, and a little Rift, but I missed Norrath. The F2P video made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.So I NEED Passport, but I would really really like to be able to play the races I've already created. Fae/Arasai at the very least! My very first EQ2 toon is a high-elf and I don't think it's fair I'm not going to be able to play her. (Being able to play the classes I've already created would be a bonus.) But I would need to be able to pick which toons go into my 8 free & 6 paid-for slots.