"Grandfathered" characters (more free stuff!) Official Discussion Thread

[Amorie]

Well I was a long time player until about a year ago. I heard that eq2 was going f2p so i figured id log in and take a look around. Couldnt log in to any of my toons, So this is a good change.

I just find it amazing that I PAID for the original game and all the expansions up to and including DOV and im limited to races and classes. The same as any F2P..

We however are not the same. I paid for a game that had all of these classes, character slots, and races when I purchased the game. The $15 a month was the time payed to actually play the game.

So why should I or any player that has already purchased the actual game have to pay again?

The rest of the F2P restrictions are already steep. Not being able to equip fable/legendary with out a gold membership makes the game pretty much unplayable anyways.

It would make more sense for people that actually purchased the game to keep the ability to play any race/class and have 7 char slots. Vets returning to see whats new or changed or roll a new toon might be enough to stir up some good ol memories that would make one consider resubing to the game.

Returning to check out new stuff to find road blocks that prevent being able to see anything other than a stripped down game is more likely to click the exit button and go about what they did before they logged in.

[EQ2Playa432]

Crismorn wrote:

Quick and decisive, well done guys and gals.

I suggest you guys come up with an idea to try and get in contact with the players who read the previous email, downloaded the patcher, saw everything locked and uninstalled.

It wont be easy, but this grandfather solution answers the majority of the problems they had.

My suggestion would be to add Grandfathered to the subject line in the emails you send out so it catches their eye and they are more likely to read it and try downloading/logging in again.

Great work.

Yes, I think it would be a smart move to email all previous players again who gave up after a day or two because they are all or partially locked. Thanks for doing this SOE.

[leguinree]

but you can still only play 4 character slots on the silver account? I have a 2nd account that has 5 on it. Can I purchase the other slot or something?

[Krowpa]

Folks, I am sure you were just excited about the anouncement, but if you had read the whole thing, it says "For any player that previously subscribed to EQII Live servers, or as a Gold or Platinum member on EQ2X, we will also refund all the class/race pack purchases made after 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am and before the time of this posting (12/08/2011, 4:30pm) so that no one loses any SC due to this change."

I am pretty sure that means you should expect to be refunded if you unlocked race or class on toons that existed prior to the expansion.

Eric

[qcchillin]

If you are going to do this maybe you should re-think of people like myself who were brought into the game with the refer a friend account. My brother in law nagged me for years to play this game. 45 days ago or so I decided to finally cave in and play. Now because the game is "free to play". I now lose the last 45 days or so of the 200%exp bonus and the "go to" feature given to us. . To be quite honest I am almost to the point of just going back to the other MMO i played before. I am not one in the whole bait people in and switch the final product and thats what i feel has happened to me. I have spoke to live support and basically was told sorry we can do nothing about it. But I find it funny on your web site that later on down the road you plan to have another form of the refer a friend accounts going again.

I find it almost sick that a company who offers a promotion to give you something for 90 days and then take it away because they feel they can, due to the game now being free. Well here is the thing, I am a paying customer not a FTP member. To me as a consumer I feel like i just got poo'd on.

And this is the same response i gave to the live support after telling them at live support of my feelings I said what would you do if you just went out and bought a car, and they told you have 1 year of free GPS. and 6 months later they said oops sorry we are no longer offering this promotion and took it from you. how would you feel? his response. was i am not sure how to answer this question. I know i would be a bit upset personally. This may seem small to some but to me its just the same.

Thanks for your time

[Raknid]

I commend you with much vigor for doing the right thing!!!!

I think with the gift bag goodies and this you have achieved the status of "overwhelming generosity"!!

Well done.

[Ralphina]

will i get a re found i hade to pay get my toons un lock to play  ?

[RavenwolfB]

Excellent, looking forward to playing my still locked chars and getting the SC back I spent yesterday trying to unlock as much as I could lol.

[Finora]

Great move SOE. I know some of my returning guildmates will be thrilled. =)

[TheSpin]

DavidSpayed wrote:

TheSpin wrote:

TitanDamocles wrote:

@DavidSpayed.... I guess you are proof positive that some people will never be satisfied.  Getting access to 4 of your old characters for free and entering the game as a silver player is pretty amazing if you ask me.

Uh, I have 7 toons, and had paid for an extra character slot for a beastlord. I should be able to play all 7 of my toons and still have an extra slot. I am a full paying customer, not someone who gets 4 slots, thanks for assuming I'm a whining customer. I am only asking for what I already had before the server change, nothing more.

I guess you are proof positive that some people should mind their own business.

If your issue is completely unrelated to the topic of the thread, why post it at all?  Sounds like an issue specific to your account that has to be fixed with /petition if you are already a gold member.  It has nothing to do with grandfathered characters.

@ObianOceanwalker... he said there would be refunds where applicable I think.

@Fival... it'll probably take a while before they get the granfathered characters enabled, he said one or two days in his post.

@soulspite... your issue is probably pretty uncommon and might need to be determined with a /petition.

[PlaneCrazy]

SmokeJumper wrote:

Hi, folks,We’ve been listening to you since we launched the Free-to-Play service across all servers. One of the most frequent issues is from folks that used to play EQII Live and are now coming back to the Silver membership level and becoming very confused because they’ve never played under those restrictions. “Why can’t I play my characters? Why are they locked?”Of course, the reason is because those players are returning to a Silver membership (which is free of charge) and those older characters are often locked behind the Silver membership race/class restrictions. There are two easy ways to get around those restrictions: Upgrade to Gold, or buy the race/class packs.But, we don’t really want to force those decisions on returning players. It’s not a fun experience to come back to something that seemed exciting (F2P) and then get hit with a bill as soon as you arrive, just for the privelege of using your current characters.So here’s what we’re going to do.*Every* character that was created before 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am will be grandfathered in without race or class restriction. This means that regardless of your membership level, you will be able to play any character created before 12/6 without paying for race- or class-pack unlocks.For any player that previously subscribed to EQII Live servers, or as a Gold or Platinum member on EQ2X, we will also refund all the class/race pack purchases made after 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am and before the time of this posting (12/08/2011, 4:30pm) so that no one loses any SC due to this change.Of course, this doesn’t affect new characters created from now onward. If you are playing at Silver or Free membership levels and want to create a *new* character, you’ll still be subject to the regular membership class and race restrictions.We think this should make a lot of folks happy and we’ll get this done as soon as humanly possible, either today, or first thing tomorrow.See you in-game! Enjoy!

Wow!

I'm literally stunned that you guys actually listened to us for once (and acted fast on it!)

Thank You,  this change will at least make me want to log in and goof around now and again.   Looks like i get 4 silver slots plus the 2 I bought, so at least 6 of my 9 toons will be available.

Heck, who knows.... if I find myself enjoying the game again, I may just bite on the next SC sale and buy the expansion.  I figure  in that scenario, I'll be OK with playing casual and spending a few bucks here and there to unlock my armor and spells without having to commit to a monthly sub again.

Once again.. Thanks SJ and crew.

[Zehl_Ice-Fire]

Thank you for listening to our feedback! This is a great decision. I am very relieved about it since I have been pondering my personal future with EQII.

[Lzert]

Krowpa wrote:

Folks, I am sure you were just excited about the anouncement, but if you had read the whole thing, it says "For any player that previously subscribed to EQII Live servers, or as a Gold or Platinum member on EQ2X, we will also refund all the class/race pack purchases made after 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am and before the time of this posting (12/08/2011, 4:30pm) so that no one loses any SC due to this change."

I am pretty sure that means you should expect to be refunded if you unlocked race or class on toons that existed prior to the expansion.

Eric

Wow, guess I should read more closely!  Thanks for pointing that out Eric.

[Juravael]

I like this idea and think it will bring even more folks back long-term.

[Demio]

I have a question regarding the coins I had on these older character. I understand the needs to have restrictions. If I had say 100plat on these old character and I logged in and get hit with the restriction what happens to the plat? Does it get kicked into a bit bucket and lost forever? Or does it come back when and if I decided to subscribe as a gold member again?

Bed enough to log in and find that you are a level 80 NUDE ogre and can not equip any gears or weapons. So I look like an overgrown child running nude with a cape on his back. thank god I can actually enter my basement house in the caster guild.

[Silversnow]

Plat just gets frozen.  You will be unable to earn any more money beyond the limit.  Throw it into fuels or other characters till you are under the limit so you can still gain more.

[Deveryn]

Awesome news! I have a question from friends thinking of coming back. What happens to skills that were already mastered?

[Mikoooo]

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

SmokeJumper wrote:

Hi, folks,We’ve been listening to you since we launched the Free-to-Play service across all servers. One of the most frequent issues is from folks that used to play EQII Live and are now coming back to the Silver membership level and becoming very confused because they’ve never played under those restrictions. “Why can’t I play my characters? Why are they locked?”Of course, the reason is because those players are returning to a Silver membership (which is free of charge) and those older characters are often locked behind the Silver membership race/class restrictions. There are two easy ways to get around those restrictions: Upgrade to Gold, or buy the race/class packs.But, we don’t really want to force those decisions on returning players. It’s not a fun experience to come back to something that seemed exciting (F2P) and then get hit with a bill as soon as you arrive, just for the privelege of using your current characters.So here’s what we’re going to do.*Every* character that was created before 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am will be grandfathered in without race or class restriction. This means that regardless of your membership level, you will be able to play any character created before 12/6 without paying for race- or class-pack unlocks.For any player that previously subscribed to EQII Live servers, or as a Gold or Platinum member on EQ2X, we will also refund all the class/race pack purchases made after 12/06/2011 at 12:01 am and before the time of this posting (12/08/2011, 4:30pm) so that no one loses any SC due to this change.Of course, this doesn’t affect new characters created from now onward. If you are playing at Silver or Free membership levels and want to create a *new* character, you’ll still be subject to the regular membership class and race restrictions.We think this should make a lot of folks happy and we’ll get this done as soon as humanly possible, either today, or first thing tomorrow.See you in-game! Enjoy!

How about the slot retriction? If we created 6 characters before 12/06/2011, are they all playable or only 4 of them?

[TheSpin]

I'm pretty sure the 4 slot restriction remains. I think the point is to at least allow you into the game for free without starting a new account or deleting characters.

[krutoi]

Great News!  Gratz to SOE for doing this  

two questions:  

-  will this just affect the US servers or will it be for overseas ones as well (Russia in particular)?

-  without getting into the whole mathematical debate about how many slots we should be entitled to, if for some reason we have locked slots it would be *HUGE* if we could select which ones got activated by purchasing a new slot.  As it stands, if I have three of them locked and the one I want the most is at the top I would need to either delete the other two or pay to unlock all three.

[Demio]

I am concerned about the refer a friend account setup. I have two account that were linked. Are they going to stay linked? I had the special mounts from the refer a friend on each account as well. I did not see the mount under character or in the bags.

[PlaneCrazy]

Mikoooo wrote:

How about the slot retriction? If we created 6 characters before 12/06/2011, are they all playable or only 4 of them?

It's still a 4 slot restriction, so only the last 4 that you logged in will be available.  But if you bought any additional character slots in the past, they will be available as well.

[VW_Factor]

Any idea when this is going to happen.  I am not going to delete any of my 6 90's to get a "free slot" to create a character that I may be allowed to come back and try EQ2 as F2P.  

My wife's toons, who knows..  Her account doesn't have toons whatsoever anymore.  

Before we go resubbing and junk back to the game, we'd like to at least get a little game time in..  Yanno, enjoy the F2P game, that we spent thousands of dollars and hours on over the years.  

[Arielle Nightshade]

TheSpin wrote:

TitanDamocles wrote:

Are you going to undelete the characters I had to delete in order to get under the slot limit to create new ones? That would be cool...

I have had characters restored before after deleting them years ago.  I bet there's a decent chance they'll be able to help you

The only reason I could see them not being able to help you is if your server had merged with another one.  I had a couple of characters on the old Venekor that I deleted after much agonizing - and of course my crew came back and wanted to pvp once the server was merged with Nagafen.  

When I asked CS if it was possible to restore the deleted toons, they said it would have been if I'd gotten the restoration prior to the server merge.  Once merged, the older deleted toons were no longer available.   It made perfect sense to me, and although I was sorry to not be able to get them back - could see the technical reason why not.

This would be the only reason they wouldn't be able to help you...is my experience.  Otherwise, CS will do what they can.

And P.S.  Really awesome decision on behalf of the management.  I'm surprised, quite frankly.  It doesn't affect me personally, but does kind of restore my lost faith a little  

[Cuora]

Great move!  /cheers!  I think it will bring back many more players .

[TheNecroFiend]

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

Mikoooo wrote:

How about the slot retriction? If we created 6 characters before 12/06/2011, are they all playable or only 4 of them?

It's still a 4 slot restriction, so only the last 4 that you logged in will be available.  But if you bought any additional character slots in the past, they will be available as well.

I see this as a huge problem. There should be some mechanism in place that allows players to choose which of their 7 characters they can play. Whats the point of being able to play your old toons if the one character you really want to play, wasn't one of the last four toons you logged into years ago.

[PotatoeGuru]

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

Mikoooo wrote:

How about the slot retriction? If we created 6 characters before 12/06/2011, are they all playable or only 4 of them?

It's still a 4 slot restriction, so only the last 4 that you logged in will be available.  But if you bought any additional character slots in the past, they will be available as well.

Except that's not what's happening -- or at least at the moment for some of us. Prior to AoD launch, I had nine toons (normal seven plus two bought slots) on a recurring 3-month sub that's been active on various plans since about a month after launch. I bought a new slot last night to roll a beastlord, but the toon with the oldest log in (6 days) was locked when I logged back in a few hours later.

I've submitted a ticket and remain hopefuly, but there are still issues that need to be addressed.

[TheSpin]

TheNecroFiend wrote:

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

Mikoooo wrote:

How about the slot retriction? If we created 6 characters before 12/06/2011, are they all playable or only 4 of them?

It's still a 4 slot restriction, so only the last 4 that you logged in will be available.  But if you bought any additional character slots in the past, they will be available as well.

I see this as a huge problem. There should be some mechanism in place that allows players to choose which of their 7 characters they can play. Whats the point of being able to play your old toons if the one character you really want to play, wasn't one of the last four toons you logged into years ago.

You know, I ultimately agree with you.  I think they should have written some code to allow you to choose which characters to keep available.  I think there must be some kind of complicated codewriting issue that makes this difficult because it would have help many many problems over the last year or two.

However, I think this may just be a case of 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth'.

[CorpseGoddess]

TheNecroFiend wrote:

Ogren@Unrest_old wrote:

Mikoooo wrote:

How about the slot retriction? If we created 6 characters before 12/06/2011, are they all playable or only 4 of them?

It's still a 4 slot restriction, so only the last 4 that you logged in will be available.  But if you bought any additional character slots in the past, they will be available as well.

I see this as a huge problem. There should be some mechanism in place that allows players to choose which of their 7 characters they can play. Whats the point of being able to play your old toons if the one character you really want to play, wasn't one of the last four toons you logged into years ago.

If you log one of your available characters in the game, you should be able to /camp charactername from there.  Then, no matter which four characters show up on the characters show up on the launch pad, you *should* be able to get to your others.  This might require testing.

[Grobi]

great move , i would be even happy if i had to choose one but all thats crazy good ! thx a ton