Comments on: EQ2 goes free to play (sorta)

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:28:01 +0000

This post was mentioned (along with several others) here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2x/posts/list.m?topic_id=4483

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:11:15 +0000

But remember they’re all together. They will be playing with the same type, 80 is the max, same money, same classes, same type armor etc. So in Essenes they are as powerful as the next guy.

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:14:34 +0000

But maybe that’s the whole idea. I mean, they’ve only opened up a single server at the moment, and I bet it’s driving people to the live subs or even getting them to pay for silver, dare I say gold, subs. Fact is, players have proven themselves to be more than willing to shell out mom and dad’s or their own hard-earned money once they’re attached to their char.

By: Ferrel

Ferrel — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:43:42 +0000

Glad to do so. Here are the key points by not going gold:
-You have access to only eight out of 24 classes.
-You cannot reach the max level of 90.
-You only get 3 character slots.
-Your spells do not progress past expert. This is a BIG deal on character power. Master is the top tier lootable spell level. Master spells improve on experts in most ways. More damage, more healing, more buffing etc. A player with all masters vs all experts would be at a big advantage.
-You’re restricted on legendary and fabled gear. Depending on what restricted means you may only be able to wear treasured gear. This means you will be weak as a character. Generally speaking treasured and low tier legendary gear is for soloing and easy instances. You will not raid or do the hard instances with this gear.
-3 bag slots is not very many. Six is easy to fill.
-20 GOLD per level. The game’s major currency is PLAT. At the most you can hold 1600 gold which is not much money at all.
-You cannot send in game mail.
-Auction house use is restricted.
-Limited support.

Basically, Bronze and Silver status are for the ultra casual who play a few hours a week only. Everyone else will need Gold and Gold is a TERRIBLE deal compared to EQ2 live subscriptions.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:53:29 +0000

Can someone please qualify for a non-EQ2 player what exactly we’d be missing out on by not subscribing “Gold” or to the live server?

Without knowing more about the game, the subscription matrix reads about as clearly as a car dealer’s extended warranty packages.

By: Ohnos

Ohnos — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:47:10 +0000

Some kind of F2P model is an interesting idea, but as usual SOE has opted for a terrible implementation. The path they are following now inevitably points to a clear intention …

1) Choke off the Live servers by completely killing the free trial to those servers, and instead force all new players onto their new “microtransaction” Extended server.
2) Offer one-way copies / transfers from the Live servers to the Extended servers, but no options to go the other way.

Both of the above will end with one result – the death of the current Live servers as populations on them dwindle. Understandable from a “bottom line” perspective, as F2P / RMT models do tend to generate more revenue, but this is a big slap in the face to their loyal customers that have supported them for so long and invested a lot into the game (both in terms of time and money).

To me this seems rushed and SOE could have found a far better compromise. For example, they could have added a restrictive (but time-unlimited) F2P experience on current Live servers (more akin to an extended trial). People could then purchase game features “a la carte” or upgrade to the normal subscription for the full feature-set.

What most current players are opposed to, is SOE’s push on micro-transactions through their MarketPlace, and they seem to be using this new “Extended” service to peddle their new stat and (eventually / inevitably) overpowered items, that people will need to buy just to stay competitive. And with SOE diverting all new players to this new (isolated) server, it is clear where their priorities lie.

It is not a F2P / subscription hybrid model that current players are opposed to, as long as the price of it is not a massive expansion of the SOE marketplace into items that do actually affect gameplay. Keep it to fluff items, or if you have to offer armor with stats, then don’t encroach on the current tier (i.e. no armor / items / rares above level 80).

Should SOE wish to offer overpowered “must-have” items through the marketplace, then by all means, but keep it to Bazaar / Vox / Livegamer servers, where you already have a captive audience. The F2P experience (without the massive MarketPlace expansion) must, however, be offered to all servers.

By: Ferrel

Ferrel — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:03:56 +0000

You are absolutely correct in this assessment.

By: Green Armadillo

Green Armadillo — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:24:17 +0000

Additional observation: if I’m reading the chart correctly, non-subscribers cannot equip any legendary (or fabled) gear, even if they purchase the premium “silver” membership. If the F2P model is successful, group content in EQ2 will be a niche within the niche of the market that chooses to subscribe. That would bode very poorly for the continued addition of large amounts of dev-time-intensive group content.

By: Ferrel

Ferrel — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:51:29 +0000

Agreed. Ratonganess is a God given right!

By: Everquest 2 goes Free to Play (sort of), and keeps the rabble out « Welcome to Spinksville!

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:42:22 +0000

[...] have been a lot of posts about this, spurred on partly by SOEs dogged insistence as recent as last month that EQ2 would never go free [...]