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EverQuest II: Extended: Things Change
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In his latest column, MMORPG.com writer Phil James takes a look at Everquest 2 Extended. Phil walks readers through character creation and the initial stages of the game. Is EQ2X all its purported to be? Read Phil's article to find out and then let us know of your experiences with Everquest 2 Extended.
Things change – it’s unavoidable. Winter turns to spring, analogue switches to digital and sometimes MMOs change their subscription model. To hear some of the hue and cry over the change, it’s easy to get the impression that moving to Free to Play/Cash Shop is causing the downfall of civilization. Cash shops fund terrorism, and buying mounts instead of earning them causes teenage pregnancies. Ok, maybe it’s not as bad as all that, but going from a monthly sub to F2P is still viewed with suspicion. EQII recently opened its ‘Extended server’. Instead of altering the payment model for the whole game, and potentially alienating some of their fan base, they’ve created a playground just for people who want to play their game for free.
Read more of Everquest 2 Extended: Things Change.
Comments
I will just say this with alot of games going f2p the one thing it has done for me is cured me of ever buying a life-time subscription to anything again.
MAGA
Look at the pic and it says enough I think...
As said in the article... Good for casual EQ2 players, but if you really start to play EQ2X, you're screwed big-time. Subscription is overly expensive compared to regular EQ2. Not to mention that you CAN NOT copy your EQ2X character to EQ2, while you can copy your EQ2 char to EQ2X...
So once in EQ2X, you're stuck with an EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE "subscription model" and no way to convert to a regular subscription, unlike with LotRo...
IMO, KEEP AWAY FROM EQ2X!!!
That was rather...like an advertisement. I was an atheist, but then when I tried religion, I loved it!
The only interesting thing was that EQX2 made you do something you would, by your own admission, never do...accept a blind guild invite because you felt lonely. That speaks more of the restrictions that your impression of it.
You aren't stuck with a subscription if you don't pay. I don't know why everyone assumes that on a F2P game you must pay. I can be perfectly happy playing these games and never spend a dime.
Tribes 2 is back!!!! http://www.tribesnext.com/
And from the makers of tribes: Fallen Empire: Legions http://www.instantaction.com/
Yep, things change. The companies you were loyal to for years decide to backstab all the people that were loyal to them. Its just good business. NOT!
Look, if you're going to go f2p, don't rob people, and don't ignore your vets. Have a brain in your skull and don't say stupid idiotic bull like "Just trust us, we won't screw you over" like a slimy car salesman trying to sell me a lemon disguised as a ferrari.
But no, the new EQ2 devs are just slimy.
If I wasn't already subscribed to EQ2 it would certainly put me off the game seeing they sell things like harvested rares, mastercrafted armor, self-rez and healing potions on the extended server marketplace as well as other game-changing things while still asking for a sub in exchange for basic features. Hell, why not just go ahead and sell plat too while you're at it SOE? Gladly they've kept the vast majority of that stuff off the traditional sub servers, but for how long I wonder... guess it depends on how profitable this F2P experiment is for them.
I understand that with LotRo you can be perfectly happy, but EQ2X is crippled beyond comparisation if you don't spend a dime. For instance, unless you "subscribe", you can't use the auction house at all (and there's no other way to sell/buy your stuff, unless you want to use the auction channel extensively). Then the classes... Even if you get a subscription you don't have them all.
Don't want to pay a thing at all, stick to bronze... And you can't even use mules on your current account to share/store extra stuff (account bank disabled). Skills..? Don't make me laugh... Only the 1st tier of spells - you wouldn't even be doing real damage to monsters (and using Expert skills on EQ2 it's already hard to kill certain monsters of equal level).
IMO, EQ2X is nothing more than a severely tuned-down version of the actual game, made almost unplayable if you don't spend a dime on it (or $10 for silver for that matter). It's all intended to get you hooked, go to gold and then find out that you're still screwed and have no way to transfer your character to the REAL game...
As I said before, say again and will say... SOE drops the ball on this "F2P" model big-time. Buying the actual game, subscribe for 6+ months is already a lot cheaper, and you will get goodies & veteran rewards...
EQ2X *cough* "FREE" to play model is a complete sham filled with fail. But yet, there's a sucker born every minute.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Strange article. It seems to creating a character, logging in and then completely ignores almost everything about the actual gameplay in favor of talking about various ways to spend money and how much content and expansions the game has to offer new players. Covering things that could not possibly have been encountered in the trial areas.
I have to agree with Bansan that this article reads very much like an advertisement than an opinion or review of something.
I was an EQ2 player from day one of its release, it had always been one of the 2 MMO's I kept on tap until the EQ2X bs, F2P can work but not this way and I would only reccomend the F2P version to some one who wanted to try before they buy. The subscription model stinks. Keep in mind "Free" can be a serious 4 letter word. In this case it's a trap baited for the unwary or rich.
That pretty much sums up the reality of it.
Well i am on the Extended servers and i ca ntell peopel that for the msot part it is as the OP states and it is a VERY fair setup for a F2P game.
The onl ytwo things i don't like is the misleading subscription setup and the Broker limitation.
Limiting the Broker also limits possible buyers sellers for the paying customer,sure you can use shouts and SPAM WTS WTB,which i have a pet peeve for or they could have jus tignored that limitation which imo iswha tshoud lhave happened.
The misleading subscription plan is in hopes that people maintain a LIVE sub in order to play a transferred errr COPIED player over.When yo uswitch players over they are considered gold but your account is considered bronze...lmao.What people need to do is ONLY activate a 3 day sub,then switch account to GOLD copyu over as many players as they want,then let the live sub run out and done.If you don't understand the 3 day and the account setup,people might be mislead into thinking they have to maintain a LIVE subscription to maintain a gold player on Extended.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Hmmm you pay 15 a month and you can do everything that a normal mmo can whats the problem. Also its the price you pay to have a playerbase around you. The extended server has a larger and more active pop than all the live servers combined thats why so many people xfered there toons over to them.
The old addage applies to all of these f2p models... "You get what you pay for". If you pay nothing, you get, pretty much, nothing. A very limited experience. You pay something, you get a little more, but not everything. Silver gets you a few nice perks, but you're gimped in the long run from Spell tiers and weapons... You pay a large amount in a monthly sub, you get everything.
Anyone who is a Bronze or Silver level member, claiming they can "do anything they want in the game" at those access levels more than likely have not experienced the endgame.
Yes, you can run quests until hell freezes over for free, but don't get your heart set on doing any raiding or running an actual endgame content as a Bronze or Silver member. You won't be invited to come along if you are restricted from wearing any half-decent gear and upgrading your spells/abilities to any significant level.
Sorry ladies and gents, but Mastercrafted and Expert doesn't cut it, and no guild who is serious about the endgame will even consider bringing along a player who isn't properly prepared for the content in question.
with all the solo content around, you can level up with bronze pretty good. but dont start to craft. the restrictions on bagslots and auctionhouse will kill you. so it isnt bad for real casual gamers for a while.
i agree, that you cant play bronze longterm. no way you will be able to beat the endgame content this way. well, there are bronze/silver guilds already. i wonder what kind of raidmobs they are killing. the model of Sony is pretty obvious: they force you to subscribe. thats not really a business model driven by microtransactions.
i played EQ1 for 6 years and was an early EQ2 subscriber at launch. but i quitted after a few month. now i had a 2nd look at it with this new F2p model. finally i quitted by the same reasons i did after launch: this game is way too refined and just another wow-type-theme-park. still far away from EQ1.
i dont like the F2P model of Sony. it is more like a long trial-period. they just want you to subscribe, because they got no clue, how to make money with f2p. the LOTRO model is much different and perhaps got a chance to be succesful at the end. well, unfortunately even LOTRO is just another theme-park .....
played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds
Why would I be a SOE hater while I have an active EQ2 regular subscription..?
I did give EQ2X a try before I resubbed for my EQ2 and saw the difference (see my pic earlier in this thread). Okay, I admit, EQ2X is a nice F2P model that would give you a good idea of the game, but as Kost says, if you don't pay a dime, you don't have to expect much of the game later on, other than grind your ass off and not see the real game as it is...
And SOE gives more free content than anyone else..? Not sure I can agree on that. Any other "real F2P game" gives their game completely for free, with item shop as addition (depending on the publisher - fluff or pay2win). SOE on the other hand gives with EQ2X nothing of the sort. The itemshop feels like pay2win, but using it is expensive, and (more importantly) will not give you extra value to the content (again, see Kost's comment).
But if you pay "subscription", you're still ripped off. You can't play all classes you cant (still same as bronze/silver), while you pay the same as on EQ2, where you DO get the whole game for the same price. And then, EQ2 does offer lower payments for extended periods of subscription, while EQ2X only gives you an option for 1 month, or 1 year where you immediately buy Sentinel's Fate and get 6K SC points, which you most likely won't use anyway...
You're not ripped off if you don't play. I don't get all the hate. If you don't like the game or the sub model, don't give SOE the patronage.
insanex
This isn't newsworthy anymore.
game is NOT free
stop doing that
now if you had stated "useless" game is free - then fine
LOTRO's model is far superior, you can sub and unsub without any significant changes to your character's advancement, also you can earn points in game to unlock content for free as well. LOTRO comes down to this: If you plan to play allot and have the time, go with a sub, if you are going casual then buy content when needed, which will only be a few bucks every couple months at a casual rate of play. Big picture here is you can sub and unsub to fit your lifestyle.
With EQ2X if you UNSUB at any point your quest rewards, coin, spells, and armor will be stripped from you, which makes playing without a sub at this point, well pointless. Sure all the content is free but you can't properly tackle it without the proper equipment anymore. The only way to unlock anything in EQ2X is to sub. No à la carte here. Subbing also puts you into a real jam, as unsubbing comes with real penalties to your characters advancements, be prepared to have your characters stripped down to bronze and any coin over a certain value deleted. EQ2X comes down to this: If you plan on playing casual stay bronze or silver, if you want to pay a sub for the rest of your life by all means sub up. Big picture here is you have to PAY a SUB for a FREE to play game. lol
You would think that when EQ2X went live it would have had a population explosion, for some reason it went live and it was like a switch, click, everyone vanished. Gee with a deal like EQ2X offers I wonder why?
What if the person who is doing the inviting is a Bronze or Silver?
You know, I get really annoyed with all the people here that can only consider end game raiding as the way of judging a game. Look outside the box and realise that most of the MMO community are NOT hardcore, they do not post on forums, they do not check MMO sites and they don't care about having everything and being the best. These free to play options are perfect if you don't 'need' to be uber and just want to enjoy the journey.
What happened to playing the games for the story? with the EQ2X model you get access to ALL the story.. ALL the quests.. ALL the fun.
I really couldn't care less if at the end I competently do a 12 man raid.. cos after the 12 man raid theres nothing else to do anyway! Theres always got to be an end point where you have done everything.
If you can't stand others being 'slightly' better than you in terms of stats.. then either pay to compete with them or avoid ALL FTP games. If you can get over it and enjoy the ride... sit back, get immersed in the world, enjoy the fantastic lore and have fun for free. It's that simple.
I don't post here much, but I feel the need to put my two cents in. I'm now 35 with two small children. I used to play pretty hardcore, I was in a raiding guild in EQ and put in at least 20 hours a week. Now I find myself lucky to be able to play 3 hours a week, and really can't bring myself to pay a monthly sub for that little play time. I started playing EQ2X as soon as it let me in, and have been loving it. I log on for up to an hour at a time and do whatever quests I can in that short time, and have nothing to complain about. I don't ever expect to even reach level cap, much less raid. You people really have to gain a sense of perspective about this. The new F2P model could be a bit less strict, sure, but for people like myself it works great and I have fun. If you're really serious about end game and raiding, why would you even entertain the thought of playing a F2P game? It's just not for you.
While I think that EQII needs some form of F2P to keep the title generating additional cash flow, I don't believe this model is it.
The game would have been better off to have gone with LOTR or DDO models rather than the mostly-crippleware model they implemented.
It seems that a majority of the concerns, and my own, are with the gold & plat levels of membership. First off, Bronze being crippled severely should be expected and understood by anyone playing an MMO. Its free, you don't pay a dime, and you should expect to be severely crippled in your ability to experience certain features (auction house, chat, levels, content, items, space, cash, etc).
Silver level membership: Spend 10 bucks once and get some extra stuff & features in the game, but still somewhat crippled. OK, fair enough.
Gold level membership: Pay more than a normal EQII live monthly fee per month and get *almost* as many benefits as live subscribers do. I do not understand why they decided to cripple the gold level membership for extended subscribers. You are paying more than live but are restricted in races, level, & character slots.
Platinum level membership: Are you really this dumb? OK, we will take your money; a year in advanced. You FINALLY get live-like subscription access to the game, for a premium price. You will pay about 16 & 1/2 bucks a month, a full year at a time, for this subscription level. And you will enjoy pretty much the same features and privileges as live subscribers do.
With no way to transfer over to live from Extended, this model is just doomed to fail. I understand that SOE wishes to keep purchasable items on the Extended server. However, just like there are restrictions in place for copying a character from live to extended (for a FEE!), there should be a way to do so in the opposite direction as well. Sony needs to wake up and fix this model before the train derails and it can't bring it back.