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EverQuest II: EQ2X Beta Released
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Everquest II Extended, the free-to-play version of the game, has had its beta client released. Players are also trying out the new web-based streaming downloader in an effort to get folks into the game much faster.
ABOUT EXTENDED: Extended also includes the recently improved EQII user-interface and Golden Path progression system!
Extended offers multiple tiers of membership upgrade options that allow players to customize their gaming experience to fit their needs. Details of these options can be found HERE.
Read more about EQ2X.
Comments
I wonder if they where trying to relase this before lord of the rings free to play.
Will there be a wipe on the end of beta ?
Probably..
chaques
wow/dnd/eq/eq2/rom
No wipe at the end of this according to the Smokejumper posts. the 'alpha' was more liek a typical beta that they had up for a whopping 2 weeks tot est, they wiped when it went live, the apparent reasoning is that since you can spend real $$ and all that they dont want to remove your paid for items. Unless it changes though there is no wipe between their version of beta and it being the real deal.
No the cash shop is already up so no wipe after beta because RL money is already being spent.
Check it out: http://everquest2.com/free_to_play/index
I can't get the beta to work. I downloaded the client, and when I launch it I get a logo screen appear and then nothing afterward.
While I did not have any problems with the downloader (some people were reporting it would hang or that they could not log in to the game at all), there are a few things I don't understand with this new model.
Free-to-play, at its best, lowers the barriers of entry for a game. A new player usually does not have to pay an initial box charge and there is no subscription fee needed to start the game. Once in, a new player should then be able to play their character and have enough fun that they are encouraged to either purchase unlocls for additional content from the store or, if offered, sign up for a regular subscription that allows access to all the content while the subscription is active.
While EQ2X does offer a "regular" subscription with the Gold level plan, the player will still have less than someone paying the same monthly fee on the original EQ2 servers. With EQ2X and EQ2 being completely separate servers, clients, and accounts, there does not even seem to be an easy way to play EQ2X, decide you want to play on the "real" servers, and move over. There is either no incentive to keep playing, or, if you look at things ahead of time, maybe not even as much incentive to start playing at all.
With something like DDO (and to a lesser extent, LotRO once it relaunches), a new player can try things out at their leisure and subscribe at any time without worrying about what version of the game they are playing.
I really don't see where this split model is headed for EQ2/EQ2X. I'll take a look around, but I certainly don't feel comfortable committing to anything without watching the experiment for a while longer.
You'd better believe it. They scrambled like cockroaches to get this out before LotRO.
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Maybe SOE should have taken more time to plan things out. As I said above, I don't really understand how this is supposed to work out for them.
I tried this out last night and was very impressed. It’s the most refined beta I’ve ever played.
The streaming download worked without a hitch. I was able to download the launcher and start building my character in minutes. Meanwhile, the game was quietly downloading in the background. This was symbolized by a little running dinosaur and a megabyte counter.
Limitations: free players (bronze membership) only get 2 character slots, can only use Adept level spells (treasured drops) or below, and can only use treasured loot or below. You can only earn 5 gold per level and have no more than 20 active quests. Your ability to buy and sell on the broker is also restricted. There are some spam protection limitations like only being able to receive mail and not being able to talk on general chat channels. You also have only 4 races and 8 classes to choose from. You can bump up a bunch of those restrictions for a one-time $10 Station Cash payment.
The nice thing is that all zones and levels short of the very latest Sentinel’s Fate expansion are open to free players. That’s an amazing amount of content that puts any other free-to-play game to shame.
As a Station Pass holder, I was granted Gold membership and it was pretty much the same old EQ2. I was still limited to 4 neutral races (barbarian, erudite, half elf, and human) so I created a barbarian bruiser and selected New Halas as my starting zone. I ran around kicking some orc butt, cleaning out mushroom men infestations and harvesting. I was level 6 in about 2 hours of leisurely play.
The user interface has been spiffed up for this release. There is now a minimal dashboard with your experience bar and some small buttons for various game features. Including, of course, a bigger “SC” button for Station Cash – the heart and soul of the FTP version. The mini map is now integrated with the graphical clock, but the rest of the game windows can be moved around to your liking as much as ever.
I can easily see why current subscribers would enjoy playing on this server. You get 7 more character slots and a vibrant community with characters at all levels instead of 90%+ at level 90.
.
If you try to get the client and you're using Firefox or Chrome, I've heard it's an issue. For some damn reason SoE just loves the shit outta fracking IE, so.....try again using IE.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I played a couple of hours, and so far I like it. I played EQ2 some years ago, and generally liked it, and was worried about some of the limitations of EQ2X. I was worried about the non-humanoid races not being free, but $7.50 to pay for Froglok and Kerra isn't too bad. I still have to see what broker restrictions there are, and some other stuff, but there's still a chance I'll pay the $10 for Silver and $7.50 for the races.
BTW, I had no problem getting the client on Opera. It downloaded and installed without a problem.
Just so it's clear....
Current subsribers got ALL THE SAME UI updates, new spell animations, etc. Any "perks" that were added for EQ2X....we got them all too.
AND....WE don't have to have all those bloody restriction or a Marketplace with stats items.
I like where I'm at....won't be movin' to F2P.
Glad you're having fun though.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Hang on here...
I was thinking of buying SILVER, so you get ALMOST everything as everyone else..seems very cheap. One problem..only up to lvl 80? No epic loots? Not full spell tiers (is this abillity points?)?
How will you be able to join the game at the end as a silver member, when you only can get to 80? Will these 2 levels be like 2 different "games" 50% in lvl 80 doing everything and 50% in lvl 90 doing their thing? Explain...it doen't seems like SILVER is worth anything.....to join the end-game u have to be a gold member?
This makes me not to wanna play the games.
Explain for me how it will works and how you can solve these problems? Can you buy SILVEr then GOLD in 80?
I'm going to take advantage of the service.
That being said, I do think they really need to go over the list of restrictions again and trim it down. Frankly they are offering much less than DDO is offering in terms of restrictions for freemium players, and much less than LOTRO will be offering as well, yet they have higher prices in the shop and tons of restrictions that are completely unnecessary.
Give us something for free at least SOE, I'm mean seriously, you even restrict players from having access to level range based chat. Having to use say to communicate with someone who isn't in a guild with my characters is absolutely absurd.
What they are giving for FREE....is, in my opinion, simply a VERY very extended TRIAL that will allow you to give them MONEY during your trial period, because they have the expanded Marketplace. So...for "free" you get to see most of the EQ2 landscapes and zones, a lot of the dungeons (but those dungeons will KICK YOUR ASS in the crap gear you'll be wearing with Adept only spells....and this might make you want to BUY something while you're enjoying your trial).
So....the logical thing to do if you want to try the game for free....is try it....FOR FREE. Don't give them any of your money. If you LIKE the game....leave the f2p servers, buy Sentinel's Fate for 14.95 at Direct2Drive....and come join us on the REAL EQ2 servers where your gold isn't limited, your armor isn't restricted, your spells aren't restricted and you call play to level 90 with the rest of us and our alts. Easy solution and it will only cost you about 15 bucks and the same 15 bucks a month that other games cost.
But BY ALL MEANS....do the extended trial and just do it for FREE. Don't cave in and give them your money. You'll still get to see if you like the game. If you like it on EQ2X....think of how much MORE you'll like it without all the race and class restrictions, low grade spells, crap armor, gold limits....etc.!
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Absolute comic gold how people bitch about free things. Gimme gimme gimme.....
you premium subcribers think your safe..think again..SOE is slowly pushing the game towards f2p (aka b2w) formula. I am currently trying out the beta, and seems like a good game gone bad. the gameplay is really nice. As in smooth gameplay easy to follow quests , its top notch. so my problem with the game is. Ok a GOLD sub. $15..ohh but you want a mount to?..oh ok another $10..but wait i gotta have that outfit and that weapon in the CS also! so thats 20 more bucks. You guys are gonna say, but if you buy the gold sub. you dont have to buy the CS items. well i dont know for sure if thats the case. but if it is the case then why have it in the CS or even a CS at all..why not just sell the subs?Not worth it..all you old paying members maybe safe now..but for how long?..think about it..if this greedy plan of theres works. They will triple what they make in just sub fees, and if they do say hello to the new EQ2 for everybody. Just go play WoW or WAR..or even Aion.. all 3 very good games. without this horriible mess. Regardless i plan on playing the beta somemore , so i might have a change of heart but i doubt it.
Saying EQ2X is Beta gives $OE a lot of leeway in making significant changes to the game - including changes to items that have been already been purchased by players.
Complete nonsense. If you look at all the restrictions on the f2p servers you will get the exact opposite feeling. They want people to try the game out with the free service to get them to subscribe to get all the benefits of the live servers. They would not have restricted so much if they were intending to move to a f2p environment.
if that were the case..why not unlimited free trial with restrictions?..instead of Free game with CS?
you have the right to your opinion and if you feel its nonsense..then so be it!
The fact of the matter is they put in a cash shop with mounts , armors, weapons, materials for crafting, and other crazy stuff. So if you feel its for people to just try out the game you are way off base in my OPINION!
I just tried EQ2 X and i don't kno0w what they did to the engine but it's running much smoother. I'm playing on laptop which isn't new and still can get 30 fps on High settings without char shadows. In closed places and some less resource intensive zones I can get 40-55 fps which for me is incredible.
The only thing they should add to this version of the game is buyable character classes, we can buy races so why not classes?
I agree the one real restriction is lack of ability to purchace classes, I'm not sure what happens if you go a enrol in gold, then roll a restricted class char. then drop gold. Can you still play restricted class character?
ps. sorry messed up first post.
SOE is testing the waters with this. If anyone can't see that they are blind. If EQ2 Extended gathers more money per/subscriber than they get through current SC I would not be surprised if they switch all servers over at some point to this model. SOE is like any company= more $$$=better. I imagine they will release a free transfer server that uses this model, as I personally would of switched my toons, and a few guildies said the same thing, but for 35 a pop, that isn't going to happen. I imagine they are also testing to see how this goes so that their future games can have a similiar model as well.