EverQuest II now free to play

[Slave]

EverQuest 2 was a gigantic mistake; I am literally sitting here years later in disbelief that they actually made a game to compete with their own game. (and it was BAD)

[icecool]

its really a good news ,i like free online games best. Why now check POP MMO? it is a free to play MMORPG site where you can play the online games with your friends. Do not forget to summon your friends to get a role playing game for free. Some of games can be played via web browser, which is called browser games.

[Killua]

It's already been free with the Everquest II Extended version of the game, only difference now is that all the servers work under the "free" model that's been in place previously only on one special server. I've been playing it for a while to kill time, it's fun imo.

They do limit your race/class choices pretty heavily if you're not a subscriber, and you'll reach the coin limit pretty easily. One thing that annoyed me at first (but I've gotten used to now) is that there's way too many skills, I've seen a couple lvl 90's UI setups and they have like 7 rows of 10 abilities/skills on their screen. Also not being able to use the auction house makes it so you can't buy or sell anything worthwhile to anyone below lvl 90, seems like all the auctions in the auction chat channel are for lvl 90 items only (*edit* Not that you can save up enough money to buy any of those items anyway).

[Secrets]

I've been playing this like nonstop the last few days (lol xpac on f2p launch day) and it's amazing. Creating your dungeon has to be the best feature in an MMO so far, lol, especially combined with eq2's housing system.

SOE may not have catered to raiders this expansion, but they sure did give people things to do inbetween raids, which is what the game was missing imo.

[Diggles]

my trial account with the monk on it has a bunch of rewards as if i bought eq2 on it. win

[stormlord]

These F2P MMOs are just a clever method to take in more money by removing the cap. First, it allows them to do business with people between $1 and $15. Second, it allows them to advertise to people who do not pay (and become interested). But most importantly, it's the item/content store that's the reason companies are hot for it (and of course because selling what's trendy is what marketers want). Essentially, item stores take the place of old-style gold sellers and item sellers that went on ebay and other websites to sell in-game items or characters. What this actually does is reroute that money from other people (outside the company) to the company itself. So it actually MAKES THEM MORE MONEY by taking in more money than the standard $15/month subscription. But they won't make a point of telling you this because a rich man doesn't ask for your wallet.

... He's not that dumb. A rich man takes your money when you're not looking.

This F2P model is tricky. It sucks you in at first as you see a new shinie that says "Buy me!" So you do and you're like "Oh, wow, it only costs $1!!!" It goes like this on and on. Before you know it, this whole F2P thing has grown on you. Then you start to buy experience potions and all sorts of other things. You're spending far more than $15/month like you used to. But who cares? You have the money, right? Besides, you like it this way. You can finally compete with college students. Before, they could outplay you simply by playing longer. But now you can spend more and compete. And the companies like it because they're making more money.

It reminds me of our country's tax code. Enormously complex and convoluted. What started as indifferent has grown up to be something akin to abuse. Red tape is everywhere. Similarly, businesses have all sorts of marketing gimmicks to pull customers in. Make no mistake, they're sucking your blood like vampires.

Remember, their intent is to make money AT YOUR EXPENSE. It comes out of YOUR pocket. Companies will do whatever they can, so long as they can get away with it. This includes sucking your blood when you're sleeping. It includes slipping pills into your drinks. Whatever they can get passed the regulators.

Government has its own gimmicks to preserve (and build) itself. Greed is everywhere.

If EQ2 makes good content and a compelling game then they will succeed. Period. Of course, marketers can kill something before it even has a chance, if it's missing something unrelated. Nowadays, that something might be F2P. Marketers are having orgasms over it. It's a whorehouse right now with some wild orgies.

Get your sex. Small one? Big one? We got em all! Come on down and see for yourself!

[Ghordo]

EQ2 had a horrific start, nobody can deny. But after they smoothed it out lets say everything post Echoes of Fay was pretty decent content, good/fun quests(heritage, signatures etc.)KoS, RoK, TSO were dam fun raid expansions. I wouldn't know anything after TSO expansion because I came to play here to dip my feet in nostalgia waters and its free on top of that, pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

[Lulz Sect]

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[stormlord]

I've been reading the EQ2 forums a bit past couple days because I'm thinking about going over there. I have, in fact, been thinking about trying EQ2 for a few years and been going over to those forums.

I have never actually tried Eq2.

There're things that bother me...

One, progression. I want to see the lower level content. It looks like some of it has been removed. The game has changed somewhat too since then. On the plus side, they give you mercs now so you should be able to do quests. On the downside, that reminds me a lot of EQ1 (it has mercs). Personally, I'd like to see them do it another way that's not like EQ1. I'd actually like to see them allow us to script our mercs to give them a personality. Anyway, if EQ2 is anything like EQ1 then I'm worried about how hte progression will feel. Sony hasn't ever earned my respect. I left EQ1, frustrated. Sony is not very friendly so I can only cross my fingers.

Two, this:
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/p...opic_id=511301

A post like that breaks my heart because it's the heart of the matter. It's the core of things I have been talking about for years and years. I don't always say it right, though. It's a horrible feeling when you feel like an old discarded used up whore. That's how sony made me feel. That's sometimes how this world feels. Sometimes in the rush to change and improve ourselves, we forget about the small things. We forget about the emotions and the people. We focus too much on the golden path. Focus too much on the majority. We become sterile.

The golden path is the path that you go on because it makes sense. It's reasonable. But not everybody is reasonable. Not everybody wants to make sense, either. We should allow people to wander. We shouldn't make our content so that it's too clean or too perfect (according to our wishes). Anytime we come to a point where we think change is necessary, we should have the word "choices" in bold bright letters imprinted onto our brain. We should not have an iron fist. We should not have an iron will. We must be permeable.

No developer can please everyone. No developer can be perfect. If you try to be, you'll only end up being perfekt and people will notice and they'll assault your fake facade. I don't have the answer to all of this. I only know that for every game I look at, I can find people who're displeased with it.

We will never have a perfect society or a perfect game. We will never all agree. Sometimes I think that the only way to make a game for everyone is to be detached from your vision such that the game you make is not for YOU, it's for everybody. But doing that is very hard to accomplish. It's all about choices. Not rightness.

That's hard to explain. How can we make a game that doesn't focus on rightness and instead focuses on choices? How can we please everyone? How can we make a game for casuals and hardcores and roleplayers and everybody else? How can we do this and still allow for players to compare themselves to each other and judge each others status? Would players play a game if it wasn't about competition? What if a game was simply about making your own goals and not about playing better than the next guy? So the golden path wouldn't even matter because it would be relative to your choices, not to the standards set by the developers. I'm not sure it's even possible. Maybe there will always be niche games and mainstream games. But I wonder...

###############

Project 1999, btw, is a niche game. I struggle to use the word "old fashioned" because it has many features that're valuable to niche players. But it -is- outdated. It could be vastly upgraded. But could it be vastly upgraded and still remain the same? I think it could, mostly. But maybe not?

One thing i've always wanted to see the most was a smarter natural language engine. After that, I want to see NPCs act smarter and have more opinions and be able to form friendships with players. I've never been hot for graphics or convenience changes. Another thing is I'd like to see more bind points and the ability to select which one I go to when I drink a gate potion or die. Lastly, I never could get a home in EQ like I could in UO. Getting a home was a form of self-expression in UO, mostly because others can see your home in the same world they adventure in. It was not in an instance in UO (that was well over 10 years ago). It was a source of pride and a way of "breaking in" to the game. So many things I could say. I'm kind of niche about this.

Am I old fashioned for liking the idea of having my home in the same world I adventure in? Personally, I think they put homes in instances to reduce resource loads on players. There're a lot of items/furniture in homes. In a 3d world, that consumes a great number of processor cycles. I think tha'ts probably the biggest reason they instanced homes. The other might be the potential for exploits or just not wanting to worry about where players will build their homes. And also the fact that you need lots of room for players to build homes; homes can't be too expensive. Bottom line, they saved money (and headaches) by putting them in instances. So, in conclusion, the issue of whether homes being in instances is better or not is not one that's settled.

[vinx]

Originally Posted by Killua [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

They do limit your race/class choices pretty heavily if you're not a subscriber, and you'll reach the coin limit pretty easily. One thing that annoyed me at first (but I've gotten used to now) is that there's way too many skills, I've seen a couple lvl 90's UI setups and they have like 7 rows of 10 abilities/skills on their screen. Also not being able to use the auction house makes it so you can't buy or sell anything worthwhile to anyone below lvl 90, seems like all the auctions in the auction chat channel are for lvl 90 items only.

Thats why i wont play EQ2..i seen SS's and videos of waaay to many hotbars
and for what?? gg who needs that many
it would be takin up way to much of my screen and i need immersion! not buncha buttons (that..and i would prolly forget what half of them do lol)

Originally Posted by Shannacore [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm level two and don't like the graphics.

^ this... I bought the game prelaunch also and only played the first 30 days on it bleh

Originally Posted by Diggles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

stupid

why does no one do the lotro f2p model.

Is there one? and is this free DL? i would check that out