EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

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EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Siji »

I believe this belongs in the main forum here as it's the core reason everyone even comes here. Will this draw you back to Norrath?

http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/news_ ... nth=012012

EverQuest is Going Free to Play!

EverQuest

/Tell Norrathians INCOMING BUFFS!

Hello everyone - I hope you all are doing well early on in the New Year! With an exciting Veil of Alaris expansion just released in November, we're thrilled to announce the next big adventure for EverQuest®. After listening to your feedback and suggestions over the past few years, I'm happy to announce that in early March 2012, EverQuest will be going free-to-play.

We're excited to be expanding the EverQuest experience by making the game more accessible to every type of player so that you can choose to play the game in a way that suits you best. Anyone who wishes to start, return or continue to play one of the "Best Games of All-Time" can simply download and play EverQuest on their terms – think of it as Free to Play, Your Way. Recurring subscriptions, non-recurring subscriptions, Silver or Free memberships, item unlockers, and more. The game will now be setup to be flexible so that *you* can decide how much to pay, based on how much fun you're having.

EverQuest players are some of the most loyal, long-standing players of any MMO in existence. With the gaming landscape changing every day, we want to ensure we continue to evolve the game to keep players engaged and bring in even more new players to further expand the community. With no up-front costs or required membership, we might see a new player or two along the way, and more people is always a good thing!

Once we go free-to-play, here are some of the upcoming features and events you can expect:

On Friday, March 16th, EverQuest becomes a teenager: 13 years old!!! We will be having some extra added events in the game starting that week leading up to that Friday and we're introducing some new items within POK to let you know what's in store.
With the free-to-play launch, a renovated everquest.com website will be unveiled and after that, we will bring you upgraded EQPlayers pages.
We have improved the functionality of our Map system! Some improvements include being able to view appropriate level content for your character on the map, allowing you to find zone lines much easier; and also showing you your wisps on the map to help navigate to where you want to go!

Also at the free-to-play launch, all players will receive a Welcome Pack containing items to add to your gameplay experience. You'll be able to summon a unique Mercenary to fight by your side and we're including some Bayle Marks to help pay for the services of your newly summoned Mercenary. A couple of Experience Potions are also included to help you increase your experience gained while adventuring. For all the collectors that like to show off all the great wares to your friends, we're giving you an item to display in your home and add to your collection. And finally, you'll be able to customize the appearance of one of your weapons with a Weapon Ornamentation - also included in the Welcome Pack. So be sure to check the claim window for your free gifts.

We, the EverQuest dev team, are very excited about this new flexible system. Free-To-Play is the best fit for EverQuest and we are looking forward to supporting the game and our dedicated fans for years to come. This is a great year for everyone associated with EverQuest and SOE. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what's coming in 2012.

One last note, we will be doing a Community Webcast on Thursday February 2, 2012 covering all of the exciting free-to-play details. Please be sure to send in any questions you might have via the Facebook page or Twitter so we can respond with answers during the Webcast.

See you in game very soon!

Thom Terrazas

EverQuest Producer
AKA "Phathom"
http://www.everquest.com/free/

Quick look:

Full access up to House of Thule (Base + 17 expansions)
4 Races
4 Classes
2 Character Slots per Server
Rank 1 Spell Tiers
250 AA max
4 Bag Slots Per Character
100 Plat per level (Eew!)
House but no guild hall
0 Shared Bank Slots
Join Guild (No Create)
Somewhat limited chat channels
No progression server access
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Leonaerd »

:-k
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Boogahz »

Nope.

Tried to play over a recent free weekend, and it was not close to the feel I enjoy now. I'd rather keep what's left of those good memories untainted...like that's possible!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

I never left!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Moonwynd »

I think I will play again.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Zaelath »

Tempted based on FTP 4 boxing ><

Do you still need WinEQ to avoid full screen?
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Siji »

Last I played (2-3 yrs ago?) you did. But WinEQ2 is cheap enough to be worth it, imo. ($10 for 3 months or $36 for year)
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

BTW, from what I undersatnd, there will be additional 'unlocks' you can purchase in the marketplace as a Silver member which will increase certain things. So for example you're not happy with the max amount of AAs you can get at Silver tier just buy an unlock for that and you can go above what the max is. Or something like that. I think EQ2 uses something similar but I've never played that so I can't say. Perhaps there are some EQ2 players here who could provide additional info!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Asheran Mojomaster »

As it currently stands, this will not help me at all :? . The special servers (progression, maybe pvp as well, I dunno) aren't going to be f2p. I hope they add a silver feature to play on the progression servers without paying for the unlimited package. I play 2 accounts on Fippy already, and would love to lower the cost of those.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Siji »

This is now live.

Camp check!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

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orc 2
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

At least there are no more corpse runs needed in EQ! Which I'm sure is depressing to some people.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Knarlz »

Although I haven't played in years, I kept the account open since I signed up for the 5th aniversery special of $100 per year.
I wonder if I could drop that and still be used as a rez bot by the old guild.
Also they probebly can use the old cleric up to semi current content. If someone wanted to level knarlz up some 10 or 25 times :)
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Knarlz wrote:Although I haven't played in years, I kept the account open since I signed up for the 5th aniversery special of $100 per year.
I wonder if I could drop that and still be used as a rez bot by the old guild.
Also they probebly can use the old cleric up to semi current content. If someone wanted to level knarlz up some 10 or 25 times :)
You wont lose anything you already have although if you have raid items they might not be active. But just to rez and cast some buffs or whatever I don't see why not. Free accounts don't have access to the current expansion but it kinda sucks anyway so no loss there.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Nilaman »

I logged in to take a look around today. I can't use any of my armor, I'm missing like four bags, and what happened to my guild tag?!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Chidoro »

most augs are prestige so you can't use the armor until they are removed or it's unlocked and there's a bag limitation that needs to be unlocked as well. Not sure about the guild tag but it's probably some kind of lock as well for all I know.
Pretty piss poor way to re-introduce old time players back into the game. I don't think they were given enough heads up about what was going to happen or create some kind of on character overflow as opposed to the parcel system, something not even in place when most of those players originally left.
I still have my SOE all access because it's a pretty good deal for me, but it would have been nice to see some more old folks come back.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Boogahz »

Some guilds *cough* CD *cough* would periodically purge most members that didn't log in for a long time.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

The Prestige tag has pretty much been a fail as to how it was implemented. It's especially harsh for returning players since nearly every aug is Prestige.The forums have basically blown up over it and latest dev response I saw was :
A lot of the augs were mistakenly flagged as Prestige. It's something I'm going to bring up in our weekly systems meeting.
So they say it was a "mistake" but I don't think so. I think they just didn't expect the amount of backlash they got over it. And the fact that there are no equipment unlockers for Prestige makes it even worse. I can see the limitation there for new characters but I can also see how it would turn off returning players when they saw all their equipment unusable.

No augs should have been Prestige and items from expansions greater than the last 3 or 4 shouldn't have had the tag either. Allowing people to fully use their set of OoW armor or whatever hardly seems overpowering and hey people might actually stick around a bit and spend a few dollars in the marketplace. Which is the whole point of Free to Play.

The community told the devs this would be an issue before FTP was launched but they chose not to listen. Some things never change over at SOE.


As far as missing bags go... You lost two bag slots by being a silver member. Bags that were there should be on the parcel vendor. Also shared bank bags/items would have gone there as well if you're logging on a character for the first time on that account. They don't really explain what you need to do. But it's a merchant near the bank near the Guild Lobby. When you exit the bank he's standing straight ahead abut 20 feet and I think the caption over him is 'General Supplies and Parcels' or something. Click on him then you should see a Parcels tab. That's where your stuff should be. You can use your bank to try and make room but if you were a packrat and had a full bank you'll basically have to find some stuff to delete. Or create a new account (its free!) and give the items to that character.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Nilaman »

Aaaaand now I'm all set with that free play stuff.

I had a lot of great times in EQ and awesome memories. It was neat getting to look around a bit and talking to a few people that I still remember. Back to retirement I go!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

So soon? Come back!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Ransure »

ROFL, cant believe that Ransure and Taulmariel still exist... must be 4 or 5 years since they were logged in...

Just DL'd, but I dont even remember how to check stats on items in inventory... and my Eyepatch of Plunder isnt useable because Im on a free account..... looks like stuff like my DE mask must be in the bank but I dont think free accounts have bank accounts... weird.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Free accounts do have bank accounts. Just not shared slots in the bank.

And to see your inventory hit i. To see stats hold down right click on item.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Ransure »

laptop touchpad was working funny in game.. will check it out if I log back in :)
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Nick »

Been playing for the last month. It's been amazingly fun, and I've enjoyed paying for it. Made an enchanter and grabbed the 1.0 epic. Now working on the millions of AAs I need to get. So much fun running around the world again :)
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Since you can buy subscription tokens in the Marketplace if you wait for a double station cash sale you can get a year for $60. $5 a month.. Cheap! Honestly that's better than going the free route and having to put up with its hassles. But if people just want to jump on for an hour or so a month than Silver makes sense.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

One nice thing they added was the ability to buy spells now. Up to level 85 i think. So if you're leveling a character you don't have to worry about spell drops or trying to find them in the bazaar. I haven't checked the prices but I'm sure they aren't too unreasonable.

As far as the implementation of the new map features.. The Find feature (Ctrl-F) still majorly sucks. Half the time I use it I get "Mysterious forces prevent you from finding your destination" or whatever it says. Pretty worthless for the most part. Hey SOE, it does no good to have quest people and zone lines show up on the list if the thing hardly works.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Kithyen »

I hopped back in on a 48 cleric account I made back in 08 just to futz around. Having to run crossover on my girlfriend's macbook in order to run eq. There's an over year old thread on the official forums when they updated something and since then c50/c60 processors no longer work with the game so my laptop's SoL.

Anyways currently on the rathe server but will probably transfer over to Luclin since a bunch of my buddies have hopped back into the game (Plus character transfers are only like fifteen bucks right now for the next day or so). I have to say the addition of Mercs is probably the best thing to happen to this 10+ year old game. Even the apprentice mercenary that I'm stuck with due to silver can hold his own against 3 or 4 mobs at a time as long as I have the mana. Guess I'll finish up my 1.0 epic. Just have to collect the shards and beat up Ragefire.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Yeah mercenaries are one of the best features since you really don't have to sit LFG for hours trying to get stuff done anymore. Especially a lot of the older stuff .
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Bagar- »

I hopped on last night. I can't use any of my gear. I could deal with not having all of the bag slots, shared bank, etc., but I functionally can't play without my gear and I'm sure as tits not going to farm new non-raid gear just to be able to kill mobs.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Where's your sense of adventure!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Siji »

Bagar- wrote:I hopped on last night. I can't use any of my gear. I could deal with not having all of the bag slots, shared bank, etc., but I functionally can't play without my gear and I'm sure as tits not going to farm new non-raid gear just to be able to kill mobs.
This.

I just can't seem to muster the desire to go do anything. I know whatever it is, it's going to take a lot of time, and I have other things to do.. At this point, solitaire seems more productive.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

You never know until you try!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Double Station Cash this weekend. So people could end up with $5 a month subscriptions if they went with a year ($60). Cheap! Almost makes me wonder why I'm still paying $100 a year!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

BTW, they recently changed it so prestige augs don't make the item they are in prestige. So you may have a lot less yellow items next time you log in.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Triple station cash today only. So if you buy the $15 cards at Wal-Mart you can get a year of Gold membership for $30. That's $2.50 a month!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

OK.. so I'm going to be updating the AA XP bonus for the June patch. The bonus will now end at 4000 AA instead of the current 2500. Additionally, the initial bonus for the bottom end will be significantly increased. I haven't decided the actual bonus amount changes yet, but it will be larger than the current 500%.
For those playing with a low number of AA... It wont be such a grind to catch up or at least get a very usable base of AA after the June patch.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aabidano »

Would take care of me and my whopping 3? AA on Aabi.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

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Aslanna wrote:Triple station cash today only. So if you buy the $15 cards at Wal-Mart you can get a year of Gold membership for $30. That's $2.50 a month!
Leave it to SOE to nerf a good thing. They removed the memberships from the Marketplace so you can no longer use double or triple cash to get a deal on a subscription. Yeah that wont lose them any subscriptions. Apparently they'd rather get $0 from those people instead of $2.50 - $5.00.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Chidoro »

I read on the official board that the intent is to be 1000% at 0 AA linerally to 0% at 4000 from the current 500% at 0 to 0% at 2500. That actually helps me out a bit as i only have about 2600 AA at the moment
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

Yeah AA's should be faster to 4000 now. That should be implemented next week probably. Hopefully they will bump it up 500 or so each time they implement new AAs.

As far as buying subscriptions with Station Cash.. Due to the boards erupting in complaints they put it back in for a week. I doubt there's anyone here that will benefit from that but if so you might want to purchase while you can.
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

Post by Aslanna »

AA change was put in a couple days ago. Go bonk some mobs!
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Re: EVERQUEST GOES FREE-TO-PLAY

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Sony Online Entertainment will change free-to-play restrictions for its MMORPGs EverQuest and EverQuest 2 next week, offering more content to players with free-to-play and limited subscription accounts.

Sony currently offers two paid subscriptions, Silver and Gold, and a free-to-play option for both titles. Silver level members have restricted character customization choices, while Gold members have instant access to all content.

Beginning next week, EverQuest and EverQuest 2 Free and Silver account holders will have unobstructed access to all classes and races when building avatars — currently, the bottom two subscription options only grant access to four of the game's 16 races and four of its 16 classes (there are 20 total races and 25 total classes in EverQuest 2). Characters will also be given more bag slots for carrying items and can deliver items to other players for free, whereas previously that service was for paid members only.

In EverQuest 2, the only remaining restricted class in the Beastlord, accessible only by purchasing the Age of Discovery expansion pack. The Freeblood race is also still purchase-only.

According to EverQuest franchise director of development David Georgesen, after 14 years of service it was time to give players more free stuff.

"We felt we went in the right direction with free to play, but [in the beginning we were] paranoid about the results," he explained. "We made really a restrictive subscription matrix that was built to encourage people to upgrade. We wanted to make Silver and Free [accounts] much more attractive packages for people that wanted to just check out game. They can play for a longer period of time before making any purchase decisions.

"Silver and Free players are legitimate kinds of players and we don't want to make them do different things or change the way they are playing," he added.

Restrictions have also been lifted on shared bank slots, which allow players to share items between a user's characters, and journals will display all active quests instead of only a finite number.

"I don't remember the logic behind this, but we have been restricting the number of quests people can have displayed in their journal," Georgesen said. "We look back at that now and I don't know what we were thinking, that was just dumb. We're taking the cap off of that too."

Georgesen said that SOE has no plans to lift more restrictions in the future, as the company wants to keep certain features exclusive for Gold account holders. When asked if the new subscription changes would be implemented in upcoming title EverQuest Next, Georgesen said that discussion hasn't happened yet.
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