EverQuest II now free to play

[bionicbadger]

Can download from steam for free and free to play.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/201230/

[Shannacore]

Yaaaaaay free things.

I downloaded this last night.

[Shannacore]

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

[oblexsis]

I remember buying this game on pre order thinking it was going to be the next big mmo , then WoW came out and i never installed this PoS lol

[Knuckle]

giving a fuck. not.

[Diggles]

unless i can play a monk without paying for it im not interested

[Lovely Icecomet]

Can't even give that shit away.

[jarshale]

*Optional content available for purchase.

So what exactly is the optional content? I remember when it was still p2p with a f2p side and they limited pretty much everything.

[Shannacore]

*Optional content available for purchase.

So what exactly is the optional content? I remember when it was still p2p with a f2p side and they limited pretty much everything.

You can only choose from like, 3 or so classes / races for free, lol.


I WANTED TO BE A HALFLING, SO BAD.

[Diggles]

stupid

why does no one do the lotro f2p model.

[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 (http://anyonlinegames.com). Why now check POP MMO? it is a free to play MMORPG (http://www.popmmo.com) site where you can play the online games (http://anyonlinegames.com) with your friends. Do not forget to summon your friends to get a role playing game for free (http://nowrpg.com). Some of games can be played via web browser, which is called browser games (http://browsergamesite.com).

[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]

http://i.imgur.com/75UmQ.jpg

[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/posts/list.m?topic_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]

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)
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
stupid

why does no one do the lotro f2p model.
Is there one? and is this free DL? i would check that out

[Killua]

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

Yes, LOTRO has had a free option for a while:

http://www.lotro.com/free.php?tier=details

They don't limit you on Races or Classes (granted there aren't many to choose from anyway). And you can earn Turbine Points to buy things in the game just by playing. I haven't played it since beta so I can't comment on how the game is now.

[Juugox2]

i havent played eq2 since they added sarnak race i know that had to be few years ago imo i got bored before i even got max lvl and that tells you something imo

[stormlord]

How many gigabytes does EQ2 eat up on the harddrive (or positronic relay device for those ubber rich folk)?

I'm estimating 6gb - 16gb. Looking for some confirmation.

[orchard54]

I've been playing EQ2 since the day it launched. I also played EQ1 from the day it launched, until shortly after EQ2 launched. I played both, but eventually sold my EQ1 account and played EQ2 exclusively.

After 7 years of EQ2, It's hard for me to keep playing the game and enjoying it because everytime they add anything to the game, or apply a patch to fix bugs, it seems they just create more bugs than there was before. A lot of major things never get fixed either and have been broken for 5, 6+ years, and no matter how much players beg for these things to get fixed, it never happens.

Nowadays, SOE is far more concerned with adding fluff items, such as house items and "appearance only armor" to their in-game marketplace, versus spending their time fixing all the current things wrong with the game.

The free to play implementation isn't to bad, you get a lot of content for nothing. You can level up to the max level, and you get access to all the expansions except for the 2 most recent ones (Destiny of Velious, and Age of Discovery, both of wich are still $40 each). The newest expansion, Age of Discovery, only adds features to the game, and no actual content. (Beastlord class, Dungeon Maker (in which you use avatars to play through the dungeons, not your actual character), 20 more AA points to spend (no actual new AA's), and some Tradeskill apprentices (an NPC you place in your house that researches new recipes over a period of time) and Mercenaries you can hire.

Armor grades go from handcrafted, treasured, mastercrafted, legendary, and Fabled being the best grade of armor. Free account players can only wear Mastercrafted at the best. Spells upgrade from apprentice, journeyman, Adept, Expert, Master, Grandmaster. Free players can only upgrade their spells to Adept. You have a coin limit as a free player (you can buy crafting Fuel, which sells back to merchant for same price you buy for) in place of currency. Only a limited number of quests can be in your journal at one time, versus 75 being max with a 15 a mo. subscription, only two bag slots available to use. Other than a few other small things, you can level up to the max level in both player level, and crafting level. (Also, only two classes from each class type is available to play for free. Fighters = Guardian/Berserker, Scout = Assassin/Brigand, Priest = Templar/Inquistor, Mage = Wizard/Warlock.)

But my main complaint about EQ2 lately is just how dumbed down the game has gotten over the years. In comparrison to original EQ1, EQ2 has always been much easier. Over the years EQ2 has gotten easier, and easier, and even easier. They continue to just make the game easier. There's no penalty for dieing, you can get from 1-90 in a month or so easy, playing only a few hours a day (less than a few weeks if you're a hardcore player). Mobs that used to be "group" mobs have been dumbed down to solo mobs all over the world. Not many people group until level 90, because questing from 1 to 90 is FAR more experience than grouping in any dungeon. Which hurts in the long run because at 90 you have a vast majority of players joining up in groups that have no idea how to play thier class in a group situation, let alone a raid.

They recently re-itemized the game. Now every class in the game only depends on two main stats. Every fighter class uses Str/Sta, every scout uses Agi/Sta, Priests = Wis/Sta, and Mages = Int/Sta (the rest of the stats do NOTHING for your class now). This change removes the customization of play and the decisions people made when deciding which peice of gear to wear over another. A good example is -- in the past, Bards (Dirges/Troubadors) would benifit from all stats, and build their character how they really wanted to be. Using some armor that has int and wis on it to increase the power of their spells and resistances, strength and agi to assist in increasing their melee damage and avoidance, and stamina of course for more HP. Now, as a bard (scout type class) the only classes that affect you are Agi/Sta. Therefore, all scout gear only has AGI/STA on it. Making it a super easy decision between two peices of gear, "hmmm, which should I wear? Oh, this peice because it has more Agi and Sta than the previous gear."
--Another downside of the re-itemization update is that thousands of peices of gear were missed, and still have the old crappy weak stats. A lot of this gear is older raid gear, of Legendary and Fabled quality. These items have been reported on many occasions by lots of people, and its been over 6 months and none of them have been fixed. Leading me to believe that SOE does not ever intend on completing their re-itemization and just leaving it half assed. This also is detering people from wanting to do any of the older raids, because the Treasured gear from solo questing is far superior than the Fabled Raid gear that drops. Example - lots of level 40-50 Fabled items from Raid mobs, have the stats of the New re-itemized level 10-20 Treasured gear.

I could go on for a long time about many things wrong with the game.
I love EQ2, and am still addicted as shit to it! I still can't help but continue playing it. I love the graphics, they are absolutely amazing if you can play on high or even Maxed settings. The animations are fantastic, the spell particles are superb, and there's many other things that make it a great, fun game.

I just recently started playing on P1999 server, and I am LOVING the challenge of the old days. Looking around every corner, not having a map, corpse runs, playing smart and using caution, mobs chasing you until you die or zone, these are some of the things i've missed, and am having a blast playing on P99! Taking effort to level up, having to actually write notes on a peice of paper for quest details to remember, locations, and other things, are keeping me excited every day playing here on P99. I've been playing more and more on p99 because of the challenge, but it's just reminding me more and more everyday, just how incredibly stupid easy EQ2 has become over the years.

If you are still reading my long winded post, i'm amazed! Remember, these are just my opinions and observations throughout the years. But one last thing i'd like to add. As silly as it seems, after 7 years of EQ2, I honestly don't recommend EQ2 to any of my friends =\ or to anyone else for that matter looking for a new MMO to try/play. Don't get addicted to this game and play through the abuse that is SOE, like so many do (including myself).

Oh and Stormlord, EQ2 is about 12.5GB big. But there is a streaming client download option. Which works okay, but just takes a minute longer to zone into an area you've never been in before.

[stormlord]

I've been playing EQ2 since the day it launched. I also played EQ1 from the day it launched, until shortly after EQ2 launched. I played both, but eventually sold my EQ1 account and played EQ2 exclusively.

After 7 years of EQ2, It's hard for me to keep playing the game and enjoying it because everytime they add anything to the game, or apply a patch to fix bugs, it seems they just create more bugs than there was before. A lot of major things never get fixed either and have been broken for 5, 6+ years, and no matter how much players beg for these things to get fixed, it never happens.

Nowadays, SOE is far more concerned with adding fluff items, such as house items and "appearance only armor" to their in-game marketplace, versus spending their time fixing all the current things wrong with the game.

The free to play implementation isn't to bad, you get a lot of content for nothing. You can level up to the max level, and you get access to all the expansions except for the 2 most recent ones (Destiny of Velious, and Age of Discovery, both of wich are still $40 each). The newest expansion, Age of Discovery, only adds features to the game, and no actual content. (Beastlord class, Dungeon Maker (in which you use avatars to play through the dungeons, not your actual character), 20 more AA points to spend (no actual new AA's), and some Tradeskill apprentices (an NPC you place in your house that researches new recipes over a period of time) and Mercenaries you can hire.

Armor grades go from handcrafted, treasured, mastercrafted, legendary, and Fabled being the best grade of armor. Free account players can only wear Mastercrafted at the best. Spells upgrade from apprentice, journeyman, Adept, Expert, Master, Grandmaster. Free players can only upgrade their spells to Adept. You have a coin limit as a free player (you can buy crafting Fuel, which sells back to merchant for same price you buy for) in place of currency. Only a limited number of quests can be in your journal at one time, versus 75 being max with a 15 a mo. subscription, only two bag slots available to use. Other than a few other small things, you can level up to the max level in both player level, and crafting level. (Also, only two classes from each class type is available to play for free. Fighters = Guardian/Berserker, Scout = Assassin/Brigand, Priest = Templar/Inquistor, Mage = Wizard/Warlock.)

But my main complaint about EQ2 lately is just how dumbed down the game has gotten over the years. In comparrison to original EQ1, EQ2 has always been much easier. Over the years EQ2 has gotten easier, and easier, and even easier. They continue to just make the game easier. There's no penalty for dieing, you can get from 1-90 in a month or so easy, playing only a few hours a day (less than a few weeks if you're a hardcore player). Mobs that used to be "group" mobs have been dumbed down to solo mobs all over the world. Not many people group until level 90, because questing from 1 to 90 is FAR more experience than grouping in any dungeon. Which hurts in the long run because at 90 you have a vast majority of players joining up in groups that have no idea how to play thier class in a group situation, let alone a raid.

They recently re-itemized the game. Now every class in the game only depends on two main stats. Every fighter class uses Str/Sta, every scout uses Agi/Sta, Priests = Wis/Sta, and Mages = Int/Sta (the rest of the stats do NOTHING for your class now). This change removes the customization of play and the decisions people made when deciding which peice of gear to wear over another. A good example is -- in the past, Bards (Dirges/Troubadors) would benifit from all stats, and build their character how they really wanted to be. Using some armor that has int and wis on it to increase the power of their spells and resistances, strength and agi to assist in increasing their melee damage and avoidance, and stamina of course for more HP. Now, as a bard (scout type class) the only classes that affect you are Agi/Sta. Therefore, all scout gear only has AGI/STA on it. Making it a super easy decision between two peices of gear, "hmmm, which should I wear? Oh, this peice because it has more Agi and Sta than the previous gear."
--Another downside of the re-itemization update is that thousands of peices of gear were missed, and still have the old crappy weak stats. A lot of this gear is older raid gear, of Legendary and Fabled quality. These items have been reported on many occasions by lots of people, and its been over 6 months and none of them have been fixed. Leading me to believe that SOE does not ever intend on completing their re-itemization and just leaving it half assed. This also is detering people from wanting to do any of the older raids, because the Treasured gear from solo questing is far superior than the Fabled Raid gear that drops. Example - lots of level 40-50 Fabled items from Raid mobs, have the stats of the New re-itemized level 10-20 Treasured gear.

I could go on for a long time about many things wrong with the game.
I love EQ2, and am still addicted as shit to it! I still can't help but continue playing it. I love the graphics, they are absolutely amazing if you can play on high or even Maxed settings. The animations are fantastic, the spell particles are superb, and there's many other things that make it a great, fun game.

I just recently started playing on P1999 server, and I am LOVING the challenge of the old days. Looking around every corner, not having a map, corpse runs, playing smart and using caution, mobs chasing you until you die or zone, these are some of the things i've missed, and am having a blast playing on P99! Taking effort to level up, having to actually write notes on a peice of paper for quest details to remember, locations, and other things, are keeping me excited every day playing here on P99. I've been playing more and more on p99 because of the challenge, but it's just reminding me more and more everyday, just how incredibly stupid easy EQ2 has become over the years.

If you are still reading my long winded post, i'm amazed! Remember, these are just my opinions and observations throughout the years. But one last thing i'd like to add. As silly as it seems, after 7 years of EQ2, I honestly don't recommend EQ2 to any of my friends =\ or to anyone else for that matter looking for a new MMO to try/play. Don't get addicted to this game and play through the abuse that is SOE, like so many do (including myself).

Oh and Stormlord, EQ2 is about 12.5GB big. But there is a streaming client download option. Which works okay, but just takes a minute longer to zone into an area you've never been in before.
I can relate to your post in a million different ways. I too was stuck on EQ1 in much the same way. My history over there reads almost exactly the same. So closely is it that it would put you to sleep. I had the same bitter resentment but inability to leave and of course the desire to be with my friends.

How much would I theoretically have to download to use the streaming client? I think it would be nice to only have to download the first expansion and just stream the rest. That way I would have a compelling reason to gimp myself by playing in old content that has been left by the wayside. Further reason is that... well.. that's one of my goals: To play old content. Hell, the reason I'm here playing on emulated servers is because I want to experience hte things in EQ1 that I missed. I just want a reason that's more tangible than pure nostalgia. I wish they could, when designing their games, delegate more time to progression-type players such that the itemization and mechanics aren't too out of balance with the rest of the game.

Thanks for your post. I will probably try EQ2 at some point anyway since it's part of the EQ family. Even though I do not like Sony and they have hurt me in the past over and over, I still must admit that EQ was my first MMO and that I will always feel attached to it in some way. I'm sure EQ2 has some plusses. It's like having an evil twin, kind of. Or a parasite that sucks your life force but you're unable to remove yourself from it.

And I hear Qeynos might get "revamped" just like freeport. They say (as i've read) that ground zero is in about 1 year. So I have less than 1 year to see Qeynos AS IT IS NOW and appreciate its memory.

Having said all that, knowing it's true, I am keeping my eye on this MMORPG:
http://www.dawntide.net/

It's a sandbox MMO. There're a few things that worry me about it. Things that make me think it'll start in an optimistic fashion but quickly lose its momentum. First, it's PvP. Second, it's a sandbox. Third, it's a small(ish) company. Fourth, it's european (i think). These ingredients, when in combination, produce something hard to sell. Something that marketers quickly avoid at all costs. I do not foresee all of the variables and how this will come together in the end. I have hope. Sadly, I need some small upgrades to my system to really enjoy it. I'll need to address that before fully embracing Dawntide if and when it (hopefully) takes flight.