Everquest 2

[Hunter Abrams]

what server did you guys move to?

[Tyler Yaseotoko]

I personally moved to Dark Crag and im loving it over there.

[Kytec Switchblade]

arch moved to magnus

its where keno and sagara are apparently

i just started there with a knight of the blazing sun got to lvl 5 or some such

[Sosarin Demar]

So, EverQuest 2 now has a "free to play" version.

/>http://www.everquest2.com/free_to_play

The restrictions are a little complex and ludicrous and there really is no graceful way of saying that you're playing a restricted game. However, if you can accept some of the restrictions it's not as restricted as you might think. It'll probably help to have no idea of what those restrictions actually mean, too.

For example, some of the restrictions are:

*Class and race selection is limited.

*Inventory and Bank space is limited.

*Amount of coin you can have is limited.

*Access to all game content barring the latest expansion (up to level 80, this essentially granting you 90% access to the entire game, which is incredible to be honest.)

*Unable to access the broker (EQ's version of WoW's auction house)

*Cannot equip legendary or fable items (bad for you if you get 70+)

*Cannot learn expert of master spells (bad for you if you get 80+)

If you end up playing the game a lot though you might end up subscribing. It's like an uber glorified free trial. You essentially have access to all areas of the game, barring the latest expansion which is going to be level 80-90 content mostly. There are guilds out there dedicated to being entirely "free" though, so don't worry if you feel like you may be pressured to subscribe. If you've played the game before, you might be.

This is all in "beta", so who knows where this experiment may go. The upside is that this is all on one server, so there's tons of new players and it all feels fresh. So, it's a good time to come in.

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Let's talk about basic, dumbed-down MMO history for a moment.

Once upon a time there was Ultima Online. It was cool and stuff. It set the term "MMORPG". For you younglings that missed that experience -- for shame.

Afterward there was EverQuest, which came out in 1999. EverQuest was 3D and more or less made us shat our pants in those days. While it would eventually set out the groundwork for mainstream MMO's today, it ironically was quite a piece of shit at launch. No one really knew how to do a quest in those days. We just grinded our nutsack on various flora and fauna for ex-pees. We eventually learned, though. As the some odd 17 expansions or so of EverQuest were released the game evolved.

For many years EverQuest was like the kingpin of mainstream MMO's. Sure, there was Dark Ages of Camelot and Anarchy Online, but as amazing those MMO's were I don't consider those to be as popular as EverQuest was. Anyway, they decided to capitalize on its success by making a sequel -- EverQuest 2. EverQuest 2 was going to sport a game engine that would last for years, have hours and hours of recorded dialogue, and so on.

Boy oh boy was it a piece of shit when it was released. All of "making-of" EverQuest videos seemed to be a joke. Interviews with Christopher Lee, who voiced a character in EQ2 and had little to no idea what was going on, made it more amusing.

Then World of Warcraft came out. World of Warcraft essentially took the same mold that EverQuest had created and refined it. World of Warcraft didn't really pioneer a whole lot, but it did a damn good job of making it work and marketting itself. World of Warcraft is now the MMO all MMO's aspire to be, and I feel that its success has been so great that it has cast a big shadow on EverQuest and the other big MMO's prior to its day.

However, despite the shoddy launch of EQ2, the game persisted. The team worked on and eventually made the game playable, and in fact fun. However by then it was too late. WoW was in full bloom and I don't think Sony will see the millions of millions of subscribers it once had again under an EQ title.

/historyend

A lot of people will compare EQ2 to WoW and you can't blame that. Both MMO's are attempting to accomplish the same thing, although they have different tones and ways of doing it. I never could get into WoW, but whenever I needed my "WoW" fix I played EQ2. I've played EQ2 off and on for the last five years.

If you want to play a WoW style MMO of that quality and such, give this a try. I'll be on the (only) freeport server. It's what I've been doing the last few days and I've had some fun.

[Sosarin Demar]

Ah I forgot to mention. There's some bugs with their new launcher. It's a pain in the ass but if you experience those let me know.

Details here: http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2x/posts/list.m?topic_id=1502

[Desereck Creeggan]

I played for several months and got to be an uber shadowknight. Extended is only good if you've never played before. Why? Fabled and Legendary items/weapons make up 80% of the good/best weapons/armor/anything in the game. They're also good for selling on the broker or transmuting if you don't want them anymore. That ties into the broker and bank/monetary space. Upon that, learning your expert/master spells increases your PvE and PvP tenfold. Two people with the exact same loadouts and characters, but one had master and the other didn't (expert even) would lose.

I have to agree that being able to access all the expansions up to the one where they introduced Level 90 is incredible, but if you've played before, you won't want to play it with these restrictions.

[ego]

Food for thought: My character

lvl35 shadow knight

205 AA points

Full PVP gear / jewelry + adornments

Fabled weapon + adornment

350 discord tokens in bank

~500 PVP kills

~37 deaths

Longest PvP kill streak: 155

Total Time Played 16 Days 18 Hours 16 Minutes

Estimated US $ value: $150 - $200

Name before quit:

Destroyer Sentinel Tyyrr Wartooth, Hunter of Discord

[/ego]

[Niiya Narayan]

I played it for 2 years before I found SL. Was a good game as far as MMO's go but I prefer Vanguard (the game) to it to be honest. You can't really solo at all either past level 20 so you need to get in some good groups to run dungeons.

I haven't played it for years though, so they may have made improvements.

[Lanny Ansar]

I played it for 2 years before I found SL. Was a good game as far as MMO's go but I prefer Vanguard (the game) to it to be honest. You can't really solo at all either past level 20 so you need to get in some good groups to run dungeons.

I haven't played it for years though, so they may have made improvements.

Not really. I played for less than two months. (The two before the new Expansion Came out Earlier this year). Leveling past 20 is -slightly- easier now. Not being that they made combat easier, but they docked the EXP requirement down by a shit-ton. (Made a Level 21 Swashbuckler in about 4-6 hours.) My main was a Level 46 Dwarf Guardian. Had gear of all ranks up to Fabled. Had an Armored Bear Mount (Game of the Year edition - Came with all X-pacs excluding the new one, 60 days of game time, 500 station points, and every bonus that was given free from every past expansion. Aka: you created a new character and its in-game time read at over 365 days at start.)

Bought it for $19.99 at Best Buy. The game would've probably been way more fun for me if i hadn't of jumped into an RP server, since the people who congest those servers are only in two categories: Hardcore Roleplayers, or Hardcore Raiders.

[Lanny Ansar]

Ah I forgot to mention. There's some bugs with their new launcher. It's a pain in the ass but if you experience those let me know.

Details here: http://forums.statio...m?topic_id=1502

You're talking about the same assholes who still charge $15 a month to play Planetside, simply because it's the last man standing in the MMOFPS franchise. They also still charge like $10 for SWG, so...

Hey Sony, i'mma let you finish, but Turbine's got the best F2P and Launcher System OF ALL TIME.

[Mickel Reed]

I had such high hopes pinned on PlanetSide and then it turned out pretty meh.

[Bizcut Vanbrugh]

well i played the orignal EQ for years and left it for WoW. i set up my free EQII acount and am Bizcut will check it out

[Sosarin Demar]

well i played the orignal EQ for years and left it for WoW. i set up my free EQII acount and am Bizcut will check it out

Cool bacon.

I'm Sosarin or Krelkain in world. Typically on Krelkain.

If you press "Y" you can add me as a friend. It'll let you know when I pop online. I'll do the same for ya and keep my eyes peeled.

[Lupus Mielziner]

mhm, nice offer but still even free EQII cant keep up with other games i use to play.

even back when in old days i played EQI just for 3 months before i went to DAOC and only tryed EQII for 2-3 months wasnt that enjoyfull if your used to other titles, even if the graphic was awesome for its time.

maybe im joing to visit there a few days a month goofing around.

[Bizcut Vanbrugh]

I have found that if i dont have anyone to hang with in game it becomes very boring very quickly

[Sosarin Demar]

EQ2 is way different than it was years ago. I've played it off and on over the past 5 years and it's changed dramatically over time. If you played it in recent year or two though its still about the same.

And I agree with Bizcut.