EQ2 going completly F2P in Dec

[xinux]

Here is the link to the article with the breakdown


http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game ... Time-.html

[John Adams]

Awesome news. So this means they don't mind we collect their data anymore for an equally as free to play server?

Check into that, would ya? lol

[TILT]

Thanks for sharing! It's an interesting article. I remember when Station Cash was introduced to the game and the affect it had on SOE's income stream. When I saw the potential for SOE to earn so much revenue adding this feature it only makes sense that they would eventually move to a F2P model to increase EQ2's player base. It's interesting to see SOE isn’t going the way of subscription titles anymore; however, it doesn't surprise me either with so much competition within the MMORPG gaming industry. I do like that fact that this will force developers to keep producing quality content.

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        EQ2

[JCL]

The good news is all the quests and stuff anyone can get... Bad news is you don't get full access to the races and classes without spending money. This includes items and spells. Note if you create a class while in a sub without actually purchasing the class. If you drop your sub you can't play them.

[dotslash]

Does eq2 changing to f2p help with the development of eq2emualtor projects? I.e, does it offer any new access to content, structure, or any other struggles that you currently face?

[Chrisworld]

How would one go about collecting data for Legendary and Fabled equipment on a free account? Also... are we going to settle on a client for real soon? Every time someone mentions dropping compatibility and settling on one client another eq2 expansion comes out, lol. Best bet would be to bite this one and settle with Age of Discovery or just keep it at SF and/or DoV and just make that data we collect with eq2 f2p 2012 work with the older client, as long as the server opcodes see fit.

Also, are we totally trashing or completing obsolete zones? Once Freeport is unified, we would be jumping to complete that. I like the old stuff but would it be better to keep both or do one?

[John Adams]

The idea behind EQ2Emulator's "multiple-client" support is that the game is driven by the SOE client. If they change zone (vpk) files, or assets, we have zero control over those moving forward (ie., Sony builds a whole new city for Freeport, and for whatever reason DELETES the 4 old Freeport zone maps). We cannot take a newer client and have you run Classic Freeport, right? So yes, we would have to move with the client.

However, at least so far, Sony has not removed old zones (Even Mizan's Cellar still exists) so even if they "unify Freeport", the older zone vpk files may still exist, so building content for classic(ish) EQ2 is still possible.

As for where we draw a line in the sand, it is impossible to say, because every time we see a neato feature we want to implement, we log into the game to collect the data for it, and it's >>current<< client/game info, and new structs have to be created to support it. What we will most likely do is, as you said, call AoD our "official supported client" after it comes out and focus all our content and design on the features in THAT client for a while.

Our biggest problem, as you all are aware by now, we have exactly 0 fulltime C++ developers. Since most of us are busy professionals by day, we have little time to chase SOE around to stay compatible. By the time we implement 1 new feature, SOE has a new expansion with 10 more features.

Unless we get help in the C++ part of this project, we will constantly be limping along at a snails pace.

[John Adams]

Here we go! Go go, SOE money machine!

FREE!.jpg

Holy crap, is this really a 14GB patch?

AoD.jpg

[John Adams]

Check this out. I had to rub my eyes, in disbelief.

http://www.everquest2.com/news/article? ... nt&id=5068

Is this real? All my (currently) locked toons will be available, without restrictions? When? That might get me to play EQ2 again

Currently (right now) ALL 8 of my toons are locked lol...

[Chrisworld]

Looks pretty promising John. Of course, I wonder what will happen to all my legendary/fabled gear and high leveled skills? Will that be grandfathered in for what im WEARING right now or will I have to upgrade to get more? I'm installing from the site right now as I also listen and rip my pre-ordered Elder Scrolls Skyrim soundtrack CD's that I just got.

[Jabantiz]

Thats great news, but I noticed nothing was said about the items those chars have, will we be able to use them or will we have to unlock them? Most of my chars have legendary+ gear so would still cost me about $10 to re-equip everything... on one char...

EDIT: I can answer the skill/spell question, you actually get to keep what you have, you just can't upgrade any new ones unless it is a grandmaster choice.

[Chrisworld]

I hope we can buy full broker access/full leg/fabled gear and full skill access for a one time price.

[John Adams]

Here's the official forums "Thank You Sony We Love You" thread.

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/post ... _id=510915

[Flunklesnarkin]

hey all.. new poster here

I played eq2 way back on release. got the original box set in my old game pile


I was interested in helping out with the eq2emu project in finding bugs. I don't have much coding experience beyond editing wiki's (which i probably do too much heh) but I can help find bugs and test stuff in game.

I've played on a lot of the eq1 emulators and helped with identifying stuff that doesn't work right on those servers.


My main concern at the moment is that the client you are building the emu around seems to keep changing? I don't want to buy the latest client then have to buy another one later on down the road.

Does the F2P client work at all for this at the moment, or would that be something you guys would look at adding support for?

Well either way, keep up the good work ^^

[John Adams]

First, welcome to the community

My main concern at the moment is that the client you are building the emu around seems to keep changing?

Our Emulator is more client-compatible than any other out there. Our clients do not keep changing, we offer support for many different versions at once. We're choosing to make DoV our new "base" client because a) it is more current, and b) the last box set (DVD) a player can purchase.

Does the F2P client work at all for this at the moment, or would that be something you guys would look at adding support for?

The AoD (F2P) client is not yet working, because we are currently focused on DoV. But, in the foreseeable future, your money is safe with the Destiny of Velious DVD box set.

• FWIW, RoK, TSO, and SF will continue to be playable until they are not. Meaning, we will not put major efforts into building functionality, or repairing things for these 3+ year old clients.

Our long-term goal is to get back to supporting current clients each time SOE patches. They patch a LOT. That means, 90% of our time would be spent making clients compatible weekly vs getting features developed. However, we are building tools to (hopefully) automate and help lower the client compatibility cycle in the future.

Hope this answers your concerns.