Originally posted by BuzWeaver I've not seen anything regarding minimal requirements. I wonder if this will run better than live.
It's using the exact same software as live. It just has a different launcher and goes to a different set of servers.
As for the rest of the thread... I seriously can't believe that the way the current gold subscription is going to last long. If players aren't really getting anything more for 15 dollars a month, then they'll either won't pay, or go to live servers. Platinum subscriptions cost a bit more than paying month by month, but also give you a bit more than a standard subscription on live. That will probably stay as is.
The way I see how things are going to turn out. Gold will become a standard sub with no restrictions. Platinum will stay because it offers a little extra without being too expensive. There won't be separate servers, because frankly, live servers will be killed off. There isn't enough incentive to start playing there once they kill off the 14 day trial. And if you can't transfer characters to them, there's no real incentive to leave friends you have made behind. So unless the populations are merged, the old servers will stagnate and die off.
It was mentioned by a few conspiracy theorists on the EQ2 forums that may actually be the intended strategy. First, get players reactions to F2P. Find out that nobody wants the game to be F2P. Announce that a carbon copy of EQ2 is going to be F2P. Send the previous players in an uproar because they know that any fresh blood will naturally migrate to the free version. Tell SOE that they'll except the lesser of two evils, and take F2P players on their own servers so that the population won't be split. Watch as SOE rakes in the same kind of money Turbine is seeing.
It's kind of underhanded, but it's a brilliant strategy.
If a game is in the process of failing, then it fails, it's a failure. If it's turning a profit it continues to exist and is thus, not a failure.
Its more than turning a profit if its still running. Companies dont continue to run a business that is breaking even or making less than they deem is worth their time. They close when the forcast leaves no other option. People have been saying EQ2 has been failing for years.
Failing, the process of heading towards the complete failure. Not failed as in run out of options and the only choice left if termination. One does lead to the other and a product can be in a failing state for a long time.
Even still a company/game goes through many little failures that eventually lead to the grand mal of failures.
I might try it, but after looking at the chart I don't know if it's that good of deal. The 15 dollar subscription fee isn't as good as a 200 dollar once a year thing? That seems a little absurd.
-------------------------- Playing: FFXIV, TERA, LoL, and HoTS My Rig: GPU: GeForce GTX 770, CPU: i7-4790K, Memory: 16 GB RAM
“We thought about it for a while with EQ II,” Georgeson said, “and basically what it boiled down to is if we went with at free-to-play service like this we were going to be presenting the biggest, baddest MMO that’s free to play. There isn’t anything better than this that is free to play.”
Total bullshit from SOE. Nothing new lmao~ Creating a paralel world just for F2P, that's so lame as well. That mean I can't play with my buddy who's havign a sub ..
There's only two reasons you play on the extended servers rather than sub servers.
1. You plan on buying enough stat enhancing items to give you an unfair advantage.
2. You plan on playing the game without paying a red cent.
Are either of these things actually good for the game?
If you think this is the end of the sub model, keep in mind that EQ2 was a failure just like lotro and DDO. It may share a namesake with a game that was important and successful, but the sequel was not. It was a game completely overshadowed by WoW and is now almost 6 years old with struggling sub numbers.
And if they were confident that they could increase sub numbers and not just make a money grab, then stat affecting items would have no place in their cash shops.
Well, there is also the option that you want to test out more of the game than you can in the free trial. And you can play more than nothing but less than 15 bucks.
As a current player however am I not that thrilled about the whole thing. From what I seen so far is the model not as good as what Turbine have running in DDO (I will not use LOTRO as an example since it isn't actually implemented yet.
EQ2 however is better than any F2P games out there right now, by far. Ifthey actually manages to get a good payment model they could make a lot of money on it.
They should totally do this to EQ also. I'd go back to that for true! I used to love playing that game ... good times. I heard that LOTRO is going free to play as well.
SoE probably announced it because of the success that LOTRO is having. it's a strong business competetor and doesn't want to lose it's players to it; or vice versa. Which ever the case, I think it's a very smart move. (As you hear Spiderman saying "Everyone gets one!") I'm from the Verant days and I wish they hadn't been bought out by SoE. I hated it after Luclin came out.
Either way, I'm waiting for Star Wars too. EQ2 will just be another game to add on my list of games to rotate through. Haha.
SOE IS GOD OF MMOs ENOUGH SAID LOTRO AND DDO BLOWS turbine just rips you off. In the end it will be EverQuest not LOTRO getting more players. If Turbine really thought things through they would not have destroyed a great game buy charging for everything fun about it they will not see very many old players coming back willing to spend $100 just to get everything they have already payed over $100 back 500 points does not = $430 Turbine!!!!!
SOE IS GOD OF MMOs ENOUGH SAID LOTRO AND DDO BLOWS turbine just rips you off. In the end it will be EverQuest not LOTRO getting more players. If Turbine really thought things through they would not have destroyed a great game buy charging for everything fun about it they will not see very many old players coming back willing to spend $100 just to get everything they have already payed over $100 back 500 points does not = $430 Turbine!!!!!
SOE employee here guys.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
I literally just finally dove and and bought this game last week.
Could any of you EQ2 vets tell me if this is going to have much of an impact on the sub crowd?
(Yes, I read the charts and other info I could get my hands on, just want opinions)
Yeah, I think it will, downward. X amount of people will either start fresh on the new server(s), pay the transfer fee and put their time in on the new server(s), or cancel their subs and drop the game.
There's nothing to push the crowd in the upward direction, the free trials are going to referral only, and the supposed new players who try the game are getting driven on rails straight to EQ2X.
The population on the Live servers almost *has* to drop, there are good incentives to jump off, almost none to jump on.
You are mistaken on several counts there. There will be no server transfers, at least not for several months. What is being sold maxes out at Treasured, which won't even get you started in raiding or even medium hard instances. Level cap is 80.
I might try it, but after looking at the chart I don't know if it's that good of deal. The 15 dollar subscription fee isn't as good as a 200 dollar once a year thing? That seems a little absurd.
the 200 $ option is the only proper option on that chart, and my only reason if Id start on the f2p servers would be to be able to do the old content, and in same difficulty as it used to be....tho it wont be completely with their new starter areas throwing ok gear at you all the time, hm is another thing you could wish for the new server, fix the itemization, but guessing that would take too much efford, from devs side, to hope for
amd for guy above with the no server transfers, they said it costs 35$ to get your live char copied, not transfered, copied with all you can have in your bags, and not your plat....tho if you can get items over, it be easy to get plat over anyway.
and lvl cap is only 80 till you bought access to the lvl 90...
I am a subscriber to the game and I jumped on the alpha. The interface and graphics enhancements are nice. I understand they will be adding the new interface enhancements to the live servers as well. I'll probably make a f2p account as I tend to subscribe for a few months and quit and come back. It will be nice to have a f2p character to play in between.
I am a subscriber to the game and I jumped on the alpha. The interface and graphics enhancements are nice. I understand they will be adding the new interface enhancements to the live servers as well. I'll probably make a f2p account as I tend to subscribe for a few months and quit and come back. It will be nice to have a f2p character to play in between.
I am a subscriber to the game and I jumped on the alpha. The interface and graphics enhancements are nice. I understand they will be adding the new interface enhancements to the live servers as well. I'll probably make a f2p account as I tend to subscribe for a few months and quit and come back. It will be nice to have a f2p character to play in between.
Wait what enhancements? screenshots please.. =P
It basically makes the game have a more modern mmo feel. Very intuitive with similar layout to other major mmo's. Not sure if it's going to be as customizable but it looks clean and polished. Also they seem to have changed the way 3rd person feels. Camera angle is somewhat different I think. Not sure if the graphics really changed but the starter area for Evil is very nice looking.
I have started wondering lately if SOE is testing the waters of the Free to play market, and one poster stated that they wondered why they did not do this with EQ1. This got me to thinking perhaps they are testing to see how well this works with a "newer" game and if it works well with EQ2, migrating this over to EQ1 as well.
Just something to think about.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Except, they need to follow the LOTRO model a bit better. Some of the charges , especially the level from 80-90 one is complete BS.
And I, as a paying subscriber since 2005, don't give a rat's ass about that, BECAUSE.....SoE did this RIGHT. Unlike other games, they are making it completely separate from MY game experience. So I couldn't care less WHAT they do on f2p servers. FINALLY one company does the introduction of f2p RIGHT. Hallelujah.
I couldn't be happier! Now....how many times have you heard THAT from the paying subscriber base of a game that goes free to play? Not very often.
If you get as far as level 80 and don't like the 80 to 90 thing......to me, that's pretty nuts. If you make it to level 80 in EQ2....trust me....you like the game. You're not going to level from 1-80 in a week. This is NOT World of Warcraft. So I seriously doubt many people that sign up for the free to play servers, are going to be there long enough to even consider utilizing some of that stuff offered. By level 80, they will have either decided that "yes, this is the game for me" and subbed, or they will have moved on to their next MMO already.
I have mixed feelings about this, but will surely test it. I played EQ2 a little (under a year) a few years back, and I liked quite a few things about it, but since I tend towards solo play and like interesting quests (which EQ2 didn't have enough to my taste), I left it. Still, I kept wanting to go back to see the changes.
Now I will have the opportunity to see all the changes I've read about over the years (such as being able to make coffee in the game in less time than it takes in the real world). Unfortunately, the non-subscription levels don't have many of the things that I liked about EQ2, such as the non-humanoid characters, the broker, and the ability to craft containers (which still exists, I assume, but there are a lot fewer slots for them).
As for how it'd affect the subscription only version of the game, I imagine there'd be some drop in population (at least if the players saying they're going to quite over the F2P version are going to do it). In the long run I wonder if people are going to move from F2P to the "live" version. On one hand, Sony offers no real incentive for that. On the other hand, the Gold membership level looks more limited than the "live" version, which costs the same, so it's possible players will decide to create new characters on the live servers and continue there once they decide the game is worth a subscription price.
Damnit, I was sort of hoping I could play my charactor, with this.
Why would someone want to play for free 1-80, then subscribe to it, and still not get the rest of the content to the game (80-90)? Sounds like another Big Fat SOE Rip Off to me.
Much like them charging us Planet Side players 14.99 or is it 15.99 for the sub on it. A 7 year old game they don't even support any more.
SOE is a Big Fat Rip-Off-And-Duplicate Company that Overcharges on it's services.
This is part of the reason why Blizzard was able to so greatly over take them with World of Warcraft.
incredible this, its less than 2 weeks ago they claimed they aint planning on going free to play, on the boards.
They DIDN'T "go free to play," they made a new game, essentially. MY game didn't change. I don't see why people are having such a hard time comprehending this. EQ2 Extended in an entirely new thing, giving people the opportunity, basically, to trial play the game for an EXTENDED (hence the word "extended" in the name EQ2 Extended) for a longer period of time than your average trial.
Originally posted by Papadam
Originally posted by eyeswideopen
Originally posted by Novusod
I think Eq2 is doing it smarter than LotRO by keeping the two servers separate. It will be interesting to see which is the bigger success. P2P vs F2P on the same exact game.
Yep, just think how happy all those Landroval players would have been if they knew they wouldn't be forced to play with the F2P mouth breathers, would've saved Turbine some grief and lost subs.
Actually splitting the servers is a really bad idea and if you read the EQ2 forum you will see that people are really upset about it.
I don't think you read very many of the responses. A lot of people actually UNDERSTAND what they did by putting it on new servers. It doesn't affect the veteran players. THAT....is smart. EQ2 now will have more pay options than any other game on the market. They have your regular subscription model, they will have f2p with a cash shop that offers items with some minimal stats, and they have had the Exchange servers for YEARS that even allow you to buy ALL of your stat items and armor (yes, the GOOD stuff) for cash....even paying other players cash for items via the exchange system.
It's a win/win/win/win system. Each form of play is a win for people who like that format....and ALL of them are a win for SoE. I honestly can't think of another way they could have done this that would have made me any happier. =D
Of course there's no way I'm moving over to f2p. I'm a very happy subscriber and intend to stay that way. But if this allows for some people to try the game that hadn't before....more power to them. All they have really done is make a very lengthy trial version of the game. Personally...I think it's absolutely BRILLIANT.
Comments
It's using the exact same software as live. It just has a different launcher and goes to a different set of servers.
As for the rest of the thread... I seriously can't believe that the way the current gold subscription is going to last long. If players aren't really getting anything more for 15 dollars a month, then they'll either won't pay, or go to live servers. Platinum subscriptions cost a bit more than paying month by month, but also give you a bit more than a standard subscription on live. That will probably stay as is.
The way I see how things are going to turn out. Gold will become a standard sub with no restrictions. Platinum will stay because it offers a little extra without being too expensive. There won't be separate servers, because frankly, live servers will be killed off. There isn't enough incentive to start playing there once they kill off the 14 day trial. And if you can't transfer characters to them, there's no real incentive to leave friends you have made behind. So unless the populations are merged, the old servers will stagnate and die off.
It was mentioned by a few conspiracy theorists on the EQ2 forums that may actually be the intended strategy. First, get players reactions to F2P. Find out that nobody wants the game to be F2P. Announce that a carbon copy of EQ2 is going to be F2P. Send the previous players in an uproar because they know that any fresh blood will naturally migrate to the free version. Tell SOE that they'll except the lesser of two evils, and take F2P players on their own servers so that the population won't be split. Watch as SOE rakes in the same kind of money Turbine is seeing.
It's kind of underhanded, but it's a brilliant strategy.
Failing, the process of heading towards the complete failure. Not failed as in run out of options and the only choice left if termination. One does lead to the other and a product can be in a failing state for a long time.
Even still a company/game goes through many little failures that eventually lead to the grand mal of failures.
I might try it, but after looking at the chart I don't know if it's that good of deal. The 15 dollar subscription fee isn't as good as a 200 dollar once a year thing? That seems a little absurd.
--------------------------
Playing:
FFXIV, TERA, LoL, and HoTS
My Rig:
GPU: GeForce GTX 770, CPU: i7-4790K, Memory: 16 GB RAM
“We thought about it for a while with EQ II,” Georgeson said, “and basically what it boiled down to is if we went with at free-to-play service like this we were going to be presenting the biggest, baddest MMO that’s free to play. There isn’t anything better than this that is free to play.”
Total bullshit from SOE. Nothing new lmao~ Creating a paralel world just for F2P, that's so lame as well. That mean I can't play with my buddy who's havign a sub ..
I did Not read all of the above but what I did read nobody said anything about Returning Players??
What is the deal with that?
I live in my own little world - I like it there - everyone knows me.
Well, there is also the option that you want to test out more of the game than you can in the free trial. And you can play more than nothing but less than 15 bucks.
As a current player however am I not that thrilled about the whole thing. From what I seen so far is the model not as good as what Turbine have running in DDO (I will not use LOTRO as an example since it isn't actually implemented yet.
EQ2 however is better than any F2P games out there right now, by far. Ifthey actually manages to get a good payment model they could make a lot of money on it.
I agree with BuzWeaver.
They should totally do this to EQ also. I'd go back to that for true! I used to love playing that game ... good times. I heard that LOTRO is going free to play as well.
SoE probably announced it because of the success that LOTRO is having. it's a strong business competetor and doesn't want to lose it's players to it; or vice versa. Which ever the case, I think it's a very smart move. (As you hear Spiderman saying "Everyone gets one!") I'm from the Verant days and I wish they hadn't been bought out by SoE. I hated it after Luclin came out.
Either way, I'm waiting for Star Wars too. EQ2 will just be another game to add on my list of games to rotate through. Haha.
Sounds good.
SOE IS GOD OF MMOs ENOUGH SAID LOTRO AND DDO BLOWS turbine just rips you off. In the end it will be EverQuest not LOTRO getting more players. If Turbine really thought things through they would not have destroyed a great game buy charging for everything fun about it they will not see very many old players coming back willing to spend $100 just to get everything they have already payed over $100 back 500 points does not = $430 Turbine!!!!!
SOE employee here guys.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
You are mistaken on several counts there. There will be no server transfers, at least not for several months. What is being sold maxes out at Treasured, which won't even get you started in raiding or even medium hard instances. Level cap is 80.
the 200 $ option is the only proper option on that chart, and my only reason if Id start on the f2p servers would be to be able to do the old content, and in same difficulty as it used to be....tho it wont be completely with their new starter areas throwing ok gear at you all the time, hm is another thing you could wish for the new server, fix the itemization, but guessing that would take too much efford, from devs side, to hope for
amd for guy above with the no server transfers, they said it costs 35$ to get your live char copied, not transfered, copied with all you can have in your bags, and not your plat....tho if you can get items over, it be easy to get plat over anyway.
and lvl cap is only 80 till you bought access to the lvl 90...
I am amused by the differences in reactions between LOTRO and EQ2 players.
LOTRO players are upset that the "unwashed masses" (to borrow a term from the official forums) are going to be allowed on the current servers.
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=346271 is where that term comes from, but many threads have been started about it.
EQ2 players have the exact opposite reaction - they are afraid there will be no more new players on the current servers.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
No! Another casualty of the black plague.
P2P MMORPG will be listed next to the dodo bird sooner than expected.
Yeah, I would just like to say this:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/3630118#3630118
..and out.
I am a subscriber to the game and I jumped on the alpha. The interface and graphics enhancements are nice. I understand they will be adding the new interface enhancements to the live servers as well. I'll probably make a f2p account as I tend to subscribe for a few months and quit and come back. It will be nice to have a f2p character to play in between.
Wait what enhancements? screenshots please.. =P
It basically makes the game have a more modern mmo feel. Very intuitive with similar layout to other major mmo's. Not sure if it's going to be as customizable but it looks clean and polished. Also they seem to have changed the way 3rd person feels. Camera angle is somewhat different I think. Not sure if the graphics really changed but the starter area for Evil is very nice looking.
I have started wondering lately if SOE is testing the waters of the Free to play market, and one poster stated that they wondered why they did not do this with EQ1. This got me to thinking perhaps they are testing to see how well this works with a "newer" game and if it works well with EQ2, migrating this over to EQ1 as well.
Just something to think about.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
And I, as a paying subscriber since 2005, don't give a rat's ass about that, BECAUSE.....SoE did this RIGHT. Unlike other games, they are making it completely separate from MY game experience. So I couldn't care less WHAT they do on f2p servers. FINALLY one company does the introduction of f2p RIGHT. Hallelujah.
I couldn't be happier! Now....how many times have you heard THAT from the paying subscriber base of a game that goes free to play? Not very often.
If you get as far as level 80 and don't like the 80 to 90 thing......to me, that's pretty nuts. If you make it to level 80 in EQ2....trust me....you like the game. You're not going to level from 1-80 in a week. This is NOT World of Warcraft. So I seriously doubt many people that sign up for the free to play servers, are going to be there long enough to even consider utilizing some of that stuff offered. By level 80, they will have either decided that "yes, this is the game for me" and subbed, or they will have moved on to their next MMO already.
Just one opinion.
And your point is what? They didn't change my subscription model.....
I'm a paid subscriber and this has affected me in no way whatsoever. Did you even read the article?
I have mixed feelings about this, but will surely test it. I played EQ2 a little (under a year) a few years back, and I liked quite a few things about it, but since I tend towards solo play and like interesting quests (which EQ2 didn't have enough to my taste), I left it. Still, I kept wanting to go back to see the changes.
Now I will have the opportunity to see all the changes I've read about over the years (such as being able to make coffee in the game in less time than it takes in the real world). Unfortunately, the non-subscription levels don't have many of the things that I liked about EQ2, such as the non-humanoid characters, the broker, and the ability to craft containers (which still exists, I assume, but there are a lot fewer slots for them).
As for how it'd affect the subscription only version of the game, I imagine there'd be some drop in population (at least if the players saying they're going to quite over the F2P version are going to do it). In the long run I wonder if people are going to move from F2P to the "live" version. On one hand, Sony offers no real incentive for that. On the other hand, the Gold membership level looks more limited than the "live" version, which costs the same, so it's possible players will decide to create new characters on the live servers and continue there once they decide the game is worth a subscription price.
Damnit, I was sort of hoping I could play my charactor, with this.
Why would someone want to play for free 1-80, then subscribe to it, and still not get the rest of the content to the game (80-90)? Sounds like another Big Fat SOE Rip Off to me.
Much like them charging us Planet Side players 14.99 or is it 15.99 for the sub on it. A 7 year old game they don't even support any more.
SOE is a Big Fat Rip-Off-And-Duplicate Company that Overcharges on it's services.
This is part of the reason why Blizzard was able to so greatly over take them with World of Warcraft.
They DIDN'T "go free to play," they made a new game, essentially. MY game didn't change. I don't see why people are having such a hard time comprehending this. EQ2 Extended in an entirely new thing, giving people the opportunity, basically, to trial play the game for an EXTENDED (hence the word "extended" in the name EQ2 Extended) for a longer period of time than your average trial.
I don't think you read very many of the responses. A lot of people actually UNDERSTAND what they did by putting it on new servers. It doesn't affect the veteran players. THAT....is smart. EQ2 now will have more pay options than any other game on the market. They have your regular subscription model, they will have f2p with a cash shop that offers items with some minimal stats, and they have had the Exchange servers for YEARS that even allow you to buy ALL of your stat items and armor (yes, the GOOD stuff) for cash....even paying other players cash for items via the exchange system.
It's a win/win/win/win system. Each form of play is a win for people who like that format....and ALL of them are a win for SoE. I honestly can't think of another way they could have done this that would have made me any happier. =D
Of course there's no way I'm moving over to f2p. I'm a very happy subscriber and intend to stay that way. But if this allows for some people to try the game that hadn't before....more power to them. All they have really done is make a very lengthy trial version of the game. Personally...I think it's absolutely BRILLIANT.
Free2Play EQ2?
No thanks.
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