EverQuest II Extends into Free-to-Play Market

By Francisco on Jul 29, 2010 with Comments 0

In the future, old fogeys are gonna get all manner of shrugs and weird looks when they wrap up their “back in my day” speeches with a quick 45-minute bit about subscription fees and MMOs. And if things keep up at their current pace, that “future” could be right around the corner. As in, in a year or two. First it was DnD Online, then Lord of the Rings, then Company of Heroes. Meanwhile, World of Warcraft and a whole spat of other MMOs are considering it, and now Everquest II’s taking the free-to-play plunge as well.

“So, we’re about to launch a bold new service named ‘EverQuest II Extended’ (EQ2X). This is a completely separate service from the standard EQII Live subscription service (EQII),” producer Dave Georgson said on the game’s official site. “‘EverQuest II Extended’ shares all the content and features of Live EQII. It plays the same. It looks the same. It *is* the same, with two obvious exceptions: a) it’s free-to-play, and b) it has a more robust marketplace.”

That marketplace, of course, includes the usual list of not-so-free-to-buy suspects: mid-tier weapons and armor, potions, speed boosts to things like research, etc. So no, you won’t see someone decked out in diamond-encrusted pauldrons, leggings so shiny they make the sun go blind, and obnoxious spinning rims just because their real-life wallet was made from the one hundred dollar bills they deemed “unworthy.”

There are, however, some restrictions on what free players can and can’t do. Sure, you can level your character all the way to 80 and explore the full game world, but your class and race selections have been pared down a bit, and your in-game purse will only be able to hold so much gold before it belches loudly and refuses to eat any more.

Don’t like what you’re reading? Well then, you can also opt to stick with old-school EQII, in which case “your existing subscription, game, and support are unchanged.” If free-to-play sounds right up your alley, though, here’s a handy FAQ for your perusal. Us, we’ll definitely give the game a look, at least. It’ll be a total trip, though. Last time we were in Norrath, Y2K was still considered a legitimate threat, and people actually found Britney Spears to be attractive!