Stuck with FTP players and moving onto expansion

Hey all,

I have been playing EQ on and off for the last 22 years and I decided to try my hand at a live server and boxing a group to progress through end game. Usually I start on TLP's but I wanted to take a more laid back approach. I currently have a group of 5 110's and a 113 tank. Needless to say I am stuck. I cannot really seem to make Krono on the FV server to pay for 5 extra expansions and 5 more krono ($200ish)....

Anyone have any tips on how to somewhat rummage up some krono as a FTP group? Or is the game more pay to win in this regard? Also, FV seems somewhat dead for raids/group content?

Any help for a returning veteran would be much appreciated!

Thank you.

You have played for 22 years, so you used to have 1 subscription to the game. They made it FTP. Now you are calling to pay2win because you are playing 5 accounts. You are a 22 year veteran. You should have better perspective than that.

I'm fine with your question, but I take a bit of offense when people call EQ a pay2win game. Especially when running 5 accounts. What you are talking about is not pay to win. It's Play2GetSum1ElseToPay4u.

Krono are bought by players, at a higher rate than the actual sub. Krono are $18 each, or bought in bulk, $17 each. Monthly subs however are $15/mo, or bought in bulk $10/month. So when you buy Krono, you are asking another player to pay a 70% premium so you don't have to sub.

Given that they want the minimum wage at $15, at best you can say a Krono costs 2 hours of work, but you certainly should not expect to make 2.5 million platinum (the krono exchange rate on Luclin) in 2 hours.

But the bigger issue with the Krono is what or why people want something in the game. Perhaps on FV, you have very few people who want or need anything, given that is is free trade, its like candy land there, why would anyone really want to pay cash for a krono to sell it in game, if there isn't much of anything in game they want but don't have.

A 3-box is sufficient as you only need 3 for a full group with mercs and can campfire. You don't need to 5 box and then you would only need 3 expansions. You certainly don't need 5 krono as you can have them all FTP.

As for FV, I don't know, but you could save yourself a ton of money by starting over on a server with a better population and more demand. Everything through ToV is about to be free, so you would have no problem finding tons of things to spend time on for free.

Sidebar, because I can admit when I am wrong, the new monthly perks are Pay2Win for sure. They offer significant in game benefits at an additional cost. They are like fast passes at a theme park. You can't buy them with a Krono, so not exactly on topic here, but they certainly can be called pay2win.

Go back a few expansions, find lower level camps that drop a lot of blue diamonds or other gems etc. Then just kill, over and over and over.

Its super boring but since you kill below your level there is not much chance of getting killed.

Find a good spot in a T2 zone of HoT and start killing. Depending on how dedicated you are, you could probably make a million plat every 2 or 3 days. Practically everything in those zones drop multiple gems and other high value vendor items. Plus, you can save the tradeskill drops and sell via barter.

Most of the feedback others have given on "how" is pretty good but I'm going to state the obvious somewhat clearly, I think Vumad was trying to say this. You need to play more if you want to sub 5 boxes via Krono.

Your expectations might be unrealistic. Check out this thread where players/boxers are describing how many paid accounts they have. It's true there are some players with many accounts funded with Krono, but most have at least few (more than just one) paid via subscriptions & they use Krono to supplement their box accounts.

Thread Link: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/how-many-paid-accounts-do-you-have.257684/

Thread Link (w/ Krono filter): https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...82342/&q=krono&t=post&o=date&c[thread]=257684

If you're trying to "take a more laid back approach", 5 krono accounts is a little ambitious. If you're heart is set on 6 boxing, you might need to rotate or alternate which silver/F2P accounts you krono until you figure out a way to make the plat you want relative to your time commitment.

What you want to do is definitely possible, I just get the vibe you don't realize how much harder it can be.

First the only expense required in EQ is one month of subscription and the expansion every year.

Two boxing is about 100 a year. Five is 250.

There's zero disadvantage to being f2p. F2p buy their rkii spell in the db store. You keep and use your as you earn in your one month subscription. Your gear is non prestige but in a group of five that wouldn't matter.

I will say if you don't know how to play, your tank will need to be paid but you can farm the plat for that Kronos.

Have a nice day.

To be fair, the AA cap is the critical/key disadvantage and becomes more problematic the more boxes you try rotating around a budget of one monthly sub. Another key disadvantage is not constantly having a trader up selling.

But yeah, to your first point there's no rule saying a player needs to box, especially on FV as the OP indicated. The OP could just play a single account casually and progress through content if you find a family/casual style guild with compatible play habits/time zone.

You don't really need 5 All Access boxes.

You really just need 1 J5 cleric merc at higher levels if you play casually.

So cough up the $10-$15 a month for 1 All Access box. I would make your fully prestige geared tank or pet class (if you pet tank) All Access. You'll largely be fine.

Accordingly, you may want to add a box or 2 to All Access if you want to hit tougher missions for a month and complete them all within that time.

EQ is still one of the most generous F2P models in the gaming industry. (From what I understand, WoW lets you F2P up to level 20 and FFXIV up to level 60).

I forgot this one. EQ and all its content are free. /testcopy or /beta and log out and then go to the launcher and select advanced tools and go to Server type and select Test.

There completely free and complete EQ.

You're welcome.

Honestly, I'm still posting on this thread because I'm bored. But to the OP regarding the test server, just don't complain if when things get buggy on test, it'll be buggier & weird at times, basic features like instances might break weeks on end.

But yes, HeatherPurrs is giving solid tip that Test is good if you want a free way to sandbox boxes.

Test is three expansions behind for free to play, same as Live. So not really. Benefit is not paying subscriptions at the cost of no economy & no serious guilds, since you can copy any gear you want, so no reason to try hard.

What planet do you live on? TOL is on test as we type.
Test Update 11/30/2021 - Patch Notes and Discussions | EverQuest Forums (daybreakgames.com)

OH look Purrs... The test server, with expansions you don't own as a F2P player. Huh. Weird eh?

Uh huh

Early in a new expansion the ftp gear can be worth a lot if you farm hard but you would need to be 115 already probably.


Really there is no way to be laid back and earn the krono to support 5 accounts except if you get really good at the bazaar. Hardcore farming in December when an expansion is new can earn you a bunch, that’s the best time to try to earn plat. People buy group currency they want augs, they need tradeskill materials, collections are worth more. If you have a Christmas break and don’t have family obligations you could go pretty hard.

The problem is that you’re not already 115 with good gear because that would make the above easier as your group might not even be able to do a group mission to get the currency.

Now for the rest of the year, limited time clickers that you get in missions in the summer can have good value after the events are done they’re good to hold for a bit sometimes then you can sell them later.

It can be beneficial to have an account subbed full time just for the bazaar but if you don’t want to play the market or do the baz sometimes there is good play to be made from checking the barter and farming items for people.

The server select screen says you don't own those expansions, because you do not. However, for more years than not, the test server has had all expansions unlocked, regardless what the server select window says.

Test has been on the same expansions model as free to play Live since TBL or earlier. Try copying over any account without the latest expansion. You'll see none of the abilities, levels, content, etc. are available to you. Expansion lock on Test and Live are not server based. It's account based.

Looks like they are not making ToV free for F2P accounts on ToL launch either...

I remember they previously justified not granting past expansions on the policy that free to play should always be five levels behind. Now it's ten levels behind.

The cost of playing 6 accounts is much lower than the cost of the hobbies you give up to play 6 accounts. Thus, Everquest is a net positive for your checking account.