Daybreak - Want new players right now? Ease up F2P restrictions and run some new player promos/packs

DDO and LotRO are free to play as well. They just eased up limitations. Which is what Daybreak needs to do across the board as well.

Get people hooked and help them out at the same time. That means extra customers down the line.

EQ is not really F2P at all.

The 250 AA limit is the biggest issue, followed by the gear limits, the merc limit, spell limit, etc - all lead to new players having a hard time after about level 64.
Every friend I brought into the game moved on because playing free meant they were severely gimped. My most recent coworker, who I play LotRO with ATM, left at 65 because we could not even successfully duo at those levels due to his merc dying all the time, and his AA limit forcing him to have 700 (ish) less AA than me.

But I digress, it seems there is no interest in this....

Doesn't WoW require you to purchase the latest expansion (to access most content) and, once those 30 days are up, you revert to their heavy-handed trial restrictions? (I am basing this off of information I have heard from friends).

EQ's F2P model, on the other hand, is generous year round. You get everything unlocked up to Ring of Scale (cap level 110, 2 expansions off of the latest expansion). EQ lets you keep your progress (other than Prestige gear and J5 mercs).

Sure, WoW looks great for the next 30 days. But once the short gravy train is up, people will be groaning.

Is this based off of TLP experience (which requires All Access)?

Live runs a very generous F2P model. You can level to the level cap of 110 (Ring of Scale expansion). There is an abundance of non-prestige gear along the way.

Ring of Scale may be unlocked, but you can't use it unless you've been all access recently enough to have a ton of AA. 250 AA/A5 mercenary on servers with no grouping possibilities gets you to maybe level 70.

I'm looking at WoW's F2P model. According to the latest information (2019), you can only level to 20. This is a huge difference from EQ's F2P model which let's you go to 110. There's no competition. lol.

WoW also still has people to play with, even up to level 20. It has a bunch of Recruit-A-Friend bonuses, including cross-game synergy with other very popular titles.

An Everquest player on a live server, starting at level 1 without access to General chat, will meet no one. They won't be able to level past 65 or 70 with their crappy mercenary and no AAs. They'll be playing a single player game with no point or endgame. If that guy gets a powerlevel to 110, which he will absolutely need in order to get there, he won't be welcome in groups because he's 40,000 AAs behind the power curve, and he won't be able to solo either. Everquest may have more content, but it is worse for F2P players. The only fun those guys get to have is in the tutorial, because that's literally the only place there are people to talk to and do things with.

I would be FASCINATED to see that experiment, by the way. Any videos or streams of a purely F2P player with their 250 AAs, not supported by a guild, soloing or moloing RoS content?

How, would the, Veterans prove they hand held a Newbie?

Would you be so hard on EQ or EQ2 if their F2P model set the level cap to 20 like WoW? You wouldn't have anything to complain about.

You can box, ask family or friends, join a high pop server (and casual guild), take advantage of the free Heroic Character (til May 10), etc.

It seems to me there are two kinds of people calling for an even more generous EQ F2P model: (1) botters who stand to benefit from AA grant and (2) "new players or newly returned players" who expect to bypass the grind.

Years of expansions and quests, to enjoy as an EQ F2p player. I'm sure if look hard enough, and at different times during the day/ night f2p players can find people willing to group.

I'm not sure, f2p members get the Heroic Character update.

They don't but a F2P player (veteran or friend) can convert to an All Access account with a Krono.

Ah I need that lol.

I am not sure of that at all. There are nine players between level 20 and level 70 on The Rathe right now who aren't offline in Bazaar or AFK in Guild Lobby.

You don't get a free Heroic unless you're subscribed, so that's not an F2P option. Nor is begging your family to play games with you a particularly sustainable endeavor. At least WoW offers people to play with.

There's one type of person who doesn't want more generous F2P benefits: people who are in complete denial about how pointless the F2P experience in this game is. If you haven't been playing for ten years, there's no reason to start now. "Bypassing the grind." What a laugh. The vast majority of the grind serves absolutely no purpose anymore.

Case in point.

/end

As someone who's done it recently, let me tell you how much a player can expect to learn from hitting things in Arcstone for a few hours: nothing.

This may not be the game for you. Try to level the ToV Tradeskill Earring, TBL chase loot, Tears of Alaris, AA XP after grants, or XP grind at the "end game" from 111-115. Even doing epics 1.0-2.5 feels "grindy."

Edit: I don't want to discourage new or returning players. EQ already has a reputation for being "hardcore." Other than the graphics, that why some people (even EQ2 players) are turned off by EQ1. That's the harsh reality and I'm not gonna sugar-coat it. (This "grind" appeals to some, it doesn't appeal to others).

you can also buy AA cap increasers in marketplace 250 for a 100 AA increase
then just be careful how you spend. Not every class requires huge amounts of AA

And, new or returning players complain about the grind. I may be wrong due to my long absence from Eq. But I always enjoyed the grind it is part of the Eq experience sure it may harder to do now a days but still fun. Ah to each their own I guess. I have enjoyed the game as a player from 2003 and still enjoy the game now in 2020 as a silver member.

What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? Grinding isn't the problem; that's what Everquest is. Grinding to get to the point where you can grind to do meaningful content, which you do by grinding - that's the problem. You can't do any of that as a F2P player, because Sony/DBG/DPG have kept the F2P limits static while steadily moving the endgame out further. You can't grind AAXP after grants, because there's a cap of 250. You can't do the Tears of Alaris without having someone hold your hand all the way through.

In terms of play hours and the amount of real things to do that matter, cutting F2P off at 85/5k AA really wouldn't be that different from WoW's level 20 cap.