In the 18 years we've been playing EQ we have never let an account lapse. But we just can't afford to maintain 6 accounts any more. So next week when our bard's account expires I plan to leave it that way. What changes will transpire? Will I still be able to log her in as FTP? What happens to all the nice gear we accumulated? What about her housing plot and all the stuff we have stored there? What happens to the other 7 characters (mostly mules) on the account? I need to prepare now.
If you cancel your All Access (Gold) Membership and your account was Gold (All Access) anytime before or about April 16, 2014, you will be converted to Silver membership when your All Access membership expires. Otherwise it becomes a Free to Play account. Here is the matrix: http://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Free_to_play#Membership_matrix To answer your questions in order: What changes transpire: Your account becomes either a Silver or Free account. Will I still be able to log her in as FTP? Yes. Note that if you have more than 2 characters on an account (4 if Silver), per server, you will only be able to access the top two (alphabetically). So if your bard is not those, then you won't be able to play them. What happens to all the nice gear we accumulated? You will still have it all. However, Prestige items do not provide benefits for characters other than All Access ones. What about her housing plot and all the stuff we have stored there? All that stuff should be fine. Note you will be evicted if you don't pay the plot escrow (in-game). See: http://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Player_housing#Eviction What happens to the other 7 characters (mostly mules) on the account? They will still be around but you will only be able to access 2 (4 if Silver). Also, if there is ever a server merge again, you will lose any characters under level 10 if they have not been logged in recently (like past 6 months or something). Details would be posted by Daybreak before any merge. But this is true even for All Access accounts. Just you can't log them in if you have more than 2 (4 if Silver).
I might be able to survive on Krono and wait until August and see if Daybreak repeats last summer's outstanding $77 deal on a year's subscription.
1. Silver accounts only have access to tier A5 mercenaries; F2P only has access as high at tier A2 mercenaries. If you have a higher tier mercenary, it will be suspended and unusable once your drop the All Access. 2. On character slots, from the FAQ on the EQ website: "All players can purchase additional character slots: three may be purchased directly from the Marketplace, and three more may be purchased using Loyalty Points. " "Character Slots: When you downgrade from All Access, all characters that are on the account will be saved and still be visible to you. If you are over the cap of characters for your account only the most recently logged-on characters will be available for play. Characters that were created before February 29, 2012 will be allowed to log in regardless of if you are currently over the cap of characters. " Note that the FAQ says the most recently logged in characters stay accessible, while most posters here say it's the top characters on the list (ie., alphabetical order), I've never downgraded an account, so I don't know which is true. Actually, you could just read the FAQ for yourself, at: https://www.everquest.com/faq Easier than me copy/pasting the whole thing...
Thanks. Here it is: You don't lose anything permanently, but All Access membership content will become inaccessible to you until you renew your All Access membership. Character Slots: When you downgrade from All Access, all characters that are on the account will be saved and still be visible to you. If you are over the cap of characters for your account only the most recently logged-on characters will be available for play. Characters that were created before February 29, 2012 will be allowed to log in regardless of if you are currently over the cap of characters. Items: Any Prestige Items become unusable if you downgrade from an All Access membership. They will remain equipped, but will be tinted yellow and will no longer function. You can use them again when you renew your All Access membership. Spell/Skill Tiers: When downgrading membership, any Rank 2 or Rank 3 spell will stay in your book. When you cast these Rank 2 or Rank 3 spells, they will cast as the Rank 1 version. In any content where there are no spell ranks, you will be able to continue to use those spells as normal. Alternate Advancement Abilities (AA’s): All AA’s already earned will remain usable if you choose to downgrade your membership, but if you are over the limit that you are allowed to earn you will not be able to earn any more AA points.
As Dinkum stated go buy character dolls from the loyalty vendor. You can get 3 of them assuming you have enough currency to buy them. I imagine you will become silver and have the 4 slots available which will be perfect for you. This will give you 7 total character slots available to use and should lighten up the stress load about your toons on that account. Honestly if there was any class that can go ftp bards do it pretty well. After TDS I switched my bard account to ftp and have not noticed any real difference in his performance. Depending on your play style it might not be the same for you but using him as a puller, twisting songs and beating on things between pulls he does fine.
Based on the OP's first post, he has been playing for 18 years so his bard and er..he.hem...his other 7 toons are all legacy toons so should be GTG. I do know for a fact that if you downgrade and the characters were created before Feb 2012, then they are still playable. I downgraded for a while when I became disabled until my payments started coming in back in 2013 and was able to play all 9 of my characters on FV. I can't speak to the housing since I only have housing on Test and in EQ2 so haven't run into evection rules here; (just never got around to buying housing on the live servers here in EQ). I think all of the other issues have been covered, but by all means, please read the FAQ/s and the matrix on DB's main site, they will prove useful.
I have account - 8 characters all created before 2012 (before 2003, probably). Account lapsed to silver. All 8 are still playable. Only difference when account lapsed is you can't use arrow keys to scroll through all chars, it jumps from 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4... but i can MOUSE select any and play.
Thanks everyone for this fine info! I'm feeling much better about going Silver. In the meantime I purchased and consumed a krono to delay the inevitable another month!
Honestly for a box bard this is probably the best method any ways. If you have the ability get 2-3 krono saved up every year before the new expansion launches and then burn the krono on your bard then to max out all or at least all of the important AA's on them. Get the best non prestige gear for them and you probably should not notice any real big changes compared to being all access on them. For your augs there are a ton of non prestige augs you can get. Most of the expansions covering the hero's journey have random zone wide aug drops that are non prestige. Also all of the hot zones have this as well. Hero's journey quest line has several aug rewards that are non prestige. I have 2 ftp mages that have a full set of slot 7 non prestige augs. Nothing game changing but better than having those slot naked. There is also one purity aug I am aware of that is non prestige but is lore. This is quested in looping planes I believe. Hope this helps and safe hunting
"What about her housing plot and all the stuff we have stored there?" Nothing will happen. Purchasing and upkeep on Houses and plots do not depend on paid or free or silver accounts. All accounts can do that. The only thing a F2P account cannot do in the neighborhood is place a primary or secondary anchor in a guild hall. Since you will be a Silver account if you go free then that also should not apply to your account.
