I just came back for a bit and got on my wizard. I had a subscription back when the game was pay to play and it was all good the whole free to play thing made me think i could afford to come back but it looks like all purchasing the game did was give me silver membership. Is this game practical for non gold memberships? i saw microtransactions but not being able to equip the best gear, needing to pay for each spell you want at grandmaster, stuck at 50% AA, and still charging me full price for expansions. it feels like even if you use the cash shop people who dont have a gold membership or better cannot really raid end game due to item restriction and would be less desirable in dungeons. I have a staff right now i cannot equip because its fabled. im only level 40. Should i buy a gold membership or move on because it from what ive seen in game doesnt seem like the game is really practical if you dont subscribe its only "free" to get you to buy the VIP status.
Until you get to end game, you don't need to worry about legendary and fabled gear. You can buy unlockers for your gear (and spells) once you get near end game. The unlockers are fairly inexpesnive. You can save up in game plat and buy a krono, to get get a month's worth of gold.
All the content from 1-95 (well, 1-90 is free, then 90-95 if you purchase CoE) is free to play. That said, you'll lack the ability to sell on the broker and to wear the gear legendary, fabled and mythical like Mermut said. Fortunately, there are unlock tokens for gear and broker if you choose not to subscribe but still want access to those items.
I would say that it is free within reason. It's certainly a lot more free than it was when I started on Freeport. At that time it was the only F2P server in the game. Didn't get a refund on any of my SC spent to buy extra bag slots or classes when they all got added to the free profile either. Does anyone else remember using pristine repair material as currency? Pretty sure that's why it suddenly became heirloom
It's certainly enjoyable at the free level unless you are expecting to have everything without paying anything. The game does still have to run, the people at SOE don't work for free, so someone somewhere has to pay something. Some people pay with subs, some people pay with unlockers, some people pay with fluff SC purchases, some people spend game time getting plat & buying Kronos for gametime from other people who paid for the Kronos with real cash. I personally wouldn't recommend 100% free (bronze) to anyone who wasn't just trying out the game to see if they'd like to play. Once anyone decides they really want to play, I'd highly recommend upgrading the account to at least silver. As a returning player you have the $5 silver account which opens up almost everything a gold player has. The only restrictions are selling on the broker, legendary/fabled items, master spells and mail. You can play 1-90 at least without ever needing to unlock a single item to wear. 1-95 even, the 90+ mastercrafted is pretty nice especially if it has been refined & experimented upon. Once you get some really nice drops you can pay the 30-50 SC (30-50 cents, even less if you bought a Wal-Mart SC card or bought SC on during one of the sales) to unlock. Same for master spells, while you might see some drop, they are far from required outside of the highend. Get your experts & if you find a 90+ master spell (or other ones that don't upgrad), pay for the unlock and you are upgraded. While selling on the broker is more convient, certainly for things like shinies & treasured junk, you can sell some things via chat (masters, high quality gear) or if you are a crafter advertise your services in chat & do commissions rather than placing your wares on the broker. I personally think it's well worth paying the sub for the game for the convience of not having to worry about unlockers, but if money were an issue it wouldn't bother me to drop to silver & play that way.
I came back to the game a few months ago and set out to try and run a player from 1-90s with only silver membership. I got to the early 20s and was farming Stormhold and was getting masters and fabled/legendary gear like crazy, and without the broker to sell or the ability to wear, it got old. Did I need the gear? no, I was slaughtering stuff just fine and wasn't hindered by silver. Did it make things not as enjoyable? Yes. I purchased MC gear so the only stuff that would be upgrades would be the stuff I couldn't wear. So I broke down and setup a gold sub and I am so glad I did. The thing is, I made the decision to go gold while I was at the movies, watching... Skyfall I think. I buy candy ahead of time for a few bucks and bring it in and don't usually get a drink or popcorn. The tickets were $11.50 each. Add $3.00 for candy and suddenly I'm paying $14.50 for 2 hours of entertainment. vs a gold sub for a whole months entertainment. I subbed gold the next day. If you spend any amount of time in the game over the course of a month, gold is worth it. Anyone saying they can't afford it doesn't understand anything about ROI. Because while the F2P in EQ2 is the best out there and allows the most freedom, the gold sub is sooooo worth it.
^^^ This is the absolute best argument I hear. Thank you for putting this up. It is in fact the best value and anyone who says otherwise is just not looking at the facts. As I have said before. If you cannot pay 15/month you have far greater issues to deal with than playing a game. I always hear the 'Im on a fixed income' Really? and you can afford internet? Great, go pay a sub!
