Producer Letter: About Heroic Characters...

Calling all heroes!

We are putting in the final touches for Heroic Characters and we’re excited to be able to give you some news about them.

Before we get to how Heroic Characters work, let’s talk about why we are doing it. Primarily, we created this new feature because you asked us for it! At SOE Live, on forums, in one-on-one conversations, and lots of other ways, we’ve heard variations on similar ideas.

Former players don’t want to play catch-up to Level 95, existing players don’t want to start over at Level 1 with their friends, and some players just want to get into high-end guilds and raids because that’s what they love to do. There’s been a lot of great feedback that led us to create Heroic Characters.

The goal is to provide a fun and easy option for existing and returning players to play or experiment with our characters and have immediate access to high-level content. And we think we’ve created a great program for everyone!

First, for a limited time, players can create a Heroic Character for free. Oct. 1 until Oct. 15 at 11:59 p.m. PDT is our “Hero’s Call” event which invites new players to create one free new Heroic Character per household. Existing accounts can create or upgrade to a Heroic Character for free too!

Additionally, Heroic Characters can be purchased at any time from our store. The options include: Try Before You Buy, New Heroic Character, and Upgrade Existing Character.

1) Try Before You Buy: This option offers one full level of play from Level 85 to 86 – which takes a typical player several hours – with 100 Alternate Advancement (AA) points to test out a class of your choice at a high level. The Free Trial includes a flying mount, armor, consumables, and a few restrictions.

2) New Heroic Character: A full Heroic Character can be purchased at Character Select or while playing as a Free Trial character. It includes level 85, 280 AAs, all items included in the Free Trial, and is unrestricted.

3) Upgrade Existing Character: The Upgrade option allows you to select any existing character at any level and upgrade it to a Heroic Character. All upgraded characters receive level 85 and are increased to 280 AAs, but not beyond. If you are above level 85 and have more than 280 AAs, you won't receive additional levels or points, but will get a bundle of items that includes the flying mount, armor, and consumables.

For more details on each option, click here.

HOW TO ACCESS HEROIC CHARACTERS

Access to "Try Before You Buy" and new Heroic Characters can be found at the Character Select screen. The "Create Level 85 Heroic" button opens a window showing the benefits of the Free Trial and New Heroic Character options.

Existing characters, as well as Try Before You Buy ones, can be upgraded to a Heroic Character from the "Select Character" list by clicking on an upgrade icon next to each character. (I’d show you this, but we’re still putting the final UI together now!).

In addition to that, an in-game Marketplace item can be bought (and gifted) to upgrade an existing character to a Heroic Character. The Character window also has an icon you can use to upgrade too.

HEROIC HOTBARS!

We also have a new mode for Heroic Character hotbars to help returning players adjust to the number of combat arts/spells. It starts with one hotbar of core spells and/or combat arts to help you quickly learn and get into the swing of things. We add hotbars one at a time soon thereafter after to help you ramp up. Expert players can quickly get out of this mode at any time by modifying their UI.


Holly Longdale
Sr. Producer
EverQuest II

i hope you are kidding about this cause this quote alone mean that pay to win comming and i REALY how you are not gonna go down that slippery slope...

The expansion already came with the same baubles, granted limited to just two, but....

What's the difference between buying a character at 85/280 and buying 280 aa for a character?

Can non heroic characters do the *new heroic questline*. I'm a big quest nerd and I hate missing any!!

two one thing as part of a expact but to have them on a whim yeah

both imho are pay to win.. and im not a fan of either tbh

the bauble probably wont cost 3500sc

Wait a minute... you mean you're letting people buy level 85?

So you're saying this is no longer an RPG. Where players build up a character from the beginning of their adventuring lives and someday have a powerful champion who has experienced all the world has to offer.

Seriously, why not just get rid of all levels except the max and call it an action game?


Powers &8^]

Great news! Thanks.

• Please make sure there is an option to delete Try before you Buy characters.
• Will the option to buy a brand new Heroic character create a new character slot if you don't have any room?
  • If not, could you consider bundling a character slot in that 3500 SC cost?

Thank you.

So if you have a spouse that plays too, one of you gets the short end of the stick? Or those of use that pay for more than one account but have the same address listed on our accounts we only get one and have to pick which account?

I'd assume this means people with multiple gold accounts get screwed?

Explain to me though, what buying to win means to you?

Having a level 85 toon isn't winning anything (present day in this game as we know it).....

I would agree with *buying to win* = 95 toon 320 AA full raid gear.

Having a toon thats 85, with likely 85 level legendary gear and 280 aa is still below the curve of playing this game where the *majority* of the community is already playing at. (also you have to consider the source of why this is even an option at this point. 1. get new players 2. have old players return) This isn't D3 buy the best items ever made/found with cash system going on here. (Thats buying to win)

Also as stated above, we have baubles that say, you get to lvl 90 you get 280 AA. I also think they sell that on the new token system (I could be wrong here tho)

Anyways I like this idea, hopefully it will help raise the population levels on some servers of game that is 9 years old.

Respectfully,
Lethlian

slippery slope happened a long time ago. people in this game are now accustomed to paying a sub in addition to paying for features on the marketplace.

though paying to catch up on an 8 year old game isn't quite the same as paying to win. doesn't give you any advantage at end game where any competition or sense of "winning" exists. just don't know why it's something anyone should have to pay extra for. they let the low-level game fall apart to where new players have no "multi-player" until end game. the option to go to 85/280 should just be a feature of a gold sub.

Well its been coming to this for a long time since F2p, i'm surprised it didn't happen from day one tbh.

0-85 is a solo game now. the experience is already lost. if people still choose to go that way they can. if people instead decide they actually want to see other players in the first few months they can take the heroic char route.

So tell me where all the *fellow* gamers are at level 1 to 89 at?

You do realize the biggest reason why there *isn't* an influx of new players to this game is that, playing this game from level 1 to 90 is done all alone now. (kinda defeats the purpose of an MMORPG right?) Now if this game was based on an agnostic system then the game wouldn't have this problem....but since its not agnostic, it has these problems. Welcome to yours and mine game.

a toon preleveled is pay to win no matter what level it is as well as the bauble( note these are an expansion perk and should be left that way) are as well when sold out side of buying an expansion but of course itll go through and more ppl will leave due to it or just put up with it

That slippery slope has long been slipped. EQ2 is pretty much the only SOE game that hasn't included what many would call heavy "Pay to win". Hell, EQ1 and Vanguard both sell real equipment on their Marketplaces.

280AA came with the Age of Discovery expansion, which people have been clamoring since day 1 should be broken out into separate pieces. So no, it's not any kind of slippery slope. This is what people have been asking for.