Producer's Letter: AoD Expansion & Membership update!

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Windstalker, Sep 27, 2013.

  1. Windstalker Executive Producer

    Greetings fellow adventurers!

    We’ve got more exciting news to talk about today with regard to Age of Discovery expansion as well as a few changes to our membership structure that will launch on Oct. 1. They are pretty simple, so I’ll get right to it!

    1. The Age of Discovery expansion – which was our first-ever feature expansion released in 2011 – is going to be available in the game in our Marketplace as a feature bundle as well as individual features for Station Cash (SC).

    a. The features will be broken down, like so:
    Beastlord: 2500 SC
    Mercenaries: 1500 SC
    Tradeskill Apprentice: 1000 SC
    Reforging: 1000 SC
    Dungeon Maker: 1000 SC

    b. The feature bundle (all 5 features included) will be on sale in our in-game marketplace for 4000 SC.

    c. The standard Age of Discovery expansion in its current form will no longer be available for purchase on the web site or in-game after Oct. 1.

    d. The 20 AAs originally granted with AoD will be included as part of the base game available for all members (320 AA maximum).

    2. Membership changes

    a. We are thrilled to announce that we are removing the item restrictions from both Free and Silver accounts. No more item-unlocking! We felt that the restrictions weren't in keeping with a positive experience so we removed it!

    b. Gold Members are going to get permanent increases to Coin Loot (15% increase) and Mount Speed (10% increase) added to their membership benefits.

    Also, on Oct. 1, we'll start selling an item in our marketplace that will raise your character to 280 AAs (usable at level 10) for 2000 SC.

    Next week, we’ll start digging into the Tears of Veeshan expansion details. See you then!

    Holly Longdale
    Sr. Producer
    EverQuest II
    Shadrac, Eshaac, Airos and 10 others like this.
  2. Ucala Well-Known Member

    like the separate items, like that gold members get gold rush forever.
    like the 280 AA bauble, 2000 SC seems a bit much, but oh well :p
    Eshaac and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  3. pzpz Active Member

    nicely done windstalker, props

    i notice the 20aa from AoD isnt mentioned, are we getting bumped to that "free" with the expansion?
  4. Cyliena Well-Known Member

  5. Duckforceone New Member

    finally you are removing the item restrictions... now i can return to eq2...

    no fun in returning to a basically naked lvl 90 character, that has no gear it can wear...
    macatk and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  6. CharbrynEQ2 Well-Known Member

    I'm guessing this is going to crush the Krono market...people better hope they sell theirs before this becomes widespread news.

    On the plus side I can now play this game for free since I won't have to pay to unlock whenever I get upgrades on my toons. :) I don't mind staying the same mount speed and coin gain-wise. :)
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  7. Quabi Active Member

    I'm impressed. Great changes, hope they're profitable for you guys.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  8. Deveryn Well-Known Member

    Nicely done on the item restrictions. I like that more incentives were added to gold membership.
  9. slippery Well-Known Member


    You'll still have to unlock your spells once, but pretty much yea. Unlock your spells and there is no real reason to pay for the game anymore.
  10. Deveryn Well-Known Member

    How is it going to hurt the market? We've had the 15% coin loot buff active for a good 2 months and prices didn't go down. Prices have only gone up, especially after the introduction of the plat bag on the loyalty vendor.
  11. slippery Well-Known Member


    He means because there is no real reason to be gold anymore, so you don't really need to buy krono's.
  12. Ucala Well-Known Member

    well ideally since they removed item locks on accounts (you couldn't equip fabled items on ftp but now you can) so once you unlock all your spells, you almost never have to worry about being ftp, except if you want to use the broker or something. but eh :p
  13. CharbrynEQ2 Well-Known Member

    Speaking from my perspective..not saying this is the norm or anything..but the people in my guild (2 different guilds between 7 toons) that use Kronos do so to be able to sub to keep their gear so they don't have to pay for gear unlockers every time they get an upgrade when they raid.

    Those people no longer have a reason to buy Kronos.
  14. Deveryn Well-Known Member

    Unlocking spells is still a matter of finding the masters out there, since you can't use research on silver.
  15. Mae- Well-Known Member

    So if you already have masters scribed on your characters, and drop to silver, are you unable to use them until you unlock them? I have no idea how unlockers work because I've never been silver.
  16. Beyoncia Well-Known Member

    Broker system is still restricted.
  17. Wirewhisker Well-Known Member

    Wow..so what exactly are the differences between Gold and Silver now, and is it worth 15 dollars a month?

    Broker, GoldRush Buff, Researchers...?
    Kraeref likes this.
  18. Dulcenia Well-Known Member

    Mail. Not a lot left to warrant the cost of a Gold subscription.
  19. Vadr New Member

    Well not sure what to think...I just bought AoD not two hours ago...I like the other changes.
  20. Wirewhisker Well-Known Member

    AA slider too, just thought of that.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.