When will CoE and AoD be merged for a single purchase?

As a returning EQ2 player, I'm stunned to find Sony requiring me to spend $80 to obtain the latest content (above and beyond my gold membership) through 2 expansion purchases. I really want mercenaries, and I really want the new content, but I won't spend $80 for it.

Is there an ETA on whether they will encapsulate AoD into CoE?

Probably never, but they did announce at SoE Live that the AoD features will be available a la carte 'soon'.

40$ in october(?) will get you all the latest content. AoD is not content. It's features and those features will be available a la carte in the near future.

I doubt AoD will ever be rolled into the all-in-one expansions, since it didn't add any new content. It's a pure feature package, a completely different beast from content expansions. My guess is the best you can hope for is the a-la-carte option so you can buy just the features you want (eg. mercs, the beastlord class) without having to buy ones you don't. OTOH for an adventurer there's not much to not buy. The tradeskill apprentices and the Dungeon Maker are the only thing I can see an adventurer skipping, maybe beastlords if you don't care for that class. And I suspect a lot of adventurers would want the Dungeon Maker bit just to be able to run player dungeons to get the gear and the XP. Crafters would benefit more from a-la-carte, they could get the TS apprentices and the DM without having to bother with the adventure stuff.

What is everyone's opinion of the "value" of AoD as a whole? I personally like the idea of mercenaries, and player dungeons seem interesting, but paying $40 for these features....

Apparently it has held value very well, especially given the number of times players have posted crying how much the want it but also that it isn't worth the cost. LMAO go figure that out.

Just liking this comment doesn't do it justice.

The features AoD gives have been invaluable. I have no regrets paying the full price for each of my accounts.

I personally think it's well worth the price. MOLOing is pretty much standard fare now. You certainly don't NEED the mercenaries to solo the game but they are nice to have.

40$ has been well worth it as I've used just about all the features. I just haven't felt like rolling a BL. I went all the way with collector's ed. Those houses were too good to pass up. 9 houses that size would cost well over 150$.

as long as people want parts of it, never. and i dont blame them, if people want something you have ,why give it away free?
they are already going to start selling parts AoD ala carte in the future.

Agree. Mercenaries alone were well worth the price. I realize it's an older release, but people assuming that it has to be included or free seems puzzling IMO. Sounds like with all the topics created about this, it would make more sense to just buy it and enjoy the features

Switch to a Station pass, you'll get the expansions for 30 each instead of 40, also they throw in 500 station cash a month, which is handy from time to time.

That's ok. I rolled two. So it evens out.

Given how often this topic comes up I am surprised the OP was unable to find the answer prior to posting.

Nevertheless the reason is because AoD actually adds a fair amount of currently relevant content. It is not required to play however. DoV/CoE are though and that is why they are bundled together. As Gideon said, though I am not sure of the validity of his statement since I have not heard of it, features of AoD may be sold piecemeal in the future. So if you want Reforging and Mercenaries but not Beastlords then you can buy just those features.

AoD features should just be a part of the game for everyone.
Should have just been like a normal Game Update.

or at least included in an actual expansion from the start.

Hell, one of its only useful features really (reforging) is there just because SoE doesn't know how to properly itemize loot, so gave us a tool (in which we paid for to get) in order to fix their screwed up stats on items. Well played...

After all, AoD it´s worth the buck you spend. Why? Simple....
Every xpac does have a certain lvl range, guess what? AoD has no levelrange of use.... given that fact, actual the xpacs should become cheaper. As they are limited in use ^^
Aside of that, as veteran, we do pay on every xpac, that this xpac includes all xpacs before ^^ (normaly).
Well i wouldn´t mind if it comes free in game.... even i paid full for it ^^ (on multiple accounts ^^).
Just look what 40 bucks are worth today ^^ one single night at the cinema (will probably cost you more ^^)

If anything, xpacs should get more expensive, like the night at the cinema, but they don't. Neither does the sub price. The price has stayed the same for all these years, while other services get more expensive.

If I recall correctly from SOE Live:
Coming "soon" AoD will be broken up and sold per feature, so you can pick and choose. DoV will be rolling into the free content.

Which is, or can be, a good solution (if in sum it doesn´t get more expensive ^^ could be ^^)

I see things being priced where the whole package is just slightly cheaper than the parts on their own. That's how these deals usually work.