After almost 6 years of playing WoW, I basically had enough and was looking for something a bit different....heard about EQ alot over the years and decided to give it a go......now I'm like "WoW who?." I was hooked from the get-go. I'm doing the f2p thing atm... My question is.. Do I need to go buy each and every expansion? Is there a all-in-one? What exactly are the steps I have to go through to get full access to the game? I know I'm noobing it up by asking this basic stuff but I MUST KNOW! lol Thanks
The only expansions you do not get for free are Destiny of Velious and Age of Discovery. All other expansions are included 'for free'. Those two expansions, however, do need to be purchased seperately.
You need to get used to the new definition of the term, "expansion", here. "Expansions" are not the huge updates you pay for anymore. They are free. AoD has the term tagged on it now but is only a few paid-for optional "features".
Purchasing Destiny of Velious gets you everything up to that point in one package, and it will be good for you through level 90. You won't need Age of Destiny until you're levelled up a bit.
If you haven't already, you can take a look at this matrix to see what you currently have access to: http://www.everquest2.com/free Despite what some people might say, the EQ2 free-to-play system is pretty lenient, especially if you aren't used to having all of the features. I don't have much time for MMOs anymore, so I paid maybe $20-30 on a triple Station Cash day and bought armor-unlocks and some race/class combinations on my main account. I haven't paid a subscription fee in months, but I still play my level 92 characters with legendary and fabled gear. On to your main question. As others have said, you already have access to all but two expansions: Destiny of Velious and Age of Discovery. Since I started playing EverQuest II shortly after launch, it's hard for me to see through the eyes of a newcomer. It's pretty difficult to find a group at lower levels; but, with all the content out there, I'm sure you'll have fun simply going through all the solo questlines on your way to 92. But if you're interested in heroic content, you'll either want to find a guild of like-minded individuals or invest in Age of Discovery which unlocks the mercenary feature. With mercs, you can "molo" (solo with an NPC companion) pretty much any dungeon in the game. (Edit: Should specify, any dungeon UP UNTIL end game content.) As far as Destiny of Velious goes, you won't need it until late-80s and up. Velious is the current end-game. Edit: Figured I'd offer my input on where you should go from here, to get "caught up": 1. Purchase a Silver membership. It's a one-time $5 purchase and is a major step up from Bronze. 2. Wait for a double- or triple-Station Cash event and stock up on Station Cash. 3. Do some research and pick a few race/class combos you might enjoy playing. Keep in mind that each race unlock actually unlocks multiple races, so you can do some planning to save money. 4. Decide on your adventuring goals. If you want to do some heroic content and would like the assistance of mercenaries, consider purchasing Age of Discovery now. Perhaps you want to play a Beastlord (unique playstyle, high DPS class) - this too is unlocked with Age of Discovery. 5. Decide on your primary characters and get a stockpile of equipment unlockers (these let you wear legendary and fabled gear, I believe 5 of them cost $1.50). Also, unlock your bag slots for your main characters. 6. With your Silver membership allowing you 20 gold per level, your primary race/class combos unlocked, and enough equipment unlockers to last you to end-game, you're pretty much set.
If you like playing the game even a little, you should probably just subscribe (Gold). Since you played WoW for as long as you did, you will find F2P or Silver really restrictive, so IMO just cut to the chase and subscribe. Compared to how much you have invested in WoW software, The 'whole thing' of EQ2 is really not very expensive at all.
Velios gives you flying and some great crafting quests. Age of Destiny gives you mercenaries that you can hire and group with you who are tougher (by far) than your character. You can solo most content with them and even quest 5-6 levels above yourself. I tend to wait on my merc until level 25 or so because you can't really learn your char with them..they 1 shot alot of things hehe. This game is 100X better than wow and those types of games because the depth is there and there is alot more to do than just grinding for gear. I love this game!
On a side note, both expansions are 50% off until 8/12, so now might be a good time to buy one or both of them.
