GU 100: Fabled Zones

$15 a month for the perks is not bad. Thanks for keeping this Ever Questing 2 exp living on ! Continue update/expand, Keep paying sub on my end.

People keep asking where is this game headed, what will it's future be. Pay or free, costly updates, or free. The path this game is on is easy to see, every time you zone in, do a slash, return. It doesn,t take too long to figure out there's nobody out there. I have been playing EQ2 for 9 years, and here's the sad part: Forever Jinxed, 39 members, 100% gone to WoW, Rat Police, role playing guild gone to WoW and Elder Scrolls 45 members, Stygian Souls 142 members, only 3 people left. 92% to WoW. I am the recruiter for Stygian Soles and have not had an inquiry for membership in 22 months. I really like this game, I have hung on for as long as I can, I have 9 toons that are 100/100 and a ton of plat, but one more untenable move by Daybreak and I am gone.

I wouldn't call it free content as you will have to pay a monthly sub either cash or krono, call it for what it is: the stupid campansion once again but this time even more expensive and now you dont even have the right to the zones: $14.99/month and if you wish to play the same zones next month, another $14.99 and so on....
I doubt this will be the huge success DBG seem to hope but on the other hand, if they wish to shut out a large chunk of the playerbase there's really no way stopping them.

Its pretty obvious the whole 'free player' system isn't doing well or this GU, TLE wouldn't require a sub and prestige items never would have been introduced. Free players like to think they contribute plenty without having a sub but in reality free players, as a whole, are clearly a drain. This isn't a PvP based game so having free players/fodder running around is no benefit and are just taking up very real, physical resources (server space) with little to no returns. Freemium mobile games for example cost near-nothing if someone downloads and plays the game without ever spending a dime. In a persistent, large game like EQ2 every character has a very real price tag to exist.

To keep 'free play' going they would have to fundamentally change parts of the game, namely more items in the cash shop players would scream 'pay 2 win' at the top of their lungs about.

Long term it will probably help with botters as well. They won't be willing to keep their multiple accounts subbed up thus removing them from this GU (and hopefully future content) but if they do decide to persist they will have to buy several subscriptions one way or another which means more cash for DBG. Not that I would say a sub justifies botting but it does help knowing their inevitable toxic presence is at least costing the botters money.

Requiring a subscription to access content is nothing new, as a matter of fact its how the game was originally designed.

I agree with Neiloch, it's obvious with the recent push to subscribe that the revenue f2p used to generate has significantly reduced.
EQ2 is the only MMO where f2p provides 100% access (up until the recent changes). Almost all other MMO provide f2p access - limited by level or using buy to play/buy to win models. I don't thing EQ2 players - free to play or subscribers would readily accept either buy to play or buy to win, but I do believe there is a role for f2p in EQ2.
In my view it should be limited content access. Let them have all the features, broker, mail etc and maybe limited chat but restrict level to 50 and content to original game's released zones IE, the shattered lands and their respective quests. This alone should give any f2p player the time judge the game and make an informed decision on whether to sub or move on.

I am super excited about Cazic Thule.

I embrace the changes, encouraging more players to sub! EQ2 offers an amazing amount of well-done content which Free Players can enjoy. That said, at some point there needs to be a barrier that prods them to take that leap and support the game, on a regular basis.

On the flip side, if you add pugs to your Heroic group, the F2P are bonus. Like I told one just this week, when he said he was not a member: "No problem, but if we get another relic drop, like we did yesterday, I won't allow you to Need on it. More for us"

I'm just not into giant mobs with tentacles sticking out of their faces. I prefer the shock value of this



That's some real terror right there. You can't pay me to fight this.

Yes, but this gives incentive for non-subscribers to actually wanna subscribe? Which means more money for the company, which means more content being pushed out? Yes? No? C'mon. As a subscriber, I fully agree with what they're doing.

I thought this should have been done a long time ago. They could add members only to the instances now: advanced solos, groups and raids with higher end gear and/or better drop rates. They could have an instance with just merchants, quest lines and other things for members only. It would make paying a lot more worth it and might attract those that FTP to upgrade.

Actually, there seems to be evidence that F2P is not a successful business model for top end MMORPGs. Based on the experience and demise of several internet games over the past 5 years; the costs for R&D, plus ordinary maintenance and service can not be funded by advertising alone. Piecemeal charging for itemization also doesn't seem to work very well, in the long run. Granted, it works pretty well for simple games like Sims, Angry Birds, Minecraft, etc. but none of those games have intensive graphics requiring top end cards, nor do their worlds require very much in the way of design. Certainly nothing like chronological continuity is required!!!

F2P works fine as an introduction and enticement to bring players in. But there has to be something more to encourage them to take the next step up financially. After all, you are paying for a service and virtual goods.

What's more of a concern is whether Daybreak as a company (1) understands this, (2) thinks long-term for customer retention and growth or is just another witless corporate raider out to suck as much out of the product before tossing it on the garbage heap, (3) knows that games have a limited lifespan and plan for either evolutionary upgrade, or orderly transition to the next best thing.

Unfortunately, EQNext is dead. The concepts they were experimenting with in Landmark apparently weren't conducive to building a game; even though Landmark itself seems to still be up and running as a development environment product. So I for one have no idea what will happen to the world of Norrath in the next 5 years. I have to admit to some surprise that EQ1 is still running, albeit at a much lower population level. Will we see an EQ3? Not unless some of us, or someone else, gets a team together, comes up with a compelling vision and a business plan and manages to sell it to Daybreak, or whomever they allow EQ licensing to.

I'd love to be on that team, but my design and programming skills are 10 years out of date. I'm a data miner, statistical analyst, and quasi-tech support now; not a programmer/application analyst anymore. Vision and concept I can do, testing and quality improvement suggestions I can do. Programming and hardware, I'd hire some young hungry guys and gals fresh out of college for that.

"by gninja"

I'm not a subscriber, & I give 2 paws up to subscriber-only content. I'm going to subscribe for a month or so when GU100 goes live, just so I can stomp around for a while & have some fun with it, then drop off when I get bored. I think it's a win-win, & I think DBG should do more like it.

Yay! Thumbs up to the new content. Thumbs up to it being member-only. Thumbs up to the job DBC has been doing. Thumbs down to the whiners who'd moan even if there was free bacon and vodka with every loyalty token.

Heh, I get Free Bacon and Rum with mine. Just saying

I feel it's about time that eq2 offers more to it's paying customers than to the free2play ones. I paid for EVERY xpac and for 12+ yrs access...and along comes a new player and gets all xpacs up to AoM...Like why did I pay for all that time when I could have just waited and gotten most of it for nothing?

So you can actually play it when it's current with other people.

I play mostly solo Or with Me, Myself & I. (3 accounts 2 paid)

You are literally telling all of your player base you are desparate and hurting for money enough to make Member Access Only content.

I guess you failed to note that I am a subscriber. Read the post in it's entirety next time.

No, they are telling most of their player base, We care enough for our subscribers to offer stuff just for them.

They are telling only the FTP people who believes everything should be free that.