i need a sub now to play EQ2???

Not a good way to know for sure because I think a good number of of All Access members have multiple accounts they are willing to buy xpacs to open up content but not pay monthly subs for each account. Someone here in the forums was bragging about owning over 25 accounts one day....I seriously doubt they are all All Access accounts.

Thus the problem for these players because they are All Access on one account and for the most part want all other accounts they own/play to have same access to content minus a few perks which doesn't matter because they get those on the main All Access account. A two edged sword.

No laugh here - our raid out MT SK on some fight clock 300M DPS but on average 100+M

I'm just about 8 to 12 Mill single fights but spike to 30+ at times on masses of mobs, so I'm content. More importantly, I am having fun and help pull my weight at this time in our guild runs. As well as backup tank if MT dies

Well, then we just have a completely different mindset as it relates to video games. No harm there. But not everyone would consider that a 'free copy of Mike Tyson's punch out', many people would consider that a free trial.

Feb 2015 - Daybreak purchases SoE. Core group of players bleat and moan.
April 2015 - Rum Celler Campaign Released, planned before sell out. Core group of players bleat and moan
July 2015 - Smed leaves. Golden parachute takes large chunk of company monies.
July 2015 - TLE released. Core group of players bleat and moan.
August 2015 - Drunder/Prison released. Yep, core group of players bleat and moan.
Oct & Nov 2015 - Servers Merged. Players who demanded merges for years join the bleaters and moaners.
Nov 2015 - Expansion Terrors or Thalumbra released. Bleaters and moaners abound.
Mar & April 2016 - Servers Merged. Players who demanded merges for years join the bleaters and moaners.
March 2016 - Blood and money sucking EQNext killed off and, my gods, there are still bleaters and moaners.
April 2016 - PVP ends in EQ2. Many of the chronic complainers disappear.
April 2016 - GU 100 released with a Daybreak business model rather than a SoE campaign model. Bleaters and
moaners flood the forums.

Just 15 Months of Daybreak ownership and the Dev Team has been working their tushes off to maintain EQ and EQ2, maintain equanimity internally and externally and still manage to have senses of humor.

Yep, I subscribe and do so happily. A team that has been stripped of many comrades, relieved of a megalomaniac CEO, is working under completely new financial demands, AND accomplishes all of the above DESERVES every blasted cent of my 3 All Access accounts and then some.

I am not against FtP, I have 2 accounts, but do not agree that FtP should have access to all content. I'm not sure I believe FtP should have access to latest content on the MarketPlace. Ultimately that is the decision of the bean counters NOT the development team.

Just as many players feel the need to place strats and stats, etc. on the forums I felt the need to point out just how much this team has accomplished in 15 months. It's impressive.

While I agree for the most part, I am pretty certain there has been no official notification of a "golden parachute". Gnomish parachute, possibly. Just to avoid going astray into unprovables and imponderables.

The way I see it is this: there will always be people who feel hyper-entitled to things, whether it's F2P content, über armor, items obtained only through long and strenuous quest lines, etc. They will always kvetch and moan and whinge because someone is dangling a magic carrot out of their reach that they feel that the should have been given.

It's almost impossible to break through a wall of self-justifying sense of entitlement. All one can do is to keep educating people about real world operations of a software development company.

(Addendum: I've long had the idea of combing the archived forum posts for every person who said they were leaving forever, then checking to see how many are, in fact, still in game. However, I have more collectibles to document for the wiki atm...)

I bought ToT, but that's not good enough? Game Update core mechanics should be free to all. Game Update content should be gated behind the previous xpac purchase, not a subscription.

Squeeze'em Mr. Panks, squeeze'em harder.

ITT:

They are trying desperately to hold on to subscribers. Lets face it, the quality and quantity of content has been steadily declining over the last few years. I have paid a subscription since the game launched and gladly did so (in addition to tons of $$$ on other purchases), but I have been so disappointed with the direction they have taken this game over the last few years. We are down to 4 NA servers, 1 Euro server and 1 TLE server. I think that says a lot.

That's probable. F2P is considered a "free trial," so in that light I'm still not seeing the issue behind putting this particular content update behind a pay wall. It's not like I'd be particularly "hurt" by not having access to it, & I'd argue that nobody else in my F2P boat would be, either.

I'm simply not seeing any good argument from the "I'm a player so I'm entitled to this content" crowd.

In the past weren't GU's always available to f2p and subscribers? I always thought they were like an extension of the current expansion which had to be purchased by f2p and subscribers. Since I have always been a subscriber, I may be wrong about that, but I don't remember them denying f2p GU's in the past.

DBG has to change its business model a bit. They don't have the mighty resources of Sony standing behind them, and they have to make money or eventually there will be no EQ2.

I have no skin in this argument, but these elitists are always fun to laugh at when they make primal rants like the above. The (FTP vs Subscriber) fight is one of the funniest of the Nerd Wars ever-almost as good as Star Wars vs Star Trek...Get-A-Life Battle Royale. It's like buying a pizza and getting a second one free. Seriously though you should probably grow the hell up...or don't...it's fun to read. Saying this is worth a vacation too. Hell, that's like winning a trophy.

That is why I don't get too upset with the little nerfing tricks to get people to buy items. Though in my view it should offer a benefit above and beyond if you buy it and not just put things back the way they were. That irks me and people notice it right away, mmo/rpg people have much more intelligence than most of the facebook kiddies out there you see. More so eq/eq2 people. That said, that is also why I subscribe when playing, and in addition spend at least 30-50 bucks a month in the shop always, if I am playing the game. More if I really want something.

Buy some kronos for eq 1 also from time to time. Consigned armor bundles and such, weapon adornments, hovering horses. I don't really want the thumbelina expansion right now because there is not enough feathers fluff or a new class to interest me, bought age of discovery for bst and merc, the other one for the channeler, call of forsaken on eq 1 for the buy anywhere feature and banestrike, no reason other than that, never experienced one bit of the content, likewise veil of alaris, just wanted the mount it gives under /claims. The desert kanga.

Yeah I did it for the little white kangaroo so sue me, at least a dingo did not eat my baby.

I would buy a 99.95 expansion if you let my characters date my mercs, and get the buff, skyrim style, and for rp value, but would not pay a dime for 100,000 raids, or things that unlock at 100 I could care less. That a lot of this stuff has a 95 or 100 req is why I don't buy it...yet but in time I may /sigh. I am loyal but want fun and fluff and stuff mostly.Little extras over content, worlds without end, amen and alleluia.

I wont play a max level for long save rp and getting stuff for others. Why bother? I like stat grinding though...and skills like eq1 why I have played all 5 quest for glory games with each character class over 100 times each, and heroines quest half as much as well as quest for infamy. Get 400 each stat in mordovia little pixel man, and as soon as possible, to trivialize the content, and be a hero...while you romance katrina, cop a feel, and eye the rusalka...can you give me alleluia?

I don't mind if they change their model, I just think they should make an official statement announcing it. That would keep people from getting confused. In the past GU's were always free to every one. If they can't afford to do that any more, at least say some thing. What is wrong with that?

Remember the old days when you couldn't even log in unless you paid? >.> I seem to remember a lot less complaining back then too... odd coincidence.
The staff had a much larger population back then, if I'm not mistaken? Customer service was not great, but not horrendous.

I dunno... I really wouldn't mind going back to pay-to-play. (Although, I may be biased since I do manage to scrape together my yearly subscription somehow, despite being a mom, a student, and an artist... three times the broke! XD)

Maybe compromise and lower the sub price, but continue with making the sub worth paying with "early access" for a year. (I'm assuming the new content will be available to FTP after a while like the expansions?) Oh! Have a FTP beta of the new content to get all the bugs out and give everyone a taste of the new stuff before putting it on live for "early access" for contributing players (subscribers). More people would be in the beta since it's FTP and would be pay to play on live, I would think? (I do like the incentive mounts though. That seems to be most people's reason for doing betas. XD)

It's funny but I didn't hear not one complaint from the OP. He/She just asked a question and immediately people started flaming without I guess paying attention to the question...

Yes you have to sub to get the new stuff. Or you could wait til the next expansion and see if they include it. You get other perks too from subbing. If you can afford it then you should do it, but if you're only subbing for the new material, I wouldn't bother. It's not worth that. Wait it out. You're not really missing anything that you might want to spend extra money on.

^^^ This

^^^ This also. This forum is full of threads complaining about GU100, so ultimately the f2p are really better off without it.

Great news! I support monthly subs!

This. I'm sure I'm known here as 'the guy who complains about prestige items (and also now the free +30 fervor that members get)'.

But I don't care what their business model is, I care that DBG hasn't even remotely acknowledged that their model has changed. A lot of players adopted the game based on a certain business model, and now they're unable to do the things that they had been able to.

A simple "hey guys sorry we couldnt keep on with the existing F2P model, we hope that youll be able to continue on with the new system" and you wouldn't have seen a single post from me complaining.