On the official forums for the test server a player just posted

Enica


If this message is true then I cannot think of any random or other explanation for why a message saying "Gold membership" is popping up other than either F2P or more likely some sort of extended trial is being implemented...

Or was there some sort of gold membership around in ye olde days, and this is a weird scrap of code that got activated by chance?

Apparently there is a big announcement coming in 2 hours....

Edit : and the link no longer works...

Me too, there is a lot of information there and this is a beta service, I think they are erring on the side of caution with costs.

But it is also now the dark side of the "Free to play" that we are seeing here, it looks like it is now possible to buy power for money (for example a gold membership seems to indicate that you have your spells at expert level, unless they just mean you can upgrade to this level....).

There is an extended FAQ here. One thing that is a lot of interest there, the background art, I know they say that it will change, but where is that from? Its new and I wonder if we'll see it later on again as something to do with a future expansion.

On the EQ2 extended, I like that my game isn't interrupted, but its sort of a bit of change of heart on the issue, but I'd prefer if there were more players coming in that they were on my server.

It also makes it difficult with this service to play with friends, basically I will need to invite people myself.

The removal of the trial though is the biggest concern, I'm not sure how the normal EQ2 will fare without this supporting it, if the game is sold at a reasonable price then the trial shouldn't really be necessary, but there is a risk that the normal servers could wither and die, and might not even work well if players that want a subscriber style service turn their noses up at the extended service.

Basically this new service has one big downside for me in that it doesn't connect to the normal servers well, personally I'd like to have seen each gold subscription have a free server transfer option attached to it, and the cost of transfering from normal to extended reduced to something reasonable like $20.

Then make sure no power is really sold for money on extended and things will be fine, levelling potions and levelling speed though really are no hassle, even lower level gear doesn't make a difference (adept/treasured). If legendary/fabled items are sold then these two services need to be kept apart, but more dangerously I think it could really dirty SOE's reputation (I know some people don't like them, but this is another line to cross).

I can appreciate the benefits of F2P but I don't understand doing it half ass. In my mind, you are either subscription based or F2P. Offering both options on different servers with an 8+ year old game is bizarre. The whole thing is confusing and to try to experiment on your "flagship" product seems like an act of desperation in my opinion. One thing is for sure, FanFaire will be interesting to say the least next weekend. SmokeJumper also comes off as a bit arrogant on this topic in the interview below:

Link:

http://www.massively.com/2010/07/27/exclusive-eqii-f2p-interview-with-dave-georgeson/

Excerpts below:


Massively: Last time we spoke, you said you didn't want players buying their way to power. Players don't like that, you want the world to stay as it has been and will continue to support it with new content items, etc. That was from last month.

Smoke Jumper: Right, on the existing subscription servers.

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Massively:Are you afraid that this might fragment the community by creating two different services?

Smoke Jumper: [Long pause] Afraid? No, but at the same time it's definitely experimental.

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Massively: You know people are going to riot over this.

Smoke Jumper: [Laughter]

I wish this was on the live servers. Place THOSE restrictions on someone in the live game and allow them to use purchases to add things on but DONT add the expanded market place, it'd be just fine.

How were you conned? How will any of this change your game-playing experience?

I'm pumped about this. I really think they should enable it on current servers as well. This may well be the thing that makes me come back to play some. It basically sounds like as it's currently designed it will have no effect whatsoever on current players, but will attract new players to the game. In the end that benefits old players because EQ2 will have a larger budget for more content.

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Because they've closed down the free trial, and will funnel all new players into the new RMT servers, that effects MY game playing experience pretty heavily if there is no one left on the server.

Still I can always pay $35 dollars a toon to copy my character over with just the armour on his back and items in his bags, bargain.

Still one guy summed up raiding on the new extended server on flames (one of the items being sold there is a self revive potion)



Sorry, but that sort of RMT stuff is for muppets who buy successs with their wallets, its like playing chess with an extra Queen, I'm a RPG gamer and I want a level playing field and a solid challenge, this implementation offers neither.

This is not the F2P people are looking for.

Its a bit tin foil hat thinking, but with Smokejumpers devious legal speak explanations I think its actually likely the plan basically to scare the user base into demanding F2P to be added to their server. Right now stopping the free trial and cutting off the supply of new players on the live servers is a death sentence for any MMO population, I fully expect we'll see a new plan that basically adds F2P to all servers after Fanfaire, if not before.

The problem is though that wretched RMT shop, selling rares 5 for $10, self revive potions and mastercrafted level gear, that's not gameplay any of my friends are interested in. I think Josgars post is about 100% bang on, the current F2P solution minus the marketplace would be it. Really they need to make the micro transactions also micro, right now its 1 big $10 paydown and then sub or sit there, pretty unimaginative from what I can see.

The underlying question is:

"What servers will players new to EQ2 play on?"

A.) If the answer is overwhelmingly that they will only be playing on only the X servers, then 'the sky is falling' is pretty well founded. War of attrition will cause server merges on old servers as they slowly die.

B.) If they start on X servers and move to the old servers, then this isn't a big deal at all, and old breed players should be happy about this. It has the chance to bring in new players, weed out the ones that are only there recreationally, and send the people that want to play hardcore to the old servers. Everyone wins.

You can't say that Sony will do their best to keep people on the X servers to spend money (A.) , because we really don't know if they will spend enough money to not make it profitable for them to move them to the monthly fee.

Definitely not! I'm not a grinder for sure. When I say RPG there are a lot of different levels.

The way I see it, it goes from the people who just play the stat game and really don't care what their avatar looks/acts like, to people who actively RP in character and don't care what the stats are.

I'm a bit more towards the RP side then just playing the game as a spreadsheet, I do a bit of light role playing at times, and like to do different things in the game even if they aren't progressing my characters power.

Grinding I'd put as a repetitive task just to get stats, that's something that I hate in MMO's, its one thing I'm pleased isn't so needed in MMOs, but I understand some people enjoy it especially power levellers, its just not my cup of tea, I'd put tradeskilling up above it :D



Its the RMT side that makes me doubt it, the play for free thing also has to eventually make as much or more money or else they wouldn't do it, pretty pesemistic here on the future, looking through the forums I've never seen so many long time players quitting. For me I'll be around for a long while, but the current forumlae offers nothing but decline for my server population, its like them released a second EQ2.