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Free to Play is a joke for Veterans....
Goromhir
Member UncommonPosts: 463
Yo Guys !
I just had a good laugh when i updated my EQ2 installation and loged into my old account 
> None of my existing chars has the right class for free to play !
> None of my existing chars has the right race for free to play!
> i have only 6 character slots but 8 chars, i have to delete 2 chars first or buy additional Slots (WTF?)
I cant login with just one of my eight old Characters without paying ! hahaha !!
They want me to buy the Classes i need the race´s i need and 2 character slots before i can use Free to play as Veteran !
Well thats my Everquest 2 Free to play story for now !!
In short > Its a nice new idea of a free trial but nothing for ex-players... i dont think i am the only ex-player that cant play without PAY !! rofl...
Comments
Same. I have expansion packs till last one. All my characters are "LOCKED".
Oh well. I will wait for SWTOR
Buy unlocks.
Save on monthly payments.
Profit,
Or wait for SW:TOR.
i wont buy anything before i couldnt login any of my chars without cash. That whole SOE Free to play system stinks for ex-players.
This seems to be quite the BS move by SOE and they had better get their shit together asap. In the least, veteran players or those that have been playing before the total F2P conversion should be allowed 2-3 of their existing characters to be unlocked if not all of their slots.
Turbine did something similar to this when they went F2P, forcing veteran players that had already paid for the original game and Moria expansion to pay again for the quests of previous content. At least there was no character race/class lockouts, but still.
Seriously though, I've never been totally against these F2P conversions, but developers have to stop with these total BS moves at screwing over their current verteran playerbase. Isn't the entire reason for these conversions a means to persuade new players to join, but rather they're pissing off their current players and making us want to quit instead!
well i just created a new free account, all i could do was to choose from 2 classes of each class tree and 4 boring races. i havent seen any other game with such high restrictions just to leech money out of us.
if i ever want play i will just subscribe and good... this SOE free to play is just stupid.
Vanguard could get the same F2P Model....... OMG ! no thnx
You know, I have the feeling that buying back the stuff we already had for 15 bucks a month will cost plenty and that they soon will release new stuff you more or less need.
No thanks, I might follow you on that TOR thing though, or I wait for GW2 instead, havn't decided yet.
But I think SOE is making a huge misstake, they are risking to loose many vets this way and a faithful player is more worth than a few bungee players.
http://eq2.zam.com/wiki/Membership_Matrix_%28EQ2%29
I have a silver account -- the restrictions are acceptable to me, different strokes for diffent folks
the system works fine for new characters
EQ2 fan sites
It is an one time expense of $ 7 - 15 with equipment and class to be able to play withouth subscription, thats not to bad my wife only had to buy some unlockers to get going again on her human zerker. I think it is good value, if you liked EQ2 really much you would still be subscribed. It was LOTS of people online yesterday that had been away for a long time so there are many that do like the new deal.
I have not been subbed for a year and a half because I did not play enough to motivate paying a sub, but now I have some expenses and then I can play whenever I want. Personally I like to be able to choose what I want to pay for or not, I love it.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
The problem is the retention experience upon first logon.
If your response to first logon to a free to play game is "Well it wont let me play ANY of my characters without a microtransaction and it wants me to delete 2 of them without me even being able to log into them." then it is very likely someone will just move along and not bother.
Even if it gave you the choice to unlock just 2 of your characters for play free then people might just log onto the game and play and maybe stay.
The barrier to entry that has been set up will cost them people before they even get into the game.
A lot of whining, not much actual reasoning going on with the OP. The service isn't a joke at all. All you have to do is pay a one-time fee to unlock certain classes and races. From that point forward, all the content in the game is yours to play as you will, at the pace you want. Even if you drop $40 right now in unlocks, you will have saved money in just 3 months. That's FAR better than dropping $180 / year on subscription fees, don't you think?
I agree some vets w casual interest will see the restrictions and not bother or ever return
BUT there will also be vets willing to pay a one time fee of 15.00 to access their locked character - w no sub fee
for people willing to sub to try things out, SOE sub plans are very reasonable
http://www.soe.com/allaccess/
sub for a year - its 10.00/mo and SOE will give you 5.00 SC each month
SC that you can use to buy expansions or anything in SC store
thats like subbing for 5.00 a month ... no restrictions
you can also sub w SC (but wont be given a bonus),
can use your extra SC to pay for few months of full access after your sub expires
EQ2 fan sites
Well perhaps it is better than a subscription but it is not exactly FREE TO PLAY. That is the very problem. It is not a free to play game. It is a free to try game for new players that then has downloadable content for purchase. There is a difference.
Funny thing. I logged into my Lineage 2 account that has several characters from the past 2 years while it was a subscription game. I wasn't locked out of anything. Every class was playable, every race was playable, every portion of the map was accessible. The cash shop that they added now has buff potions and some exp bonus items. Some temporary pets that give you bonuses and so on. Nothing you can't do without.
I am not saying people should switch over, it is a completely different game and lots of people wouldn't prefer it but my point was to illustrate that it is possible to change your game to free to play without screwing your existing customers.
SOE is greedy and if they don't control themselves they are going to kill their goose.
The veteran players who have spent money on paid expansions over the years should get some free unlocks for what they have already purchased. That's what the expansions where after all, one time extra payments to unlock new features and map locations. Now they want the vets to pay for those things a second time. If I paid for the Echoes of Faydwer expansion so that I could play a Fae back in the day then why should I have to pay to unlock that same character again now? If I paid for the Ruins of Kunark expansion when it came out so that I could play the new Sarnak race why should I now have to pay again to access my 4 year old Sarnak shadowknight?
All die, so die well.
I agree giving vets "free silver membership" does not seem like much
the main difference is subs were required to play the game before
when DDO went f2p there was similar outrage about being able to play classes
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/239392/VIP-Downgrade-to-Free-FAQ.html
could SOE have done this better? yes but I dont think its a ripoff
EQ2 still offers more gameplay than it did before -- for less
EQ2 fan sites
Sony doesn't give a damn about their customers, especially long time customers. Just look at what they did to SWG.
They should have done what AoC did with their F2P
-----
You have all your created characters before F2P...
Once F2P hit, you could "unlock" any 2 characters you wanted, they were free to play forever. The only way to change which ones you unlocked however was to delete one of them, or Sub for one month, and at the end of the Sub you could choose diff characters to unlock.
Sure F2P has class restrictions, but you were unable to unlock and play any class/character you made while you were Pay 2 Play. So if you made a Saranak Berzerker while on Pay to Play, you could unlock and play that Zerker using one of your 2 free "unlocks".
It is too bad EQ2 took the more greedy route.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
If we didn't have precedence from 2 other games that do this F2P hybrid model better, you would have a point. However, Lotro lets you earn you points completely free as a player, whether it'sa grind or not, they also let you play an old character. Age of Conan let me unlock 2 of my high level characters that aren't part of the F2P races/class combo and I much prefer that than having to log into EQ2, delete 2 of my low level characters I couldn't use just to make a character that is extremely limited via the most important parts of an MMO. Grouping, the auction house and loot.
They restrict those 3 aspects of the game and not just a little, but all the way. I can't even send a ticket up in game to say, hey, what's this crap? Can't even talk in chat to find a guild or form groups. Seriously, that's just bad business. I don't mind having to pay for something at some point, that's the point of F2P, but don't ever FORCE me to just to log into the game or to chat with other people. Heck, there are a million free chat sites on the internet, no idea why they limited chatting in ANY channel in EQ2 until you pay for it.
On top of that, I'm a returning veteran with a prior sub and my account is still Bronze instead of silver. I've put in a ticket but haven't heard anything back yet. Doesn't look too good for SOE from my perspective. I was going to buy the expansion and resub, but since I can't even log in to check on my characters to see if I even want to, it's making me seriously consider NOT buying their product. Especially with Lotro's content patch next week, and SWTOR launching in 2.
Heck, even Champions Online and soon STO will have a better F2P model. That's pretty sad.
I agree with OP.
To try and get veterans to come back only to find all their characters locked out and you short on station cash is lame. Sure I could buy some SC and play my guy but the only carrot you are giving me to do so is "I wont have to pay a monthly fee". I was immediatly turned away and uninstalled.
You would think that buying each expansion as they were released and subbing for 5 years worth of time would at least grant access to the races and classes of the game once it went free to play.
This is not a very welcoming experience. They could have done this so much better. Even if it is just to give everyone a free two week introduction as gold members or something.
Instead you have thousands of vets returning to try out their old characters and they can't even see the world without paying money...
SOE is just absolutely clueless once again. Who the hell is making these decisions? This isn't freakin rocket surgery. Build up good will with your customers and they will be loyal to your game.
anyone know why my characters have dissapeared now its gone free to play?
recommend using their live game chat
https://help.station.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28939
Live Chat - If you cannot find the answer through the Knowledge Base you can chat directly with a technical support agent using Live Chat.
Chat Support is available Monday through Friday from 10:00am - 7:00pm PST (excluding holidays).
Live Chat link
https://help.station.sony.com/app/chat/chat...HprZ3FEaw%3D%3D
EQ2 fan sites
Pretty much agree, i had a quick go on the experimental server way back which was really the development server behind the backs of all the people whom were assured that monthly sub servers will remain, as they tell the vets this the whole f2p server was being worked on right in front of them, ouch baby, very ouch.
Starting all over on f2p wasn't in the cards for me back then though, i wanted to play the main.
Overall hearing about all servers going F2P i was kind of excited to hear that i can now play my old main again on the account i had since launch, i was interested and maybe, just maybe start playing again meet some old friends, who knows.
I log in to find everything LOCKED WTF??? How does this get anyone back playing the game? OK everyone it's free to play just give us some money first, are you F'ING serious SOE??? and no way I'm giving you any credit card info, you can't be trusted, had i got to play i may have picked up station cash card or two at the store but not now.
Let people play at least, schmooze them, give them at least one char, NOT SLAM THE DOOR RIGHT IN THEIR FACES. In the end i logged out, uninstalled the game, and thought what the double hockey sticks happened to this game and how grateful i walked away when i did.
My characters have disappeared too!
SOE probably added the character selection screen to the marketplace. 500SC to unlock it.
See, the thing is, they didn't do it for you. The design is such that it benefited people currently subscribed, on both the Live and Extended servers so we'd keep paying our monthly fee, encourage some of the current silver accounts to sub, and spread the new players coming into the game into all servers instead of the lion's share all going to a single F2P server.
If any older veteran's decide to come back and stay its a bonus, but wasn't the primary goal of this move. (they basically consider most of you a lost cause anyway)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
It didn't have to be that way. SOE missed a big oppurtunity here.