Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Sub Opinions - Extended or "Regular"
Centhan
Member Posts: 483
Just curious about opinions from people who are really knowledgable on the current state of EQ2.
If one were to purchase a montly subscrption, which would you do? Purchse it on the new Extended server, or on one of their a regular servers
My issue is...I've been fooling around with the Extended server and the population seems very good at the lower levels (which I enjoy). I was considering buying a month for fun, but I can't believe there are still restrictions even AFTER buying the monthly sub. Namely, you are only limited to 7 clases out of 24, and can only play 4 races. The chart is shown here: http://everquest2.com/free_to_play/game_overview
When I lay out my money and purchase a monthly sub, I expect the full version of the game (sorry, call me crazy). I can easily do that going to a regular server, however, my concern is population. Is there even anyone left left the lower levels on the regular servers? I really don't feel like soloing level 1-70 (if I even get up that far). I like the grouping aspect of this game and it's actually pretty enjoyable at lower levels doing that.
Thanks.
Comments
It really comes down to what you want out of the game.
extended is best for the following:
short term play (don't plan to play for more than a month or two)
real casual playtimes (don't plan to play more than say... 10 hours a week)
lower and mid-level gameplay, both group and solo, but the grouping will be for very easy content
extended has high low-level populations and no end-game.
regular servers are best for the following:
long-term play - you plan to be around for a while and make this your game of choice
end-game play - whether you want to group or raid or both, regular servers are where the endgame is best
mostly solo questing and leveling - due to populations, you'll probably need to level up mostly solo.
regular servers have minimal low and mid-level populations, but tend to have plenty of high level guilds and people.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
I play on the sub server Guk and I won’t lie to you there isn’t a ton of lower level activity going on other than people leveling alts. I think the only server you might find activity at lower level players would be the PVP servers or maybe a roleplaying one and even there I’m not sure how much of that is still going on.
The whole “extended” things has really made a lot of sub players sour in this game. The way they structured it almost guarantees that few will ever move to sub servers since you have to buy the all-in-one expansion, create a new character, and pay a monthly sub to move. They really kind of screwed over the “extended” players as well since the only way to get access to everything is to buy the all-in-one expansion and pay $200 for a one year sub. Granted it comes with $60 in station cash over the year but it still seems like a underhanded way to bump sales. The other way I guess is to purchase more race options.
If you buy a month, buy it on the regular servers. I say this because there are no restrictions there at all and you can still buy stuff on the station xchange servers. The only thing you'd have to do is buy the game.
P.S. if you plan to do the monthly, I wouldn't worry about transferring your character. You level so fast and you'll have access to FREE EXP potions. It's not worth the 35 bucks to transfer
Edited to add: Antonia Bayle is the largest sub server.
Pay 5 dollars. Get the weekend sub for live. Make a toon there and see that every server is DEAD.
After you realize everyone from live is lying in the desperate hope they can save their dying servers, switch and make a FREE toon on the Extended servers.
Play on bronze for a while and learn the game. You'll have LOTS of help from the LOTS of population.
We also have numerous lvl 90 raid guilds ACTIVE right now. The Live people are lying about this as well.
We have endgame right now on extended. They just hate admitting it.
The total cost to you, to find out for yourself which you prefer, is 5 dollars.
That's the cheapest way you can find out for yourself, which you prefer. Try both. 5 bucks.
The above poster is a bit one-sided. There is no way you'll get a chance to experience a live server's endgame for an $5 sub in a weekend. All you'll see is that there is little to no population at low level. Which multiple people in this thread have already told you. (There, i just saved you 5 bucks!)
My server - LDL - which is not the busiest in the game, currently has at least 15 active raid guilds. Now I am not talking about random pick-up raids, or guilds that don't raid (which are more numerous), i'm talking strictly guilds that raid on a regular basis. There are at least 15. On one server with a medium population. And if you don't like it on that server, you can (for a fee) take your character and go to one of the many other servers. If you do extended, you're basically locked for life unless you want to reroll.
Here is a link to the server section of eq2flames, which is the unofficial forum of eq2 (or official forum of its raiders, depending on how you want to look at it): http://www.eq2flames.com/server-drama/ you can look at every server's forum and see a thread that is called "Sentinel's Fate Progression" or "SF Progression" or somesuch. This will tell you how many raid guilds are on the server, since most post there. Not 100% of them, but the majority. You won't get a measure of casual guilds and stuff, but you'll get an idea of the raid ones, which are a good indicator of endgame server health.
I tried, but can't seem to find the eq2x progression thread, but hopefully one of the eq2x folks can point it out. This way you can compare apples to apples when it comes to endgame.
If all you want is the low-mid level experience and casual play, eq2x is the way to go. It's definitely the worse choice for a long term commitment, at least until they enable transfers from eq2x to live.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Just for clarification.
If you go gold on the extended server you get all the classes unlocked. You do only have the same choices in races meaning 4. However since race don't effect your class having just 4 races is no big deal. At least to me. So if you wanted to be a Paladin for example (A class you would have to buy with either bronze or silver) you don'thave to buy with gold.
Since you like grouping your best bet would be to stay on the extended server. The live servers are very low populated in the lower levels so you would end up soloing I would guess at least 60% of the time. Groups are possible but rare. There are lots of grouping once you get into the late 70's though.
I play on Crushbone which many consider to be the 3rd most populated server. I also am playing on the extended server with a couple of friends.( I did not and will not copy a character over) There is a huge diference playing in the lower levels between servers. I'm having a lot of fun on extended doing content I have not done in years. Finding groups is really easy. So far my friends have no complaints about being silver. They sell their wares via auction channel or just by shouting at zone docks. They don't miss the broker at all and made quite a few friends that way and regular buyers. Every now and then they do get a little disappointed when they loot a master they could have used. However they find that they can get an expert made for that spell/combat art for trade for the master. So both parties win.
If you do stay on extended and get to level 80 and want to continue then just buy the expansion. That will unlock the rest of the contend to level 90 and it only costs about $30.00 US.
So Good luck in your choice. There really is no wrong answer and all we can do is make suggestions.
Just to add, the platinum membership gets you access to Sentinel's Fate without paying extra for the expac, more character slots than on any Live subscription, no restrictions and station cash/month. It comes out to be over $16/month, which is not that much when you think about it.
You get one extra slot with gold than you do if you're a Live sub, but restrictions to races. You can also unlock classes and races through the station store so that if you drop gold, you can still have access to those classes/races + the game itself. If you're semi-casual and find yourself dropping subs every now and then, Extended is a great choice for that.
The big problem with Extended is that there is no way to unlock character/bag/bank/journal slots a la carte and is my number 1 complaint about their payment model, other than that they force you to buy racepacks with gold if you don't like the free races.
They should give people the option to unlock character/bag/bank/journal slots if they want to pay stationcash in my view.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
i'm back in the game, trying out the extended server. so far i havent spend a dime yet, but i'm torn between paying a subscription rate of 14.95 for a live server and 14.95 for a gold status in extended. the only problem i see is that even with gold status, it still comes with restriction.
i think that's what i will do. i cant justify 200 bucks a year for the platinum membership. did you get sentinel's fate?
then i probably wouldnt get to benefit much from it as well. my characters are all in their 20s. thanks for the tip! if i'm back in live, i will join your server.
so i caved in - purchase sentinel's fate and resub regular eq2. i'm hoping to last longer than i did before. i think the highest level toon i have is 27. i get lost easily in the game because the world is so huge and i started so late. when i get to the huge cities, i have no idea what i should do.
I've posted this picture a lot and I'll post it as much as needed...
EQ2X is nice to play as casual game. If you intend to play it more than casual, subscription (EQ2 regular) is the best option IMO...
Things have changed. They have "WoW-ified" a lot. Go to your options and somewhere in there...you can turn on quest indicators over NPCs heads. You can even turn on the lower level ones your missed. You'll find PLENTY to do.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
yeah, i've compared the cost and realised how ridiculous the gold membership is.
What happens if a sub is cancelled? On sub servers I presume, no pay no play, on Extended you go back to bronze/silver but still have full access to your toon? Right?
If what I've said is correct (which it could well not be
) my preference would be gold on extended, cos if I stop paying for any reason, I can still play
Or have I missed something obvious?
Cheers,
you're absolutely right, i can't play on the sub server if the sub is cancelled. if SOE's gold membership is similar to Turbine, i wouldn't mind paying. but paying 14.95 a month and still get restrictions is really cunning.
There is no limitation on playable classes once you are gold, only on races. The classes limitation is only for bronze and silver. Classes and races can be bought on the marketplace.
I used to play on the live servers, the game was boring lately, I thought I have had enought of EQ2, then the extended came out and I'm having a blast like I used to have years back, it's just a matter of population. My recomendation is to go to the extended servers.
Yesterday there were 8 instances of the frostang sea. If you already got an eq2 account you can log with it in eq2 extended too, just log there and check for your self.
Edit: If you play a gold class and you close you cancel yor sub, you can't play it anymore, if it's one of the free clases you still can play it.
But you can unlock classes for a free account, meaning you pay one time and you can play it forever for free.
Yeah, that sucks, and given that you'll be subscribing you'll probably exceed one of the limits of free play (class, gold, spell level etc...) and, presumably, lose access to the toon? (It'd be interesting to know how that'll work)
I'd be tempted to suggest sub servers,but it depends what you're after. I think the guys from the Sub servers have detailed the choices pretty well.
I agree with this message... Population make the game better, I quit EQ2 beacuse there was no one on.