EQ going Free to Play in March

[Kickbuttmario]

Has anyone got the 14 day trial to work? It loads the launcher then says its not playable due to not being a subscriber.

---------- Post added 2012-01-30 at 09:21 PM ----------


Because Everquest is like the Godfather of MMORPGs and the WoW that you see right now is very much due to the success and innovation of Everquest. Check out this screenshot of a somewhat early EQ UI and youll notice the extreme similarities http://gnum.us/eq/velious01.png . People were playing this game before cable internet was considered the norm. People played this game on computers that can barely even run modern day Firefox. People played this game before auto-attacking an equal level mob and killing it easily was the norm. Leveling actually meant a huge accomplishment. People played this game before playing games was even considered normal. It could take days just to get level 10. Everything mattered. Dying in the game was a huge deal and could take you days to recover your corpse. You lost levels for dying. Raids were huge, 50-120 players often. There wasn't ventrilo, mumble, teamspeak, everything was typed. Gear wasn't handed to you like candy. If a raid zone was cleared by someone on your server, it meant it was killed.. Every boss was a "world" boss. The game was epicly huge. There was a huge community to coordinate and take turns killing world bosses.

Most importantly, there was a LOT of raid zones.. not just 1-3 per patch like in WoW. There were like three dozen to choose from. There weren't Heroic modes.. Your guild was either good enough to move on into bigger and better zones or they weren't.

WHAT THE FUCK?!!!

That sounds to be the worst freaking mmo rpg video game in existance. Heck that fails even harder than wow. Why on earth would any hardcore player like that? That isn't even hardcore. That's just a repetitive pointless grind, which stands for RPG.

Oh god was thinking of downloading it but I bet its a game where there is no hybrid class and each class is good for only one spec .

Seriously, I don't know why anyone would want to play this.

[Zamzaru]

I agree the game looks like dog shit. But so does Super Mario Brothers compaired to Super Mario Galaxy, and so does Doom compaired to Gears of War 3, but I still play them. I have been pretty bored it SWTOR latley so im kinda looking forward to get back to max level in EQ and raiding again. Everyone always bitched about the grinding exp but I actually like it. I loved getting a group of 6 guildies together, going to a camp spot and sitting there chatting for 5-6 hours killing the same shit over and over...IDK why that was fun but it was.

This , I loved that too.

[Pachycrocuta]

Wow, Mario... I don't know what to say. If it wasn't for the death penalty, I would have played the hell out of EQ when it was still big. I have no problem with the repetitive pointless grind, and actually kinda like it in a way. But the somewhat steep death penalty kept me away from the game. I seriously can't understand how people can hate on the grind that was EQ, yet have no problem whatsoever with the grind that is VP/JP/HP/CP acquisition. Now that, is a repetitive pointless grind.

[Deleted]

I thought it was free already? Or was it EQ2? What's the difference?
Any good pvp going on in that game?

---------- Post added 2012-01-31 at 08:35 PM ----------

Damn thats awesome. Aion and now EQ going free to play... I'll sure be busy until GW2 comes out

yea really good news for GW2 waiters =)

[Kickbuttmario]

Wow, Mario... I don't know what to say. If it wasn't for the death penalty, I would have played the hell out of EQ when it was still big. I have no problem with the repetitive pointless grind, and actually kinda like it in a way. But the somewhat steep death penalty kept me away from the game. I seriously can't understand how people can hate on the grind that was EQ, yet have no problem whatsoever with the grind that is VP/JP/HP/CP acquisition. Now that, is a repetitive pointless grind.

I don't play wow. Quit that game since July.

Wow has grinding in it but what the guy I just quoted said about EQ's grind is far beyond anything. The death penalty? That isn't like Dark Souls or Demon Souls harsh penalty, that goes far beyond anything. The time it takes to level is wasted if you die. Like... that is just insane. Don't get me wrong, the pve is appealing but taking days just to get to 10... wow during vanilla/tbc times took at least a few hours.

[blaqkmagick]

Does this mean that it isn't going to have a sub fee or does it mean I won't have to pay a dime to play it?
If it's totally free I might check it out. If I still have to pay for the game I'll probably give it a miss.

[Deleted]

All you hardcore "gamers" for whom LFD/LFR destroyed your video game "community" (hereby defined as "a loosely knit group of internet dragon hunters who actually want to read about your day at school/why you love peanut butter")...you may also want to check out a couple of other great F2P options: Facebook and Twitter. You can make literally hundreds, thousands or millions of "friends" and build "relationships" much faster than you ever could in WoW or EQ!

You jelly?
Except the old players, you know,those who can actually call themselves GAMERS, are not interrested into twitter and facebook, as it is a vault for the plague that consist in people like you, ie: lesson-givers 16y/o spoilded brats. These people don't talk about school days because they're not at school anymore. Not like you. They do not like peanut butter because it's disgusting (they do like Oreos, though). When they chat, they're doing roleplay while respecting the lore, they talk about boss strategies, ways to optimise their character, and anything game-related. Not that the last garwlz from da latest tv show has big boobz "lol roflmao xd woot".

Those who don't give a shit, watch TV when raiding and fail miserably, ruining other people game time, however, and I've met a lot of those, are excatly like what your message let me suppose you're: little kiddies all jelly about purplez epicz lootz but completely unable to justify why they want it and why they should have it.

tl;dr: nobody cares about you being jelly about those who play better than you and are involved into what they're doing. You should go play farmville instead of being a shame for these forums.

WHAT THE FUCK?!!!
That sounds to be the worst freaking mmo rpg video game in existance. Heck that fails even harder than wow. Why on earth would any hardcore player like that? That isn't even hardcore. That's just a repetitive pointless grind, which stands for RPG.
Oh god was thinking of downloading it but I bet its a game where there is no hybrid class and each class is good for only one spec .
Seriously, I don't know why anyone would want to play this.

Please never play EVE ONLINE, or you'll die from brain suffocation. No no no don't try to learn about it or you'll doing nightmares.

At least in EQ, people are REALLY playing a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE role playing game. Not just some solo-grinding easy-mode net-based derp-quests in a world where they can meet a few thousand other people whom they wont talk to because they don't need to.

By the way what are you missing in the word "hardcore"? It never was intended to depict a holiday trip in a forgiving friendly environment, you know...

[melodramocracy]

I don't play wow. Quit that game since July.

Wow has grinding in it but what the guy I just quoted said about EQ's grind is far beyond anything. The death penalty? That isn't like Dark Souls or Demon Souls harsh penalty, that goes far beyond anything. The time it takes to level is wasted if you die. Like... that is just insane. Don't get me wrong, the pve is appealing but taking days just to get to 10... wow during vanilla/tbc times took at least a few hours.

Which is why older players laugh when someone says that WoW was ever grindy / hardcore. As for death penalties, games that don't have one become rather pointless. Death in WoW is effectively 100% meaningless, as you will make far FAR more gold for repair bills by just going through the motions of playing the game than you'll ever have to worry about. It's literally god mode that just makes you run a bit further.

In older games like EQ and AC.... there were elements of risk, decisions and consequences, which made the game itself more intense.... and the situation could easily go from bad to worse if you weren't careful about collecting your stuff. It made going into a dangerous situation a decision that you might weigh carefully, rather than just plunging in headfirst with no second thought. It may appear to be overly harsh to a modern gamer, but it's something that needs to be experienced before passing judgement on.

[Gentlepenguin]

I don't play wow. Quit that game since July.

Wow has grinding in it but what the guy I just quoted said about EQ's grind is far beyond anything. The death penalty? That isn't like Dark Souls or Demon Souls harsh penalty, that goes far beyond anything. The time it takes to level is wasted if you die. Like... that is just insane. Don't get me wrong, the pve is appealing but taking days just to get to 10... wow during vanilla/tbc times took at least a few hours.

you seem to be taking him literally. you lost exp for death, and if you happened to be barely into a level that means you lost a level. you didn't just straight up lose levels for dying. resurrection spells varied in exp return, the highest when i played was like 95%? which is generally why you had to retrieve your corpse and bring it to a safe spot, aside from looting your gear back. everything was basically an elite mob as far as difficulty. most people partied up, camped a spot and pulled mobs to it, and in general mob spawns were terrible and people would cut into your camp and bicker. lots of spots were set up near rare spawns that had a chance to drop decent loot.

people would generally show up to the zone and ask for a camp check, parties would respond, and you'd go somewhere untaken. solo classes were pretty much kite or pet classes, and exp depended on how many mobs you could round up and kill without dying. if you could quad kite you were ok in general, some people could keep track of a lot more.

most old eq players will be able to tell you a horror story about traveling places, such as qeynos to freeport, and it's told fondly. good old nostalgia. there really wasn't much options at the time either, but anywho...it's changed a lot, you can blast through levels with hot zones, soloing is no problem, and gear is given through quests. oh and speaking of quests, the old fashion questing in EQ is hailing an npc and trying to figure out what you needed to respond with to further the conversation, by typing.

speaking of travel, before people started using showEQ (i never did) or they allowed maps/map packs, you got around by knowing landmarks/locations. i can't even begin to tell you how many people i had to lead through upper/lower guk. it was genuinely confusing for most people. mazes, secret walls, ladders, pits.

it's definitely wasn't for everyone, but it did have its magic, it had horrible design by todays standards that would induce rage among millions if they tried it. overcon mobs. the wow equivalent would be going to fight a green or grey mob and it whoops your ass. mobs don't leash. they don't reset. they chase you all the way to the zone then waltz back to where they were. which is why most groups didn't camp at entrances.

level 30-40 giants walking around your upper teens area and probably killing you? it happened. level 50 guard that wasn't happy about which deity you chose to worship when you created your character? kersplat. there was parts of towns you couldn't enter because you pissed off the bards guild or you were a paladin and those were shadowknights, or you had to take the sewers behind a hidden wall because the guards would attack you. it's just one of those first time feeling games, and people long for that feeling again, or become jaded.

[melodramocracy]

it's just one of those first time feeling games, and people long for that feeling again, or become jaded.

Absolutely. AC's death penalty wasn't a loss of experience, but a loss of overall power... a stacking debuff that had to be worked off. I don't recall the numbers, but I believe the max you could lose was 24% effectiveness. Not only this, but when you died, a few things would happen.

a) your corpse exists 5 minutes for every level your character is.
b) the game takes a certain amount of your most expensive items, and leaves them on the corpse. If your corpse goes away (see above), your pile of stuff is there for the taking by someone else.

This would, at times, add an interesting twist to things, especially when you realize that there were no markers or coordinates in place for your corpse. You could be soloing out on the Obsidian Plains (a rather huge and non-descript plot of land), get killed, and then have to venture back to 'try' and find the exact spot you died. Die again on the way? Lose more gear, and you're a bit weaker.. and the clock is still running on your first corpse.

It was not unusual to see a path of corpses in a high level area, from someone that wasn't able to get anyone help him retrieve items. Fall into a lava pool in a dungeon? You'd better bring a healer, you're going to need one.

[subanark]

Ah everquest... that really didn't have much in the way of quests. It was all about repetitive gameplay, grinding out NPCs to level, and learning not to be too cocky as it could easily cost you a day (or more) worth of xp. Going anywhere too a long while. You could grind faction with anyone, and there aren't any factions that divide players (on most servers).

Boss strat for standard end game 72-man boss (healer):
6 cleric healers cast complete heal (10 second cast) on tank with each starting 2 seconds after the last one. The tank will die in 3 seconds if not fully healed each tine.
Repeat this for 2 hours.

[Zamzaru]

Does this mean that it isn't going to have a sub fee or does it mean I won't have to pay a dime to play it?
If it's totally free I might check it out. If I still have to pay for the game I'll probably give it a miss.

Here is the info blaqk : http://www.everquest.com/free/

[Drakhar]

Ummm Okay I don't get this.

What is Everquest 2 then? Isn't free on steam? Just checked, it is free on steam.

So... why is everyone getting excited for the previous everquest game when the second is out? Forgive my ignorance.

EverQuest 2 = disappointing, terrible sequel, and generally bad game.
EverQuest 1 = God's gift to mankind.

So I looked into it, by having an existing account you get the "silver" membership automatically, the equivalent of $5 lol. GLAD MY YEARS OF FAITHFUL SERVICE AND 6 XPAC PURCHASES AT FULL PRICE ARE WORTH $5 TO YOU SONY! JK JK... but really, how are these limitations going to affect my existing toons? Do I lose the shared bank spots, etc? Sounds like I can't make any new characters unless I want to be limited to 4 classes/races (another lawl, and all the good ones are restricted, naturally).

i can't even begin to tell you how many people i had to lead through upper/lower guk.

I learned Lower Guk like a real baws: by running from a train my first time in from magi room, and zoning out with a solid 100 hp/0 stamina after a clutch Lay on Hands while stun-spinning in the fucking river.

... Damn I love EverQuest!

[Profyrion]

My friends are gonna go apeshit over this.

Yeah, mine too. God... we had so much fun back in the day...

[The Darkitecht]

you seem to be taking him literally. you lost exp for death, and if you happened to be barely into a level that means you lost a level. you didn't just straight up lose levels for dying. resurrection spells varied in exp return, the highest when i played was like 95%? which is generally why you had to retrieve your corpse and bring it to a safe spot, aside from looting your gear back. everything was basically an elite mob as far as difficulty. most people partied u.............. <snip>

I completely agree with this post, as well as others like it. As a hardcore EQ1 player, and now a long-term WoWer. I can say without a fathomable doubt that EQ1 is magical by definition, and the most amazing, immersible MMO yet. I started during the end of classic, right before ruins of kunark launched - played up through omens of war, and then quit/started up again several times after that.

When I first started EQ, I had never played or even heard of an "mmo rpg" before. The idea of playing in a large world with hundreds, if not thousands, of other players was astonishing to me. I'd have people walk up to my computer and I'd be like "You see that guy right there? That's another player, except he's in California!" and then they would say "Wow, really? that is amazing!"

It truly was an Ever - Quest, though not by WoW's standard definition of "quest". The "Quest" was you creating your avatar, and entering the world of Norrath. Choosing your race, your deity, your starting city in some cases. Braving the world alone, until you happened to come across someone who needed help, or you needed help yourself. The person would then become your acquaintance, and you would start seeking them for grouping on a regular basis.

In EverQuest, I was not intimidated or afraid to walk up to a complete random stranger and say hello, or ask them if they wanted to group up and find others for an expedition into a dungeon so we could try to get some experience and loot. In World of Warcraft, if i walk up to somebody and say "Wanna party?" They say, "Go to hell @#$@#%", or "No thanks soloing." Noone cares to group with strangers, because there is no need to.

There was no sense of "I need to level up faster so I can raid and get epics." I didn't even know what the hell the level cap was, let care enough to rush it to end game. I got experience as it came to me, and when it wasn't coming to me by killing monsters it was coming to me in other ways - learning the landscape, exploring new territories, helping out friends in old dungeons I hadn't attempted to crawl through yet - which would have rewarding drops for even me, despite being 20 levels too high for the place, or just in general meeting new people that I would winde up grouping with in the future.

This all falls into place, because as you level up, your friends did as well. Eventually you all made it to end-game, starting at level 51. You'd want to work on that epic quest of yours because it was truly epic indeed, but you could never do it alone. You had to join a guild, and if you had no guild, you had to rely on your friends that you'd made leveling up to be able to help you obtain it - and in retrospect, they would expect the same from you. There was no selfish ambition to help someone with their epic quest, there was no valor point incentive, or gold incentive, or pretty mount or pet that would be rolled off at the end, there was nothing except the joy that you had helped your friend accomplish his quest - and know that he would be there to help you with yours when the time came. The quests took upwards of 70+ people to complete in some cases, and finishing your epic was indeed an accomplishment.

Character power was not reset with every expansion like it is in warcraft. If you had a character that was 7 years old and you played it for that long, and some other guy starts a character, levels it up to the cap, and has the same exact gear as you, all in 6 months time - you would still be more powerful. Character advancements past the level cap, via what they called AA's, made sure that every minute you spent killing monsters on your character was a valuable one. No exp was wasted, you'd gain more points and points by grouping up and killing/camping things at the level cap, which was incentive for level capped players to go and exp with players who were still not level capped. That 7 year old shaman with gear ranging over 3-4 different expansions has over 1,000 alternate advancement points! Meanwhile, the new shaman who is in Full BIS raid gear for the current expansion who was created only 6 months ago, has only 100 alternate advancement points. The 7 year old shaman wins by a mile in the useful department, and is better then the full BiS shaman in nearly every way.

Long-winded post I know, but I loved EQ and everything they did with the game. but the sense of friendship and discovery that was found in EQ, will never be found in another MMO again. We know what to expect in modern day MMO's - Play to reach the level cap and to raid and get loots. If the game looks pretty and has fun combat, and lots of raid mobs to kill, then it is worth playing. EQ was worth playing just to play - screw the level cap, screw the loot, and screw the graphics - the adventure into the unknown was what made the game truly an Ever Quest.

[Calzaeth]

hahaahahahahHELLno.

I actually want to check out EQ, but the free membership is just too damn restricted.

Shame, really. I WOULD have given it a try if I had access to all classes, and some other things that are restricted.