November 6, 2008

Bring On the Alts – Er, Wait. Nope.

stargrace November 6, 2008 8Comments

One thing I’ve always disliked about EQ2 (yes, there are actually things I dislike, I know, how odd!) is the lack of character slots. You’re restricted (currently, with a regular account) to 7 characters lots, not per server, but for the entire game. In a game where there are 9 crafting classes and you can only chose one per character, with 24 class types, 7 characters is a pretty small selection. Sure there are ways of obtaining more – if you subscribe to station access for example. This boosts your character count from 7 to 12 (number may be off by one or two, it’s been a little bit) almost doubling it. Of course the cost of the game also doubles from $14.99 to $29.99 American, and if you’re only playing the one Sony title it doesn’t quite seem worth it. If you play EverQuest-PC, and Pirates of the Burning Sea (yes, people still play that I hear), Vanguard, or any other number of games along with EverQuestII then I can see how you may want to subscribe. It’s almost better to just purchase a second account though and box, and get LoN rewards on both accounts. 

I am hoping that players gain one (or how about 3 to make it an even 10) character slot when TSO goes live. I’ve already got a level 80 warden, coercer, and dirge. A level 78 illusionist, 76 templar, 61 necromancer (pictured above) and a 50 monk. They all craft. That means that aside from the 40 new aa we’re being allotted, I have very little room for ‘new’ progression. Since the expansion focuses on 50+ content (scaling at that) I suppose I wouldn’t want a lower level character, but the ‘alt itch’ is always there just beneath the surface. I don’t have any T1 dps, a wizard, ranger, or assassin. I’ve been itching for another scout (the dirge doesn’t count) so much to the point of almost deleting that 61 necromancer I haven’t touched in ages. So why not just delete her and remove her from the picture? Well, she’s also an 80 sage which is harder for me to get rid of. I remember how many hours upon hours of work I put into her.

I’m not alone in this boat either. It’s quite common to see people with 1-4 level 80 characters, and a handful of crafters. In EQ-PC when people reached the max level they would work on their achievements since there are so many of them – in EQ2 there is a lack of things to do at end game aside from raid. So what does everyone do? They make alts. If they’re not making alts they’re bored and are typically taking a break until the new expansion gets here.

The character limit has been a debate for quite some time. Reasons where given for why it was so limiting when EQ2 first came out, wanting to reduce the number of names taken or some such, but it’s been almost 5 years now, and while the number of characters regular accounts can have HAS grown (it used to be 4  when the game first came out) it’s not enough. We really need at least one more character slots. If for no other reason then feeding my love of alts.