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.

8 thoughts on “Bring On the Alts – Er, Wait. Nope.”
  1. its not the most convenient, but I beleive you can have 21 char slots without buying station access

    U.S live servers-7
    Euro Live-7
    Test-7

    from what ive read all of these are separate and you can have 7 characters on each of these. I havent tried the euro stuff, but I have tried out test and you can get at least up to 14 hehe. If im wrong about the euro ones being separate, then sorry for the misleading info lol

  2. Must admit that when ive played eq2 and my son has as well hes always filled the slots up …As for station access ive been paying for it for maybe 2 years so i could play eq2/vg and he could play swg..but as the £ is so bad against the dollar its gone from £18 to £23/month so its way too much now :(..so back to lotro as i bought the lifetime lol…

  3. The character slots thing has been a big deal for me since day one, back when we got 4 slots. I like to play alts and experiment, and when you have a game with 24 classes and a big batch of races, you can run out of slots very quick.

    It becomes a psychological drain. One of the ways I get back into a game when I have been away is often to roll a new character. But with EQ2 I am tapped out, I’ve done that a few times plus made some alts and have no slots available unless I go Station Access.

    Now, some times Station Access is fine. In the fall when I want to go poke my nose into EQ as well, I’m good with it. But to pay double the subscription rate for one game, that is a mental line I cannot cross.

    And EQ2 seems to be the only game with which I have this problem. Of course, a lot of it relates back to the early days when trade skills were all interdependent, so we made our own little trade skill cartel among three players, but now I hate to delete them because I have all those trade skills up in the 50-70 range.

    Anyway, it is a burden I feel in EQ2 that I do not feel in WoW, EQ, or WAR.

  4. I kept restarting on different servers, so my highest character is/was only 45, and I never ran into this problem, but I can see where it would be a pain if you like having all the crafter types. I really would have no reason to buy a station pass either.

  5. I agree! Then you can play with me =)

    Even though my highest level is 34, i could still use more slots. I really wish it was 10 per server or so. I have deleted all the other toons I had on verious servers to make more to play with Nostaliga. Made me sad to delete some of them they I had spent a decent amount of time on.

  6. “Sure there are ways of obtaining more – if you subscribe to station access for example. This boosts your character count from 7 to 12”

    You can’t just purchase base character slots. It comes in the station access deal.

  7. Agreed totally, and I don’t even have an 80. This is one of the very few things about EQ2 that I think just wasn’t thought out very well. Possibly it made sense the way classes were originally set up, but it doesn’t now. It’s past time for SOE to pony up another four slots for everybody.

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