EQ2X and My Rambling #EQ2X #EQ2
stargrace Two things were brought to my attention yesterday – and a third today. First of all please understand dear readers that I am not opposed to the LDL to Crushbone move. In fact I support it. I just wish that for those few people who were not keen on losing their role play server (even if they don’t role play much) there was another option. I actually used to play on LDL and moved off of it due to the small population. I think that this move is a good thing.
Second of all – I have never played EQ2X before or experienced the game on that server. It’s a little unfair of me to talk about it as though I am some expert when I’ve never even played it. Last night I created an EQ2X character and was really surprised at just how popular this one server is. There were multiple instances of Halas open (starting zone), people talking in channels, there were 3 different raids going on that I could see for levels 50+ and all of this on a Monday evening. It left me both excited (players are good) and disheartened (wow I wish my server on EQ2 were more like this one).
Thirdly – This comment was left by Green Armadillo:
Incidentally, you can also play EQ2EX just for the housing for free with surprising success. Your expansion accesses carry over from live, so you can get at all the crafted housing stuff. Many of the other furniture items come from world events that are available to a very low level character. Yes, you’ll need to obtain the minimal gold needed to purchase the home, and yes, your bagspace will be limited, but those are relatively small prices to pay for getting the best housing system on the market without paying a dime (regardless of whether you’re doing so to avoid giving SOE any money as a matter of principle).
The more I thought about it the more I liked his idea. The majority of my anger over recent changes has been because I feel it’s unfair to pay $14.99/m + the extra cost of game basics (ie: races). If I’m playing on the EQ2X servers the cost becomes moot since you can technically play for free. Sure, it’s incredibly limiting, but you CAN play. I also already own the expansions so I have that going for me. You can upgrade (a one time cost) for $10 and unlock the broker, a little more cash, and a few other goodies like extra bag and character slots. I lack a steady game with any real housing and I feel as though I am drifting until “the game” comes along to sweep me up. Be it EQ Next, Rift, or some other game like SWTOR. I didn’t feel right paying $14.99/m just to do housing in EQ2 – but I wouldn’t mind paying a lower cost to do housing.
See as soon as someone mentions Free to Play (or Freemium) my opinion of what I “expect” with the base game changes. In a free to play game I’m not expecting all of the races to be available. I don’t expect to be able to adventure in every zone. I expect things to be different than if I were to have a subscription. Maybe I’m cheating things a little bit here by saying Goodbye EQ2, hello EQ2X but I really DO love the housing. It’s just that – only – housing is not enough to keep me in game.
Thinking out loud, maybe I am simply having a hard time breaking free of a game that I’ve played for so long and I just need to go cold turkey. Except I can’t even really do that because my job requires me to at least keep contact and preferably PLAY the game. Oy. Some times I just wish things were different.