Guild Wars charges $10 for a character slot, too. But I'm fine with it in Guild Wars, because things like that are instead of a monthly fee. $10 per character slot on top of a monthly fee is ridiculous, though. We do, of course, have a simple solution: don't play EverQuest II.
On March 16, 2012, EverQuest went free-to-play (F2P).
SOE calls it Free to Play. Your Way.™
- SOE EQ free-to-play matrix and FAQ (Original Matrix, Link via the Wayback Machine from February 4, 2012)
- SOE EQ free-to-play matrix and FAQ (Link via the Wayback Machine from March 13, 2014)
- EQ FAQ - See this Daybreak FAQ for the latest on how this all works.
- 2Membership
- 2.2Silver
- 2.3All Access (Gold)
- 3Membership matrix
SOE info[edit]
| “ | EverQuest has released 18 [now 24] expansions over the last 13 [now 18] years. Players returning to the game or joining us for the first time will now have access to 17 of those expansions. All accounts will be flagged up to and including the House of Thule expansion. Our latest expansion, Veil of Alaris [now Ring of Scale], is available for purchase in the marketplace. Any account missing an expansion, has now been flagged up through House of Thule.Accounts that previously attained expansions still have their flags. EverQuest offers a total of 16 unique races and 16 distinct classes. For Silver and Free memberships, the free options included are: Available Races:
Available Classes:
| ” |
— Naylie DelANews, SOE Community Relations | ||
| “ | Hi there, Norrathians! You may not realize it, but we talk about you all the time. All day, every day, we dream up ways to make these games better for you, the loyal players and fans of Norrath.EverQuest and EverQuest II have both been running as free-to-play games for a good chunk of time now. We've learned a lot while that's been happening, and we can make things better for you. So, we're going to take out a bunch of the free-to-play restrictions that you're used to as a Free or Silver player. Why? Because we want you to play more of the game without restriction. We think that letting you play more of the game lets you learn to love Norrath and gives you more chances to connect with the community and make friends. As of mid-next week [March 13, 2013], we're going to be removing the following free-to-play restrictions in EverQuest and EverQuest II. Free and Silver players will now have access to all of the following options:
| ” |
— EverQuest Community News March 2013 - Upcoming Changes for Free and Silver Members | ||
| “ | The Veil of Alaris content, previously included with Rain of Fear will become part of the Free to Play offering [when Call of the Forsaken is released]. | ” |
— EverQuest - Call of the Forsaken pre-order info | ||
Membership[edit]
EQ has three levels of membership, of which only two are available for new players. Note that all levels of membership do not include the latest expansion (currently Empires of Kunark), which must be purchased separately.
Free[edit]
Eq2 Find A Character
Play For Free.
Beginning players default to the Free level of membership. They have access to most of the content in the world of Norrath. There are certain content, feature, and service limitations that are only unlocked through a la carte item purchases or by upgrading membership to another tier. Initially, these accounts were limited to a choice of four classes and four races, as well as limit on how much platinum they could store, but these restrictions were later dropped.
Silver[edit]
Eq2 Character Stats
$5.00 USD.
To become a Silver member there is a one-time item purchase called the 'Silver Membership Pack,' which costs $5.00 USD or 500 Station Cash. That pack grants two additional character slots per server, better chat options, extra inventory capacity, raises your quest journal limit, gives you the ability to create guilds, and more. Once you purchase a Silver Membership Pack, you are permanently raised to that membership level. There is no recurring fee for this pack or membership.
Note that you can not use the Station Cash from one account to buy a Silver Membership Pack (or anything else) for another account.
Previous EverQuest subscribers who did not have an active subscription at the time of the free-to-play conversion will automatically be converted to the Silver membership.
End of Silver sales[edit]
When SOE iiiiii oooooo pppppp
Grandfathered[edit]
If you had a Gold account before Gold was replaced by All Access (April 29th, 2014), then if your account lapses (goes free), the account becomes Silver. Accounts created after that date will become Free accounts if All Access lapses.
All Access (Gold)[edit]
All Access (formerly known as Gold) accounts have full access to EverQuest (some expansions require additional purchase). In addition, All Access grants full membership in EverQuest II, PlanetSide 2 (PC), DC Universe Online (PC), and H1Z1 (PC).
The cost is $14.99 USD/month (note that there are various discounts and subscriptions available). Using one Krono will grant you 30 days of All Access.
Gold members get the same exact level of play that paying customers have always gotten. All paying customers automatically become Gold members.
If you cancel your Gold Membership and your account was Gold anytime before or about April 16, 2014, you will be converted to Silver membership when your Gold membership expires.
500 Daybreak Cash monthly[edit]
All Access members also receive 500 Daybreak Cash per month for each paid recurring subscription they have. This excludes people who use other methods to pay for their accounts, only recurring subscriptions (credit / debit card and automatic account billing payments) get this. Additionally, All Access members receive a 10% discount on Marketplace purchases. You must go in-game and claim your Daybreak Cash each month by opening up the Marketplace and clicking the Claim button.
Membership matrix[edit]
With the link to SOE's matrix only available via the Wayback Machine, this is an attempt to create one here based on what current information we can find. Some of this information may be incorrect or outdated. See also the Notes below the table.
| Free | Silver | All Access (Gold) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost (Many additional features and services available in the Marketplace) | Free | Free (only available for grandfathered accounts) | $9.99 to $14.99 a month (depending on subscription). Additionally, one Krono grants 30 days. |
| Expansions provided at no extra cost (All memberships can purchase additional expansions) | Up to and including Ring of Scale | Up to and including Ring of Scale | Up to and including Ring of Scale |
| Player Character Races | All | All | All |
| Player Character Classes | All | All | All |
| Maximum level attainable (Purchase of Torment of Velious required to reach 115) | 115 | 115 | 115 |
| Player Character Slots (Three additional may be purchased in the Marketplace, and three additional with loyalty tokens) | 2 per server | 4 per server | 8 per server |
| Spell Ranks (Rank II and III spells will cast as Rank I for Free and Silver accounts) | Rank I | Rank I | Rank I, II, III |
| Maximum AAs (If your account was at a higher membership and dropped down you do not lose any, you just can not gain more if at or above your current membership maximum) | 250 | 1000 | unlimited |
| AA Auto-Grant option | No | No | Yes |
| Can use Prestige items | No | No | Yes |
| In-Game Mail Service | Receive | Receive | Send and Receive |
| Parcel Delivery System | Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Unrestricted |
| Loyalty Tokens (Crowns) | Per-week maximum of 30 | Per-week maximum of 60 | Per-week maximum of 120 |
| Loyalty Vendor | Cannot buy alternate currencies | Cannot buy alternate currencies | All items available |
| Mercenary Tier | Apprentice Tiers 1 and 2 | Apprentice All Tiers | Apprentice and Journeyman, All Tiers |
| Guild | Join only | Join and Create | Join and Create |
| House and Neighborhood Guild Hall | All housing but no guild halls | All | All |
| Place Items in Guild Hall | No | Yes | Yes |
| Broker System | Restricted | Restricted | Unrestricted |
| Chat | /shout, /auction, /raid, /fellowship, and the new player channel | All | All |
| Progression Servers | Unavailable | Unavailable | Available |
| Customer Service | Knowledge Base Only (full service for transaction-based issues) | Knowledge Base Only (full service for transaction-based issues) | Full |
| In-Game Pop-up Advertising | Upgrade Reminders | Upgrade Reminders | None |
| Opens Browser Advertisement On Game Exit | Yes | Yes | No |
| Shared Bank Slots | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Overseer Rewards | Experience, Overseer Tetradrachms | Experience, Overseer Tetradrachms | Experience, Overseer Tetradrachms, Ornamentations, and Collections |
Notes[edit]
- Free access requires payment if you wish to upgrade your membership or to make purchases in the in-game Marketplace.
- Many 'unlockers' are available in the Marketplace which grant Free and Silver accounts some All Access benefits.
- All membership levels are granted full access to the game world though the Ring of Scale expansion. Torment of Velious expansion must be purchased separately and will grant access to all previous expansions as well.
- Higher ranked spells and tier mercenaries may be subject to content unlock.
- Players must have a Silver or All Access Membership to own a Guild Hall that can be placed in a neighborhood zone.
- Free and Silver membership accounts will receive customer service to resolve real money transaction-based issues only. Support for other gameplay and performance issues is available at the online knowledge base.
- All Access accounts created before March 16, 2012 were granted two additional Player Character Slots. They will continue to have them as long as the accounts do not lapse.
Free to Play. Your Way.™ is a trademark and/or registered trademark of Daybreak Game Company LLC. Daybreak Game Company LLC does not endorse and is not affiliated with Fanra's EverQuest Wiki.
Eq2 Character Sheet
- chat is disabled(for most purposes)
This one I added is what would turn most from EQ2. I know why they have done what they have done, but it still is...obnoxious. Some people just have a need to chat(me included) and without the ability to do that...gameplay better be perfect. Fortunately, there is a LOT to do and it is, for all purposes, pretty fun.
So, if I purchase a character slot, I mustn't sub? Or it'll stay locked? That's THEFT! Or, if not that, a FRAUD. Felony, no matter how you look at it!
i was unaware that ftp chat is an issue - thanks for correction--------------------------------
Character slots:
SOE gives the slots you pay for
total available slots = ftp slots + your addittional paid slots
Both Turbines Dungeons and Dragons Online and SOE offer more character slots with sub
both publishers lock your characters if you created more characters than free to play allows
even if you paid for extra slots (I'm speaking from experience)
what SOE does wrong (in my opinion) is this:
Turbine: ftp pick and choose what character slots will stay locked
SOE: your free characters are automatically assigned based upon the last time the character logged in
example:
SOE ftp gives you 2 character slots
you pay for 2 extra (total of 4 slots as free to play)
sub gives you 7 slots (or 9 slots with 2 extra paid slots)
you go back to ftp but now have only 4 slots
4 slots is 2 more slots than regular ftp
but you may not get the specific characters you want