The Classic EverQuest MMORPG Finally Goes Free to Play

[exfileme]

EverQuest now features a free-to-play model.

The Classic EverQuest MMORPG Finally Goes Free to Play : Read more

 

[memadmax]

Still sucks.

 

[jgutz2006]

ohh man and to think that my first Quake 3 clan fell apart due to flakes leaving for EQ!

Quakelive.com, quake fans are quite loyal as well!

 

[NuclearShadow]

EverQuest was the MMORPG that was such a major success and made everyone else want a piece of the pie. The game was a quality game as well. There is a reason why so many have come and died while EverQuest still goes on. Before WoW when someone mentioned MMORPGs the first game that came to mind was EverQuest.

13 years of pay to play when newer games are now lucky to achieve a few years. Not to mention the countless ones that ended completely. You have to hand it to EverQuest it is a piece of gaming history. For the critics please point to me a game you developed that had a 13 year P2P lifespan.

 

[aoneone]

wow big news.. eq emulator is stronger than ever and with original servers dedicated to 1999 realism. big deal. Hah!

 

[Hypertraxx]

lol da fuq, like anyone wants to play this crap. Just like WoW.

Well maybe some people do... Virginity must be high to them.
May the virginity gods be with them who play these games and protect them another 13years from girls.

 

[dgingeri]

I logged back in yesterday, and realized why I hated that game so much so long ago. I couldn't even find my way off the plane of knowledge, let alone find components for my spells. WoW is just light years better.

 

[Guest]

" logged back in yesterday, and realized why I hated that game so much so long ago. I couldn't even find my way off the plane of knowledge, let alone find components for my spells. WoW is just light years better."

Easier is not always better. Everquest as a raid game is much superior to wow. It harder, involves more people and tougher stratigies. People don't use addon's to make playing their class easier like heal bot

 

[Dyseman]

Man, Flashback to Voodoo2 Card and Hell Levels. Back in the day, this was my first official pay per month game. Back in a time I thought people were crazy to pay a subscription just to play a game.

 

[Dyseman]

[citation][nom]Plasmid[/nom]Shit, Just looked at the graphics and they haven't been updated. I bet supermario has better graphics than this crap.[/citation]

Yeah, Super Mario updated over the years, but... Super Mario 1, 3, and World are much more fun to play than current versions. Can't Raid in Super Mario... Period.

EverQuest updated to EverQuest2 and a future one in the works.

Playability is what people really want. If you want better graphics, you get the newer version.

 

[lashabane]

[citation][nom]NuclearShadow[/nom]EverQuest was the MMORPG that was such a major success and made everyone else want a piece of the pie. The game was a quality game as well. There is a reason why so many have come and died while EverQuest still goes on. Before WoW when someone mentioned MMORPGs the first game that came to mind was EverQuest.13 years of pay to play when newer games are now lucky to achieve a few years. Not to mention the countless ones that ended completely. You have to hand it to EverQuest it is a piece of gaming history. For the critics please point to me a game you developed that had a 13 year P2P lifespan.[/citation]
Don't forget about Asheron's Call. Sure it came out 8 months after EQ but it still has it's own loyal following and is still pay 2 play.

 

[mhokett]

Ill stick with EVE for p2p and Anarchy online for f2p

 

[Dogsnake]

With GW2 now months away instead of years I think we will see additional free play chances from existing games wanting to attract new players and keep old ones. I think it is a great chance to get into the game.

 

[rantoc]

Old as hell yes, poor gfx yes, still have among the best content iwe seen in an mmo. Its even challenging unlike most todays mmo's thats playable by facerooling (face drooling too perhaps...).

 

[bystander]

EQ had a lot of great experiences for me. The fact it was very rough on penalizing and the lack of the EZ-button most games today have, made everything you do more exciting. I remember the first time I crossed the world in that game at level 8. It took hours and a lot of deaths, but I was left with great memories I never got from other games. I also had some of the most fun just trying to recover my corpse. We'd have to come up with great strategies to beat encounters on our own, there was no WoWwiki for EQ, at least when I played. I do miss MMO's that put grouping ahead of soloing. I even miss the slower pace of EQ, but I don't think I could play such a time consuming game today.

 

[nbelote]

Some players of modern MMOs get by on raw talent or luck of the draw, and then there are those of us that had to grind through EQ's insanity. Raiding with 72 people (usually more outside the raid zone), trying to get to the "safe zone" and then having to take, usually, an entire weekend day (at first) from dawn to dusk just to clear the zone and get Inny or CT. We survivors of EQ are the true skilled players today because we learned it all the hard way.

When I played WoW I totally roflstomped other healers with way better gear than mine simply because of said skill, and today in SW:TOR I pull 75% of the group's dps on my own and my gear's average. EQ and the experiences I had playing it prepared me for true pwnage. Thank you, EQ, for showing me the path to awesomeness.

 

[thor1310]

EQ raiding was always superior to WoW's....it was the rest of the game that was an exercise in masochism

 

[bystander]

[citation][nom]thor1310[/nom]EQ raiding was always superior to WoW's....it was the rest of the game that was an exercise in masochism[/citation]
I miss EQ leveling in Kunark, when there was enough areas that you could do a honest to goodness dungeon crawl. Original EQ was too crowded. Grouping in Kunark was a lot of fun, when there was enough space, which was pretty much always if you avoided Sebilis (sp?) and Sebilis was a lot of fun for quite some time as long as you were willing to go deep enough.

 

[Guest]

I perfer DAOC myself always have & always will

 

[stryfe1986]

ill just stick to Ultima Online

 

[Marcus52]

If you want an updated version, play Everquest II. The original Everquest is for those that want its original experience, and I believe those breaking into either game at this point will almost always choose the second version over the first. (Both can be played "F2P".)

Even as someone who cut his teeth on the original EQ, I preferred EQII. However, I certainly wouldn't question a preference for the former, particularly if you have veteran characters.

"Free to play" is bringing a new era into MMOGs, one I don't like; it may well be the death of the genre for me. The decision to use that pay plan (for it is just another way for most people to pay for the game, it doesn't end up being free. Statistics show the average F2P player spends more on the game than the subscription player.) is one based on chasing the almighty buck at the expense of game play and the degradation of player population quality, which is poor enough already. Loading the game up with players who want something for free, and/or actually believe the game will be free to play, simply is the wrong way to go if you care about a high quality game.

I have subscriptions to 2 MMOGs right now, neither of which have an F2P option, and both of which I will drop in a heartbeat if they add it (and mix F2P players with subscribers).

Personally, I believe many of today's MMOG players would be better served playing Borderlands and especially the upcoming Borderlands 2 (BLT, as some of us like to call it.) Borderlands is a First Person Shooter with RPG elements such as leveling and loot acquisition (GUNS!), without too much plot to get in the way of the story (to paraphrase the movie critic Joe Bob Briggs). You have to buy the game, of course (Borderlands is dirt cheap right now, you can pick it up with all 3 DLCs for certainly less than $20 and I paid $10 a couple months ago for a Steam download.), but playing requires no subscription, and multiplayer is well supported and of course free, as FPS multiplayer is. The PC version of BLT will not be a port, so those of us that play on the computer won't have to deal with as much console limitation as we might otherwise.

Certainly, if you are kind of player that grew up with games in which "Ipwnnoobs" is appropriate - in other words, the FPS genre - I suggest giving BL a shot if you haven't already.

 

[Marcus52]

[citation][nom]nbelote[/nom]Some players of modern MMOs get by on raw talent or luck of the draw, and then there are those of us that had to grind through EQ's insanity. Raiding with 72 people (usually more outside the raid zone), trying to get to the "safe zone" and then having to take, usually, an entire weekend day (at first) from dawn to dusk just to clear the zone and get Inny or CT. We survivors of EQ are the true skilled players today because we learned it all the hard way.When I played WoW I totally roflstomped other healers with way better gear than mine simply because of said skill, and today in SW:TOR I pull 75% of the group's dps on my own and my gear's average. EQ and the experiences I had playing it prepared me for true pwnage. Thank you, EQ, for showing me the path to awesomeness.[/citation]

It sounds to me like you prefer to hang with low quality players in order to puff up your ego.

 

[bystander]

[citation][nom]Marcus52[/nom]It sounds to me like you prefer to hang with low quality players in order to puff up your ego.[/citation]
If you use their X-server dungeon runs, you don't get a choice who you go with. I remember in WotLK, leveling up and gearing up on the x-server dungeons was often like that. Many times the other players just didn't know how to DPS. It was rather annoying that they also made the player damage go way out of whack in WotLK as well. Even single group boss mobs should last longer than 30 seconds or so.

 

[Darkerson]

[citation][nom]Marcus52[/nom]It sounds to me like you prefer to hang with low quality players in order to puff up your ego.[/citation]
It sounds to me like you are tooting your own horn there as well. To each their own.

 

[the real mr b]

I agree with Marcus52, F2P kinda "ruins" an MMO. I rather pay a monthly fee than to be in a contest around whoever spends the most money to be the "best".