It’s currently a very beautiful time to be a free player in EQ2. Already one of the best f2p models out there, SoE just made it even better – the gear restrictions in place for bronze and silver accounts have been removed. Now, once the servers come back online after today’s patch, anyone, paying or not, can use any piece of shiny gear they can get their hands on. And if that isn’t enough, Heroic Characters are also going live!
But wait, there’s more! Buy now, and they’ll DOUBLE your offer! That’s right, for the price of … ok, ok, back to the more serious news. Keep reading for the skinny on today’s patch, the upcoming expansion, producer’s letter, and other goodness.
The patch going live today is actually a pretty spiffy one. Previously, silver and bronze players couldn’t access legendary or fabled quality gear. This includes not only the best actual gear in the game, but skills and abilities as well. So while I’ve thought for a while that SoE currently has one of the best f2p systems on the market, there was an element of pay to win involved. I kept getting all these lovely, shiny pieces of gear that just sat in my bank for whenever I got around to subbing. Now, I can actually use them! Huzzah! I’ll admit, that alone makes it more likely that I’ll pick up the upcoming expansion, Tears of Veeshan.
I’m still a bit fuzzy on the details, so all I can tell you about Tears at the moment is that it includes a new class – the channeler. Which seems to be a pet based healing class. Sounds pretty interesting, I’ll definitely be keeping up on all details I can dig out on that.
Heroic characters also go live today, so if you consider it a slog to get through the early stages of an old game, this is your chance for a fast forward. One of the things that I left out in my previous post about Heroic Characters is that they’ll come with a gear and mount pack. So you won’t have to worry about getting up to level 85 and having nothing to wear. Any account previously made will be given 1 free level 85 character, but worry not if this is your first bite of the apple – up until October 15th, you can still get a free level 85 character, although only 1 per household.
Today’s patch also includes other goodies – Age of Discovery, EQ2’s first expansion, has been broken up into pieces and put into the Station Cash store. So if you don’t want the entire package, you can now just buy 1 or 2 things. Only want mercs or the Beastlord class? They’re up there now.
- Beastlord: 2500 SC
- Mercenaries: 1500 SC
- Tradeskill Apprentice: 1000 SC
- Reforging: 1000 SC
- Dungeon Maker: 1000 SC
Also up for grabs is a consumable that grants 240 AA. If you’re curious what caused my riff on TV commercials, they actually are offering a twofer on expansions. Pre-order Tears of Veeshan and gain instant access to Chains of Eternity. I’ve held off on buying it since returning, now I’m rather glad I did! I can just buy Tears of Veeshan and get both. Now if only the servers would come back up…
If you want to know more, read the Producer’s Letter as well as Patch Notes.
