EQ 14th anniversary -- some ftp restrictions lifted

[Nadia]

interview at massively
http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/07 ... lass-race/

from SOE forums
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index ... bers.4336/

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, 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:

We are opening up ALL CLASSES.*
We are opening up ALL RACES. **
All bag slots are unlocked.
All players can now use the shared bank slots.
The quest journal restrictions are lifted entirely. Quest away!
Additionally, EverQuest is allowing all players to send delivery parcels! (This change is for a game-specific change in EQ, so it doesn’t happen in EQII.)

We hope that the Free and Silver players among us (and there are a great many of them!) will be very happy about this news. These are good things indeed!

Have fun!

David Georgeson
Director of Development, EverQuest Franchise
Sony Online Entertainment

P.S., A few of you may wonder “well, why not unlock all the other F2P restrictions”? The answers are complex, but basically boil down to one of three reasons in every case: a) By design, Gold membership is an “everything is open” option. Free and Silver are ways to choose your options “a la carte” by unlocking them selectively, b) there are some malicious scenarios that can happen when free accounts get unlimited access to certain game features and we need to avoid those, or c) a very few things are restricted to Gold membership to let Gold membership have special privileges that can’t be unlocked via SC purchase. This is intentional, and we admit that it’s incentive to upgrade to a recurring membership.
* “All free classes” exception for EQII only: Beastlord is still only accessible via the “Age of Discovery” expansion pack.
** “All free races” exception for EQII only: The Freeblood race is still an SC-only marketplace option.

[Nadia]

changes were effective w yesterdays patch, 03/13
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=32014

in other news,
Aradune/Brad has returned to the game
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index ... -old.4319/

Hello all,

Well, I’m back... back on EverQuest after 12 Years! When I was given the opportunity to return to the team it was something I just had to do! I started playing right away and got a paladin into his mid-30s. I found, in addition to all of the great new features and UI elements, that the game, at its core, was still very much the EQ I was involved with. In fact, some of my first work as a game designer on the team will be working on areas that have been alluded to since launch. I can’t say more than that, of course, but I’m sure you can imagine how exciting this is for me.

I’ll also be on the boards, so if you guys have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to ask. That said, I’m still absorbing a lot of info over here, getting a grasp on all of the content and features that have been added to the game over the last decade -- so please do cut me a little slack J

-Brad McQuaid / Aradune Mithara

[Taxious]

As someone who hasn't touched the game in a long time, I wonder what else is locked down to free players?

[Nadia]

As someone who hasn't touched the game in a long time, I wonder what else is locked down to free players?

theres some restrictions for gear and how much AA you can earn

otherwise no limits to coin, bags, bank space, class, race