It appears my synopsis of the changes that they’d planned on making to the beginnings of EQ2 was truly an understatement. It seems that they had even bigger plans in mind. They weren’t just planning to update a few little areas, they overhauled the whole structure of the game itself.

Here’s the gist of things.

Those of us who have been paying the $15 monthly will still enjoy everything we’ve had access to up until now. There will be no change whatsoever because we’re grandfathered in as vets. New players will have some choices to make.

They can take a free option and get some really basic access to the game. There will only be a few options available for races and classes, only one character slot available, and other such restrictions. The biggest one to affect anyone who would buy plat is that there would be a maximum enforced on how much you can hold.

Next you have a Silver level that allows more freedom, an extra character slot, and some more room for plat and other things. This is designed as a one time purchase for people more serious about playing that the average free player but not quite into as much as the truly hardcore.

After that comes Gold. That’s roughly equivalent to what we have now as paying members. There are still some limits on starting races, but you can buy them separately. You can use legendary items and other such important things. Plus there’s plenty of room for plat if you were looking to buy some. That will give you just about everything except the content available in Sentinel’s Fate. Once you buy that, though, you’re covered.

Then comes the choice for the truly hardcore. The Platinum membership is not for the weak of heart or the empty of wallet. It’s $200 per year which kinda will cut into any plat buying around the time it’s taken, but you get benefits galore for it. It includes everything. By that I mean all content, including Sentienel’s Fate, all of the possible races and classes, EVERYTHING. It’s a lot to pay, but it will be worth every penny. I’m not opposed to the idea, although affording it is going to be… interesting at best.

I’m more for sticking with the monthly membership I have. It’s easier to budget and I won’t gain anything I don’t already have.

You know, I can’t remember the last time ANY MMO, not just EQ2 did something like this.

It isn’t often that a company will go back and add new content to the beginning of a game. But the crazy devs responsible for EQ2 have done just that.

If you haven’t heard, they launched the Halas Reborn expansion which is a brand new area for starting characters. It will have all of the great trappings of a whole new game. You’ll be playing in the Halas tundra that will have new housing, Raids galore, and a starting zone all its own.

Some of you may be wondering just why anyone would do that? Well, for one thing just about everyone and their dog has played the standard starting zone for EQ2, so it’s gotten a little stale. It’s hard to draw in the newest generation of gamers if you’re still using the content that the last two generations have played. Yes there is the nostalgia factor, but that just doesn’t hold up when there’s so much competition for the MMO audience out there.

The other reason this is fun is actually focused on the veteran players. Sometimes is really great to start a new character and play from the beginning again. No rushing, no powerleveling. You still buy plat of course, but not as much of it. It’s fun to take the trip down memory lane, same as if you ever got the itch to load up EQ1, or Diablo 2, or Double Dragon (okay I just dated myself there). The only problem with this is as soon as you start playing those opening areas again, you start remembering what you didn’t like about them as well. The quests were kind of tedious, focusing on fetching and really basic play. The area hasn’t changed much so you’re looking at the same old places you’ve been before.

The addition of a new starting area breaks that up a little. For me, it’s the chance to try out a different class and not mind starting from the very beginning. It will feel nostalgic in that I’m playing a weakling trying to make my way through the brutal fledgling stages of herodom, but it will feel new just like it did the first time I installed EQ2 because I won’t know what to expect.

Anyway, buy some plat and check this thing out. It’s going to be fun!

Well, if you haven’t done it already, you all really need to get out there and pick up the newest EQ2 expansion, Sentinel’s Fate. SF has added another huge chunk to the world of EQ and comes with more fun little toys than you can shake a gnome at.

Of course most of these goodies are for those of us at high levels, and come at high level prices. Nothing is cheap, nevermind free, and you’re really going to have to stock up on plat to get any of the really good stuff.

A serious downside to expansion launches is that every place out there seems to jump their prices on plat. There are good reasons for this of course. WHen the new expansion comes online, the GMs are going to be even more vigilant than usual where plat buyers are concerned, and everyone gets a little nervous. In order to combat the loss of available plat that comes with the paranoia their suppliers develop, they up the bounty on the plat, which ups our prices a little.

The only real exception I noticed was Toonstorm.com. Their prices moved, but not much. Their prices are still really good, and you can get 150 plat for under $50 easily there. And with the suppliers they use, your purchase is still guaranteed 100%. So while everyone else is running up their prices, Toonstorm is trying to do the best they can by their customers and their suppliers.

So, with that in mind I decided to make a little buy of my own. That 150 was just to good a deal to pass up. With my current stash of plat, that gives me enough to get some of the new gear that I was looking forward to.

As usual, I got a confirmation call within about 5 minutes of placing hte order. The rep let me know that things were running a little slower than usual due to the increase in order volume from the expansion. Even so, it was oinly going to be about 45 minutes before my order was ready. Not bad all things considered. That gave me some time to line up some of the items I was going to spend my plat on. I got a pleasant surprise about 30 minutes later when someone dropped me a message to meet them. So off I went to get my plat, and from there to do some serious upgrading.

Anywho, buy plat safely, and have fun with the new areas!

Hey again everybody.

Well, here we are only a week before the next expansion launches for EQ2! I dont’ know about the rest of you, but I’ve really been enjoying all of the pre-launch stuff that they’ve been doing. Now I’m just drooling in anticipation of the release of Sentinel’s Fate.

Of course, with a new expansion, the market for anyone looking to buy plat is going to fluctuate pretty heavily in the next few weeks. I’ll try to keep some sort of tally about who’s got the best prices out there, at least among trusted names.

This brings me to something that I should mention to everyone out there planning to stock up. Whenever a new expansion or major patch drops for any MMO, you run a serious risk of getting scammed. New places will open up on launch day that will claim to have awesome prices and blah blah blah. They’ll spam just about every place they can to get noticed and lure in as many suckers as possible. DON’T BE ONE OF THEM!

For right now, I’d advise sticking with safe and familiar places for your purchases. It’s tempting to go after what looks like a great deal, but you just can’t be too sure with an expansion on the horizon.

I’ve recommended Toonstorm.com many times in the past, and I’m going to do so again. They are one of the safest places out there to buy eq2 plat, and their track record shows it. Plus, they’ll be ready for any new sort of security that the devs at EQ headquarters have planned for sniffing out plat buyers. I haven’t come this far only to have my precious plat or character taken away. Not with all of that glorious new content coming out!

Anyway, now is the time to keep a low profile and play everything as safe as you can. Feel free to buy, just make sure that the place you’re buying from can be trusted. Me, I’m going to stick with Toonstorm for the time being. I’ll let you know if anything new comes up after the dust settles.

Later.

Hello again, guys and gals! I had a wonderful Christmas vacation—full of the the 3 F’s, family, friends, and food— and I hope you did, too. I’ve been super busy but I’m back and wanted to share this interesting bit of news that came out recently regarding the EQ2 player population. There was a study of thousands of EQ2 players, and it found to everyone’s surprise that females made up 40% of the player base. This is good news for all the girl gamers out there who resent the stereotype that all mmorpg players are overweight white guys, and really, good news for gamers in general. A study like this shows people outside the gaming sphere that there is a real variety of people playing these games, and not all of them fit the stereotype. 

A BBC article on the study said that while single-player games of the past were certainly more popular with males, the new trend in social online games has a strong attraction for women. That doesn’t mean that gaming has become a mainstream activity, however, and one statistic in particular demonstrates that the women playing the game are not locked into traditional gender roles—the percentage of women surveyed who identified themselves as bisexual was over 5 times the estimated percentage in the general population. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, a large portion of the women said that they played with a significant other, and played more for social reasons than to win. The times, they are a’changin’! And for the beter, if you ask me! So here’s to all you gamers out there, and this week, a special nod to the ladies. Stay tuned for EQ2 plat reviews and all that good stuff next time…and have a happy and safe New Year’s!