Sony Announces Launch of Free Everquest 2 Service

Sony Online Entertainment announced the release of Everquest II : Extended, which was launched on August 19, 2010. What is it?

According to Sony, Everquest II : Extended will be a free version of the wildly popular epic MMO Everquest II, and will include a wide swath of the content available to regular Everquest II Live subscribers, including all content through the Everquest II : Shadow Odyssey expansion. Players can sign up for a free Bronze tier subscription, which will allow full access to all the EQII : Extended content aforementioned, and gives the player the option to purchase items from the in-game marketplace and access to many of the games features.

There will also be Silver, Gold and Platinum Tiers available, and will cost ever-increasing amounts from 1000 SC points / month ($10.00 equivalent)  for the Silver Tier to $200 / year on the Platinum, which grants access to the same content, but an expanded array of features (full access to all races/classes, a level 90 vs level 80 playing cap, and no limit on the amount of in-game money you can carry). The Platinum version also gives you 500 SC points a month you can spend on Marketplace items.

In comparing and contrasting, the latest expansion for Everquest II, Sentinels Fate was released February 16, 2010 and cost $39.99 when I bought it on the release date. I payed $41.99 every 3 mo for complete and total access to all of the EQ2 servers, as well as to current updates, the "Battlegrounds" extension (which features PvP raid-style arena fighting). Everquest II : Extended features game content only through the Shadow Odyssey expansion, which was released is Nov, 2008.

Everquest II : Extended is free and, if you are not a hard-core EQ2 player, this is probably gonna be a good fit. Maybe better so than Sony's recent stab at a cheaper subscription plan with the Passport subscription, which allows 3 days of consecutive play for $5.00 / mo. However, there seem to be drawbacks. This is an independant service from the EQ2 Live game, and its not clear if Sony is going to eventually allow character transfers if you decide to go pay. Plus, at the Platinum tier, it would seem to be more cost effective to go full pay. $200 / year for the Extended version, vs my $39.99 for the current complete game, plus $167.96 / year total fees (and there are cheaper semi-annual and annual plans) which comes to $207.95.

If you already own other expansions for EQ2 that are not a part of the free service, Sony keeps track of these in your Station account and grants you access to those areas as well. And of course, you are able to purchase expansions for the game, including to grant access to additional races, zones, and it seems many other features. It appears Sony is going after the micro-transactions market, for which there is a definte trend in the online game market.

For a complete list of the FAQ's on EQ2 Extended, Click HERE

To view the game overview, including the subscription rates and features, click HERE

To get into the action and get an account, click HERE