Archief - Nieuwe MMORPG dit jaar??

While waiting the LOTRO release, I decided to try out the new Everquest 2 f2p beta. After a few days of playing and a bit of research, here's how it compares to LOTRO f2p:

1) Upgrade from Bronze/Free to Silver/Premium
EQ2x: $10.00
LOTRO: Any $ purchase, including expansions.

2) Character slots
EQ2x: 2/3 (7 with normal sub)
LOTRO: 2/3 (5 with normal sub, +2 with Moria, +2 with Adv.pack)
+1 slot for 594 in store (Note: old faqs show free with 1 slot)

3) Races
EQ2x: 4 races. 5 sets of 3 unlocked for 750 each.
LOTRO: All 4 races playable by all.

4) Classes
EQ2x: 8 classes (remaining 11 require subscription)
LOTRO: 7 classes (+2 with Moria exp. or 795 points each in store)

5) Inventory space
EQ2x: 2/3 bag slots (7 with sub); 24 slot BP & 4 slot bags at start,
but easily expanded to 8-16 slot bags with quests and crafting.
28/32 starting total slots. 44 slot bags can be purchased for 1500.
LOTRO: 3 bags (5 with sub); all bags have 15 slots so 45 total slots.
An extra 2 bags unlocked in store for 495 points each.

6) Bank/Vault space
EQ2x: 2/3 bag slots (see inv. for size)
LOTRO: 30 slots; +15 upgrades with coins or 495 store points.

7) Bank/Vault shared space
EQ2x: 0/2 bag slots (8 with sub, see inv. for size)
LOTRO: 0 slots (20 with Adv.Pack, up to 50 with store purchases)
First 20 slots for 995 points, +10 slots for 695 points.

8) Housing
EQ2x: free 2 bag house (requires weekly rent)
LOTRO: houses and chests buyable, sharable (requires weekly rent)

9) Coin limits
EQ2x: 5/29 gold per level (1g=10,000c), excess gold lost.
LOTRO: 2/5 gold (1g=100,000c), excess gold held in escrow.

10) Mail limits
EQ2x: receive only
LOTRO: free players can mail items, but not money.

11) Direct player trading.
EQ2x: no limits.
LOTRO: free players can't trade money.

12) Use of Broker/AH market system.
EQ2x: view only.
LOTRO: free players can only buy. +5 postings for 495 points (25 max).

13) Chat limits
EQ2x: bronze limited to /say,/tell,/group,/guild
LOTRO: free limited to 1 unique tell per 30 sec.

14) Quest limits
EQ2x: 20/40 active quests (75 with sub)
LOTRO: 40 active quests. Questing beyond the basic zones requires buying
quest packs for each zone at an average cost of 750 points.

15) Spell limits
EQ2x: Adept/Expert cap.
LOTRO: no limits.

16) Equipment limits
EQ2x: no Legendary or Fabled
LOTRO: Legendary requires Moria expansion.

17) Mounts
EQ2x: 1250 for 1-day mount
LOTRO: 75 for 6-hr mount, 595 for 30-day mount.
To use permanent mounts, must buy riding skill for 295 points.

18) Other restrictions
EQ2x: bronze can't create guild. Can't earn store points in game.
Can't play on the regular EQ2 servers.
LOTRO: 1 or 2 slots per trait type.

19) Expansions
EQ2x: Sentinel's Fate for 4300 points.
LOTRO: Mines of Moria for 2495 points or $20. Siege of Mirkwood for $30.
Note: many game stores have moria on sale for $10 or less.
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Summary of key limitations:

EQ2x is much more restricted in playable races and classes and you can't send mail or trade on the market. You also can't earn store points in-game. Finally, you can't play on the regular servers where you might have had characters and friends from previously playing.

LOTRO's biggest limit is on questing beyond the base area, but you can grind to earn points to unlock these. The hardest thing about playing free is no money exchanging and no market selling.

Its a lot harder to compare storage features as EQ2 uses bag slots and bags start at 4 slots and get as large as 44 slots. While this allows a lot more total storage, if you do crafting, the mats can fill up to 14 slots per tier vs 4-6 in LOTRO. Also, most LOTRO quest items don't use bag space.

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Playing totally free:

It is tough to play either game without spending any money, but at least in LOTRO you can earn store points in game and gradually unlock limits. In EQ2x, if you want to share things between multiple charactersm you are practically forced to have multiple accounts and log them both in.

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Playing cheap with only $10 upgrade:

All you get for $10 on EQ2x is the Silver level, which adds a 3rd bag slot to inventory and bank, 2 shared bank slots, a 3rd character slot, +20 active quests and unrestricted chat.

If you buy the Moria expansion on sale at a game store and add it to your account, not only do you get upgraded to Prefered (+1 char slot, +1 inv. bag, +3 gold cap, 5 market postings, unrestricted mail & trading), but you get all the Moria zones, another +2 char slots (5 total), the full 9 classes, +10 max level, tier 6 crafting and Legendary equipment.

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