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Everquest 2 Extended - Free to Play (With RIFT Discussion!)


KDawg

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It runs on a Marketplace system. It's pretty cool. It's the actual game with some minor restrictions. You could technically get to level 90 with a boat load of AA without paying a dime. You'd need to pay for unlockers to get to the stuff in the new expansion, though, as the content is too tough without the unlockers.

It's replaced Call of Duty for me on my free time play time.

Free download and everything.

I recommend upgrading to Silver for a one time $10 charge. It makes the game easier to go through, but you can stay at bronze and be fine.

Four races are available - Erudite, Half Elf, Human, Barbarian.

Eight classes - Berserker, Guardian, Templar, Inquisitor, Swashbuckler, Brigand, Wizard and Warlock.

You can pay for additional races (Arasai, Dark Elf, Troll, Ogre, Gnome, Dwarf, Halfling, Kerra, Froglok, Iksar, Sarnak, Fai, etc.) The race packs are 3 for $7.50.

You can pay for the additional classes (Shadowknight, Paladin, Dirge, Troubador, Conjuror, Illusionist, Coercer, Monk, Bruiser, Ranger, Assassin, etc.) for $7.50 per class.

Any race can be any class.

I'm really enjoying the game. I stopped playing EQ1 in 03 despite still liking it because of the cost of $10 a month no matter what. It felt like a chore cuz I HAD to play.

Now I can pay when I want (if I want) and I don't feel like I have to play.

If anyone signs up lemme know. I got a level 43 Gnome Shadowknight.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Well, as an update (for myself :ols:) I have a level 70 Gnome Shadowknight now. A couple sick days and weekend days with nothing going on and you get quite the leveling spree :ols:

If you sign up send Doctorsprocket a tell :)

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See, here's the thing. When EQ2X was released, I was playing EQ2 regular (p2p), but the quality of the game had/has gone downhill so badly over the past few years, I was just tired of paying for it. So I started looking at the pricing options, and I notcied something - to get the same stuff I already had, I was going to have to pay $200.00 per year on the EQ2X server, or 17.00/month vs. 15.00/month, and that did not even include all the races which I was already getting for less money. At that point I realized what EQ2X was - an SOE money grab to get a few more dollars out of people as they work on other projects. Considering the fact that their last two expansions at that point were utter garbage, the new lead dev lies through his teeth on a continuous basis, and the company chief (Smedly) is even worse, I just laughed, canceled, and uninstalled. After trying the disaster that is DCUO, no SOE product will ever find itself onto my harddrive again, and I have been an EQ1/EQ2 supporter since the Kunark expansion in the original game.

I suppose if one only plays very occasionally and such it may be worth it, but I would suggest they also look at the LOTRO F2P programs. I have not tried it, but I have heard mostly positive stuff about it, including being able to play on the regular servers. You have to be careful with any F2P mmo in that if you really push it, want to raid, etc. you usually (not always) end up paying more money than if it was just P2P. If you just want something to play now and then, few times a month, then yes, its a good deal.

Kdawg, if you really liked EQ1, I would suggest checking out Project 1999. Its a true F2P EQ1 emulator, the complete game with a few tweaks here and there to make it less tedious, and according to my wife who used to play it, they are just about to upgrade their servers to the Kunark expansion.

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I'm actually playing Rift myself. I'm enjoying it, but I can already see myself getting to 50 and getting bored. I'm played EQ2 for a bit. Really enjoyed playing a Druid, but my wife hated the game and we ended up back in WoW. I may install it just for fun. I'm really waiting for guild wars 2. That game looks awesome, and also has no monthly fee, should be fun.

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See, here's the thing. When EQ2X was released, I was playing EQ2 regular (p2p), but the quality of the game had/has gone downhill so badly over the past few years, I was just tired of paying for it. So I started looking at the pricing options, and I notcied something - to get the same stuff I already had, I was going to have to pay $200.00 per year on the EQ2X server, or 17.00/month vs. 15.00/month, and that did not even include all the races which I was already getting for less money. At that point I realized what EQ2X was - an SOE money grab to get a few more dollars out of people as they work on other projects. Considering the fact that their last two expansions at that point were utter garbage, the new lead dev lies through his teeth on a continuous basis, and the company chief (Smedly) is even worse, I just laughed, canceled, and uninstalled. After trying the disaster that is DCUO, no SOE product will ever find itself onto my harddrive again, and I have been an EQ1/EQ2 supporter since the Kunark expansion in the original game.

I suppose if one only plays very occasionally and such it may be worth it, but I would suggest they also look at the LOTRO F2P programs. I have not tried it, but I have heard mostly positive stuff about it, including being able to play on the regular servers. You have to be careful with any F2P mmo in that if you really push it, want to raid, etc. you usually (not always) end up paying more money than if it was just P2P. If you just want something to play now and then, few times a month, then yes, its a good deal.

Kdawg, if you really liked EQ1, I would suggest checking out Project 1999. Its a true F2P EQ1 emulator, the complete game with a few tweaks here and there to make it less tedious, and according to my wife who used to play it, they are just about to upgrade their servers to the Kunark expansion.

I mostly play WoW, but I tried LOTRO free to play. I love the LOTR lore. I love the movies. I read The Hobbit and I'm looking forward to the movie. That said, the game was very boring to me. I didn't get too far so that could be it. The graphics are really nice. My main problem was the combat system. It was similar to WoW, but it didn't feel nearly as polished or crisp as WoW. Maybe I needed to play some more. I just got bored with it to progress further. It also didn't feel like LOTR to me. At the start of the game it did, but after that it felt like some generic game.

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I mostly play WoW, but I tried LOTRO free to play. I love the LOTR lore. I love the movies. I read The Hobbit and I'm looking forward to the movie. That said, the game was very boring to me. I didn't get too far so that could be it. The graphics are really nice. My main problem was the combat system. It was similar to WoW, but it didn't feel nearly as polished or crisp as WoW. Maybe I needed to play some more. I just got bored with it to progress further. It also didn't feel like LOTR to me. At the start of the game it did, but after that it felt like some generic game.

I played it on and off for awhile, and I agree with ya actually. The storylines in the game were actually very good if you made sure to take the time to read the quests, talk to the npcs, etc. and it was a beautiful game for the time it was released (AoC has taken the crown for graphics now), and their epic weapon system was great. Yet there always was something off with the gameplay that made it hard for me to play for more than a month, mostly with the combat. Some classes, like wardens, were fun to play, others were dull. However, to be fair, I tried it out originally in 2007 at release, liked it, but it did not compare to EQ2 at that time which was in its "golden years" (KoS, EoF, and RoK expansion arch).

However, I was mostly talking about their F2P system that they setup and that I had heard good things about it. Normally the minute a game introduces F2P, I say goodbye (I view F2P as a scam with the exception of Guild Wars), but if I was not playing anything else I would consider at least checking it out.

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I played it on and off for awhile, and I agree with ya actually. The storylines in the game were actually very good if you made sure to take the time to read the quests, talk to the npcs, etc. and it was a beautiful game for the time it was released (AoC has taken the crown for graphics now), and their epic weapon system was great. Yet there always was something off with the gameplay that made it hard for me to play for more than a month, mostly with the combat. Some classes, like wardens, were fun to play, others were dull. However, to be fair, I tried it out originally in 2007 at release, liked it, but it did not compare to EQ2 at that time which was in its "golden years" (KoS, EoF, and RoK expansion arch).

However, I was mostly talking about their F2P system that they setup and that I had heard good things about it. Normally the minute a game introduces F2P, I say goodbye (I view F2P as a scam with the exception of Guild Wars), but if I was not playing anything else I would consider at least checking it out.

The Diablo series is F2P totally, so I'd consider that the best F2P game, if you want to be technical. I fully intend on checking out Guild Wars as well.

But people seem to be upset about EQ2X's F2P model, but they aren't realizing it's supposed to be different than EQ2Live. EQ2X is designed to have tiers. If you don't want to pay monhtly, fine. Pay for stuff as you go. Gold is an extremely viable option for $15/month with the main issue being a lack of available races. It has something for every type of player. It's obviously used to create income for the company, there's no doubt about it. But they aren't holding a gun to your head and making you buy. As a silver account (one time $10 fee) I could have played through the game just fine without spending a single dollar on anything other than silver. I chose to unlock the shadowknight class and gnome race. For someone who played on Live, I can see why there would be hang ups. But I never did. So the F2P model for EQ2 works great.

I also think they're testing the waters to see how they're going to run EQ:Next. My guess is it'll be on the F2P model.

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The Diablo series is F2P totally, so I'd consider that the best F2P game, if you want to be technical. I fully intend on checking out Guild Wars as well.

Yes, but remember that Diablo 2 was originally designed as a single-player game, not an mmorpg. Technically, CoD, BF2, Civ4/5, etc. could also be called F2P because it does not cost anything to play online, but they are not like EQ2/WoW/etc which are designed only to be online persistant world rpgs. Its an apples to oranges comparison. As far as Guild Wars, I did not care for the original game because it felt like group missions with a chat room lobby, not a persistant world mmo. However, GW2 is setup differently and I am sure I will at least check it out.

But people seem to be upset about EQ2X's F2P model, but they aren't realizing it's supposed to be different than EQ2Live. EQ2X is designed to have tiers. If you don't want to pay monhtly, fine. Pay for stuff as you go. Gold is an extremely viable option for $15/month with the main issue being a lack of available races. It has something for every type of player. It's obviously used to create income for the company, there's no doubt about it. But they aren't holding a gun to your head and making you buy. As a silver account (one time $10 fee) I could have played through the game just fine without spending a single dollar on anything other than silver. I chose to unlock the shadowknight class and gnome race. For someone who played on Live, I can see why there would be hang ups. But I never did. So the F2P model for EQ2 works great.

I also think they're testing the waters to see how they're going to run EQ:Next. My guess is it'll be on the F2P model.

There are more reasons than just "not realizing it's supposed to be different" as to why EQ2 players have issues with SOE's F2P model. The game needed an influx of players, and instead of using the F2P model to achieve that, they completely segregated those players from the regular servers. You can never move from the F2P server, no matter what level you are paying for. Add in the fact that SOE said they would never switch to a F2P model (then announced they were doing so 2 months later), then that they were going to introduce F2P to help bring up the population of the servers (then segregating the F2P players), and this was after saying they would never introduce a cash shop, then saying nothing in the cash shop would affect gameplay, then saying....you get the idea.

If you are enjoying it, cool. Seriously, I mean that.

F2P can work as a business model - GW 1 is sort of a hybrid-F2P that was successful because of how their servers worked combined with instancing 95% of the game, which reduced their costs making F2P viable (I say hybrid because you still have to purchase the game and expansion packs). EVE made it work by also having lower overhead than a traditional mmo, so they could scap their P2P model very early on once they saw the game sinking, same with Turbine's DDO. Runescape made it work by being "F2P" but requring players to by so much from their cash shop that they made much much more off of the players than had they just used a P2P model - there are people who have spent thousands of $$$ yearly in that game.

I fully expect EQ:Next to be full rmt, where you have to buy everything. Smedly has always been about the $$$ over the game itself, and he is desperate to make WoW level dough. Its not a good sign however when I see responses to Smedly's hype over EQ:Next being comments that I cannot post here without getting a vacation, and thats from people still playing and supporting EQ2.

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There are more reasons than just "not realizing it's supposed to be different" as to why EQ2 players have issues with SOE's F2P model. The game needed an influx of players, and instead of using the F2P model to achieve that, they completely segregated those players from the regular servers. You can never move from the F2P server, no matter what level you are paying for. Add in the fact that SOE said they would never switch to a F2P model (then announced they were doing so 2 months later), then that they were going to introduce F2P to help bring up the population of the servers (then segregating the F2P players), and this was after saying they would never introduce a cash shop, then saying nothing in the cash shop would affect gameplay, then saying....you get the idea.

This screams of sour apples. That's not an attack on you, either. People have plenty of reason to be upset with SOE. But none of that stuff is problems with the actual game. And to be fair, most things in the cash shop don't really affect gameplay. The armor packs they sell are mastercrafted armor sets. Although, I haven't looked too deep into the cash shop, truth be told.

Sure, they could have integrated F2P differently, but they didn't. The EQ2X model works and works well. There are a TON of players on that server and everyone plays the game differently. There are high level silvers who are raiding. Golds and plats who will never see end game, etc.

I fully expect EQ:Next to be full rmt, where you have to buy everything. Smedly has always been about the $$$ over the game itself, and he is desperate to make WoW level dough. Its not a good sign however when I see responses to Smedly's hype over EQ:Next being comments that I cannot post here without getting a vacation, and thats from people still playing and supporting EQ2.

If you ask me, EQ:Next has fail written all over it. If they want it to be successful, they need to implement a membership matrix similar to EQ2X. There won't be a Live and extended version for people to gripe about (and again, these are fair gripes) so those concerns go out the window. But Smedley has a tendency to do things... uhhh... not intelligently. I could see it being a total pay to play experience as you continue on. Sure, it'll be free in some fashion, but if you want to advance you have to pay. EQ2X is great. And that model will bring people of all subscription levels into the fray. But, I don't think he's going to even begin to try that. And that matrix would need some tweaking as well.

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If you ask me, EQ:Next has fail written all over it. If they want it to be successful, they need to implement a membership matrix similar to EQ2X. There won't be a Live and extended version for people to gripe about (and again, these are fair gripes) so those concerns go out the window. But Smedley has a tendency to do things... uhhh... not intelligently. I could see it being a total pay to play experience as you continue on. Sure, it'll be free in some fashion, but if you want to advance you have to pay. EQ2X is great. And that model will bring people of all subscription levels into the fray. But, I don't think he's going to even begin to try that. And that matrix would need some tweaking as well.

I just do not agree with ya on EQ2X being great, but if it works for ya, go for it :) The thing is that even without the whole EQ2X thing, the game itself would still be losing P2P players - the quality has just dropped like a rock since Scott Hartsman left the lead dev position. TSO was laughable (1 overland zone that could be completed in 3 days, and the instances/raids were click-cure fests), and SF was a little better but still boring with the exception of the THeer raid fight, and they laid off the dev who created that. I knew the game was done for me when they announced Velious and I could care less (velious was my favorite EQ1 expac). The sad fact is that SOE let the success of EQ1 go to their heads, and never realized that the gaming market had changed. THey could get away with games with bugs, technical issues, etc. and survive because there was limited amounts of competition on the market. EQ2, at release, could not survive today. However, instead of trying to push forward with quality games, they went for the bulk method - buy up failing games, slap it on their station pass, and then drop all support of them (Matrix online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Vanguard *sob*, etc). EQ2, had they kept rolling after RoK, could still be sitting pretty with 300,000+ paying subs which is all a mmo really needs. Instead they went into money saving mode, shrunk the dev team, sent their A level devs to other games, etc. The switch to EQ2X and the cash shop was not what killed EQ2 for many players, it was just the final nail.

If the game is developed from the ground up to use a tiered system, then ya, ok. I still won't play it, even if it was P2P, but at least that would make some sense. However, I strongly suspect that it will be FreeRealms with fantasy elements slapped on it. Some of the comments ol' Smeds has made has me thinking "Second Life - Now With Swords!"

P2P games still do well. AoC for example - great opening sales, dropped like a rock in subs, but they have gotten the crap together, released an expansion, and are even adding a new server soon, something that rarely happends after server contraction. Smeds looks at WoW and sees their player base, ie: $$$, and wants those numbers not realizing that 1) WoW is very popular overseas while the EQ lineup is not, and 2) alot of people play WoW bacuse its a Blizzard game based off a popular RTS, while SOE has the opposite reputation.

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Those of you playing RIFT... What are your impressions? I'm enjoying EQ2X... But I'm to the point where I'm thinking about subbing... and if I'm willing to spend $15 on EQ2/month then I feel I should do my due diligence on RIFT... it looks cool as hell...

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I have not played RIFT but I have talked to a few who have played it. The game's class system takes WOW's to a new level with the different choices within 4 basic classes. The UI is ripped almost directly from WOW so if you have played WOW you will be comfortable. The only thing that keeps me trying it out is I don't have an extra $50 or $60 to buy the game, and to be honest, I love the WOW lore. I wasn't impressed with the RIFT lore I have read on their site.

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Those of you playing RIFT... What are your impressions? I'm enjoying EQ2X... But I'm to the point where I'm thinking about subbing... and if I'm willing to spend $15 on EQ2/month then I feel I should do my due diligence on RIFT... it looks cool as hell...

I am enjoying Rift. It's not without its issues like any mmo, and the next big patch is going to have alot of players foaming at the mouth ("OMG, I can't be a ranged-damage warrior that out-parses everything else in the game anymore??? I quit!!!!"), but they are also already introducing new content. It sorta feels like vanilla WoW, with some Warhammer, EQ2, and other games mixed in. Me personally, if they eventually add in player housing ala' EQ2, and minimize the number of WoW-style addons, I will be a happy camper. My wife and I have both signed up for 6 month subscriptions, the first time we have not done month-to-month with an mmo. Plus, once I find a dev that I like, I tend to be loyal to them, sorta like some players are loyal to a company like Blizzard or Bioware. In this case, Rift's lead dev is Scott Hartsman (see post #14) and I have trust in the dev team to keep rolling.

With that being said, if you are really liking EQ2, go ahead and give it a shot. I would suggest going out and buying the new expansion (Velious) which will also include the orginal game and the previous x-pacs. Then create a new account on one of the P2P servers. That way you do not have to worry about having to buy anything extra, like races, with the exception of the vamps which everyone has to buy (F2P or P2P). There is still enough good content pre-TSO to keep ya happy, and you might enjoy the later x-pacs. Plus, if you are still interested in Rifts, you can always switch later on once the game has settled in, gotten some more bug/content patches, etc.

Edit: There is a Rift thread on the boards already, so you may also want to take a peak there :)

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Everquest 2 is one of the most under rated games ever.. It's release was dodgy but it has gotten better with age. I played Rift for a bit but it's so boring.. Everquest 2 there's always something new.. Any they've thought of the little things.. I actually like questing for things I can put in my house.. or for a new mount.. Questing is so much more enjoyable in EQ2 than in WOW or Rift imo..

What I like the most is, EQ2 is challenging.. I found WOW and especially rift, mind numbingly easy, it was almost as if I was shoved through the content. In EQ2 you need to pay attention at the higher levels or you will die, even solo. Some classes will pose a challenge all the way to level 90..

Is it old school hardcore? not at all, but those looking for more of a challenge than Rift or WOW should give EQ2 a look. The first 30 levels are easy no matter which class you are, but then things start to get a little tougher..

On Crushbone and Nagafen atm.. Love this game.

---------- Post added March-25th-2011 at 02:51 PM ----------

I am enjoying Rift. It's not without its issues like any mmo, and the next big patch is going to have alot of players foaming at the mouth ("OMG, I can't be a ranged-damage warrior that out-parses everything else in the game anymore??? I quit!!!!"), but they are also already introducing new content. It sorta feels like vanilla WoW, with some Warhammer, EQ2, and other games mixed in. Me personally, if they eventually add in player housing ala' EQ2, and minimize the number of WoW-style addons, I will be a happy camper. My wife and I have both signed up for 6 month subscriptions, the first time we have not done month-to-month with an mmo. Plus, once I find a dev that I like, I tend to be loyal to them, sorta like some players are loyal to a company like Blizzard or Bioware. In this case, Rift's lead dev is Scott Hartsman (see post #14) and I have trust in the dev team to keep rolling.

With that being said, if you are really liking EQ2, go ahead and give it a shot. I would suggest going out and buying the new expansion (Velious) which will also include the orginal game and the previous x-pacs. Then create a new account on one of the P2P servers. That way you do not have to worry about having to buy anything extra, like races, with the exception of the vamps which everyone has to buy (F2P or P2P). There is still enough good content pre-TSO to keep ya happy, and you might enjoy the later x-pacs. Plus, if you are still interested in Rifts, you can always switch later on once the game has settled in, gotten some more bug/content patches, etc.

Edit: There is a Rift thread on the boards already, so you may also want to take a peak there :)

What WOW style addons in Rift? To my knowledge they are not yet allowing addons in Rift

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Everquest 2 is one of the most under rated games ever.. It's release was dodgy but it has gotten better with age. I played Rift for a bit but it's so boring.. Everquest 2 there's always something new.. Any they've thought of the little things.. I actually like questing for things I can put in my house.. or for a new mount.. Questing is so much more enjoyable in EQ2 than in WOW or Rift imo..

What I like the most is, EQ2 is challenging.. I found WOW and especially rift, mind numbingly easy, it was almost as if I was shoved through the content. In EQ2 you need to pay attention at the higher levels or you will die, even solo. Some classes will pose a challenge all the way to level 90..

Is it old school hardcore? not at all, but those looking for more of a challenge than Rift or WOW should give EQ2 a look. The first 30 levels are easy no matter which class you are, but then things start to get a little tougher..

On Crushbone and Nagafen atm.. Love this game.

Ehh, I found that EQ2 dumbed itself down so much it just as easy as WoW, and a little easier than Rift since at least in Rift mobs have an aggro range of more than a foot on either side of the mob. I went through the overland content in TSO in under 2 days easily (about 6 hours), and SF was not much better. EQ2 *used* to be much more difficult than WoW, and I cannot believe that the last couple batches of devs actually managed to make raiding boring, especially in TSO where successful raiding meant your healers could click on their cure buttons for an hour or two without falling asleep. I raided through SF, got as far as 2 rune Theer, and quit because it just was...bleh. I even tried switching classes to see if that would help to make it more enjoyable, and just...ya, no. Even my wife, who was a die-hard EQ2 fangirl, has no interest in going back to it.

edit: Basically it goes back to the earlier part of the thread. Ol' Smeds wants WoW-type $$$ and for the past couple of years has seemed determined to try and make EQ2 into WoW...and is failing miserably. He just failed to grasp that those who stuck through the bad launch, lackluster DoF X-pac, TSO, etc. did so because they liked the game, not because they wanted WoW in Norrath. He did the same thing with SWG, just to a much greater extreme.

However, if someone has never played it before, they should give it a shot. Really, until the TSO content, its still pretty decent. And I do love EQ2's housing system, and they are talking about it for Rift.

---------- Post added March-25th-2011 at 02:51 PM ----------

What WOW style addons in Rift? To my knowledge they are not yet allowing addons in Rift

Nope, they are not yet letting them be used, and while they have said that they will allow them in the future, I hope it is limited and I especially hope they forbid addons like gearscore.

---------- Post added March-25th-2011 at 07:21 PM ----------

EQ has a little too much leveling for my tastes.

EQ or EQ2? EQ2, Rift, and WoW are all about the same as far as levels, making adjustments for expansions packs which raised level caps. The Rift devs wanted to focus more on endgame, so leveling is fairly quick compared to EQ2 at launch (not now), and much faster than EQ1 *cringe* hell levels *cringe*

What's Rift's pvp style like? Or is it more like WOW, kind of more questing and such? I heard about a PVP server which usually means I'm not interested.

Similar to WoW. You have PvP servers, PvP "mini-games" on the PvE servers (like battlegrounds), and some quests scattered around the zones which will flag you for PvP even on the PvE servers. As far as quality, not sure if I can give ya a good answer since I am a PvE'r. Rift is not a PvP-centric game like Shadowbane was.

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Where the heck is the RIFT thread?

I went ahead and bought Rift. Got the $9.99/month for 6 months deal. Game was $43 w/ tax.

I figure I can still play EQ2X for "free". And I still will, but much less.

So I'm going to create a char soon... What shard/side are you guys on?

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I'm playing on Sunrest Defiant right now, but I'm about to take an extended break from gaming. I need to get some really tough tech certs and have a ton of studying to do. Unfortunately, MMO's kill that for me and I end up spending all my time playing. You should change the title to MMO discussion, lol.

I watched this last night, it's a Q&A panel with guildwars 2 devs and I am pretty psyched about what they are trying to do. Think of an MMO with no quests....that's crazy.

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