I've not been playing EQ2 much, hadn't touched my old subscription accounts in two years. Now that EQ2 has gone free to play, well, it has been for a while now, I thought I'd take a look. I'd been playing Lord of the Rings Online, I love my friends there, and I love crafting and outfits. It is great to have housing, and in LoTRO I had my first virtual house - a cottage, really. I remember it well. The thing is, LotRO housing is quite limited. I grew frustrated at the housing item placement system, it is a "hook" system, whereby you can only place certain types of items in certain places. When you have never had housing, it is Heaven ... but once you've experienced open placement housing, you'll forever be disappointed by the hook system.
My gaming system is down, has been for a while, so it has limited my game time greatly. I also deal with certain physical conditions, which at times keep me from gaming at all. I was experiencing terrible lag ingame, due to having to play on a system with lesser capabilites, so getting into LotRO, crawling and jumping and lagging into things, on top of not feeling well, I almost stopped getting into the game. I would get into the game, look at my lovely home, and sigh at my full bags, full house chests and full bank, as well as all my alts being full to the gills. I'd chat with a few friends and then log off. I'd force myself through the festivals, though. -grin- Thus my overflowing bags.
So ... all this chatter leads to the fact that I tried EQ2 free to play, to see if I could still have housing, and what that housing involved. Since I knew no one in EQ2, it was easier to play, since I could come and go as I wanted, and as my health permitted. As with any game, free to play is not ultimately free to play, but hey, it gets a lot of people into a game who might not otherwise try it. It is essential to upgrade to a Silver account, which is a one time $5 fee. The next step up is Gold, which is $14.99 a month if you pay monthly, with discounts if you pay for 3 months or more at a time - pretty standard fee.
Even without a Silver upgrade, you can own a starter home. It is two rooms, and quite sufficient for satisfying my decorating and collecting penchants. I started crafting basic furniture - and then I found out about City Festivals and Moonlight Enchantments! Both occur once a month, and both have plentiful housing items that can be gotten through bartered tokens which are obtained through the events' quests. If you happen to hit a holiday or festival period, there is often a crafting component to it, where festival themed recipes are offered. These contain many housing item recipes. What more could I ask for?
I was able to do Moonlight Enchantments in May, and I look forward to the next City Festival in June ... and I am going to get my little carpenter busy furnishing my homes, as well as getting my tailor working on some lovely rugs and pretty outfits.
Zam.com City Festival Guide
Zam.com Moonlight Enchantments Guide
Merry gaming, wherever your bliss leads you!
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