SOE trying to steal customers for EQ2 from EQ.

[Ramsus]

Dear guild leader,

As the head of a large and influential guild of adventurers, you know how to motivate a group of players to accomplish amazing feats. You and your guild are exactly the kind of dedicated gamers we'd like to see take on the challenging and immersive world of EverQuest II. We hope you'll accept our personal invitation to give our game a try, because we know your guild has what it takes to explore everything EverQuest II has to offer.

We want your entire guild to have a great time in our game. If you need any additional invitations to ensure that all of you can enjoy EverQuest II together, please send your guild members' names and e-mail addresses to *e-mail removed* and we'll make sure they are invited.

Please read this entire e-mail carefully. It will provide all the information you need to install the beta client and begin your exploration of the world of EverQuest II.

** Downloading the Beta Client **

To download the beta client, please go to the following URL:

*URL removed*

Select "Save" when prompted and choose a location to store the eq2beta.zip file. When the download is complete, open the zip file and extract the setup.exe file to your desktop or another location. Double-click the setup.exe file to install the beta patcher software.

When installation is complete, you will see an icon on your desktop named EverQuest II Beta. Double-click this icon to launch the patcher and begin downloading the EverQuest II Beta client.

Before the download begins, you will be prompted to sign in with your Station account. If you do not have one, please click on the link to create an account and follow the directions provided. Be sure your e-mail address is entered correctly.

After you are signed in, you will be asked for your beta key. Your key is found below:

*Key removed for obvious reasons*

Please type your key carefully. After you submit your key, we will verify that it was entered correctly. If it wasn't, you will be asked to enter it again.

Note: The EverQuest II Beta client is over two gigabytes in size and may take ten or more hours to download. If you need to interrupt the download process for any reason, you can run the patcher again and it will resume from where it left off.

When the download is complete, press Play to enter the world of EverQuest II. Welcome to the beta program!

** Getting Started **

Please be sure to print out and read the EverQuest_II_Beta_Manual.pdf file found in the game directory (the default is C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II Beta). This manual provides valuable information to help get your adventure underway.

You enter the world as a refugee, rescued by the Far Seas Trading Company and taken by ship to the Isle of Refuge. After an introduction to the interface and the basic mechanics of the game aboard the Far Journey, you are taken to the Isle of Refuge where you will pick an archetype and begin your adventure. After the island, you will move to one of the two cities that survived the cataclysms.

Qeynos, under the rule of Antonia Bayle, has become the gathering point for those who walk the path of virtue. All those willing to work for the betterment of civilization are welcome within the city walls. Expeditions are being sent into the wilderness to bring order to the world and rescue those who are in need of aid.

Freeport, under the iron grip of the Overlord, is the home of darkness and greed. Lucan D'Lere seeks power and glory, sending his minions into the frontiers to claim the wealth of the world as his own. Adventurers who choose the path of evil will call this city home.

** Finding Your Friends **

After completing the boat tutorial, players begin the game on the Isle of Refuge. In order to prevent overcrowding, we create multiple instances of the island to ensure a healthy population of players. However, this can result in friends who want to play together winding up on different versions of the Isle.

To join up with your friends who are of the same alignment (either good or evil) as you are, use the mariner's bell found on the southwestern dock of the Isle of Refuge. Simply right click on the bell and enter the number of the instance where your friends are located. You will be transported to that version of the Isle so you and your friends can begin your adventures together.

** Sending Us Feedback **

There are two in-game commands for sending us information about what you experience during the beta.

/bug should be used to report bugs. Bugs are gameplay features that do not work, spelling errors, and anything that just doesn't seem like it's working correctly. Please give us as much detail about the bug as you can think of when reporting it. You can also click the bug icon on your default hotkey bar to open the bug reporting window.

/feedback should be used to send in comments about parts of the game that work properly, but that you would like to see changed. If you discover an item that you think should have less WIS and more INT, then use /feedback. If you think a certain encounter is too easy or too hard, use /feedback to report it. You can also use this command to make general suggestions on how to improve the game.

It is important that you distinguish between these two options, as one is read primarily by our testing team and the other is read mostly by our game designers. Sending a bug through /feedback can delay our ability to fix it, since we'll have to route that to our testers for verification.

Please remember that your participation in the beta program is subject to the Terms of Use and License Agreement ("Agreement"). Your access in and to the beta program, including the patcher, is for your personal, non-commercial use only, in accordance with the Agreement, and any feedback you provide is confidential.

Once again, thank you for your time and effort. It is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

The EverQuest II Team


While I find this absolutely humorous, it does reveal a couple of things.
SOE has stated that have no intentions of taking the userbase from EQ for EQ2 and that they want EQ to live for many years. But obviously, thats not what their actions are saying. Their actions show they really do plan on cannibalizing the EQ servers. So now it makes me wonder how long they plan to support EQ for after eq2 live is released.

[Kalthanan]

This is a money ploy. EQ2 subscriptions give them more money (base cost is 14.95 a month). If you try EQ2 (release) and quit, they've still made $60+however many month payments you make, and you'll probably go back to EQ. If you sign up for both, bonus!

I don't see a problem with this, really. Beta will actually give people a chance to try out EQ2 before release to see if they're interested. Meh.

[Bardolaf]

I have been talking about this with other players for a long time now. As far as I'm concerned, the release of GoD with all it's bugs only augmented an already faltering client base caused by months and even years of absentee maintenance and customer service on the part of Sony. GoD marked the decline of EQ, in preparation for EQ2. This just shows that anything Sony says to appease it's EQ clients holds little value beyond being a momentary gauze for a wound they don't take seriously. EQ will die, though predicting when that will occur is merely speculation. That's really why I made that post about who would be making the move, and if there would be enough of a user base to continue the Amichi legacy into the next epoch. I plan on playing it, tho I'm not sure when I will make that jump. I will probably take a break for a while before I go, long enough to try to get over the anger of spending 4 years on my toons in EQ, only to flush them down the toilet, and replace them with a totally generation of toons. Then again, perhaps I won't play EQ2, and will follow Rams' idea and find something a little less intensive like WoW. Regardless, Mannreih the Prophet will pass on...it is inevitable, and unfortunate.

[Bawd]

I read the invitation a little differently. I don't think they are trying to push EQ1 players to EQ2 at all. I think they are trying to make money, as others in this thread said.

They want more MMORPG market share than they already have with EQ1. EQ2 can help them do this in two ways.

If they give EQ1 players a taste of EQ2, then if/when they tire of EQ1, as many do, instead of taking a "break" or going to a competitor's game, they might go to EQ2.

And of course, they will attract some non-EQ1 players to EQ2. A lot of potential new players are intimidated by EQ1. Big guilds, long time players with megatons of XP, everyone knows the ropes and likes to make fun of noobz. EQ2 is a chance for those newbies to start on even terms with the 'oober goobers' from EQ1.

Bottom line, capitalism will reign in Norrath as it always has. As long as there is a loyal base of people willing to pay for an EQ1 subscription, they will maintain, and enhance it. If EQ2 really does turn out to be so incredibly world-beating (right) and steals so many EQ1 players then of course they will stop enhancing EQ1. Why invest in a dying product?

But how likely do you really think it is that a majority of EQ1 players are going to cancel their subscriptions in favor of EQ2 any time soon? I don't see it happening for a long time. Even if I decide to go 100% EQ2, I will keep my EQ1 account active so I can always go back and do something different. Hell, I still log in my buck naked, 2cp-in-the-bank, original character on Erollisi Marr -- just to say hi to the people on my old /friends list from there and for nostalgia's sake. I have 10 times the investment in Bawd that I do in that toon. I won't be killing him any time soon.

When the red flag will go up for me and I will 100% agree with Rams' post above, is when I see some sort of "cross game" tribute system. Like, "turn in your plat and gear to the Riftmaster in your home town in EQ1, and he will convert it to Bonus Points for your EQ2 characters to use". If something like that comes to light, then I'll believe Sony is trying to kill EQ1 in favor of EQ2 -- a forced march. And that would be cutting their own throat, IMO.

Rams, just my 2cp worth -- let everyone try the EQ2 beta. It has some advantages over EQ1. So what. DAoC was a vastly better game than EQ1, to me. I left EQ1 for it. For three months, and then I ran out of content. Literally nothing worth my time left to do in the whole game anymore. So I came back to EQ1. When I think of DAoC now I just laugh. It was a fun diversion, about like Lords of Everquest or Dungeon Siege.

On a side note, SoE's sales pitch is working with at least some guilds. I saw a whole gaggle of Bastion Amici running around tonite (about 15 minutes ago actually) and almost fell out of my chair. And I've run into 3 friends from my old guild on Emarr, just by random chance. Raid targets might get easier to find in EQ1 soon if enough guilds make the switch.

[Kalthanan]

It's all about personal choice. Personally, I have a lot of goals in EQ1 still, as do many of you.

- Finish all VT mobs
- Make level 70
- Get all "cool" AA's
- Progress in PoP to elementals, and one day to Time
- See if there's anything interesting in GoD someday; get spells
- Explore Omens some more; get spells

I want to see Amichi progress and become a guild of veterans able to take down any target in the game, and still be friends and be able to laugh at wipeouts and come back for more. I want individuals to matter and not be a DKP score. I want to be a part of that.

So, EQ2 won't be more than a sideline hobby until something drastic happens. Omens seems to be a good release, aside from crappy pathing and a few inconsistencies between what was promised and what was delivered. Omens seems to be twice the expansion that LoY and GoD were, and LDoN was just a vending machine.

[Tavrn]

I think K2 put into words what I have been thinking but was not sure how to say it. I will be here with my family until my EQ days are done then maybe I will move to EQ2 but it is not likely.

[Agoniste]

Theres absolutely no way I'll ever go to EQ2.
My days of dealing with SoE and their games are done whenever I quit EQ.
I'm leaning more towards WoW, although have heard several problems with the game so far in the beta testing phase. Levels go up way too fast to be able to complete any of the level stage quests, which in turn leads to most the players to be able to reach ther end game within a month or so (much like how EQ is now with the guilds who broke into Time way back). WoW looks like its set up much better than EQ ever was or will be outside the ability to level too quickly.

[Ramsus]

The letter above was not sent to me. I do not have eq2 acounts to give out. Just wanted to make that clear.

[Trayleon]

You have got to be shitting me. I did not see this until now Rams.. Jesus.