Everquest 2 free to play

Our evil overlords at Sony Online Entertainment good, not at all evil friends at Sony Online Entertainment have jumped onto the paid MMO to free MMO bandwagon, announcing that Everquest 2 will become free to play in a couple of weeks. August 17th, they say.

Well, there’s a lot of asterisks here. EQ2 isn’t actually going to be free to play: rather, they’re launching a separate game, Everquest 2 Extended, which will be free, to make sure no one disturbs the grinding and masochism of long time Everquest 2 players who don’t like putting up with people who haven’t played since launch. These new servers will be monetized much like Dungeons and Dragons Online has been, with purchases including more character classes, new races, and the always available experience modifier. Additionally, to get high level content, you’ll be required to purchase Sentinel’s Fate, the newest expansion to Everquest 2.

Personally, I’m kind of excited. Dungeons and Dragons Online was kind of mediocre, in my book, but Everquest 2 was a pretty fascinating game, and I’d be willing to give it a shot when it becomes free to play. I mean, it’s not like I threw away years of my life to Everquest or anything.