Sony/news f2p faq

==Sony News Free 2 Play Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)==
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===Everquest II Free-to-Play FAQs===
1. When will I be able to play EverQuest II for free?
We do not have an exact date at this time, but we are anticipating releasing EverQuest II as Free-to-Play early December 2011.
2. How much does EverQuest II cost to play?
Basic access in EverQuest II is free! This includes access to a large portion of the game. However, there are also paid memberships that grant access to different content that are also available. Free membership gets access to seven years worth of gameplay and diverse zones released from EverQuest II's launch through EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate. Free members will not have access to the most recent expansion packs EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious and EverQuest II: Age of Discovery. However, both Destiny of Velious and Age of Discovery are available for purchase.
You can play all the way up to level 90, the highest level available in the game. You have access to the game's eight character classes, and four of the most popular races in the game from which to create your character. Additional choices can be purchased both a la carte and with memberships.
3. What are the differences between Free, Silver, and Gold memberships?
The features and benefits of Free, Silver, and Gold memberships are detailed on the EverQuest II membership matrix page (click here).
4. What is included with the Free membership?
Free players have access to a lot of content in the world of Norrath. You'll have tons of gameplay at your fingertips. Additional content, features and services are unlocked through individual purchases or by upgrading your membership to another tier (view matrix).- Create characters in any of eight classes- Choose from four different races- Advance up to the current level cap
5. What is included with the Silver membership?
With your one-time purchase of a Silver membership for 500 Station Cash, you are permanently raised to that membership level. There is no recurring fee for this membership (view matrix).- Two additional character slots (four in total)- In additional bag slot for your inventory (three in total)- More chat options (/shout, /auction, /level)- Extra inventory capacity- Increased quest journal limit- The ability to create guilds… and more!
6. What is included with the Gold membership?
A Gold membership is $14.99 per month. Gold members can choose either a recurring or non-recurring payment method (view matrix).- Seven character slots, full access to all races- Ability to equip Legendary and Fabled items- Full access to Master character skills/spells- Six bag slots for your inventory (instead of only two or four)- Unlimited coin limits- Access to the "Broker," our huge in-game player-to-player marketplace so that you can buy and sell with other players for in-game coins- Actively hold up to 75 quests in your quest journal
7. Why should I upgrade my account to a Silver or Gold membership?
Quite simply, better features! Buying a Silver membership is a one-time purchase of only 500 Station Cash that adds two extra character slots, two backpack slots, a larger character coin limit, unlimited chat access, and the ability to collect more active quests.
Upgrading to the monthly Gold membership lets you use some of the game's most powerful items (such as Legendary and Fabled items), upgrade to the most powerful spells and skills, gives you access to all 24 classes in the game (up from the original eight offered at Free and Silver), seven character slots, access to six backpack slots, no per character coin limit, access to the player-controlled Broker system, in-game mailing privileges, and more!
8. I used to play as an EverQuest II subscriber before it became Free-to-Play. What does this change mean for me?
If you are currently paying for an active monthly subscription in either EverQuest II or EverQuest II: Extended, you will automatically be rolled into a Gold membership, with full perks and privileges. This conversion will be seamless and no change will need to be made by the player. Membership will continue to recur as originally specified by the subscription.
Previous EverQuest II subscribers who did not have an active subscription during the Free-to-Play conversion will automatically be converted to a Silver membership. Certain restrictions are placed on this membership level. (Click here to find out more.)
9. Will there be Priority Queuing for Gold members?
Yes! Gold (and grandfathered-in Platinum) members will get priority if we experience queues when logging into the game.
10. I have an All Access membership. What does this mean for EverQuest II?
Being an All Access member you will receive the premium Gold level membership. However, Gold access is only available while you have an active All Access subscription.
11. Will I need a credit card to play the game?
A credit card is not required to play EverQuest II as a free member. You can log into the game without entering any payment information. If you do decide to purchase a Silver or Gold membership or buy items from the Marketplace, you will need to fund your Station Cash wallet through one of the available methods of payment (including using a credit card, a Station Cash card – available at most large retailers, or SMS).
12. Do I need to have a recurring membership in order to take advantage of a Gold Membership in EverQuest II?
Based on player feedback, at the launch of Free-to-Play, you will have the option of choosing between recurring and non-recurring memberships. You can also use Station Cash to purchase non-recurring subscriptions, but there are some benefits to setting up a recurring membership. It's completely up to you.
13. Can I buy a subscription with Station Cash?
Yes, you can purchase non-recurring subscriptions with with Station Cash. There are however, benefits to purchasing a recurring subscription.
14. I have previously purchased EverQuest II expansion packs. Will I still have access to that content?
Yes! Any EverQuest II expansion that you previously purchased will continue to be available to you, subject to your current EverQuest II membership limitations. Free members will be able to access all previous content up to and including the "Sentinel's Fate" expansion. "Destiny of Velious" and "Age of Discovery" are both available for purchase.
15. Will development efforts continue to be focused on EverQuest II?
Yes! Development efforts will definitely continue to be focused on EverQuest II. Click here to read more.
16. Will I have to re-download EverQuest II or EverQuest II: Extended when everything goes Free-to-Play?
No, you will not need to re-download the game. Other than patching, it will be a seamless transition when EverQuest II goes Free-to-Play.
17. What if I already had a Platinum membership in EverQuest II Extended?
We will no longer be offering a Platinum membership plan. Current Platinum members can continue to retain their Platinum membership status for as long as they continue to pay their subscription. If there is a lapse in payment, a new membership tier must be selected (view matrix).A Platinum membership included everything in Gold plus the following:- Full access to the game, including the "Destiny of Velious" expansion- Ten character slots- 500 Station Cash per month
18. What if I currently have both an EQII subscription and EQ2X memberships?
If you currently have both an EQII subscription and EQ2X Gold or Platinum membership, these accounts will be combined at the time of the Free-to-Play switch (early December 2011). Any unused game time will be credited to your account.
19. Do I get anything in-game for playing EverQuest II?
Yes! All current, returning and new players will receive a Welcome Pack for each character on their account. Players can use the /claim command in game to receive the Welcome Pack, which contains non-tradable items:- A Bag to store your goodies in- Experience Potions- Vitality Potions- And much, much more!
20. Will I be able to sell or gift items that I purchased in the EverQuest II Marketplace?
Marketplace items are usually labeled as "NO-TRADE" (can't be traded to anyone) or "HEIRLOOM" (can only be traded to other characters on your account). To be eligible for Gifting, you must have been a Gold member for 30 or more days.
21. What happened to Live Gamer?
After careful consideration and review, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Live Gamer (LG) have mutually made the decision to discontinue auction services currently available in EverQuest II (EQII), Free Realms and Vanguard. Beginning on December 7, 2011, SOE will suspend exchange services for all three games. For EQII, SOE will merge the LG exchange-based servers with its existing game servers, specifically Vox will merge with Nagafen and The Bazaar with Freeport. LG continues to be a valuable partner to SOE for a variety of e-commerce services. SOE and LG will be updating the FAQs from time-to-time to help answer questions you have regarding the discontinuance of the auction services.
Below is a timeline of the changes to Live Gamer:
- November 21, 2011: Last day to transfer items from game to your LG holding area.- November 22, 2011: Players will no longer be able to post items, characters, or coin to Live Gamer Exchange in EQII- December 13, 2011: This is the final day for players to return or claim any items, characters, or coin to their accounts- December 14, 2011: Live Gamer Exchange is suspended in EQII
We anticipate the merges will occur on or about December 15, 2011. We will keep you updated on dates and details via the EverQuest II forums!
22. What will happen to my characters when I have to transfer from the Live Gamer servers?
The Bazaar server will be merging with Freeport and Vox will be merging with Nagafen. In some cases, this may mean that your character totals are more than what is included in your membership plan. To avoid any problems, you will want to log in as your favorite characters right before the server merges so that they are at the top of your character queue list. If you want more character slots, you will need to purchase them in the Marketplace.
23. Why can't I copy my characters to EQ2X anymore?
Due to the upcoming Free-to-Play transition, we have disabled free character copies from the Live servers to go to EQ2X.
24. What is happening to the 14-day Trial?
When we go live with the new EQII service, the 14-day Trial will end. All current and previous trial members will be converted to the Free membership status after this date, so even if you had a free trial months ago, your characters will be waiting for you (subject to restrictions based on your membership level).
25. What is happening to the Recruit-a-Friend program?
As of November 10, 2011, you can no longer recruit using the Recruit-a-Friend program. In order to receive the Recruit-a-Friend bonuses, players you have recruited will need to subscribe by November 22, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST. We will offer a new Refer-a-Friend program in the future, so stay tuned.
26. With Free and Silver memberships there are character coin limitations. What happens to the coin I earn once I reach the limit?
Any coin earned beyond your current coin limit is lost. You can continue to earn items and experience, but coin will no longer be accumulated. The only way to increase the amount of coin you can collect is to upgrade your membership. If you are a Free or Silver member who comes back after the Free-to-Play transition, your coins will be locked as per your current subscription plan, but not gone.
27. What chat, in-game mail and Broker restrictions do Free and Silver players have?
Silver and Gold members have access to all chat channels. Free and Silver players can receive in-game email, but can't send any until they upgrade to Gold. Broker access is restricted to Gold members only. Free members can't use any of the "broadcast" channels, such as /auction, /level, /shout, or any other chat option that broadcasts to a large amount of other players.
28. If I decide to downgrade from the Gold to Silver or Free membership, what will happen to the Gold perks I had with that membership?
You don't lose anything permanently, but Gold membership content will become inaccessible to you until you repurchase a Gold membership. Letting a membership lapse is similar to allowing a subscription on the regular EverQuest II subscription service to lapse, where you become unable to access the features of that service until you renew your subscription.- Character Coin Limits: The amount of coin you have is unaltered when you lapse your Gold membership. However, you'll be unable to gain any more coin until you reduce your current coin total below the Silver or Free per character limit.- Backpack and Bank limits: Any bags or bank slots that are not available in Free or Silver are still present when you downgrade from Gold. However, you can only move items from those slots to other locations. You can't use items while they are in those disallowed slots, and you can't add anything to those slots until you upgrade back to Gold.- Quest Limits: If you already have more quests in your Journal than are allowed at Silver or Free, those quests still exist, but you'll be unable to add new ones until you reduce your quest count to below those limits.- Character Slots: When you downgrade from Gold, your maximum character slots are reduced. If you had more characters than are currently allowed, the extra characters become unavailable. However, they are not deleted. They are still available if you upgrade back to Gold status or purchase additional character slots.- Broker: If you had items for sale on the Broker when you downgrade from Gold, those items will stay on the Broker, but you will not have access to the Broker. If the items sell, the coin will stay in the Broker account until you upgrade back to Gold and can open the Broker interface again.- Items: Any Legendary or Fabled items are automatically removed from your character and placed in your inventory when you downgrade from Gold. You can use them again when you renew your Gold membership.- Spell/Skill Tiers: Any spells/skills upgraded to above Adept/Expert level are unchanged when you downgrade from Gold. However, you'll be unable to scribe any further upgrades beyond your Silver or Free limit until you upgrade to Gold again.
===Special Cases===
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1. I have active, paid accounts in EverQuest II (EQII) and EverQuest II Extended (EQIIX), how will they be combined?
The vast majority of our player base will not notice a thing as we convert to the new EverQuest II service. We wanted to outline a few of the "edge cases" that may occur with the conversion if you have accounts in both EQII and EQIIX. This listing is meant as a guide to some issues you may see but will not be able to cover all potential issues.
After the conversion takes place, if you have any concerns about your account, membership, billing or time credited, please contact our Customer Service reps. We will happily navigate the numbers with you: http://www.soe.com/en/support/
If you are currently paying for a 1 month EQIIX Gold membership AND you do not have a current EQII subscription:
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will set you up with 1 month recurring Gold Membership for the new service and your next billing date will remain the same as it was for your previous EQIIX Gold Membership.
If you are currently paying for a 1 month EQIIX Gold membership AND you are also paying for a 1 month EQII subscription:
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will add the remaining time from your 1 month EQIIX Membership over to your EQII Subscription time and convert that subscription to a recurring Gold Membership for the new EQII service. Your next billing date will occur at the end of the combined gameplay time and will be set as a 1 month recurring Gold Membership.
If you are currently paying for a 1 month EQIIX Gold membership AND you are also paying for a 3 month EQII subscription:
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will add the remaining time from your 1 month EQIIX Membership time over to your EQII Subscription time and convert that subscription to a recurring Gold Membership for the new EQII service. Your next billing date will occur at the end of the combined gameplay time and will be set as a 3 month recurring Gold Membership.
If you currently have a multi-month subscription in EQII that you have canceled but still have remaining gameplay time AND you are currently paying for a 1 month EQIIX Gold membership:
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will add the remaining time from your 1 month EQIIX Membership time over to the remaining time on your multi-month EQII Subscription time and convert that subscription to a recurring Gold Membership for the new EQII service. Your next billing date will occur at the end of the combined gameplay time and will be set as a 1 month Gold recurring Membership.
If you currently have a multi-month subscription in EQII that you have canceled but still have remaining gameplay time AND you have a cancelled 1 month EQIIX Gold membership but still have remaining gameplay time:
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will add the remaining time from your EQIIX Membership time over to your EQII Subscription time and convert that subscription to a non-recurring Gold Membership for the new EQII service. At the end of this combined period of gameplay time, you would no longer have access to your Gold Membership plan.
If you currently have a Platinum Membership in EQIIX that you have not canceled:
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will set you up with all of the Platinum Membership benefits. You will retain these benefits as long as you remain on that recurring Membership plan. If you cancel from that plan, you no longer have the option of reinstating a Platinum level Membership as that level is being eliminated. Your next billing date will occur at the end of the combined gameplay time and will be set as a 12 month recurring Membership with Platinum benefits.
If you currently have a Platinum Membership in EQIIX that you have canceled but still have game play time remaining.
*At the launch of the new EQII service, SOE will set you up with all of the Platinum Membership benefits. You will retain these benefits for the duration of your current Platinum Membership plan. Since you have canceled this Membership, once you reach the end of your 12 month membership you will no longer have access to your Platinum Membership benefits.
2. My game account was suspended or banned at the time of the conversion – what happens now?
If your game account is banned or suspended at the time of the conversion, please contact SOE Customer Service for information: http://www.soe.com/en/support/
Note: forum bans and suspensions do not affect the status of a game account, merely your ability to post on the official forums.
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===Additional FAQs===
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1) Will current Platinum subscribers get "Age of Discovery" for free?
The answer is "yes". Platinum users technically only get "Destiny of Velious" as part of their membership, but we do remember the conversations that occurred before launch where we had talked about *possibly* giving expansions for free to Platinum. We understand why people think they should be getting AoD for free, and we are "doing the right thing" by making that happen.
However, "Age of Discovery" is the last expansion that will be given for free to Platinum members because we are now discontinuing the Platinum service after this. But enjoy!
2) Will Freeport players be eligible for Veteran Rewards after the change?
The answer is "yes". In fact, if you played on Live and EQ2X both, we are merging your histories together to ensure that you do not lose any veteran status. So if you used to play on Live, but now play only on EQ2X, you will still get veteran rewards based on your Live duration as well as your EQ2X one. (NOTE: These are not cumulative. If you were playing Live at the same time as EQ2X, then you only get credit for one service against time for vet rewards.)
3) Do recurring subscriptions get a 500SC bonus grant per month?
The answer is "yes". All durations of recurring Gold memberships (1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month) get 500SC granted to them each month. (NOTE: This is a perk for recurring memberships only. Non-recurring memberships do not get this grant.)
4) Character slots. There are several situations that people have asked about. Here are all the answers at once:
*Do I keep my character slots after the changeover?
The answer is "yes". If you paid for it on the marketplace, we don't take it away. You keep all character slots.
*If I was grandfathered in with the Station Access extra character slots when Station Access was changed last year, do I still keep those extra (grandfathered) slots?
The answer is "yes"
*If I was playing on EQII Live *and* on EQ2X, and have tons of characters on both servers, what happens when the conversion occurs and all my characters are visible on the character selection screen all at once?
This answer is a bit more complicated, and I'll explain, but the answer is "We're giving you extra character slots to compensate." Here are the details on this. Please read them carefully.
#Everything you read below pertains *only* to characters that existed on your accounts on 11/10/2011. Characters created later than that date are *not* included in this solution.
#This solution *only* pertains to players that have characters on *both* a Live server *and* EQ2X.
#That being said, here's how it works: You have a number of characters on Live. You have a number of characters on EQ2X. Total those two numbers together. This is your total number of characters. Now subtract from that value, the total number of character slots that purchased for your account on both EQII Live and EQ2X. Now, further subtract seven from that value. (Seven is the base number of slots that a Gold membership grants you by default.) The resulting value is the number of character slots that we will grant you for free so that you can still access and play all of your characters. Make sense? (There's an example below, in #4, for clarity).
#Example of #3 : Bob has 11 characters on Antonia Bayle (purchased four character slots) and 8 characters on Freeport (purchased one character slot). The total number of characters is 19. The total character slots purchased is 5. (19 - 5 - 7 = 7) So Bob will receive seven new character slots on his account on the day of conversion so that he can access all 19 of his characters without further purchase.
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