| The Item, Location, Quest, Mob or NPC referred to by this page has been removed from EverQuest II. This article is being retained for historical reasons |
| The Freeport Server was the original EQ2X server. Now, all EQ2 Servers are Free-To-Play |
Everquest II Extended was the first free-to-play version of Everquest II. It was referred to as EQ2X for short, whereas the original Everquest II game was referred to as "EQ2" during that period.
Since 2009, several of Everquest II's competitors have switched to a free-to-play membership model, or have announced their intentions to do so. In early 2010, Sony Online Entertainment consulted the EQ2 player population to determine the extent of support for adding a free-to-play model to EQ2. The resulting product, EQ2X, was unveiled in the summer at FanFaire 2010. A significant Game Update coincided with the beta release of EQ2X, which revamped the game's user interface and newbie experience and revised many of the previous rules related to character creation.
In December of 2011 free-to-play access was added to the existing EQ2 servers.
Relationship with EQ2 Live[]
Prior to December 2011, the free-to-play membership model known as EQ2X was separate from the existing Everquest 2 servers. A new server, Freeport, was created specifically for EQ2X. As a result, a separate (but substantially identical) client program had to be installed in order to play on the EQ2X server.
A separate discussion forum also existed for EQ2X prior to December 2011.
As of December 2011 free-to-play access was added to all of the EQ2 servers, but limits on spell and gear quality remain intact unless players subscribe to the game. Other restrictions (listed above) still apply as well, based on account status as a Free or Silver Member.
EQ2 Live subscribers were able to pay a fee to copy their characters over to the EQ2X Freeport server. The copied characters only retained items that are untradeable. Currency did not transfer with copied characters. Copied characters received all of the benefits of an EQ2X Gold membership, for as long as the player continued a subscription to EQ2 Live. However, this did not entitle them to Gold membership benefits on newly created EQ2X characters.
Subscribers who had characters on the Freeport server prior to the addition of free-to-play on all servers were "grandfathered in" and retained access to those characters, provided they were created prior to December 6th 2011. In addition, some of the free-to-play limitations on race/class do not apply. Those who had EQ2 accounts with characters on any server prior to December 6th 2011 were also granted Silver Membership for pre-existing characters. View the official announcement from SOE.
Further Information[]
- View the membership matrix.
- Read answers to the frequently asked questions.