View Full Version : 4 characters per account
Ok I just read the boards and its official. Only 4 characters per account. This really really sucks. This is actaully making me think of not getting this game. I didnt mind in beta because i would just delete and make a new one because they were gonna get deleted anyways. Now that it's gonna be live I dont want to delete any characters just to try something new out.
huge thread about it on the beta boards right now so hopefully they listen and make it more. If they wanna do 4 per server then thats cool with me but 4 per account is just BS.
I was hoping that it was just a tool to encourage beta testers to try to level a few characters instead of a bunch of lower level characters, but if they're keeping the four character limit for release then that's very disappointing (especially if they then offer more character slots for x dollars; that would wreak 'money grab').
Four slots is way too few considering the number of professions and races offered in EQ2; it means you only have space for one sixth of all the available professions, plus you're forced to 'unlock' the froglok race (which when unlocked would give you four slots to try sixteen different races)? Bad move indeed, though I hope they will come to their senses before release.
The flip side is this outlook. I played EQ for 5 years. In that time I played a grand total of about 5 characters. One of which I deleted (my first toon, my Ranger). I played a rogue to 60th level, a Beastlord to 65th and a magician to 14th.
While i may have fiddled with other toons here and there, I only ever played the Rogue, and then the Beastlord, with any seriousness. So 4 character slots doesn't really bug me. In retrospect if I'm going to go and make alts this time around, they will be on different accounts, so I can have them both logged in at the same time if necessary.
I can sympathize with people whoe prefer to play lots of characters however. Chances are the decision is motivated by both technology (helps control database sizes) and by yes, money. This will encourage people to ring up a second account for alts.
Ulthien
10-28-04, 08:11 AM
The flip side is this outlook. I played EQ for 5 years. In that time I played a grand total of about 16 characters. Few of which I deleted. I played most to over 35+ level, for a total of 700+ char levels.
This will encourage people to drop EQ2 as they would need second account for alts, and that costs money.
ragweed
10-29-04, 07:00 PM
Right...and SWG has 1 char per account basically ensuring people will need multiple accounts if they plan on having a crafter and a hunter.
Many people have multiple accounts in SWG.
4 Per account is no problem with me. I've got 3 SWG accounts as it is, so this will save me some money when I ditch SWG.
peculier
10-29-04, 07:17 PM
Would it be 4 characters per account per server?
Would it be 4 characters per account per server?
That would be nice. Many speculated that that's how it would be, but evidently not. This bugs me, quite a bit. SWG's choice in having just one character per account also bugged me. I like to try multiple things without having to sacrifice my time or achievements. Over 2 accounts I had about 25 characters total. Even though 18 of those weren't levelled (perhaps past 10 or so) I liked to have the option to hop on whatever I want to do.
Just the same, even though it's 'against TOS' many people share accounts. 2 characters to each person just sucks.
Eq II has dozens of class and race choices, limiting that to 4 total for an account is atrocious. This is the first mmo to actually limit the server amount of chars as well. At least in every other mmo to date you could have 1 character per server. First dissapointment...
Sadashi
10-30-04, 02:44 PM
It sucks that they're only allowing 4, but I'd probably stick to just one character all the same
SWG has one character per server, so over 20 characters per account. Even WoW will have eight characters per account and they have fewer races and professions/classes.
Character slots is the online equivalent to an offline game's in-game save system. Games such as the original Hitman and Oni were criticized by their save system (Oni's virtually ruined the game for me, forcing me to redo amost entire levels several times), and online games should not be exempt from that kind of criticism. Forcing me to delete a character is forcing me to redo levels should I want to get the character back, and on a much greater time scale than any offline game.
The fact remains that a player who doesn't mind only having four characters per account isn't going to refuse to buy the game if more character slots were offered, but a player who wants more will refuse to buy the game. Sorry SOE, but four characters per account is a dealbreaker for me. Crunch your numbers and get back to me with a better offer and I'll reconsider, but as is I'll stick with the games which offer me the freedom to play them the way I want to, not the way a beancounter wanting to save a few bucks on hard drive space wants me to. Four characters per account just seems stingy to me, which makes me wonder where else SOE is going to choose to be stingy.