With the introduction of its MMORPG Everquest 2, Sony Online Entertainment has made an interesting business move, one where players who don’t want to toil away progressing their characters above level 85 can now buy an automatic boost to do so.
The cost for “instant progression” will run 3500 Station cash – Sony’s currency system, which equates to $35 in real funds – and will allow players to instantly get a level 85-raised character as a result. They can also upgrade existing characters from the Everquest universe if they wish to do so.
“We’re essentially creating a shortcut for people to go to level 85 without invalidating that level 1 through 85 content, if that’s what they want to play — you can always start at level 1 and move up,” director of development Dave Georgeson explained. “But we wanted to make sure that players could get together really easily, so that when friends come back to the game, they can find their other friends and be able to adventure.”
Players can also take advantage of a new “Hero’s Call” promotion, which will allow them to create a new Heroic character to use permanently in the game free of charge, or let pre-existing players level up their Heroic character for no cost. It’s a limited time promotion, though, as it only runs through October 15.
Everquest 2 is now available for PC.
Source: Polygon
