The Freeblood

Character art- My Freeblood Fury, Sable.

Vampires in Norrath?!
You've probably heard a bit about the new (Vampire) race in Everquest II: Oh noes a cash shop race, blah blah.. *Sparkle .. Sparkle*. Something. When I first heard about The Freeblood race it was to be implemented as part of the winter rewards promotion. I was a bit let down I'd probably miss out on it because I didn't have a subscription. So when I heard it was available to all, I didn't get upset. It was available to me still, I was happy about that. Paying (subscribers) customers will end up getting it free. I ended up getting a bunch of Station Cash as gifts this year so it worked out pretty well for me, double SC bonus FTW!

The Freeblood race is pretty similar to the others in many ways and you don't start out in a new vampire area. With the revamp to the old starting areas and New Halas it's fine though. They can morph into a 'evil' look or just stay all pretty. You can switch in- or- out of combat, whenever you wish. The mount is more of an illusion and not really a mount, with a 65% speed bonus (slow fall type effect) and will be able to work as a flying mount in the next expansion, Velious.

Forget Princess... I want to be a Vampire!
I read that somewhere recently... lol. I've always wanted to be a Vampire race since the glory days of the original Everquest. All those vampires in Mistmoore and Plane of Hate. Oh how I wanted to play as one!


The race doesn't have a soga model but it's pretty nice looking. The body is that of a female elf which is suiting. The faces are pretty/handsome. The hair is a nice change, I love the longer versions. It's more or less eye candy but I figured it would be a great fresh start since I've been messing around on the EQ2X server on the side lately. I'm not a huge fan of the F2P version but it's been working out well for me lately just playing around here and there. I may actually make this my home when I re-sub. Until then I can still play. Me likes.

Thoughts...
I was upset I missed out on the seven year vet reward house. The Freeblood estate is very similar but you have to buy it separately (from the cash shop) or you can save and buy the bundle. Which is cheaper, I've heard different but that's not true. It's cheaper to get the house, combat ability *look* and swarm of bats in one deal.

So for me, I was happy to have a chance at this type of house. I didn't really miss out, I just have a newer account I play on lately. I'll get it in a few years, until then I'm an impatient person!

For those upset about the race going into the cash shop, it was stated this will most likely be the only unique race ever in the shop. It also gives us, those not getting the winter rewards, a chance at the race too. I've said it once, I'll say it again- It's a a business out to make money. One thing I do like about EQ2 is that SOE is really good about content and updates, they are pretty frequent, especially when comparing to other big MMO games.

What really boggles me is the people upset about this, the subscribers. They are the ones who seem to be 'raging' over this... But chances are if you're threatening to quit, or getting up in arms about the whole situation, you were a paying subscriber and you would have gotten the race free. I think many people are forgetting to keep that part in mind. Ok, moving on.

I'm not happy that the extras like the Swarm of Bats and so on are cash shop too. What am I going to do, pitch a fit and quit a game I adore? Nah. I'd rather get on with life and enjoy it. On the bright side its nice not having to pay upkeep on my new house :) I would have loved to have seen all this added with the upcoming expansion, in all honesty.

You may like them you may hate them. That's your choice. I wanted to just give some thoughts on the new race. If you want to have a peek at the female model, morphing, swarm of bats and housing- check out the video. And more info on the race here.




-kaozz