Ratosorf’s newest Sony Home is in Everquest II

Update 1/5/2009 3:47pm PST: Since this post was originally published Ratosorf has moved from his first humble abode to a nice two room apartment at the Blood Haze Inn in West Freeport.

8 Indigo Road in Neriak on the Oasis server is the first virtual home chosen for my Ratonga character in Everquest II. In fact, it’s only the second virtual home anywhere for one of my characters.

Sony’s MMORPG Everquest II has been drawing the majority of my gaming time lately, pulling me away from the rock and roll fun of Rock Band.  My evil Ratonga Necromancer has also become my highest level character in any MMORPG.

Don’t laugh, level 36 (the card above isn’t completely synched as of this writing) is child’s play for hardcore RPGers online but for whatever reason with every one of these games to date – including the original Everquest – my interest hasn’t sustained long enough to level up this far. I’ll play for as much as a couple months and lost interest. Or maybe I’ll start over with different characters never giving the original character enough time to get into the higher levels. I’ve feel like I miss out on a lot of the fun thing that happen at higher levels because I don’t want – or have – the time to move through the lower levels.

Things have been different with Everquest II. For one, I’ve enjoyed the variety of things one can do in game besides just running out quests killing monsters. I’ve been looking forward to getting a house in Everquest II because having one enables you to have more broker slots so you can sell to other players through the EQ II broker system.

Getting a house doesn’t have to be a very expensive thing either. Just search for an “inn” in your home land. You need to be a citizen of the place where your home will be purchased. In my character’s homeland Neriak, I was able to visit the inn and pay a very reasonable 5 silver per week to keep my place that holds 100 items and has two broker slots.

After clicking on the door I now had a home and was given a few items. The NPC gave me an easy level 10 quest where all I had to do was click the door and “buy” the home. As you can see above there was no charge at my level for this inn home.  Every home has an upkeep fee. I paid for 5 weeks worth of upkeep (25 silver). I killed one goblin last night that dropped 35 silver, so houses in EQ II don’t have to be super expensive. Bigger homes can and do cost more. Some require guild factions and other requirements told you when you click the door.

The whole housing system is interesting to me because of the crucial and clever tie-in with EQII broker system. The broker system for those not familiar allows you to sell items to other players at prices you set. Say you are missing an item for a quest or want to upgrade your spells without having to search around tediously for the right NPC in world: just go to the broker and type in a search query for the item you want and you’re presented with results, if any and prices.

Another MMORPG first for me: selling my first item through an in-game broker system. I logged in and check the broker to learn two of my items had been sold totaling a little over 1 platinum. Again, old hat for veterans, but kind of fun. It occurred to me that one could just specialize in buying and selling through the broker system. Buy low, sell high, never kill any monsters.

That’s not what I’m planning on doing, but I’ve had fun with this feature and would like to see something similar available in all MMORPG. If I’m going to need a house, give me reasons like this that make sense.

Sony Station Cash

When logging into EQII recently Sony is pushing their new Station Cash. Players can use real world dollars to buy this station cash and use to buy special items. These items can’t be traded/brokered to cut down on “fraud” according to the FAQ.

Any Second Lifers having Linden Dollar visions? I wonder where Sony is headed with this Station Cash in the long term. Currently it’s only for Everquest and Everquest II, but would they consider making Station Cash available for Sony Playstation Home purchases someday? Time will tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Station Cash works out that they expand beyond EQ/EQII.