Once upon a time in a land far, far away there was a game called EverQuest II.  It was a huge success, as it allowed groups of players to traverse a massive online landscape, slaughtering dragons and having adventures.  It was so popular that just about every MMO created afterward has merely been a shadow of this epic original.  The trouble is, EQ2 was locked away behind a subscription model, preventing anyone who really wanted to try it (and I'm not talking about in a browser-based semi-playable version) couldn't experience this piece of gaming history.  

But lo an announcement of great import came over the transom, and there was much rejoicing.  SOE has announced that they are taking EQ2 into the wild unknown of F2P, merging their EQ2 Extended servers with their original servers under one pricing structure starting in December.  In a letter to the players, EverQuest II Executive Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson -- no relation to the South Carolina SmokeJumpers -- detailed the transition into Freemium land.  The game will now be free to download, and the Bronze level accounts will now be Free, with the higher tiers also receiving a substantial discount to their pricing.

I, for one, am incredibly happy to be able to get back into the basement and make cloth.  I wonder if my little dwarf is still floating somewhere on their servers, just waiting to slave away in my own personal sweatshop.  Oh, in my excitement I also forgot to let you know that SOE also released screenshots for their upcoming ?Age of Discovery ?expansion.  Check them out after the jump.  I gotta say for a game celebrating its 7th anniversary this week, it looks darn good.  I barely see any wrinkles at all.