I agree that the price is pretty darn steep. $40!!!! Yeah, the nifty extras are great (if you are a newbie) but now that I pretty much only have time for/play my now 60+ warrior that already has the fastest drog pet money can buy, has all the extra clickies that came with the expansions that I haven't lost yet (except for the port object to Cresent Reach - for some reason they decided not to include it last expansion pre-order when they promised "all the extras from previous expansion", along with the war Horse that came with one). She can't use extra copies of them since they are lore so I guess I'll have to give it all to one of my alts I no longer play....what a wonderful thing to do.
As it is I'm still miffed at the nerfdom treatment being given to the LDON Loot cards...the Nimbuses at least used to give +Cha (and stacked) which came handy...now they only look pretty. Ditto with all the new illusions for the most part. At least I might actually be able to see some of thios expansion (as it is I still haven't been to many of the other ones because they're always geared to levels much higher than I've always been).
To be honest...if it weren't for the fact that I would miss it (I have left before back when they required much more power than my old computer could handle and i missed it terribly), and the fact that October is here and I love the Halloween special events and Frostfell is around the corner, I'd probable be WoW bound (since that's where 99% of my friends have moved to these days).
Sony..you're giving me far too many reasons to LEAVE....please, I love this game, I really do, but I'm beginning to feel like I'm being fined for playing it. It's bad enough the money I shell out every month, and the money I've spent buying cards to try and get my warrior some cool graphics, and now......????
There's a "game" out there called "Second Life" that doesn't charge me every month to play. It's social just like EQ (without having stuff constantly trying to kill me), I can spend money on extras if I want (and at a LOT less than EQ), and they have special events as well such as the SL version of "Burning Man" (which I've enjoyed a LOT - I have the ability to turn into a most beautiful dragon and I've been leading the LampLighter parade because of it). WoW, SL, EQ....not to mention other games like Morrowind (which graphically speaking I've found to be far superior to EQ - only problem is that it's not social)...there are soooo many choices out there that given the choices that Sony has been making on EQ it's no wonder that I can wander around zone after zone and not run into anyone. As it is the few people I did know have left the game and I've grown so accustomed to soloing that I'm not sure I'd be any good anymore in a group (not to mention that at level 64 now I'm still considered too low for most groups anyways...a fact that would have been unheard of back in the days when Scars of Velius was new).
As I'm writing this I'm beginning to think that maybe I made a mistake just now buying the new expansion...the future of EQ is beginning to look pretty dark. It reminds me of the clowns at the FOX network who cancelled really good shows like "Firefly" after less than a season and instead went with the dribble that's out there today. Maybe it's the stupiding down of EQ (I remember last year of the "complaints" about Santug's stocking - people didn't keep it pre-Frostfell because they didn't want a 2-slot stocking, not reading the "hints" that it would be changing when Santug came to town...so when Santug came they cried that they didn't know that and wanted to be able to get their stocking back. They cried and cried until Sony put a goblin in that'd give it back. Sheeeeeesh, whatever happened to the saying, "You Snooze You Loose"? Hey, if complaints work that way, can I complain that I deleted the character I had that had the port thing to Cresent Reach...so technically I should be able to get that item back, right? My warrior sure can use it!)
How about some logically useful or story-enhancing things? Take gnomes...they can tinker merchants, why can't they tinker a companion that you can buy? Heck, how about a mechanical spider even..if it gets killed/broken you can just buy another one. They can become anyone's pet that way...so us non-magic users can have a little backup. They don't have to be all that powerful..heck if only to slay the rats and spiderlings I'd be happy with it.
Clickies are great...I carry a bag full of them to buff my warrior before battle. How about some more practical ones...like one that can summon food and water? Granted...most of the clickies are geared towards newbies it seems...why not offer higher stuff considering the level of the average player these days?
Then the loot cards...sigh...they aren't cheap to obtain. Yeah, I like the graphics but the stats (if any) are laughable at best. Take the familiars...IF they have anything useful that they do it's pretty lame at best. At my level I like to use my critter that looks like the pit monster in Gloomingdeep. Yup..in battle he heals me for a whole 9 points every chance he gets while the critter I'm battling pounds my face in with 100-200 points a pop. It was different when all I was battling was Orc Pawns...
I am soooo convincing myself that maybe it's time to move on...sigh...maybe after Frostfell (unless things take a turn for the better???)

I pre-ordered and got NOTHING! lol