Sony Online Entertainment are making Station Players free to use for subscribers from December 17th. So if you play Vanguard, Everquest or Everquest 2 you’ll be able to see all the extra stats and use the extra services for free.
If you ask me it should always have been free but hey at least it will be soon. For SOE to drop the charge for station players, it likely means we’ll be charged elsewhere, probably via the station cash store.
Anyway here’s the full announcement.
Important Changes to Station Players Premium Features
We are pleased to announce that beginning December 17, 2009, SOE will no longer charge separately for access to Station Players premium features for each of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, EverQuest and EverQuest II. Access to standard and premium Station Players features will now be included at no additional cost for all subscribers to each of these games (with active, paid subscriptions in good standing.) Station Access subscribers with active, paid subscriptions in good standing will continue to have access to all Station Players standard and premium features.
Station Players subscribers currently in a paid billing cycle will continue to have full access to the Station Players premium features they have already paid for through December 16, 2009. Station Players subscribers who have prepaid subscription time that extends their subscription period past December 16, 2009 will receive a pro-rated refund for any such pre-paid excess subscription payments*. Such refunds are expected to be issued by January 17, 2010.
We appreciate your loyalty and commitment to SOE’s games and look forward to bringing you more enjoyable products and game features in the future.
*Please log in to your Station Account to update your billing address. If a valid credit card is active on your account, refunds will be applied to such credit card. If your account is paid via SOE Game Card or other SOE accepted payment method, we will send a check in the refund amount to your current billing address. No refunds will be given for Station Access accounts as a result of SOE no longer charging separately for Station Players premium features.
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It's about time! Though I only ever used it to snoop on guild recruits gear, hehe…
While they're at it, how about improving EQ2 Players so it's as good as Vanguard Players, heck, even single player RPGs like Dragon Age and Sacred 2 (which does have MP, but not massively) has a similar thing, but seems to be done a lot better. Also, would be awesome if it now kept you logged in if you tick the "keep me logged in" box…
To echo others, it is about freakin' time.
WoW's Armory, which showed up a couple years after EQ2 Players, gives free access to a lot of data which has spawned a some really useful 3rd party sites that will evaluate your gear and such.
Hopefully, with the EQ2 Players data now being generally available, we can look forward to some interesting uses of that data by 3rd parties.