Questions about 14 day trial -- Is the game free?

I've been doing some reading here and there about Horizons and the 14 day free trial. Do I understand correctly that you can download the game for free? If I choose to continue playing the game after 14 days, do I have to buy the game or do I just pay the monthly fee?

My MMORPG background is that I've played EQ, EQ2, EQOA, SWG, and CoH. I'm even beta testing CoV. Out of all of these games, they have all been dissappointing in one form or fashion. Most of it is because of SOE. Everquest used to be a wonderful game, but SOE has changed it so much that it is no longer the same. EQ2 and SWG have recently undergone combat "upgrades", which has totally changed what the game was. EQOA is for the PS2, so you really can't change that much. It's the only thing left that resembles what Everquest used to be like. And then there's CoH, which is a great game but just gets boring after awhile. It has a great company behind it. And CoV is no different than CoH, unfortunately. I haven't been impressed.

So here I am taking a look at Horizons. I've heard about it for over 2 years, and I've heard about it's problems. But I also know that things have gotten better, and I read that your RP server has a fantastic community. I love roleplaying, which is unfortunately missing from EQ.now. I have thought about WoW, but honestly I'm not sure if I'll have fun or just get bored with it. I thought about DAoC too. Between these games, Horizons is the only one that seems to interest me more at least until "Vanguard" comes out.

But back on the topic of my post... [:D]

I'm just wondering if I need to buy the game, or if it's free with the 14 day trial. Thanks so much for your replies. I'm looking forward to joining your community. I hear it is one of the best.

You donnt need to buy the game. If you have the free trial and want to continue in the end you just pay for next month and do so.
Free trial in the end is a full game/account with 14 days "payed" gametime.

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Originally Posted by Eni

You donnt need to buy the game. If you have the free trial and want to continue in the end you just pay for next month and do so.
Free trial in the end is a full game/account with 14 days "payed" gametime.

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Uh careful about that. There's a HUGE difference between 14 days free and 14 days played in game free. I can't imagine they are giving away 14 played days free as that could easily be several month free playing from a casual player.

Thanks so much for your replies. I'm glad I asked, because I thought about buying the game either on Ebay or elsewhere for brand new. The price I'm seeing is about $5.

So, why is the game free? My first thought was that they were trying to get people into the game and build up the population. My other thought is.... "why not?". They'll be making their money every month from the subscriptions.

Hey StarrFoxx! Are you the one who does the racial groups in EQ -- like halflings groups and iksar groups and barbarian groups?

If so, then we have met before! I was in the barbarian guild for a bit, and also was part of the Experience Penalty effort on Zeb server (Lovelia I was). I think we spent an evening discussing CoH.

Hope you give Horizons a shot. It has an interesting history, and there is no other game like it. Takes a while to get the whole picture here. Many people are addicited to the game and to the Horizons story as well!

Oh my goodness! Hey how are you?! [:D]

Yes, it's the same guy. I've been looking at this game for awhile, and I have a friend that has played it since it started and still does.

I'm probably going to join up and start playing Horizons. My wife has already started playing. She loves dragons, and has been wanting to try this game out for awhile. So far she's loving it.

I am gotten so sick of SOE, that it pains me to even think about going back to play their games. I canceled my accounts about 3 months ago. I had the All Access Pass. I don't know what it is with SOE, but their games just suck something awful. Everquest used to be a wonderful game, and SOE has just really messed it up. They've changed zones, turned them upside down, and flooded the entire world with expansions that the game is way too big for it's own good. I quit before they changed Nektulos Forest, and I hear it is really pathetic. I hear fun stuff about the new Depths of Darkhollow expansion, but it's not enough for me to want to spend $30 for it. And then there's the lame game called EQ2. I'm afraid to go back to it after this combat upgrade they did. SWG was fun, but I'm afraid to invest time in it due to the neverended "SOE Curse". Plus, the two latest expansions were more about capitalizing on Episode 3 then it was about adding "good content". The only expansion that made sense in that game was "Jump to Lightspeed", and I really did enjoy the space battles.

I will probably reactivate my All Access acount, but only once every 4 months or something. And I'm keeping my City of Heroes account open until November. I want to see how this new Villians vs Heroes is going to affect the game. After that, I'm taking a break. That game goes mostly unplayed.

I have been making some serious thoughts about buying a new game, and the choices that have been pounding my mind have been:

Horizons, Dark Age of Camelot, and World of Warcraft.

I'm mostly a casual player, so I think WoW would do well for me. I hear the community is bad though, and I really don't want to spend money on a game that people say gets boring after 2 months. I'm not sure what to think about DAoC. So that leaves me with Horizons. So far when peaking over my wife's shoulder, the game looks cool. The music is simply beautiful and very immersive!

I'll be joining soon. I've already opened up a spot on my "Legendary Storytellers" message board for roleplaying stories for Horizons. I'd sure like to find people interested in RP and get some good stories going on my board. Hope to see you in the game!

Cool!!!!!!!! I have always enjoyed your approach to gaming, and I think you'll add a great dimension to this game.

Horizons is very solo/casual friendly, while also fun in groups, and it is also a great game for people who play more than one (though many players play only Horizons).

Are you guys on Chaos or Order?

I haven't started the game yet. My wife is currently on Order playing her dragon. She also tells me that someone said that all the training islands are being shut down permanently (except one) since it takes more resources to keep them maintained and there isn't enough new players. I haven't seen any topics posted on the board about it.

Thanks for your compliment on my EQ groups. I was really trying to create something special for roleplaying, but it just got harder and harder to find people. Once WoW and EQ2 came out, most everybody left the game. Our roleplaying guild just suffered, and we tried everything to bring new life into it. We even changed our PvP status to PvE status, and that didn't help either. I have a couple of friends that are still there running things there (I even extended our guild over to Zek), but I don't know how successful it's been. I quit playing shortly after setting up the guild over on Zek. I would go back in play EQ in a heartbeat if they set up a classic server (like DAoC did), but SOE never listens to its players. I was more happy to quit and save over $60 (3 months worth of All Access) and use that money to buy Sims 2 and the two expansions. I had more fun with those games.

I've been thinking off and on about starting a roleplaying guild on Horizons for new players/characters. It would be neat to build our own town. I like how Horizons does it's crafting and how you can actually SEE buildings in the process of being made.

Once I start playing, I will most likely play on Order. I prefer roleplaying, because I like to be "immersed" in the game that I"m playing.

Holy cow! I just went through a Sims 2 phase myself. I really love making houses and other mods and also figuring out how to dupe stuff using simPE. Really gets you into seeing how a game is structured.

It is kind of sad about EQ. That game is just venerable and I hate it that they are re-doing zones. I actually miss the old bazaar and stuff. I kind of don't feel like logging on because it's not there any more. Not that the new stuff isn't nice, but I wish they wouldn't remove the old stuff but rather find a way to keep it in there. I dunno.

Like Mistmoore -- that was one of my favorite zones :\ and now it's basically GONE unless you're at the level cap. It was a great zone to go to to learn how to fight.

Hope to see you in game soon : )

Hhehee

Hello Starfox, are you in game yet?


Have fun and enjoy your stay!

[li]

I haven't started my own account yet, but I've played a tad bit on my wife's account with a character of my own -- a Sslisk. I'm going to play a little here and there to see if it's a game I want to dive into or not. So far I like the game and LOVE the music in it. But, I've been so burned out on MMORPG's (and SOE's incompetence) that you can imagine that I'm taking it a little easy right now. In time, I'm sure I'll dive right into it.

I'm right there with you on SOE's inability to pay attention. I'm on order, and would be happy to give you pointers and help. Just send me a tell ;)

just to let you know because you and I went the same route on games except I did do WoW and DAoC dont bother you will be just as sad with those as the others but I will admit I love this one it is like a bunch of people got together and said lets make a game we can enjoy

You know, I've noticed that.

This is a game that is being maintained by people who truly love the game. It reminds me of the community surrounding those who love the Amiga computer. And you can't go wrong with a community like that. In my opinion, that's the great thing that Horizons has going for it. You know that they are truly doing their best to really improve this game and fix the bugs, compared to SOE's approach which is release buggy expansions to draw new people in and pis$$ all of your veteran players off by not fixing bugs that have been in the original game or previous expansions.

yep plus soe was never happy unless they where nerfing something every week I was playing a dancer in star wars which would make good money because you could go to them to heal mind wounds and battle fatique just think go relax to get full up then goto the doctor and get physcal wounds healed well they got rid of all that and let dancers give a 10% bonus buff to exp grinding which means the higher lvl chars would not even bother going hell alot of people did not bother so that meant the end of tips and then end of a interesting class BTW that is the last game I am coming from think I will stop here for as long as they let me hehe

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Originally Posted by Stormrazor

yep plus soe was never happy unless they where nerfing something every week I was playing a dancer in star wars which would make good money because you could go to them to heal mind wounds and battle fatique just think go relax to get full up then goto the doctor and get physcal wounds healed well they got rid of all that and let dancers give a 10% bonus buff to exp grinding which means the higher lvl chars would not even bother going hell alot of people did not bother so that meant the end of tips and then end of a interesting class BTW that is the last game I am coming from think I will stop here for as long as they let me hehe

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haha i'm an swg exile too great to see them about because swg players were used to a very in depth game (despite the bugs and poor communication) so if I see swg players that left because of the CU or NGE and joined a game it means that game has a lot more than the most common of mmo's available. I've also read that the crafting system here is a great one. I hope i can make my name as an amazing crafter. hope to see you in game...50% downloaded so far.

Another ex SWG player here! I used to be a tailor doing the occasional run into battling monsters for their hides etc. But that became impossible and the wonderful community guild that we had spent months (nay, a year or more) building just fell apart as everyone gradually deserted SWG. I tried Guild Wars - great graphics but the gameplay is very limited.

Then my friend in Canada told me about Horizons a few days ago. Despite it being the run up to xmas I thought, hey, sounds fun, so downloaded and am now addicted (after only the first session).

Found this post, btw, as I wanted to ask the same question re. buying the CD - being in the UK I haven't seen the game in the shops - or perhaps I'm not looking in the right stores?

Also, my friend thought there was a European server - is that Blight? I'm on Order atm, trying different races and characters (always do that when I first play, I'll eventually settle with one or two that I like most).

Love the crafting here btw - can see me ending up as an outfitter [:)]

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Originally Posted by Iysa

Also, my friend thought there was a European server - is that Blight? I'm on Order atm, trying different races and characters (always do that when I first play, I'll eventually settle with one or two that I like most).

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The European server is Unity (Blight is the test server). From myriad posts I've read on the boards you're much better off staying on Order as it appears that GN--the host for the European server--has horrible support for the poor European players.

Second the suggestion that you not switch to playing on Unity. GN's support makes SOE's look responsive and competant.

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Originally Posted by LaughingOtter

Second the suggestion that you not switch to playing on Unity. GN's support makes SOE's look responsive and competant.

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LOL! And having had my fill of SOE in the past, I'll do what you suggest and stick with Order [Y]

Thanks!