Sony Online Entertainment introduces $25 mount [Updated]

You knew someone was going to try it. Sony Online Entertainment is making their bid for a seat on the Sparklepony bandwagon with the introduction of mounts in EverQuest II.

Etheral, Sinister, and Ulteran Prowlers are now available in the Marketplace for 2500 Station Cash each, the equivalent of $25 USD. So are they worth it? Well, that is entirely a matter of opinion, but we can help you decide with a rundown of what's available.

These huge felines offer a 65% run speed, and ~~lower your maximum falling speed~~. You can choose a Fierce version, which will give you a +5 bonus to many physical attacks, or an Arcane version fora +5 bonus to Focus, Ordination, Disruption, Subjugation and Ministration. ~~Each mount is bound to one character and is no trade, so don't expect to use this mount on multiple characters.~~

They're available now, so check out the EverQuest II site for all the details.

[Update: Smokejumper has posted to the EQII forums to say that the mounts will be a "heirloom" item, which means the mount is bound across the account. They are not currently flagged as such, but SOE will be correcting that with Tuesday's update.]

[Update 2: Smokejumper has also gone on to say that the mounts do not have feather fall, as was stated in the online article. Thanks Conor!]

Reader Comments (68)

This is what comes in the email they sent out announcing it:
http://newsletters.station.sony.com/images/eq2/SC_Mounts_Body.jpg

quote: "You like, you buy, you ride!"

Definitely an attempt to quell the insurrection that will no doubt follow, from both WoW and EQ2 fans both.

Personally, I think it's quite funny given the amount of hate that was spewed forth on the EQ2 forums in WoW's general direction, with posts such as "this would never happen in EQ2" now having egg all over them..

I dunno what world you are in but I am pretty sure there were more people saying it WOULD happen in EQ than those that said otherwise.

25 bucks is ridiculous for an appearance mount.

I can't tell if that ad is being sarcastic or not... I really *hope* it is, but it's also SOE...

@ Celestian: Having a bad day? :-o

FYI, I don't frequent the EQ2 forums regularly, but I was browsing them at the time of the Celestian Mount (oops my bad, 'Celestial') news.
I read many a post from staunch EQ2'ers claiming it would never happen.

Whilst there were also a few posts predicting the arrival of something similar in EQ2, I was referring only to the ones that were defending SOE with all their energy - those folk would feel a little 'off' now I'd imagine.

@Amana

I don't know which EQ2 forum you frequent but most people knew mounts were on the horizon. It's not that hard to deduce given the fact SoE has already implemented a full in-game store and to date has released more controversial items such as a cash-only accessible zone.

LOL, We knew Smed couldn't sit by and watch WoW sell out of lame sparkle ponies and not have one of his own to sell. It's a shame people are blinded by "wanting" and don't see how crazy it is to buy a mount that costs 50% of the price of an entire game.

Well, leave it to Smedly to one-up Blizzard in their twisted mount scam.

These ones actually confer a bonus to the character!

Let's hope that they don't sell worth a damn, we don't want this as the norm.

It's bad enough they are selling this ridiculous item for the price of a expansion.

They've been selling items that are more than expansions for awhile now. $20 backpacks and $50 furniture packs were already on the Marketplace long before EQ2 sparkle ponies showed up. SOE and other are rapidly seeing that players are more than willing to fork over more money to games they love to play. If players have the expendable income to purchase these items, the go for it.

I think what drives me the most crazy is they would be quest rewards otherwise.

Now these companies will be saving the best non-combat items for cash shops.

No thanks.

People who think these types of items would just be quest rewards if they were not for sale are fooling themselves. The items that are made for marketplaces like this would most likely not even exist if not for the incentive of extra money.

Items that are sold like this should be considered BONUS items that otherwise wouldn't be made. It is fine if you don't want to buy them, but the money that these items generate will partially go to make more BONUS items and FREE in game items for everyone. As long as the companies don't get blinded by greed and make EVERYTHING cost extra, you really are coming out ahead by having a store selling items like this.

We are going to have to agree to disagree.

If this game did not have a cash shop do you really think the designer who proposed this would have been told to shelve it because they cannot give it out as a quest/raid/etc. reward?

You are correct that NOW these things will be designed with the cash shop in mind.

But games without cash shops (which I'm sure will soon be very few) give these types of things as in-game rewards.

But once you add a cash shop to a subscription game all bets are off. It would be interesting to see how the rates for unique drops change once a cash shop has been added to a game.

My point is that these particular flavor items most likely never would have come about if it were not for a cash shop. Sure, similar items would and are still going to be drops and rewards in game, but these particular high quality items would likely not have made it in without a cash shop.

It is a bonus on top of similar items that are introduced to the game through regular means.

Look at it as the money made from selling these items funds the creation of more bonus items to sell in the store AND free items that go into the game regularly. You are able to devote and pay for a whole department solely for extra fluff items with the money gained from a cash shop and items like this.

That is where I am coming from, but I tend to agree, we will probably have to agree to disagree :-)

@Thrishmal

I think people that believe, "the money that these items generate will partially go to make more BONUS items and FREE in game items for everyone." are fooling themselves. That money isn't going towards making the game better in any way, and that's fine by me. More power to them for taking people for all their worth. Just don't kid yourself into believing that it's a good thing for everyone.

I can't beleive how this type of things becoming a trend. How people became so numb and apathetic.

People aren't numb an apathetic about it. They love it. They want it. Otherwise hundreds of thousands of people wouldn't have shelled out $25 bucks for a sparkle pony in WoW.

@Wisdomandlore...I wonder, though, if the same percentage of EQ2 players by this as WoW players bought the sparklepony, would it be considered as much of a success? Look at the size of the WoW playerbase.

In the long run, SOE may make out better with a lower pricetag.

English is not my native language so my bad. I meant numb and apathetic towards awareness, consciousness and enlightment.

Somehow I'm not expecting "awareness, consciousness and enlightenment" to result from playing games.

Surely these people aren't playing games all the time...right? :/

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Sony Online Entertainment introduces $25 mount [Updated]

Reader Comments (68)

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:06PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:15PM Celestian said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:19PM Nef said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:29PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 21st 2010 9:25PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:08PM CCon99 said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:22PM DevilSei said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:09PM MrGutts said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:18PM BaronJuJu said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:17PM Pingles said

Posted: May 20th 2010 4:20PM Thrishmal said

Posted: May 20th 2010 5:30PM Pingles said

Posted: May 20th 2010 6:00PM Thrishmal said

Posted: May 20th 2010 11:29PM whateveryousay said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:19PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:20PM Wisdomandlore said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:28PM Tanek said

Posted: May 20th 2010 3:39PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 20th 2010 6:25PM OldBoy said

Posted: May 20th 2010 6:57PM (Unverified) said

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