Eleven is the number of all the expansions released for the original EverQuest, now available for free (along with all the upcoming ones) …if you play on the test server. The monthly fee is still there, of course.

This in the attempt to draw more players on the test server and make it more useful. Other advantages (with the hint of more to come) is a double experience bonus and a sort of /level 25 that could even be raised in the future.

It’s a nice idea even if I’m not sure if it will have a big impact. EverQuest is still an hardcore game where the community is everything. I don’t think the game sees many new faces these days and the great majority of the active subscribers are probably veterans in already established guilds that aren’t going to restart with brand new characters in a tiny community. Everquest survives of inertia.

And how much content is actually being used from those eleven expansions after the effects of the mudflation? Not much, I guess. It’s still all there, sure, but content that is not used just doesn’t exist.

I still think that the best incentive to play on a test server is a closer relationship with the developers. Ask CCP, they did this best.