If you have been /feedbacking to the EQ2 team for years that you would be ready, willing, and eager to sell family members, limbs, or just pony up a few extra bucks to increase your house item limit, then I have some great news.
If, however, you hate StationCash and everything it stands for, and SOE will never get a penny of your money over the $14.99 (or less depending on your subscription plan), then I have some bad news.
But first, let’s look at some cool changes to housing in Game Update 58. 
Balconies
Most (if not all) of the 5, 6, and now 7 room houses have acquired a balcony. This much-requested feature has been tricky for several reasons. For one thing, each of those 5, 6, and 7 houses which look identical on the inside are physically located in different areas within each city. For instance, the 6 room house in South Qeynos is accessible from 2 Bayle Ct and 4 Bayle Ct (which are side-by-side), and 5 Erollisi Lane, which is actually down a street. The large houses in Neriak are actually on opposite sides of a ravine. And worst of all, some of the 5-room houses are in North Freeport, and others are in South Freeport.
Qeynos courtesy SOE Dev Haohmaru
For years, the development team has grappled with how to improve the appearance of these houses, and always hit the roadblock of “we want to add an ‘outside’, but it physically doesn’t work!” Oh, they dipped their toes in the water when they added a skylight in Maj’dul, and a full view of Kelethin through the addition of windows. But to add a proper outside would require shattering that illusion that each of the 5/6/7 room houses in each of the 6 cities are actually located in different spots.
Freeport coutesy SOE Dev Haohmaru
It’s worth noting that we also got some other major improvements to housing in Game Update 58. Not only were house item limits lifted again (700 items now for the mansions), but due to some hard campaigning by players at Fan Faire, the Moving Crate now has its own independent limit matching that of the house. Need to pack up an entire house of Frostfell, Erollisi Day, or Nights of the Dead decorations and still need enough slots to put the house back together? Now you can! I imagine those Load House Settings and Save House Settings buttons will be getting a lot more use, as people save different versions of their house layouts, making full use of their 1,400 item palettes (700 usable at a time).
Maj’dul courtesy Senya (left) | Neriak courtesy Roslyn (right)
No doubt a few players will complain that their houses don’t match up with where they are actually located in the city, but I think for the most part, most people will just be thrilled to finally not be cooped up in a sealed mansion and have access to a nice balcony. And if the role-play aspect really bothers people, I imagine that a few players will go ahead and make the move to the “correct” house which matches up with the outside geometry. Even if they have to join a guild or acquire additional status. Anything in EQ2 is attainable if you work hard enough. Except those damn stoneskin avatar slippers.
Read the EQ2 Forums discussion about the EQ2 Balconies (Outside Areas) for Housing
Good News/Bad News
So, what’s this about good news and bad news? Have I gone completely off the track? A bit…
We just got house item limits of 700 in the McMansions. But as every housing afficionado undoubtedly has a carpenter on speed dial, this limit is really 800, through the use of the player-made Dimensional Housing Expander. Now we’re talking 800 items. Would you faint if I said you could go to 1,000?
The player-made Dimensional Housing Expander adds 100 slots to any house.
With the introduction of Game Update 58, two more items have appeared on StationCash which do not stack with each other but do stack with the Dimensional Housing Expander. I’m talking about these two items:
- Personal House Item Limit Expander (100) - 600SC ($6)
- Personal House Item Limit Expander (200) - 1200SC ($12)
Domino has helpfully provided a screen shot of all 3 House Item Expander items to compare them side-by-side:
It’s worth pointing out that the effect of these items is transferable to future houses. You pay once, and any house you own or move into from now on will have those limits. The player-crafted Dimensional Housing Expander remain is a one-use item only, ensuring that crafters will always have some business coming their way.
Further Discussion on the EQ2 Forums
Price Check!
By the way, I had to look the prices for these up in-game, as after 2 years, there’s still no proper StationCash website to browse items. The main StationCash website links to a FAQ entry instead of linking to the EQ2 StationCash Catalog, probably because that site is exceedingly out-of-date. If SOE want to sell premium, upmarket items, it might help to create a detailed website that markets them. Just saying…
Conclusions
People are passionate about RMT and StationCash, but the way this is designed, it seems unlikely that it will negatively impact crafters. Further, additional house item slots mean additional crafted items will be needed, so this will probably result in a boost in the need for crafters.
As for the greater issue of $14.99 not giving us the entire game anymore, well, I’ll have to sit on my South Qeynos balcony and ponder the deeper meanings of that.
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