Legends Of Norrath Virtual Loot Creates EverQuest Controversy

Over the course of the last week a controversy begun in the player community for the Sony Online Entertainment MMORPG EverQuest, driven by a virtual "loot card" item called the Dragon Brood Crypt Key. The item can only be obtained by playing the freemium SOE virtual trading card game Legends of Norrath, where the players can spend real money to buy randomized "booster packs" of cards. Occasionally a player can obtain "loot cards" from these boosters that can be redeemed for virtual items in EverQuest. 

The Dragon Brood Crypt Key is unusual among Legends of Norrath's loot items in that it grants the possessor access to an exclusive dungeon in EverQuest. Someone with the Crypt Key can take up to five acquaintances into the dungeon and can receive some items from completing the dungeon that are otherwise very difficult to obtain. As a result, players of EverQuest who do not play Legends of Norrath have expressed offense and anger over what they feel is in-game content they arbitrarily can not access.

In EverQuest the Dragon Brood Crypt does not offer any exclusive rewards and is intended as an end-game instance for Level 85 characters. Other Legends of Norrath loot cards tend to drop more mundane virtual items like pieces of equipment that are comparable to what EverQuest players could earn by themselves. While the core complaint from EverQuest players is that they should be granted all access for a game they pay a subscription fee to play, all EQ players get five free Legends of Norrath boosters per month. 

So, it is possible that many EQ players could get access to the Dragon Brood Crypt without spending extra money on Legends of Norrath cards, while a player investing lots of funds in Legends of Norrath boosters may not ever get this particular loot card. Adding to player frustration is a sentiment that EverQuest lacks sufficient content for high-level characters, so many players assume that the Brood Crypt was developed using resources that might otherwise have gone into an expansion all players could access. 

EverQuest Producer Thom Terrazas has stated that this is not the case, that the Dragon Brood Crypt was developed using resources generated exclusively by the Legends of Norrath card game. The holder of the Crypt Key is only allowed to clear the dungeon once before the Key is consumed, but can run it again if another Key is obtained. Virtual items that operate in a manner similar to this are were once key to monetization in certain Chinese MMORPGs, though they have since been outlawed by new government regulations. 

Many other Asian MMORPGs use similar mechanics, though a player can usually choose to buy keys for particular dungeons. The negative response to the Dragon Brood Crypt in Legends of Norrath and EverQuest is possibly driven by EverQuest being one of the oldest currently-operating subscription-based MMORPGs, but is likely also an indicator of the deep ambivalence traditional gamers feel toward virtual items– and their growing importance in the way publishers develop and monetize online games. 

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