Specifically, Buddy Key accounts will soon be under a set of restrictions similar to Trial accounts.
For those who do not know, a Buddy Key account for EQII has been a way for players to invite their friends to try the game out. If you purchased the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, you may remember finding a postcard in the box with a 7-day buddy key to share with a friend. The goal behind these Buddy Keys has always been to provide a means for you to invite your friends to share the fun of the game with you; as such the keys offered unrestricted access to the game during the trial period.
The platinum-sellers have abused these buddy keys as a means of having a second account to advertise their wares with at no extra cost when the account is banned. To remedy this, the following changes are coming.
Users of Buddy Key accounts will no longer be able to:
- Join or create a guild
- Send mail or receive mail from other players
- Use /auction
- Speak in chat channels
- Group or raid invite players in other zones
- Purchase items from player sales displays or the broker
- List items on the broker
- /claim rewards
- Exceed level 10 (adventure or tradeskill)
- Trade with players
- Do tradeskill commission work
- Purchase, visit or tour a house
- Send tells to other players (unless the trial player is on the other player's friend list)
These restrictions, similar to the restrictions placed on Trial accounts, should reduce the volume of platinum seller spam that you may be experiencing. As always, if you receive in-game messaging from someone offering in-game coins for real money, please file a /petition through the game system and /report so the offender can be identified and handled.
People who use a Buddy Key for legitimate purposes will also be under these restrictions during the 'try out' phase, but can upgrade to a full game account with purchase as they always could.
Thank you for your patience while the dev team worked on this new resolution.