Although not as popular as it used to be back in the days, the original EverQuest still has quite a few players on its servers and probably the numbers will increase a bit in March, when Sony plans to make their long running MMO free to play.

“We’re excited to be expanding the EverQuest experience by making the game more accessible to every type of player so that you can choose to play the game in a way that suits you best,” wrote Sony on the official EverQuest website. “Anyone who wishes to start, return or continue to play one of the “Best Games of All-Time” can simply download and play EverQuest on their terms – think of it as Free to Play, Your Way. Recurring subscriptions, non-recurring subscriptions, Silver or Free memberships, item unlockers, and more. The game will now be setup to be flexible so that *you* can decide how much to pay, based on how much fun you’re having.”

With the game going free to play, some new enhancements are prepared for the 13 year-old game, like a new website, an improved map system and various in-game upgrades. Plus, all players that will be playing in March will also receive a Welcome pack including some goodies to make their stay in EverQuest more enjoyable.

All in all, some pretty good changes that make sense. We’ll have to sit back and see if this manages to take EverQuest off once again and turn it into a very popular game.