It looks like SOE has worked out the issues with their Everquest II F2P launch. EQ2 is now officially Free-to-play.

The following delay notice was just posted on the Everquest II Facebook:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Trolls...

We have just evaluated the status of the current update and have come to the conclusion that we can either unlock servers and risk broken content, or ensure that we provide the best experience possible and delay the update to tomorrow morning. We have to do it RIGHT. For all of you and for all of us.

So please, bear with us, relax overnight, and let us sortie into the new day together. Community will be in office at 7:00am PST and will immediately review status and give you all an update. We are aiming for morning and working as hard as we possibly can. "

Everquest II Officially launched F2P on all servers. Posted on the SOE forums was a letter from producer Dave “Smokejumper” Georgeson states:

"Today, we stop requiring any sort of payment. There are no upfront download costs and memberships are no longer required. Everything is voluntary now. If we’re doing a good job of entertaining you, then you can help support the game you love with purchases or memberships, spending as much or as little as you choose to spend as you play."

Although the freeport server on Everquest 2 has already supported the f2p model for sometime, this marks the transition of all servers to the free-to-play model.

Official Link

EverQuest II going free-to-play (again), although players have been able to enjoy Everquest II for free on separate free-to-play servers, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has just announced that the free-to-play option will now be available across all Everquest II servers.  Although no specific date has been announced we know that the switch will occur sometime in early December.  Also scheduled for early December is the Age of Discovery expansion pack which promises to revamp Freeport city and introduce a new class called the Beastlord.

To celebrate the free-to-play release (again) SOE has released the following trailer (again)