It is well known that Kingdoms of Amalur is one of the many games that employ the online pass method of encouraging new purchases (and for making more off of used copies).
Snooping around the internet before purchasing the game, I noticed that on the Xbox (I imagine the same holds for the PS3) the code needs to be redeemed via the Marketplace as can be seen in the following instruction leaflet:
When I launched the copy I recently bought through Steam, I saw a "multiplayer" key code pop up, but it apparently has nothing to do with the online pass (and the game didn't prompt me to enter a code at any point so far).
On EA's own FAQ for the game, I found the following quote in regards to the availability of the N7 inspired armor in the game (the last sentence is phrased badly on the source as well):
Your N7 armour in Reckoning is unlocked automatically with your online
pass, available in all new copies of Reckoning, or by purchasing the
Reckoning online pass on PSN, XBL . It unlocks with automatically with
your PC registration code on Origin or Steam.
This possibly hints that there is no need for unlocking the online pass protected content on a new PC copy, but sadly the above is far from an explicit statement on the matter (all other mentions on the FAQ regarding the online pass are Xbox/PS3 centric).
So, how does one unlock the online pass content on the PC (specifically, with a Steam copy), if that is at all required?
Also, if such unlocking is indeed implicit, what is my online pass bound to? My Steam account, perhaps?
Best Answer
I decided to bite the bullet, and so I went into the game's online options and connected with my EA account (I had one from way back for a reason I have long forgotten). Sure enough, the quest for picking up the N7 armor suddenly appeared.
It seems, then, that in order to activate the online pass on the PC (specifically, with the Steam version) you must have the game connect to an EA account.