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This past weekend EverQuest Next Landmark launched its Alpha version into the playable universe. In a surprising move, SOE has dropped the NDA on Landmark to allow developers to talk with fans right away and communicate their plans. We had the chance to chat with SOE’s Dave Georgeson last night about Landmark and some of the plans the team has for the future.
Read more of Garrett Fuller's EverQuest Next: Landmark - Georgeson on the Future.
Comments
my first impressions.
was able to log in withing the first 1/2 hour no problem.
yes alpha!= glitchy-sticky-laggy- and that was on medium settings! but been told could be a ram issue on my end in certain forums.
they have definitely are goin to target the main issues-its nice to see they were aware of it in the first 2 days- no need for forums qq!
content pretty nice-if this is whats to come for EQnext= def potential to be the next gen mmo!
i may revisit this now and again-until perhaps offical beta. warning if you have a low end gaming comp- check their required specs before purchasing.
Game is fun. Simply as that.
I am having a blast and the communication is amazing. Never saw a Developer team so open. They are twittering about every 10 minutes what is wrong, what they do to fix it, what went bad, what worked, what not... simply amazing. No more "Server down for 4hours, deal with it!" like all the other companies. SOE is listening and TALKING.
Also, finally a company that sets itself free from outdated user stuff. No 32bit support means a better game for the majority of players. The remaining 6% who are running XP still will lose their support from microsoft as well, so what ;-)
MMOs finally replaced social interaction, forced grouping and standing in a line while talking to eachother.
Now we have forced soloing, forced questing and everyone is the hero, without ever having to talk to anyone else. The evolution of multiplayer is here! We won,... right?
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My thoughts on Alpha so far:
Very interesting and complex terrain. Lots of hills and mountains to climb, valleys to explore, and a gorgeous sky with day/night. Gorgeous world, really. People are having graphics card issues which can cause the terrain to be pure black, so it inhibits mining (can't see ore nodes), but I've read that it is being worked on.
Finding a claim is an issue, even 2 days in. Now that it is 5(?) days in, it is a real challenge and people coming in are expressing their frustration on the forums. It has resulted in spending tons of time traversing each continent, logging in and out, to maybe find a sliver of space on the outskirts of no-where where there is *just* enough room to plant your flag..if you can find that space before someone else does. They are opening a new server today to allow for more room, but I imagine by later this evening it will be much the same as people will rush to grab a claim on newly available land. It is not encouraging to people who came to the game even a couple of days after Alpha launch, and if you come in next week or later it will be frustrating as well.
Crafting is very simple. Read: one click simple. This is a contested topic on the forums as well, with one side saying they want engaging, interesting crafting like the other SOE games, while the other side doesn't want to fuss with it. Maybe they'll improve it, maybe not, but right now it's gather, gather, gather and 1 click to make while watching a progress bar move until it's finished. I was honestly shocked that they reduced crafting to such a rudimentary system, as I am used to EQ2 and even Vanguard's system. I felt it was a letdown, considering Landmark is heavily rooted in crafting and building.
I find the community itself in Landmark to be fairly good. For whatever reason, there exists a small band of intolerant people who will shout you down and tell you to leave Alpha if you express criticism on the forums. Hey folks, everyone paid their $60-$100 entrance fee so we're all equal. No one has the right to tell another to pack up and leave just because you didn't like them voicing concerns about whatever their issue was. Like I said, mostly good community of patient, helpful people, but there are a few elitist jerks that need to tone it down.
Having played a few days I have to say that I am really looking forward to EQNext. As I was strolling around the world, climbing mountains and taking everything in, I kept thinking ahead to how Norrath will be if this is just a taster. Looking forward to that.
My final note is that I did contact Customer Support this morning to get my refund. EQN:L will probably be a lot of fun for builders when it is finished. Having spent some time there as it is now, I have to say that the $60-$100 entrance fee is a lot to ask at this point for what you get, and for me I thought my dollar would have greater value somewhere else.
What you mean running around cutting at trees for 2 hours and mining nodes for 10 hours? And running around in an empty game world with just nodes to harvest.
You want that as the industry norm????
Great isn;t the word I'd use. I hate hype and I promised myself I'd never do it again but EQN is going to be so damn stupendous it's insane.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
If you were treating an "Alpha Test" as a way to "test the waters" of a game, then I also completely agree with whoever in the forums asked you to get a refund and leave. The rest of us that stay behind are getting exactly what we payed for, because we did our research and knew what we were getting into. Once the game is actually released, feel free to check it out for free... if you still don't like it, then move on, there are many more games out there that will be happy with your money.
I believe the poster wants the industry to be "more open, tweet often of the problems and fixes, and be transparent in the reasons why they do stuff.". Also, by what you have stated about harvesting, I see you are not playing the game, since it would be "mine for 10 minutes and spend 2 hours chopping down wood" (Darned Burled Wood). :-P
I tunneled my way into the heart of a mountain, cleared a space big enough to build a house in, then continued my way and broke through the other side.
These next generation EQ's (no pun intended) ROCK
can wait to dig my way down to hell
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Doesn't sound like you hate hype. But glad everyone is enjoying it so far. The more the learn from making Landmark, the better Next will be. Hopefully.
EQN will never launch. Little to no updates or information about it...full steam ahead with landmark.
I knew what I was getting into, and was not using it to "test the waters", nor was my referral to forum behavior in reference to me. So, I appreciate the sentiments, but they aren't relevant. I simply found the experience to be unsatisfying for various reasons, and I plan to spend my money elsewhere.
You do understand all tools for Landmark are first built for EQN then moved to Landmark. Also there is 1 full dev team + engineers etc per game so 1 for Landmark and 1 for EQN.
By tools i mean AI, Building, Movement, etc. Everything you see now was first built for EQN then added to Landmark because they are 2 different MMOG with 2 different focuses.
Again each game has different teams. As stated many times by Georgeson.
I don't understand people everything was posted upfront for why they asked for money to play alpha on top of that when you log in for the first time there is a 3 to 5 min video of Georgeson laying out AGAIN what they need from us and what to expect before you even log in lol. People get a clue they have done everything to keep us well informed and people still don't pay attention.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
It's very much an alpha. Don't pre-order yet. I would wait a few more patches. It's very very very buggy and a lot more unfinished than you'd probably anticipate.
I will say if they DO manage to pull this off it's a real nice game for people who like sandboxes and crafting and building things.
If you're expecting anything else from EQN Landmark other than what I mentioned previously, do NOT touch this. You will only be disappointing yourself.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If the Landmark Alpha is any indication of what EQN will be like then count me in. Many people do not seem to understand what an alpha is but boy, this is impressive.
Yes, it is crafting/gathering, yes half of it doesn't work or isn't implemented yet, yes it is not optimised but for the first time in a very very long time I feel like I am in a actual world, this sense of wonder and curiosity I have been missing since I first set foot in AO many years ago. I am no SOE fan but they might have a winner here. One of the major things to decide htis will be the way in which they will handle their micro transactions though. You can have the greatest game but with a horrible cashshop......
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
My PC is having a VERY hard time playing this game and I usually can't log in more then 45 mins because then my fans start to sound like a helicopter taking off.
Having said that I really like what I see so far and their communication is excellent. Just hoping they will optimize it a bit more so I can play more in the coming weeks.
They didn't drop it. Everquest Next has an NDA. landmark doesn't.