My mind has been occupied all week with the fact that I’m just tired of games really being the same: Shoot things, stab things, jump over things, etc. I want to play games about building things, collecting things, and crafting things — I want the entire game to revolve around those concepts.
Coincidentally, an EQ Next Landmark dev diary came out today showcasing just a very, very small taste of materials and tools. While a very brief look, I’m already extremely antsy. The things I mentioned earlier (building, collecting, crafting) – That’s what Landmark is all about!
Watching the second dev diary I loved hearing about the way servers are being handled. The entire world on every server is procedurally generated. This means that each of the servers may have generally the same biomes, but they will all look completely different. I’m already starting to imagine ways of using ley lines to travel to other servers and go on adventures collecting materials.
In the third dev diary (video below) we’re told that there will be different tiers of materials, tools, and that you can progress. I want to get in there and start farming resources! Can I bake buy Dave some cookies for beta access?
I have a few questions that I hope will soon be answered.
How does combat play into all of this?
How are resources gathered? I break trees and collect them like in Minecraft, or do I whack on a node and the node empties?
How are resources used up when shaping terrain like we saw in some of the earlier videos?
Can I sell rare resources to other players or trade? If I sell, what use do I have for currency?
Maybe some of those have already been answered (please share the answers with me).
I need a lava bucket, but just for mean-spirited practical jokes.
It would be interesting if one could simulate mining with tunnels and mining rights, and rare minerals.
Huh. So, not only do they have player housing, they have player housing that players can build completely to their tastes? This is the first fantasy-themed MMO I’ve seen in years that actually has me interested.
@Gankatron: Based on everything I’ve seen, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if players could tunnel around within a certain area they’ve laid claim to.
As for the lava bucket… I’m also curious if players will at all be able to grief each other’s buildings. I’m almost positive I read somewhere that there will be restrictions on interfering with others.
@Jeff Clough: Therein lies one of the important details. Technically, Landmark isn’t an MMO. EQ Next will be the traditional MMO so to speak, but if my understanding is correct Landmark is closer to Minecraft than it is a traditional fantasy MMO.
Honestly, I’m still somewhat confused myself as to what exact Landmark is meant to be in the grand scheme of things.
If you remove the video images and just play the sound, nothing said can’t be done in Minecraft today.
I get taking an idea and evolving it, ala Blizzard, but not one thing in that video is any different from Minecraft.
I am also still waiting to see what they are doing differently besides Minecraft: Fantasy Edition. At least it is a little bit clearer what EQ Landmark is.
@Keen: The whole thing is a confusing clusterfuck to me at the moment. You seem to be more diligent at
following up on them so maybe you can make things clearer:
When is EQ Next coming out? My understanding was that it was being developed in tandem with EQ Landmark. I just don’t see how this is possible resource wise.
And why separate the two concepts? If EQ Next is supposed to be the biggest sandbox ever, then put these tools in there. Or will these tools also show up in EQ Next. Seems to be a bit of duplicate effort going on.
And what is EQ Next exactly anyway? Seeing this and looking back at the barely a reveal in August, all we have seen in the flesh is basically EQ Landmark. So has EQNext commenced development or still in vapourware stage?
@SynCaine: With all that we know, it’s pretty much Minecraft with a fantasy MMO coat of paint on steroids. We know there will be ley lines, traveling between servers, some form of commerce, and claiming land. Those are slightly different from Minecraft.
@jidhari: EQ Next the MMO no launch date at all from what I’ve seen. EQ Next Landmark supposedly comes out at the end of this year or in winter sometime.
Why the separate concepts? No idea. That’s the big question I’ve asked. I think what probably happened was they developed a playable tool being used for internal demoing that someone in marketing said… “We can make money with this.” And thus Landmark was born.
EQ Next is a “next-generation” sandbox MMO currently in development. I following a few of the people on the lore team, and I know a couple people working on the code side. It is in development. That’s all I know.