It’s been a while since I’ve written about Landmark. Â Yep, I’m still playing! Â I’m eagerly awaiting the upcoming patches, though. Â Right now the game is still all about gathering some resources and making nice looking things. Â Every time I write about Landmark I seem to say the same thing: I can’t make nice looking things. Â Nothing has changed, but that’s okay.
Thinking back to the hundreds of hours spent in Minecraft, very little of it was spent making nice looking things. Â Most of it was spent making things that do something. Â I never cared that my house looked a certain way — I cared that inside was an automatic machine that processed my ore and sorted it into chests.
I look at my little garden I made in Landmark a couple nights ago, and I wished that I could make something that harvested the plants. Â Heck, I wish the plants grew. Â I like tinkering and decorating, not building. Â The difference makes sense to me, and hopefully you get what I’m trying to say.
The near future of Landmark is going to be exciting. Â Caves are being added, and that means I can go out and explore. Â I hope they move resources underground and introduce rare items. I want to be the guy that finds the rare gems and sells them to the people who have the ability to make them look nice on a bookshelf. Â I want to find rare recipes, discover unseen caves, bring back treasures, etc. Â All in due time.
Right now my current project is an underground gnome city. Â I’m thinking lots of glowing gems, lights, little houses, etc. Â It’ll resemble something between Mekalia and Ak’anon. My hope is that by putting it underground I can rely on the intentional imperfect look to disguise my crude building skills!
I just made a Legendary Powered Pulverizer. Â I’m quite proud of the fact that I got it on my first try, and horribly saddened by the fact that it will be gone when they wipe next. 🙁
In general, I do feel inclined to spend less time in Landmark. Â I don’t want to burn out on what’s currently in the game while waiting for more of the types of things I enjoy. Â My current plan is to hop in at least 2-3 times a week for an hour or more and just continue working slowly on my little projects.
Apart from the dedicated builders (Hi, Mrs Bhagpuss and all your builder friends!) I guess we are all waiting for SOE to add some game to the game. Going to be a long wait, I think. Looks like combat has been pushed back behind caves/water. At one point they were saying combat would be in at the end of alpha.
And is there actually a difference between Ak’Anon and Mekalia? Or Klak’Anon and Gnomeregan for that matter.
Mekalia was more ‘gnomes with magic and crystals’ whereas AK’Anon is more ‘gnomes with mechanical spiders’. Both are very similar, but blending the two should be just what I’m going for in my build.
Basically the real game starts when they launch EQ next? correct? When is that?
@Romble: Landmark is a completely stand-alone real game. EQ Next will be a more traditional MMO. Right now we have an incomplete early beta version of Landmark, and the part I’m looking forward to the most is still in development. 🙂
I reflected that a subset of us are -functional- builders, rather than aesthetically motivated ones. Since our artistic skills aren’t so good, we tend more to build stuff that does something or performs a function for us.
In Minecraft, I’m first driven by some sort of need for the building. Want to breed some animal or other? Ok, construct some kind of pen or housing, function first, just needs to look nice -enough- that it isn’t an eyesore when I walk by.
Need safe, nearby source of always accessible wood/shrooms. Ok, underground tree farm or bonemeal shroom cave time!
Need to cross large distance overland safely? Minecart railway, preferably in sheltered raised scenic bridge or experimental boat highway time, etc.
It’s a fun game but I’m finding myself limited because I’m not a fan of the actual building, plus I’m no good at it. I’m maybe in a similar camp to you Keen, tinkering and gathering are more what I enjoy.
I’d be really happy if they allowed me to buy templates from other players so I could go out and gather a shedload of resources then just hit ‘build’ (and if that takes a few days to complete, fine). I like the idea of going gathering with a target in mind, it’s a nice aspirational carrot and enough motivation to keep me heading out with my pick and axe.
@Thuun: You WILL be able to buy templates from other players and simple hit build after gathering the resources. 🙂
@Jeromai: Exactly.
Really hope the developers are reading that.
I’m with you, I have a hard time making things look nice. I much prefer making things which are functional. That’s probably why I have not tried Landmark yet, but maybe someday.
Well that’s me told Keen, thanks!
In common with the post and most of the comments here I really want as many of the buildable (really, not a word? pfft) things as possible to have some function. Keen’s flower garden looks nice, but how much cooler would it be if you could go out and gather seeds, plant them, then harvest them for alchemy ingredients? If I build a bed for my house, I want to be able to sleep in it for an XP bonus (oh wait there’s no XP…) The possibilities are huge.