EQN:Landmark Beta Starts March 26th!
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Lleauaric
Sparkletot Monger
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I guessed before it was announced way back that Storybricks was getting involved with EQN. Rodolfo (CEO ofStorybricks) made a couple of posts back on FoH being supportive of Smed/SEO and what they were up to. Think he is a member of Rerolled and has posted in the EQN thread here, though I might be getting confused about time scales.
Anyways, Rodolfo gave invites to some of us on FoH to help with the alpha testing of Storybricks and it was impressive, although the (now cancelled) MMO part was graphically limited. It's exciting that Namaste changed track to work on tools and NPC AI/behaviour with the big boys because that part of their work was really stand out.
Reminder of what storybricks was/is about (this was back when they were just using storybricks in their own MMO).
Going on from that here's a lengthy vid of a presentation Storybricks lead designer Stephane Bura gave in 2011 about his theories on NPC behaviour in computer games and how they've shaped the development of Stroybricks.
Going to be very cool to play with this stuff in a Minecraft ++++ environment.
I hope that the system evolves one day to the point that we can create our own crafting or class systems because I'm sure lots of us on here have unique ideas that have been floating around in our heads for years.
Anyways, Rodolfo gave invites to some of us on FoH to help with the alpha testing of Storybricks and it was impressive, although the (now cancelled) MMO part was graphically limited. It's exciting that Namaste changed track to work on tools and NPC AI/behaviour with the big boys because that part of their work was really stand out.
Reminder of what storybricks was/is about (this was back when they were just using storybricks in their own MMO).
Going on from that here's a lengthy vid of a presentation Storybricks lead designer Stephane Bura gave in 2011 about his theories on NPC behaviour in computer games and how they've shaped the development of Stroybricks.
Going to be very cool to play with this stuff in a Minecraft ++++ environment.
I hope that the system evolves one day to the point that we can create our own crafting or class systems because I'm sure lots of us on here have unique ideas that have been floating around in our heads for years.
BilboFaggins
N00b
- 302
- 22
Trailblazer here, and I have to say I am pretty damn excited about this one. No fucking clue why. I was upset at SoE Live this year when they showed off EQN and Landmark, but for some damn reason, this Landmark thing has grown on me big time.
Laura
Lord Nagafen Raider
- 582
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This Landmark this confuses me and I have a few questions...
1. Are the servers are going to be taken down when EQ Next is launched? Or is this a totally different game that will keep going on despite of what happens to EQ Next?
2. Is this a game or just "creative mode" building simulator? (in other words; are there going to be NPCs, Monsters or surviving difficulties? Trading? Classes? Market?)
3. Any details on how you're going to start the game? (starting location? cities?) or just simply spawn in a random place on the map?
4. Are the maps identical for all servers?
5. Is this game Free To Play? If yes, is paying for alpha/beta access worth it and why/how?
6. Is there a reason to cooperate with other players? Team work? Guilds?
7. Are we going to be able to learn/specialize in certain areas? (Carpenters, Blacksmith, Gatherers...etc)
1. Are the servers are going to be taken down when EQ Next is launched? Or is this a totally different game that will keep going on despite of what happens to EQ Next?
2. Is this a game or just "creative mode" building simulator? (in other words; are there going to be NPCs, Monsters or surviving difficulties? Trading? Classes? Market?)
3. Any details on how you're going to start the game? (starting location? cities?) or just simply spawn in a random place on the map?
4. Are the maps identical for all servers?
5. Is this game Free To Play? If yes, is paying for alpha/beta access worth it and why/how?
6. Is there a reason to cooperate with other players? Team work? Guilds?
7. Are we going to be able to learn/specialize in certain areas? (Carpenters, Blacksmith, Gatherers...etc)
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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At the moment, it appears to be the "housing instance" of EQNext's servers. Your chars can switch between EQNext world and your own plot's nearest Landmark.
Game. You need to harvest the resources for your buildings, there's presumably some kind of fauna, and the Landmarks are supposed to serve as trading hubs. The only Class available within Landmark is the Adventurer which is presumably a kind of generic DPS with crafter skills.
You start at a "Landmark", which is a notable location, but not a city (no cities unless players build them).
Apparently there's a central continent that's static and policed (dick tower? You're banned), and the rest is supposed to be procedurally generated (ala Minecraft).
F2P. There's zero advantage to be in alpha, since everything gets wiped for beta (outside of the cosmetic outfits). There's a limited advantage to be in closed beta as the land will be wiped prior to open beta, but your progression in the Adventurer class and your inventory are supposed to remain. As there's no wipe at the end of open beta... well, we all know how you can call this "open beta" in truth.
Trade and combining your plots into a large area under your exclusive control (although, as it's F2P, I fail to see what's preventing you from creating 25 accounts to make your land grab).
Doesn't seem so.
1. Landmark is a totally separate game. We will be given all the tools that Sony use to develop EQN. EQNext devs will selectively use some of the things created in Landmark in EQnext. There will also be a 'store' where people can buy and sell whatever they create in Landmark. Some of this will selectively be available in EQN.
2. Initially it will just be 'creative' mode but they are going to add monsters and survival type elements over time.
3. Probably random spot. You explore the world and can 'claim' an area of land that only you can build on.
4. They are referring to what we think of as servers as 'continents'. Some will have restricted 'rulesets'. This is because Landmark will offer sci-fi as well as traditional and fantasy themes. Some will be limited to purely what would fit in in Norrath, for example. Your character can freely move between these continents/server but each is limited to 2000 players (whether this is dynamic or not is unstated).
5. It is Free to Play. The benefits of alpha and beta are :
i) early access to plant claims,
ii) increased inventory or vault size (your choice),
iii) an item that grants higher chances of crafted items to be 'HQ/++',
iv) sets of armour/clothing that may or may not grant stats/bonuses,
v) an advanced crafting tool that is tier 5 gathering/chopping and top tier 1 Mining combined that doesn't degrade,
vi) some in game cosmetic items,
vii) access to the alpha and beta forums to help feedback and shape the game.
6/7. They have indicated co-operative play will pay off. They haven't talked about a stat system or specialization but I suspect there will be some form of it. All we know right now is that there are five tiers of resources/gathering items and that some people may choose just to gather and some may choose just to build with some form of in game economy.
edit : As an aside I am guessing some folks will be (unpleasantly) surprised at how long until EQN launches. They ditched a lot of their work and development tools and moved to Storybricks only around 12-16 months ago - something that wasn't announced publicly until April of this year. Reading between the lines of some interviews with Smed and others I would hazard a guess that they had a 'Titan' moment and realized anything approaching a WoW like system is dieing. For those of us in Alpha Landmark we get in in Jan-Feb 2014 (latest 28 Feb but it's been reported as being early in the new year). I'm not expecting EQN for quite some time.
People saying there's zero advantage to alpha/beta as it's f2p after that,
Unless I am missing something you get more than just cosmetic items. You get gathering tools and a sort of vault among other things that of I'm not mistaken should most definitely be at least helpful ?
Unless I am missing something you get more than just cosmetic items. You get gathering tools and a sort of vault among other things that of I'm not mistaken should most definitely be at least helpful ?
Mughal
Bronze Knight of the Realm
- 279
- 39
What you linked was the Storybricks' "Kingdom of Default", and it's not what is being developed for EQN/L.
This might be more accurate
Exclusive: Storybricks dev diary expounds on bringing NPCs to life | Massively
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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Well, as usual, it depends if you think getting a free version of things you can get in-game is important or not.
rhinohelix
Dental Dammer
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Grim1
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I'm glad she asked the question and that people answered. I was wondering about those things too. Saved me the time of reading all the bs inbetween the info that goes on in these threads.
Mr Creed
Too old for this shit
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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No, they haven't called it that. All the explanations about the interaction between Landmark and Next do feel like that, however.
Skanda
I'm Amod too!
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It's not accurate at all from everything I've read about Landmark. I've heard nothing about being able to jump between Next and Landmark with the same characters. Since there's only a single class for Landmark and 40+ for Next I doubt you'll ever see that sort of functionality. They've been fairly clear so far about Landmark being it's own game on it's own servers.