I received a paid beta invite thing, I want this to be good but I am not sure about it. Seems like it could be an easy mode game and I am not crazy about the art direction. What is everyone's thought about EQ Next?
Paid invite thing...inform me. Depending on cost I would be interested lol
Landmark is basically Everquest: Minecraft edition.
...I'm just confused about what this Landmark thing is. ...
The invite for beta now would definitely be Landmark since there is no EqNext yet... that is probably still a few years away.
Unfortunate really, my interest in EqNext is a solid 10/10, played Eq2 for about 7 years... but my interest in Eq Minecraft is 0/10. I just worry that people who pay for Landmark will get significant advantages over those of us with no interest in that game.
It's a very ambitious project. I saw their conference on YouTube about the game's features and whatnot. It's promising for sure but I have my doubts for at least half of them. What I really liked, however, was the animation system (seamless transition animations between running, hovering, sliding down a hill, etc) and the facial expressions system they're making, which is supposed to allow us the player to essentially use a web cam (I think?) in front of us, so that our own facial expressions will have their "equivalents" in the game character's own expressions as you play (the character mimics your expressions). That will be fun for humorous role-playing I bet.
Additionally, the entire environment is going to be destructible, but that in itself might not be exactly 100% desirable, or at least not all the time, or not necessarily everywhere. I don't mind if "most" of the environment ends up destructible but I sure would find it annoying if I can't use 'x' powers on the same spot more than 3 or 4 times lest carving a 20 meters deep crater forcing me to jump out of it, essentially losing time finding a way out of my own mess (probably whilst the enemy auto-targets me and get some free hits in the process). Maybe it's going to give some nice fighting scenes here and there, sure and I'm not "against" it. They just said that - quite literally - the entire environment is destructible down to the core of the planet. I guess we'll see, maybe I'm going to like it in the end, but for now... well I'm not sure about that. If some of the different environment's "materials" (concretes, woods, metals, etc) have their own "resistances" and durability values then maybe not everything will be easily destructible. I just don't want my mage to cast some weak fireball to start carving a tunnel in a mountain. I want bridges that can withstand a good fight and I want brand new castle walls to resist some warrior charge... but of course ruins should break easily like the ruins they are unless there's some lore about it that says the builders used some magical stones or something along the lines.
It's very early in development though, many things will change over time before release and during beta, since they're actively asking the community for feedback. I absolutely liked what I saw during that conference but again, it's easy to present a crowd with your visions when in reality they haven't all been made. I hope that the devs themselves aren't too excited as to not hit some wall realizing they'll need to cut half the features they talked about. I have hope, but also my doubts. There's also a feature related to the A.I. in the game's world reacting to other players' actions dynamically (not like pre-set areas in Guild Wars 2, it's something more complex even). I liked it when they mentioned some examples, because generally speaking A.I. is one aspect in video games that rarely get any attention whatsoever, or rarely gets due time and resources during development. But on the other hand, what they mentioned about that system was very... very ambitious. If they manage to do it I'll Fedex them a box of cookies and a pack of beers. By the way, that conference is split, in part one and two. I recommend that you guys watch it (at least part two), and judge for yourself.
The invite for beta now would definitely be Landmark since there is no EqNext yet... that is probably still a few years away.
Unfortunate really, my interest in EqNext is a solid 10/10, played Eq2 for about 7 years... but my interest in Eq Minecraft is 0/10. I just worry that people who pay for Landmark will get significant advantages over those of us with no interest in that game.
Hey! I was an EQ nerd once haha. I was young though. I remember taking my EQ strategy guide to school so I could plan my upgrades. Good memories.
I was disappointed when they slapped a price on the beta. About five friends wanted to get together and try the beta to get a feeling for what EQN may play like, but once they made it a pay-for testing we decided to pass. When they announced it would cost money I lost excitement.
I think its a missed opportunity for them. If it were free, a ton of non-EQ players would try it out. Maybe even younger kids that are now playing mine craft might switch over. It could have been a big viral success during the holiday season. I think they are opening it up for free in May, so maybe they are betting on a summer gaming rush from the kids.
Alpha for Landmark being released tonight; keep your eyes peeled for an email!