Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani and Director of Development Dave Georgeson discuss the recent poll about how players plan to build (solo, group, etc.) in EverQuest Next Landmark.

It seems that currently most players desire to build solo and have pride in ownership. Cooperative building is something that might interest them later. Some co-op build-out structures are in the works, like guild structures allowing players to share resources and integrating social networks to help creating builders communities.

This information is from the alpha build of Landmark and is subject to change.

You discover early on in EverQuest Next Landmark that you don't begin with every building tool and have to climb some ropes to obtain the more powerful ones. The Add, Delete and Heal tools are easily made, but what about one of the first powerful building tools--the Selection Tool?

This tool allows you to select a size volume, whether it be of existing material or emptiness, and add or subtract to it as you need. The amount of materials consumed are relative to the size selected, so you can easily spend 30,000 or more of a material with a medium-sized volume. We recommend adding a very common material such as dirt or stone when filling a volume, and save those rarer resources for when you obtain the Paint Tool later on.

To make a Selection Tool you need several Tier 2 materials, which means you'll need to upgrade your picks. To upgrade to the appropriate pick (Iron), follow this path (subject to change):

We're now two weeks into the EverQuest Next Landmark alpha, and so far it's been a pretty smooth ride. Problems have been met and dealt with, and stability increases and new elements are being introduced into the game. The vertical slice is getting wider, and as it grows, we begin considering how SOE plans to unlock the potential of its new blank canvas.

This week, Director of Development Dave Georgeson shared the first development roadmap for Landmark, giving us the first look at where the game is currently heading and what to expect in the coming months. As we've come to expect from Georgeson, hints and teases abound and a few surprises come nestled in the wall of text. One thing that should be of no surprise is what came at the top of the list: social systems. The current focus is giving us ways to interact in-game beside exchanging /onods as we hunt for sapphire. This is such a crucial part of the game, and SOE knows it.

So many MMOs have seen their hype trains pull into the station, enjoyed the party for the first few months and then watched as dwindling interest led to a spiral of decline. It's such a shame to see MMOs working backward like this; the majority of players only see them in the worst state they will ever be in.

So what is the trick to retaining players in an MMO? For all my talk of innovation and climbing out of the MMO rut, this is something the genre got right 15 years ago and has since all but abandoned.

As we discussed last week, Landmark is an MMO, so social systems could be the make or break feature of the game. We've already seen many players sharing their creations with screenshots, videos and livestreams, so there is obviously demand for a way to share projects. Weaving this into the game itself is a great way to promote a spirit of competition and add an aspirational quality, which are two must-haves if SOE wants players to stick with the game and eventually throw some money at the screen.

When competition is introduced, cooperation is never far behind. Giving players ways to make something they can be proud of through challenging gameplay is a recipe for superglue-strength social stickiness; there's just nothing like it for creating trust and lasting bonds. 

Yesterday evening SOE released a detailed roadmap for its first few phases of adding content and features to EverQuest Next Landmark. You can check out the full roadmap on the EQNL forums!

We were on-site at Sony Online Entertainment at the end of January for their EverQuest Next Landmark alpha event. During the press hands-on session we took the opportunity to speak with Senior Producer Terry Michaels about Landmark.

"I can tell you that everything we're adding to the game—the whole idea—is that question: 'Is it fun or not?' We don't want to put things in there that are unnatural stumbling blocks or things to limit you because 'Oh, you have to do this 700 times, but it's not fun.' If we want you to do it 700 times, it should be fun to do each time. That's what we try to aim for with everything that we're doing."

After all the teases and guesswork, SOE dropped the A-bomb announcement at its 'Year of EverQuest' community event last Friday. Now, that's how you kick off a party, not to mention the year of EverQuest: 15 years of EverQuest, 10 of EverQuest II and now the foundation of what will become EverQuest Next.

At least, that's how many people see the arrival of EverQuest Next Landmark, and they're missing so much.

As someone who has closely followed the progress of Landmark since the surprise announcement at last year’s SOE Live, it amazes me how we see so many of our peers talk about 'waiting for the real game', and that they're simply not interested in Landmark. Beside the baffling rejection of an opportunity to help develop the tools that will be used to build the game you're looking forward to, the perception of what Landmark is seems desperately skewed.

Landmark in its current state is all about building. The beginnings of the crafting system are in there, but they exist almost exclusively to facilitate building. It's no surprise then that players think of Landmark as a building tool rather than a game in its own right. A tool to build EverQuest Next, 'Minecraft on steroids'. For me, this attitude does a great disservice to what Landmark will be, or rather what it could be.

Landmark is an MMO that has links to another in-development MMO, this is the kind of situation that leads to questions like 'If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?'. It would be better to think of the two games as having a common ancestor, more like cousins than direct descendants. Still related, but contemporaries. The important point to note is that Landmark is an MMO, and should be viewed and judged as such.

To be fair, why shouldn't the situation lead to this misunderstanding? SOE is blazing their own trail right now; we are in uncharted territory, and the shock of creativity and innovation into the MMO genre has left many stunned. We're so used to being stuck in our rut that when we're shown the way out we can't even recognize it. This same innovation is why it seems to be a monumental task to describe what Landmark is in a satisfactory yet concise manner, but since I've started,I'll give it a bash.

We were on-site at Sony Online Entertainment's community celebration last Friday, January 31. The Year of EverQuest has kicked off, celebrating EverQuest's 15th anniversary, EverQuest II's 10th anniversary, and the birth of EverQuest Next and EverQuest Next Landmark. Landmark launched into alpha testing for Explorer and Trailblazer level Founder's Packs that night and had its NDA drop the following day.

While we were at the event we captured some photos we think you will enjoy! Take a look!

This information is from the alpha build of Landmark and is subject to change.

Yesterday afternoon we put a call out on Twitter for some tips and hints to share with the EverQuest Next Landmark community. We were not disappointed as many players provided their own discoveries as well as some links to other helpful sources. Keep in mind that these are all associated with the Alpha build and could change or become obsolete over time.

Do you have more tips you don't see below? Add a comment or tweet me @Cyliena!

UPDATE #1!  The EverQuest Next Landmark NDA has been lifted! John "Smed" Smedley, SOE's president, tweeted: "The nda is lifted but you will still see the physical nda until we can yank it from the process"

UPDATE #2! Another tweet from John Smedley! If you're unsatisfied with the alpha (for any reason), you can ask for a full refund.
 

CC: "Reporting in LIVE from San Diego is our Managing Editor Ann Hosler! Welcome, Ann, what's the word from Sony Online Entertainment?"

AH: "The EverQuest Next Landmark community event is currently underway and we are fortunate enough to be on-site. We'll give you a full report next week, but here's the breaking Landmark news: Alpha is anticipated to begin for Trailblazers and Explorers this evening! "

The last week of January is almost upon us! SOE is hosting an EverQuest Next Landmark Community Celebration next Friday and David Georgeson's twitter feed is awash with teases. Winter is here. Alpha is coming.

As this is potentially the last 'Your Next' before the servers go live, here is something to keep in mind:

We are going to be participating in the development of a game that will be used as a tool to build EverQuest Next.

What a privilege, and what an opportunity for all of us. If you had told me 15 years ago that this would be happening I simply would not have believed it. From the level of skepticism we have seen about the promises of both games, it seems there are many who still don't believe it.

In this new era of game development, where designers are turning to their players and communities more and more, we have the chance to help shape EverQuest Next into something really special. How appropriate that it should be the franchise that stood on the strength of its community and the boldness of its vision that once again leads the way.

So yes, I'm excited for alpha. It's felt like time has frozen recently as more and more tidbits of information are let out of the black box. This week I was particularly impressed with Developer Michael Mann’s Lead System Designer diary. If you missed it, you can watch it here and read our summary here.