Haven’t seen a thread on this and was wondering if anyone is excited at all about the upcoming release of EQNext? There are really two games, the yet unreleased EQNext and the (currently) in Alpha testing EQNext Landmark.
EQNext Landmark is a lot like Minecraft with some of the better player made being incorporated into the actual EQNext. I’m in Landmark but my piece of crap three-year-old, off-the-shelf HP laptop really chokes on the graphics. Its playable but barely. I’m not much of a ‘builder’ so I’ve just been harvesting and giving the items to a friend that enjoys that sort of thing.
While lots of folks are enjoying Landmark I’m really looking forward to what EQNext will be like. It sounds (from various developer interview, blogs, etc) that they’re really taking the AI in a new direction. They’ve been fairly quiet about the character development aspects of the game but they keep hinting that EQNext is going to be a game changer.
Anyone else looking forward to it, why or why not?
Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Not because EQ1 was my first MMO addiction but because Planetside 2 was good and because they are trying something new instead of yet another WoW clone. I try not to get overhyped about it yet though, given how far away it still is. If they manage to realize even half the stuff they are promising the game could be truly amazing but right now it’s still wait and see for a while. I have read Landmark threads on other forums and those have some great pictures of what people have built so far so I’m staying optimistic for now.
Yes people are building really, really brilliant structures and things in there. Really not my cup of tea (meaning I suck at it) but it’s fun to look at …
I agree if they deliever 1/2 of what they’re promising it looks to be exciting …
There are some good reddit threads on the topic if your interested.
Really looking forward to EQNext, it seems to be the first game of the “maybe copying WoW isn’t cruise control to money hats” generation. Landmark on the other hand just makes me incredibly depressed by the things people can make. I’ve seen some very very impressive things, meanwhile I’ve barely made it to caveman level housing.
I am very interested in EQNext, mostly because WoW has become unbelievably boring and waaaaaaay too easy. I long for the difficulty that was EverQuest, where it took more than 3 hours to level up at any given time and where my items can be stolen if I am PKed. I want to see myself de-level because I died a stupid death. I want my trade skills to be hard to progress through. I WANT IT TO MEAN SOMETHING THAT I’VE REACHED THE LEVEL CAP, ffs.
So please, y’all let me know how it is, okay? Because if it’s as bad as EQ2, I wanna know before I waste my money. Thanks.
I might remember some of the hype wrong, but AFAIK EQN won’t have levels as such. So you’ll start at the level cap, so to speak. And it’ll have roughly the same sort of freemium payment model as PS2 so you can just download it and test without wasting any money.
I’m sure the starting player is rather wimpy compared to a veteran even if they go with other models of progression (gear, acquiring new character skills, etc), it just means there’s no level 5 rats here in this zone and level 50 rats there in that other zone.
If they can pull off 50% of what their aiming for I think it could really be a game changing … uhhh … game. I am very much looking forward to its release.
Landmark is looking good and its awesome seeing all the things the players are making but its EQ next that I’m really looking foward too.
I kinda don’t get it. I mean, building stuff. So what? What’s the game part of this?
I don’t see this pulling in the ‘old EQ crowd’ but I don’t think it needs to if it’s actually fun and compelling, but if it’s basically just Minecraft, I’m not interested.
There are two games involved here. EQ Next Landmark is the one thats in Alpha right now and involves building stuff. I, like you, don’t get it. I’m in it but I’m not into it if you get my drift.
The other is just EQ Next which is scheduled to go into alpha in the future, this is much more like the typical MMO you’re used too only they’ve made some lofty goals about the world’s design and the games concepts.
This video is also a good look at what the game should look and feel like.
There are also a couple of videos/articles that I cannot find at the moment where the developers discuss the game play and elude to changes in the AI, the games ‘destructibility’ and how they will handle traditional questions like class and advancement.
Google around a bit when you get a chance and they’re sure to pop up. I’ll try and link them tonight from home as well … I’m curious about what you’ll have to say about them.
Now that the closed beta is live, I dropped $20 to partake (although somewhat angry with myself for spending money to get into a beta of a free-to-play game!) in Landmark - SOE changed the name to just “Landmark” to avoid the confusion everyone was having.
I’ve spent about 10 hours with it. There are near-zero SOE-supplied instructional materials with the system, so the first couple of hours were a lot of trial-and-error. There is definite metering of your ability - you can only craft a few basic items early on, which means you can’t harvest higher-tier materials for more complex items/tools until you devote significant time to harvesting lower-tier stuff.
It definitely still has some roughness in both UI and graphics, but it is certainly playable and enjoyable as-is.