f13.net

Is that a fully, relatively functionally dressed female character I see on these screenshots? This is amazing.

Also, Falcon, are your visuals turned down?  I ask because the terrain in the screenshots doesn't look nearly as nice as what they had in the demo videos.

Patch notes for today, and a completely new server (Serenity) to be freshly claimed.

A collection of impressive buildings. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmEZEjhxv8g)

Even though they are decently cool, I feel like stating that the buildings and voxels have been reset about three times since launch (five days ago), so this stuff is actually still really basic. Not to mention that no one seems to have the "smooth" tool yet, which is supposed to de-square all the edges and make them look realistic, nor the vast amount of props we have been promised. And still, the view from the top of that tower makes me weak in the knees.

EDIT: It is only a ploy for them to get a virtually endless flow of amazing buildings and elements to use in EQ Next without having to pay more artists.

Well it's pretty easy: EQ Next will be built on this same engine, which means it will be the first DIKU with a FULLY destructible environment. For example (as demonstrated at the reveal event) your attacks could destroy part of the dungeon you are in, or a boss aoe could destroy a bridge you are standing on having everyone falling down. This things not being scripted because the world is 100% destructible. Then again, it makes the whole world more dynamic since it will be very easy for the Devs to modify and edit the environment based on what players do (they stated the game will be based more on world common quests than small, individual ones), and it makes the world interactable in a way that hasn't been possible since... ever (closest -but not really- would be SWG).

EDIT: It is only a ploy for them to get a virtually endless flow of amazing buildings and elements to use in EQ Next without having to pay more artists.

So if I pony up $60, do any of the things I get actually benefit me once EQ:N comes along?

So how does that keep people from tunneling around your trash in dungeons?

I still don't completely understand how this fits in with the EQ Next game.

Presumably also a lot of engine testing for EQN.

I'm rather hoping they set aside "spaces" (not ALL the land) for outdoor building at huge cost a la Asheron's Call.

Not at all.

First of all, Landmark is gonna be free when it hits Open Beta in a few months. 60$ are just for us stupid people who can't wait.

Second, Landmark will be Open Beta F2P in a few months. EQ Next won't be out until late 2015. Probably 2016.

Third, the two games are completely separate. Nothing you do in EQ Landmark will carry over to EQ Next. They have been very clear about this.

Fourth, if -IF- you can produce something they like and want to use in the Next game, they will ask for your permission and you will be supposedly paid in Glory and Pats on the back. They mentioned the possibility to earn real cash but I am inclined to think it will be mostly among customers. I doubt SOE will ever pay anyone to play their game.

So how does that keep people from tunneling around your trash in dungeons?

So when this goes free to play, will land already be claimed? I'm guessing yes. Also, is there finite space or is it like Minecraft where it's generated.

I think leaving comments on claims would be great. I would love to say thanks for all of the peoples crafting equipment I used or tell someone how nice their place looks.
I posted this on the alpha forums and Anduil Astros took it one step farther with some great ideas.
"an up vote or down vote with a 255 char limit, doesn't sound too painful! or a way to send them an in game mail thrugh the claim interface, allowing attachments for gifts ect."
What are your thoughts?

Feedback on claims is planned! Upvote/downvote is central to the game and will be many places.

I don't see EQ:N being 100% destructible. Probably have regions that are allowed to be destroyed, but limits placed on that. Like you can blow up the walls, but there is a bedrock core or something that's non-destructible to allow for a functioning dungeon.

But didn't we start this thread to separate out the EQ:N talk :)

PATCH NOTES, FEBRUARY 7th, 2014.

A very good building tutorial. (https://forums.station.sony.com/eqnlandmark/index.php?threads/tutorial-vakuums-advance-building-tutorials.15496/)

The key question is -- what's the NPC scripting and other essential content creation tools like? If this is just a mix of Minecraft and Second Life without the ability to create actual playable content, storylines, etc., once the novelty wears off this will sink like a stone.

Don't forget to move to new harvest areas. I was blocked on Topaz...until I went to a tier 2 island and it's on the surface. That's why I moved to a Tier 3 island with a claim bordering both forest and desert. Though I need to head back for more silver and iron in greater density for some accessory crafting.

I finally hit all my tools, though without a tier 4 island, Sapphire is still slow as hell as the rare spawn under cobalt...and it's a garbage texture that looks just like the dirt around it. Protip: just quick dig each cobalt vein and move on if you see red (which you can't mine yet anyway). I've found three Sapphire veins in hundreds of cobalt veins, so 1% maybe? Enough to give me the rest of the building tools, anyway.

I now have a bunch of crafting stuff at my place on Serenity/Highland, three levels of forge, two of the others.

There has been a vacancy for a big dev house to do a building game. Even in alpha, this one is pretty awesome.

The only thing I can see as a negative vs minecraft (assuming intended features like creepers mobs make it in) is the limitation of the claim system. But no idea how you'd work around that. I always liked the grand project like putting in a big rail system to break up small building. No massive dwarven hall in this one.

Some serious unluck on crafting last night, made two assessor's bands and two (forget the name, tier 2 run boosts). All greens. But at least it's an improvement on my blue keen bands and the run accessories almost double my movement speed even as greens, so that's pretty awesome.

Going to make a suggestion to the team to split accessories into two categories: harvest/craft and other. It's clunky to switch stuff around but right now a lightstone is only good for building when you don't need any other accessory equipped. Would be nice to be able to use it without losing the +Discovery or +Speed or whatever when harvesting in a damned dark hole. I know there's an element of trade-off and can see the argument for making a choice between run speed and better harvesting (run allowing you to move between nodes improves harvesting speed somewhat), but the lightstone or jumping ones shouldn't be on the same limiter.

The only thing I can see as a negative vs minecraft (assuming intended features like creepers mobs make it in) is the limitation of the claim system. But no idea how you'd work around that. I always liked the grand project like putting in a big rail system to break up small building. No massive dwarven hall in this one.

Same.  I like the randomness aspect.  However I seem to be at the losing end of that feature.

Let me ask you all something: if you were SOE, and you happened to have in your hands an amazing Minecraft-inspired MMO that literally everyone seems to be excited about and has a ton of positive buzz, and it is going to be free to play but you have to find ways to monetize it because if you do it right this is the one that is going to print money money for you, wouldn't you... say... offer the option to buy private islands/servers -with no claim size/space limitations and with your own ruleset- for real Station® cash? C'mon, even War Z got that part right.

This one will stay massively multiplayer for all those who love the feeling of a virtual world. But it would be crazy if they didn't try to suck the money out of Minecraft by offering, to those interested, the HD version of it.

This is not just a game. This is a powerful tool. They would be crazy if they didn't make such tool available for small groups that would be willing to pay to host their own private worlds/instances with different rules, and sizes.

On the other hand, Admin Mode removes the question of "Can I do this?" There are no artificial hurdles to progress through, no bounds on your creativity. Want to do something? Do it. See what happens.

[...]

I talked to Director of Development Dave Georgeson about the potential for a "Creative Mode," wherein you'd at least have an infinite complement of resources to choose from without needing to explore and harvest anything. He said the team was looking into potentially allowing such a mode on private servers, though that would come in a far distant future—if ever. And only if players actually wanted it.

So how much longer is the alpha?  If I want to try this out am I better off waiting for the beta at this point?  Will alpha building carry on to beta?

End of Alpha Wipe

Timing: Occurs at the end of Alpha testing, which begins on or before 2-28-14
Character: Your character will be retained, however all progression will be wiped.
Claims: Your claim(s) will be wiped. All claims will be templated so that you have blueprints of what you built.
Resources and Collected Objects: All resources and collected objects will be wiped.
End of Closed Beta Wipe

Timing: Occurs at the end of Closed Beta testing, which begins on or before 3-31-14
Character: Your character and all progression will be retained.
Claims: Your claim(s) will be wiped. All claims will be templated so that you have blueprints of what you built.
Resources and Collected Objects: All resources and collected objects will be retained.

I got hit with loads of bugs on Courage.  When we got power back, I ended up having to delete my character... AGAIN!  It still seems to think I have claims on three different worlds, but I was able to make a nice claim on Understanding, an EU server which has given me no bugs or problems at all.  Everything is really fast and I can finally see the minerals on the ground.  Phew!  I'm not a deathly shade of blue with silver trimmings anymore, either.  A server named Understanding suits me because I'm delicate and have fragile feelings and take everything personally, even bugs.  I'm like a fat wilted flower shunned by bees and and butterflies.  Even ants scurry a wide berth.  I look like a REAL girl though!  Mostly.  I had all sorts of stuff with my other character but everything is gone.  I have an empty plot of land but I'm homeless.  I have wood, though.  And some copper.  I'll go make something now.  Again.

Also, thanks for the link to that guide.  I really do love this crafting stuff, although I seem to suck at it so far.  I also need some monsters to kill soon or I'll lose my edge.  I'd be dead without my edge. 

Not to mention that, yes, in order to steal art for EQ Next they certainly need for people to be able to work and build in sizes larger than the limited boxes available now. So even the conspiracy theory pushes for bigger plots.

EDIT: I think the game will stay absolutely free to play. I only suggest they would allow people to rent private servers and islands with less to no building restrictions for real money, and I also think that would be a very popular feature among the Minecraft people, but it wouldn't interest me in the slightest for example since I am in it for the worldly part. It's a win/win situation, for them and the players, isn't it?

Well the goal all along is for people TO have mutliple plots.

The whole exclusion zone around your plot is to guarantee you some areas to plant extra claims around your primary claim.

But it would be crazy if they didn't try to suck the money out of Minecraft by offering, to those interested, the HD version of it.

I might be running over to the EU server as we can server hop (and it drops you right where you were on your island, just another server). My area has been really plundered the last couple nights, it looked like France in 1917.

Also, you should listen to me Siggie, I told you to build in a spot like that! I'm wicked smart.

Sure to draw some comments from this group.  It will be an interesting next 5-10 years for SOE; lots of experimentation.

http://smedsblog.com/

From his twitter. 

I'm really too lazy to use the search function, but I'll see if Evernote will let me tag this one for laughs.  This discussion has been had before. It's always "next time!" or "Well they ALMOST had it!  They just needed more time/ focus/ budget/ carrots/ unobtanium"

I really feel bad for you sandbox believers sometimes.

Those forums are already showing early signs of becoming a toxic uber vs casual wasteland.  Folks asking for a way to alleviate RSI/ Carpal tunnel with a 'click lock' feature for harvesting are being told, "you should go play something else" and "why don't we let the game build for you people too."

Is this really bigger or more ambitious? It mostly seems to be prettier.

The thing is, those still don't work for me, and I'm not sure there's any way to make them work with the creation tools being given to the players.  All of the buildings I've seen screenshotted thus far are made of a single texture, and obviously so, which just murders things for me.  Whenever I see a building where every wall is Wood_Texture_01, I think $10 discount bin game, not bold new future of gaming.

If you craft one of the range extender items(not area extender), you can consistently chop down the huge trees.

So yeah. New SOE. It's their game to lose, really.

Also, twitter sucks for verbose people!

You have a circle? 

It is pretty but the underlying part of everything in the game is interactable and potentially destroyable or buildable. Anything you see the devs make you could potentially make yourself in your game. That is some very very ambitious stuff right there they may stumble in the end but really this is a pretty incredible leap forward and the fact that it still looks damn pretty says amazing things about their voxel engine.

Even if SOE stumbles I think this attempt will if nothing else push other companies to try something similar so if SOE does not do it they I think are at least moving the bar forwards.

You have a circle? 

Well - that doesn't seem to be bigger or more ambitious than Minecraft which was the particular comment I was responding to. I could have made that more clear.

Adding a RNG crafting grind to tools also doesn't seem to be a step forward but I will try to reserve judgement until I can actually play it when open beta hits.

The thing is, those still don't work for me, and I'm not sure there's any way to make them work with the creation tools being given to the players.  All of the buildings I've seen screenshotted thus far are made of a single texture, and obviously so, which just murders things for me.  Whenever I see a building where every wall is Wood_Texture_01, I think $10 discount bin game, not bold new future of gaming.

So far the two big patches I've been through have fixed a laundry list of stuff that's been bugging me. This is unprecedented in 17 years of mmo testing. Though the plants and sand fixes didn't work.

On the other hand DG put that right out on twitter right after the servers came up. This is so weird. Earlier today an assoc. producer I follow was fielding requests for building hints. And while he couldn't help me with my quest for 4 voxel wide gothic window arches, he did mention that small is better handled by props, and that windows will be in soon (as props). So there's a bit of a window (haha) into how they're going to handle some of the issues we've seen at the small end of building things where voxel granularity breaks down.

So far the two big patches I've been through have fixed a laundry list of stuff that's been bugging me. This is unprecedented in 17 years of mmo testing. Though the plants and sand fixes didn't work.

On the other hand DG put that right out on twitter right after the servers came up. This is so weird. Earlier today an assoc. producer I follow was fielding requests for building hints. And while he couldn't help me with my quest for 4 voxel wide gothic window arches, he did mention that small is better handled by props, and that windows will be in soon (as props). So there's a bit of a window (haha) into how they're going to handle some of the issues we've seen at the small end of building things where voxel granularity breaks down.

Yea totally. After I focused on Smooth Tool (which requires Tungsten Axe) it became easy to just jump from Claim to Claim availing myselves of their achievement. I was always polite enough to open and close doors if any, and always wanted to leave a note of thanks :-) Fun being immersed again. It's been too long...

As to that, I totally am feeling the long dormant energy farmer/home decorator vibe here. And I mistakenly looked up just how long it's been since we were all in SWG...  :geezer:

Anyway, has anyone been active in the f13 channel? I feel like it's broken. Or maybe everyone in it also prefers the silence?

Yea it's uncommon for me to be in an f13-related group. Probably only a handful of times. But those times were a LOT of talking. My reference point is skewed :-)

You must have had Sky, Lanty, and Signe around.  They skew the data.

Yeah, I probably misspoke when I complained that the lack of texture variety made things ugly.  I mean, it does, but it's the lack of edges and trim that is what's really setting me off.  Like brickwork around a window, or a wooden doorframe in a house instead of just a rectangular hole in a wall.  If they're adding stuff like windowsills and thresholds as props, players should be able to start making decent buildings.

• We found and fixed a number of issues that would allow props to spawn on your claim. If you have any left, you should now be able to delete them by using the selection volume and hitting the delete key (they should no longer respawn). This also shouldn’t happen on any newly placed claims moving forward.
• The 12 new materials should now ACTUALLY be available to build with. Sorry for the confusion, the data gnomes took a break and didn’t let us know.
• We have increased the availability of a Sapphire, Ruby, Obsidian and Alabaster and also made sure that they will spawn more often on the surface to make them easier to find. Happy hunting!
• Aquamarine and Iron/Aquamarine veins no longer appear on Tier 3 islands, please look for them on Tier 2 islands from now on.
• Fixed the color of rubies and sapphires in the world!
• We’ve also fixed a number of potential causes for the rollbacks some players have seen when servers come down. We’ll continue to monitor this and address any new issues that we find.

Hello there, Landmarkians!

As promised, here’s the “roadmap” of what we’re adding to the game, and more importantly, why we’re rolling things out in the order that we’re doing them.

NOTE: There are some categories of things that we are not including in this roadmap. Stuff like new materials, new props, new biomes, new recipes and design tweaks will be rolling out continuously and aren’t part of any single milestone. You should expect to see those changes like that coming in all the time.

ALSO NOTE: The “Phases” we describe below have almost nothing to do with whether we’re calling the game Alpha, Closed Beta, or Open Beta. Those “label milestones” will be determined almost entirely by how comfortable we are letting new groups of people into the game. So (for example), Closed Beta might arrive in the middle of Phase Two. (Again, that’s just an example…not a plan. ;)

And of course, everything you’re reading here is “time approximate”. We’re aiming at the timelines, but software development is…fraught with peril. It may take longer to get things done.

But as far as big stuff, here’s the list.

What is Phase One?

Phase One is what we’re working to accomplish in the following four weeks or so.

What’s the purpose of Phase One? It’s designed to do the following:
Let all you folks talk to each other easily. To form friends, groups, and above all to benefit from having other players around you.
To allow and support cooperative building.
To make building a better experience.
To make the world bigger.
That’s it. Doesn’t sound that ambitious does it? But it is a LOT of stuff coming your way in the next few weeks. Stuff that you may not even realize you’re missing until you see this list.

Phase One includes:
Better Communication

Claim Ratings : Bragging is fun. Getting comments and ratings from people that stop by your claim can also be fun. Having ratings lets us also add leaderboards and let the best of the creators in our community begin to surface. They’re also critical for our Player Studio presentation later on.
Chat: We’ll be improving chat with better channels, customized tabs, and more. Why? Because if you can’t communicate easily, you might as well be playing a single-player game.
----We’re also adding the ability to add links in chat so that you can designate a waypoint on the map and have it show up in chat for other people to click and see.
Key configs: Yes, you need to be able to customize your key mappings. Duh, right? It’s coming.
Voice over Internet : Yes, many folks use Teamspeak servers (or whatever is the flavor of the month). But not everyone has a server to join, and we’ve found that forcing people to use external voice servers often fragments the community severely. So that’s getting added also.
Socialization
Groups & Group Harvesting Bonus: Right now, when you harvest, it’s a race for those resources against other people. It’s almost a PvP-ish kind of feeling. We don’t want that. So the systems are changing so that it’s advantageous to group together when harvesting.
We’re also allowing groups so it’s easy to have a private chat channel and see each other on the map.
-----Friends: Self-explanatory, but you need a way to see who is online from the folks you know, as well as to be able to find their claims and see them on the map.
Twitch/Facebook/Twitter: Some of you will want to brag. Some of you want to stream. And to be honest, the more you folks do that, the bigger the game can become. So we’re trying to make it easy for you.
Moving around the world

In general, the dev team does not want to turn the game into “instant travel”. However, a large part of the game is oriented around being able to drop by and see someone’s claim and buildout. So we’re carefully adding some quick-travel options to make quick visits less onerous, but at the same time still encouraging exploration through the world so you get accidental discoveries as you go.

Plus, keep in mind that you’ll be digging deep now. Walking all the way back uphill to return to your claim may not be the joyous experience you think it might be. ;)

It’s almost certain that most of these options will be somewhat limited in usage by requiring either crafting of an item or requiring a certain amount of time to expire before reuse.
Teleport to Claim
Teleport to Hub
Teleport to Friend


Better Building
Unified Tools : We have way too many different ways to rotate, translate, and scale things. There should be a single system across all tools so that you can manipulate them all in the same ways, and those ways should be intuitive and easy to use.
New Smoothing Tool : The current smoothing tool is very powerful. It’s also persnickety and it requires non-intuitive things like “air buffers” around a column to smooth it properly. We can make it better, so we’re doing that.
Claim Permissions: Building by yourself is fun. Building something grandiose with other players is even more so. Permissions allow you to cooperate together on your claims.
More Space
Caves : The surface world is cool, but it’s only the top layer of what we promised. So caves are coming. Lots of spaces to mine through and explore. Why add them now? Because the resource tiers are *supposed* to be spread down through the crust of the world, not segregated on separate islands and spawning on the surface. You’re not playing the intended game yet, and we need to move the game closer to the real end-goal now.
Attached Claims: You’ll first be able to add a new claim onto any existing one (whether to the side, above, or below). This will be the first time we let you have more space to build.
Additional Claims : After Attached Claims are working well, and we have more server hardware in place, we’ll also be letting you establish more claims in different locations. It’s coming!
Claim Upkeep : Empty and abandoned claims are not cool. So we’re introducing Upkeep which is basically a small amount of in-game coin you have to spend to keep your claim from being repossessed into the world and made available to other players. (NOTE: If you don’t pay your upkeep all you lose is your spot in the world. All your resources, props, crafted items, etc., are saved in your inventory and your buildout is templatized and saved for you.)


Phase Two

Phase Two is scheduled to be done the in the four weeks AFTER Phase One is complete. And it includes some really big systems that will have huge impact on the game.

NOTE: These systems are being developed during Phase One. You just won’t *see* them until Phase Two because they’re too big to finish and test before March.

Socialization
Guilds: Bigger than a friends list, but essentially fulfilling the same role on a bigger scale. But now with a cool title and a few other perks.
SOEMote: You knew it was coming! We’re adding this in now because Landmark is a beautiful stage for the folks that like to roleplay or machinma. SOEmote will be hugely useful for them. (And don’t forget the voice shifting tech so you don’t have to sound like you on VoiP!)
New Naming mechanism with account handle: Now you can be any name you want. No longer do we require unique names for your character. (No name reservations!)
Player Studio: You can finally submit your templates to the Player Studio (part of the overall Marketplace). This means that your creativity and work on your claims can be turned into real cash…if other players will buy your creations. This system is extremely interesting and will merit its own document soon because it’s heavy on socialization elements. It’s going to be fun.
Ley Lines & Movement
Think of these as mini-hubs on the Islands. They let you micro-jump between ley line positions, and then explore the area from that hub. (You still have to go to the main hub to transfer between islands and worlds.) There are several advantages to this, not all related to ease of travel. (For example: Real estate around these micro-hubs is more desirable, adding yet another type of claim to seek out.)
-----Ley Line use will require in-game coin or resources.
New movement methods: Methods of gliding, flying, etc. will be added to the game via items that you can craft and find.
Risk & Danger
Health: Yup…you can die now. But you can actually increase your health by finding increase items while adventuring through the world.
Death Penalty: Yes, death will have teeth. Try not to die.
Revive: Standing up after you fall down is always useful.
Graveyards: When you die, you’ll need a place to respawn unless you Revive.
BASIC combat: This is the first of many steps that will lead us to the eventual combat style we want. This first step is extremely basic as we prototype systems. But things will try to kill you.
Buffs: If you can die, there need to be ways to avoid that damage and death. You’ll be able to craft (or find) various mechanisms to make yourself tougher.
NOTE: For both combat and buffs, your combat abilities and defenses will all be tied to items and potions, so there will be much item and crafting progression involved in getting ready for those things. Future rollouts beyond this initial offering will make the whole system more robust and do so pretty rapidly.

New things to do
Plant harvesting: Expect great things. ‘Nuff said for now.
Tree harvesting revamp: Again…great…things. More details as we get closer.
Water: The likely progression of water coming into the game will be:
-----Oceans: These are static bodies of water surrounding the islands. When oceans show up, we can start doing interesting things with our coastlines and real estate choices will be a lot more interesting.
-----Lakes: Lakes are different than oceans because they can appear at many altitudes. They are still static bodies of water, but again, they add more desirable real estate choices for claims.
-----Running (dynamic) water: This is the piece that will come in last. This is the rivers and waterfalls that everyone wants. It adds more real estate choices, but it also creates a lot of gameplay as you folks can start diverting water to do all kinds of interesting things on your claims.
-----NOTE: The dynamic nature of water is a big system that still has a lot of R&D to overcome before we can be absolutely certain of when it will arrive. We’ll keep you informed as we progress.
Journal: There’s a lot to keep track of in this game. All the crafting choices, your resources, and we’re going to be adding a lot more achievements (see below). When we do that, you need a mechanism to keep it all straight and to help you organize what *you* want to do. The Journal is a cool interface designed to let you do just that.
Achievements: Achievements are the “quest-like” equivalent within Landmark. There’s a ton of things to collect and do in the world, and the achievements system allows you to be recognized for that effort, as well as hinting at what you can do to become more powerful or capable.
Salvage: Remember all those picks you discarded on your way to Rubicite and beyond? Well…you can reclaim part of those resources now. You can also “remake” a crafting result so that you don’t have to be quite as disappointed that your brand new axe you finally got to make is “Inferior”.
Treasure Chests: This is a generic term to represent loot and surprises that you can find as you explore through the caves system below ground.
Unlocking recipes: Right now, all recipes are available at crafting tables as soon as you make them. When this system goes into the game, you’ll need to find those recipes before you can make them at the crafting tables.
Claim Chests: More storage! Your vault is stuffed to the gills and you’re carrying as much as you can on your back. Time to make chests! You’ll be able to craft chests and store them on various claims as supplemental storage.


Phase Three – Everything after Phase Two

There are a LOT more systems to come after March. All the huge stuff like PvP, advanced combat, better AI, interesting physics features, plus a whole host of “possibles” and “must haves” that we’ll narrow in on as we get more of Phase 1 & 2 complete.

However, we’ll update the roadmap as we finish each of the Phases we list above, so you’ll always know what’s coming and when.

In Summary

Hopefully, this TL; DR roadmap has helped set your expectations as to what you can expect to see in the game soon, as well as giving you an overview of what the game will become so that your suggestions can be more in tune with what we’re planning already.

Once again, THANK YOU for participating in Alpha, and thank you for your opinions. This process has been amazing to us (the dev team) already and we think it’s going to grow into something even better as time goes on! Please let us know what you think on the forums!

~Dave Georgeson, Director of Development

I do not understand paying $60 for an early alpha.  Also can someone explain how this is tied to eqnext? Will both be free to play?

There's an f13 channel?  There's channels?  Death?  Huh? 

I do not understand paying $60 for an early alpha.  Also can someone explain how this is tied to eqnext? Will both be free to play?

More value here than 250+ for Hex.

Servers down. Someday they'll give us notice ingame. Not expecting that soon though.

Reading that roadmap has me really excited. I might just take the plunge this weekend if I've a lot of free time. The big thing about the $100 pack is the early access to beta, right? Do any of those items or outfits do anything important? Basically, talk me into or out of the extra $40 between the 2 alpha packs.

these guys are too starry-eyed-in-love with the IDEA of the game.

I turn with Q and E (realistically, with the mouse) and strafe with A and D. Having to hold right click to do so seems incredibly strange, and unfamiliar/unpleasant controls are a reason for me to hold off. Can you invert the mouse?

Heh yea. One of youse folked talked earlier in this thread about how time-sinky this is. Very much a MC vibe for me. I spent an hour just trying to master arches, and thern another hour reorganizing my plot so much I am back to almost nothing on it. I literally have nothing to show for my effort except what's in my head, but unlike EQ1 sessions, I am concent with that. The heck?!

Also because the launcher bumped the sys requirements, did we know even the minimum requirement was a quad core processor?

I am not really architecturally creative, so my stuff ends up mostly looking like weird shrines and altar like stuff.

Here is what I am currently working on.

Sadly the little ball of flame in the middle of the obsidian pillars doesn't make it into the screen shots for some reason.

How do you make the flamey effect on the floating things?

Yeah, you shouldn't have turning bound to a keyboard key. THAT is what you do while holding down right mouse and moving the mouse sideways.

Free up those keys for abilities. You'll be more effective.

Is it possible to make the big claim box disappear when taking screen shots?

As you know, we're involving you, the community, in our development process. Today, we want your input on some concept art. These concepts are for a new harvesting tool, the Pulverizer.

Here's a note from Senior Art Director Rosie Rappaport:

"We are going to try something new and let the community decide on which Pulverizer you would like to see in-game! The Pulverizer is a technologically advanced harvesting tool that is built for destruction. It cuts through dirt and stone with ease but leaves nothing left to collect. Use the Pulverizer to navigate between caverns and cut through large swathes of terrain. This will be an all new tool, with new animations and particle FX. Take a look a the rough concepts and vote on the number of your choice."

Here are the concepts:


(http://assets.soe.com/img/GlobalAssets/Community/eql/2014/02/Pulverizer_Tier2Silversteel_Thumbnails_PP.JPG)

About two sessions on the tower and an hour today working on the house. Can't really see my cool arch gateway for the back wall of the property. Eventually I'll use that template for sewers, too.

Those are very nice and I agree that sometimes it's almost discouraging to see what other people can make.

If we do actually get to a point where SoE is buying people's finished work, how are they going to protect people in regards to their copying tool?  If I sell something that is 80pct another person's design, how will he get compensated?  This seems like an issue that will have to be covered at some point.

What I have in mind is a streak of, for example, blue aquamarine, but what I get is... nothing. It's like the stone of the wall swallows the aquamarine in an aggressive attempt to blend them together, but in the final result there's not an inch of blue.

Read on to the end of page 1 and page 2.  There's a poster (damny) who points out that the line tool is pretty shit for fine detail, and you can get better results without using it.

Damny is the man.

As far as grinding for tools, I still say it's not a big deal. You're going to need a /lot/ of stone to build so if they give you the tools right away, you're still grinding for stone.

Yeah, except that grinding for tools means those resources aren't there for me to use anymore. Considering how much wood it takes to do stuff that's important when you're trying to put crown moulding in your build.

I haven't built anything yet although I made a big hole.  I've just been harvesting and upgrading and running around looking at stuff other people made.  It's all being wiped next week, right?  I have been collecting guides and tips from the forum for when I'm inspired to build.  I'm planning on a little cottage in the woods with a big bike shed to keep all my stuff in and do naughty things behind.  My plot of land isn't very inspiring.  Evidently, if you buy the whole deal that is nearly $100 you get two days on the people who bought the next level down and those people get a couple of days on everyone else.  Maybe I'll find a bit of woods that will motivate me.  I have enough burled wood than you can shake a stick at.  

I just read my post.  Good luck understanding it!   :ye_gods:

Yeah, except that grinding for tools means those resources aren't there for me to use anymore. Considering how much wood it takes to do stuff that's important when you're trying to put crown moulding in your build.

Grinding resources so I can use them is different from grinding resources so I have the ability to use future resources I'm grinding. That's a pretty fundamental difference.  You're arguing the Ubers raider's position in any other MMO here.  "It's not that much work. Just do it, what are you lazy?"

And considering that build=time convenience is pretty damn important.

Or you could just come visit and I can get you decent enough tools to harvest the building tools.  :oh_i_see:

Assuming this is about me is the first mistake.  

I expect neither of you to bitch about not being able to solo content again.  :awesome_for_real: :oh_i_see:

Sorry I'm picking on your pet game AGAIN falc. Maybe you should take it less personally.

I've got all the tools.  How do I tilt a plane to an angle?  The line tool really leaves a lot to be desired. 

Once I create and fill my selection, I can then copy and paste it.  However, there are only four positions for each of the three axes.  Is there a way to change it so the scroll wheel turns less than 90 degrees each turn?

I'm glad I'm awesome at something - even if it's accidental.  I don't know I didn't see it since I had it on that channel.  I saw Palmer log in but he's anti-social and all that.  I might have called him a misanthropic bastard.  Or maybe I just said that out loud.  I found a claim on that Serenity server on the Highland world because I think that's where Sky and other f13 people went.  They're going to be doing that phase one thingy soon I think, which might mean we can band together and go for world domination.  You can be the World Dominatrix.  I have a feeling it might suit you.  Anyway, I don't know if we would need to be on the same server and world to have a group or a guild or a whatever.  I guess I should go read something.

There is some site named "The Adult Gamer" (don't think there's boobies though) that has some videos of people doing stuff.  I watched one and it was helpful.  I think there's stuff about the line tool, too.

I saw Drew leave the channel.

I wrote "Signe!" in all possible ways (Seriously, I used caps, symbols and all sorts of spam) but got no response whatsoever. This is really messed up. Seems I can only communicate with Darniaq.

See, I told you you exist on another plane.

There's a new bug that will be hotfixed today which makes the delete tool act up.

In other picture news, people are already building real towns...  :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real:

I ain't got no body....


srsly.

I started experimenting with all that micro-voxel stuff. Some pretty crazy lattice works are possible. I'm curious if it's a glitch or intended. My two tower templates are complete, and I'm kinda figuring out a theme as I go. Maybe I'll post a pic if I don't think it'll be embarassing.

The thing I like most about this creation engine is it's a great blend of tools you don't need to master in order to dabble with something that might send you down a creative track even if you have no idea what you want when you start.

If you stick to the basic primitives, you'll end up with stuff that looks the same as everyone else's, but still looks pretty good within the world (like that recent town pic from Falc's post: a good amount of work, but doesn't push the bounds on the tools like that earlier town which had a Borderlands feel).

But on the other end are dragons wrapping around towers, Statue of Liberty standins and other things I'm getting the sense even SOE wasn't sure was possible.

The geometries don't interact as predictably as I'm used to in CADD environments. But most of that is solvable with Undo :-)

Jeezus...  to be able to sculpt in 3D space like that...

This really REALLY makes me want to update my Giant Monkey lava statue from Minecraft.

I went to my claim today and my stuff was back in my inventory, instead of nicely placed on my plot.  Weird.  I hope it's not like my clothes that won't stay on.  And the big tree root where I was going to hang my lantern is also gone.  In fact, the entire tree has disappeared along with some plants I was going to make pots for.  Also two barrels and they weren't in my inventory.  It's all very mysterious.

I hope it's not like my clothes that won't stay on.

The diagonals start with the line tool, but it's a wonky goddamned hack someone on the forum (https://forums.station.sony.com/eqnlandmark/index.php?threads/guide-timber-frame-elements.19478/) came up with (there is a triangular roof/corner template that goes on next).

I can't believe what a HUGE difference wearing two of those harvesting rings makes.  I'm getting a ton of elemental stuff, too.  I have a pick made with that stuff that starts with a V but it's worn.  My gold axe is just a plain gold axe.  What is a "green gold" axe?  Also, if you do /tribaldancing it doesn't go away.  I had to re-log.  I was even dancing when I was harvesting.  Kind of cool but I'm just not that happy today. 

What is a "green gold" axe? 

I can't believe what a HUGE difference wearing two of those harvesting rings makes.  I'm getting a ton of elemental stuff, too.  I have a pick made with that stuff that starts with a V but it's worn.  My gold axe is just a plain gold axe.  What is a "green gold" axe?  Also, if you do /tribaldancing it doesn't go away.  I had to re-log.  I was even dancing when I was harvesting.  Kind of cool but I'm just not that happy today. 

So this is a harvesting thing as well as a building thing? I suck at building, but love harvesting.

:awesome_for_real:  And shoes.

So this is a harvesting thing as well as a building thing? I suck at building, but love harvesting.

Will it be possible to run a mining business in this game? That always intrigues me.

None of that is possible in Landmark, so I'm very worried wondering how they will be able to avoid having mining for rares quickly become unbearably tedious and unrewarding.

One HUGE difference between this and Minecraft, among many, is that in minecraft, the tedium of deep mining is rewarded with whatever I dug out staying dug out. I can stop and do something else, then go back and pick up where I left off days or weeks later. I can combine the mining with building a safe tunnel between two surface locations, or with eliminating possible spawn points under a spawn farm, or with hollowing out a huge cavern to build a city in, or whatever.  The point is, my changes persist, and outside this tiny box in Landmark, they don't. None of that is possible in Landmark, so I'm very worried wondering how they will be able to avoid having mining for rares quickly become unbearably tedious and unrewarding.

I bought the whole thing... well, the EQN bit was a present.  I fully intended to give you one of the beta keys I get unless you bought it yourself.  I think beta starts sometime in March.  Falc would know.  He's my go to guy for news.   :awesome_for_real:  And shoes.

Don't worry.  I'm sure most of you are safe.

When does this hit "free"? Does it hit free? I find myself fascinated by the concepts.

Maybe I'm being too cynical,

but a model that starts with paying $60 to help them test for early access seems a bit crazy, especially when combined with their stated goal of having players create content for another game. Maybe in beta they'll let people pay to help them write code, too?

When does this hit "free"? Does it hit free? I find myself fascinated by the concepts.

For someone not in Alpha, can you sum up the  proposed "game" part of this? Is it just building/crafting/selling sandbox? (Don't get me wrong, just the building part is a game to me, I'm just trying to sort out the actual thrust and activities and goals a player can have).

So next week we get snow.  Like I need more snow.  We're bracing for another biggie in a few days, too.  I mean for reals, not in the game.  March is going to be a motherfucker.  Snow.  On the plus side, though, next week we get new servers!  (I think)  New worlds!  Snow.  Right now I think we might have the new smoother which means we don't need the little voxel buffer!  Snow.

Well they are talking about some basic combat (maybe some pvp), environmental exploration/danger. There is going to be a lot more digging based exploration with underground biomes to explore and the like.

My pet theory is that Landmark is pretty much half of EQ Next. I get the impression that both games are going to be heavily connected and it appears to me that they are trying to satisfy both MMO players and builders alike with the two games.

ETA until first version of: www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk

 :grin:

Hi there, folks,

The community team was nice enough to aggregate all the responses we got from players over the weekend about the EQN Landmark business plan that we presented to you.

All in all, it was great feedback and we really appreciate it.

Responses on the various community feeds (FB, Reddit, forums, Twitter, etc.) was generally neutral or positive. By our tally, it was almost entirely either neutral or positive with only a small amount of negativity (less than 5% of responses).

That’s a fantastic initial response! But we also wanted to take a moment to answer the questions we saw appearing in more than one place.

This response by no means ends our conversation. However, it does catch us all up to the same place so we can have better conversations moving forward.

Thanks for reading!

-- Dave.

What is the difference between Landmark and EQN? Will they have the same business plans?
There are very large differences between Landmark and Next.

Landmark is a gigantic sandbox world, where we give you all the tools that we use to build EQN and let you go nuts, developing and refining all the stories, adventures, and worlds that you desire. All of the content in Landmark is created by you, the players, and the game is generally system-oriented. Landmark also embraces all genres. There can be sci-fi right next to fantasy right next to a Madison Square Gardens boxing arena.

In Landmark, you not only show the world your own imagination, but you get to wander through the minds and dreams of countless thousands of other players as well.

EverQuest Next, on the other hand is directed content of a Heroic Fantasy nature. It’s still a giant sandbox to play in, but the focus is different. EQ Next provides the story, adventure and focus for the players, and the creativity players provide is all in how they react to those situations and deal with those plot developments.

The business plans for the two games are NOT identical. We’re planning some similarities, but honestly, we have lots of time still to develop what’s needed for an EverQuest Next business plan. We have no intent to just carbon-copy the Landmark plan over to Next.

What about All Access membership?
All Access is a membership plan you can subscribe to in the Landmark marketplace (after it launches publicly). That item lets you gain access to all SOE games. By itself, that’s worth quite a bit. However, each game in the SOE stable will have a short list of benefits that players will get when they play that game. Landmark is no exception.

The details of what will be included for Landmark if you have an All Access membership have yet to be determined.

What about Market Stalls (and by extension, the virtual coin, in-game economy as well)?
This is a pretty extensive topic that probably deserves a write-up of its own, but there have been lots of tangential questions about our business plan that revolve around the fact that you guys just simply don’t know much about our in-game economy yet. (Because we haven’t told you. Oops.)

The in-game economy is robust, but personal. Everything is centered around players finding each other and socializing to make trades/purchases. Items we expect to see traded/sold include resources, crafted items, and templates.

Of course, we have secure trade so that you can trade 1-on-1. There are also Market Stalls at the hubs. These Stalls can be rented for virtual coin or for SC. (Templates can be traded 1-on-1, but cannot be sold in the Market Stalls for virtual coin. They can, however, be advertised at Market Stalls if they are accepted on Player Studio.)

What about Marketplace and NO TRADE?
In many other games, any item purchased on the marketplace is NO TRADE or can only be shuffled between characters on your account.

Landmark is a bit different. Marketplace items are initially locked as NO TRADE for up to 12 hours after purchase, but then become unlocked thereafter so that you can freely trade or sell them to other players. (You can use your purchase yourself during those first 12 hours, you just can’t trade it yet.)

Why the up-to-12-hour delay? It’s nasty fraud prevention stuff. It’s important. But no more than 12 hours after purchase, your item is unlocked for trading!

What resources will get sold?
All resources will be available for sale. Even the super-common resources like dirt and stone will be available. Resources will be in small and large SC bundles, but the number of resources within each bundle will be scaled according to rarity. (In other words, there is far less obsidian in a resource bundle than there would be in a copper bundle of the same price.)

At this time, there are no “in-game only” resources.

Will cosmetic items be limited exclusively to the marketplace?
No. Although some outfits may be limited to marketplace only, there will be other appearances that are dropped in-game and not available on the marketplace.

Will we sell additional inventory space (bag, vault, chest)?
Yes. Eventually. Not at marketplace launch, but during Phase 3.

Will we allow people to make items (outfits/tools/weapons/etc) in Maya/Blender/Maxx/etc. and submit them to Player Studio?
Yes. But we’re not announcing details on that yet. We have some cool plans and if they come through, it will be much nicer than what we’ve offered in the past.

When will EU players be able to participate in Player Studio?
We are hard at work getting that set up now. We’re working on the major EU countries first, and then we’ll continuously add as we go. There are many tax laws and reporting structures for the different countries, and it takes a reasonably serious investment of time and effort to get each of them running. But we are committed to making this a worldwide game and opening up Player Studio to the world is part of that.

Is there a limit on how many claim flags we can purchase for SC?
Yes. But the rules around that are in flux right now. Let’s discuss this again later, please.

Will purchased claim flags have the same upkeep as a crafted claim flag?
Yes. There is no exception to Upkeep just because you purchased your claim flag.

***

I believe the whole 'original designer gets a cut' would impact that. Not sure how, but I'm sure they'll address it.

General Overview

This update lets you experience new biomes and islands, lets you torture test the new Smoothing tool, and provides you with extra room to spread out and build (attached claims)!
Unfortunately, the claims permission feature we wanted to release to you this week turned out to be more time intensive than we had hoped and it will slip until next week’s update.
So, more space this week (and a huge raft of bug fixes), a new tool to use, new areas to explore, new materials to build with and a ton of plants, rocks and trees to help round out your claims. Next week, is claim permissions, claim ratings, claim upkeep, groups and friends!
Enjoy!

Feature Updates
• Attached claims! You can now create an attached claim that must be placed directly next to an existing claim. You can craft an attached claim flag at the stone forge! Currently you can have up to 2 attached claims.
• New Smoothing Tool is in the game! This new tool will allow the system to add/remove voxels while smoothing in order to create more natural shapes and curves.
• There are 2 new biomes! Tundra and Old Growth Forest. To avoid having to do a claim wipe on the existing islands, we’re rolling out 12 new ones instead, bringing the total number of islands on each world to 50!

I don't think people were expecting dirt boxes, so much as penises. Penises everywhere.

We're still in the pay-for-alpha phase aren't we?  Wait til the bar for entry gets lower...

I have not seen a penis yet.

quote worthy!

I don't think the penis quotations will be as bad as people expected.

People are not paying to make dicks.  You will get those dicks for free.

Love the tweak mode, that was really needed (and I asked for something similar early on!). Moving ahead at a pretty good pace.

Hello, Landmarkians!

Our Alpha has been absolutely fantastic. We could not have asked for a better result with you, the players, finding a huge assortment of radical new ways to use our building tools and cooperating so incredibly to push the boundaries of our game. Thank you!

But now, Alpha is about to end and Closed Beta is about to start!

When does Closed Beta start? Wednesday, March 26th. Right around the corner!

To prepare for Closed Beta, the servers will be down so we can wipe data and set up the new islands. Those preparation days will be Monday and Tuesday, March 24th and 25th.

Therefore, the last day of Alpha is Sunday, March 23rd. So party this weekend like it's the end of the world! (Because it is! Very, very briefly. ;)

To get ready for the end of Alpha, we *highly recommend* that you template any items on your claims that you want to resurrect during Closed Beta. Consider templating things with props, without props, and possibly even re-textured as dirt or something simple so that you can rebuild it easily when you have few resources available. (NOTE: When the claims are wiped at the end of Alpha, we will be templating each of your claims for you, BUT many of your claims require vast amounts of resources before they can be placed so it still might be beneficial for you to go in and make individual templates to make it easier to restore pieces of your claim as you gain resources.)

What will the data wipe entail? EVERYTHING will be wiped...except your character name, your templates and any items you purchased (Founder's Pack items or marketplace purchases). Yes, that means everything else. When Closed Beta begins, you will need to choose a new appearance, gather new resources, craft new tools and make new claims from scratch again. Everyone starts at the same place.

Upward and onward! And please be sure to welcome all our new Closed Beta friends when they arrive!

Obligatory post of some new insane stuff.


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bjc5OlgCUAAgbsk.png:large)

Hey folks,

If you played Alpha, then the beginning steps after you enter the world have changed a bit. Just to avoid confusion, here's a few starting steps for you! (Also useful for you folks that are completely new to the game!)

IF YOU HAVE A FOUNDER'S PICK!
* Mine some copper and craft a pair of Keen Eye Bands (discovery stat ftw!)
* Go find some iron and the other resources you need to make a claim flag.
* Make that flag at the BASIC FORGE at the Hub. (The hub no longer has a Stone Forge.)
* Go stake your claim.
* Then go back to the hub, make a Stone Forge, and take it back to your claim so that you can make Iron Ingots and such. (Basic Forge only smelts copper and tin.)
* Build an Alchemy Station, then an Iron Pick, then a Silver Axe.
* Up to you at this point, but pro tip...consider an Outfitter's Station so you get access to better Discovery accessories.

IF YOU DO *NOT* HAVE A FOUNDER'S PICK!
* Start out by building a Copper Pick.
* Gather more copper and build a pair of Keen Eye Bands
* Build a Tin Axe (not strictly necessary, but nicer than the Stone Axe).
* Build a claim flag and plant your claim
* Refer to the post-claim steps in the list above!

ALSO! Be warned! You do NOT know the progression steps just because you played Alpha. You'll need to poke around and figure it out, just like you did at the start of Alpha. (Example, the next step after stone forge is NOT saw table.)

Enjoy!

I haven't received the five keys nor that email Signe, which is worrying me a little. When (if) I'll get them, I should be able to share at least one with the f13 crowd here.

Okay. We've discussed this internally, and we've decided that the four time-limited keys that were included with the Trailblazer packs are now UNLIMITED!

So, if you purchase a Trailblazer pack, you will be granted four keys to give to your friends/family/guildies that will get them UNLIMITED ACCESS TO CLOSED BETA!

Please note: these keys do not include any of the items that come from the Settler's Founder's Pack, so if you're interested in those items, you will still need to purchase a pack. Also, these shareable keys only come in the Trailblazer pack; if you purchased an Explorer pack and would like the keys, you'll need to upgrade your pack to Trailblazer.

We'll be updating the website and FAQ with this new information, and we look forward to seeing all of you (and the four other folks you recruit!) when we get to Closed Beta on March 26th!

Thanks,
Dexella

I'll disperse keys as well if they send them.  Because I wub you guys.

I visited that, taking the screen shot from that high up caused a ton of the detail to fall out of it, the gardens were amazing and the detail work on the walls and the buildings was amazing.

I also visited that wonderland plot, that shit was insane.

Welcome to Closed Beta!

For those you that played in Alpha, we have created templates of all claims you had when the worlds came down on Monday. You can see these templates in your template window with a name that matches your claim name. Currently, it will be nearly impossible to paste one of these templates in a new claim because you cannot see the actual edges of the template if they were air. We’ve got a fix coming for this and we’ll have it to you this week. Once that’s in, you’ll be able to overlap the edges of a claim with a template and when you place it, it’ll only paste the parts that are inside the claim. Until then, have fun gathering resources, finding the spot for your new claims and create all of the workstations, harvesting tools, and building tools that you’ll need to do incredible things!

Added: Also, one more important change that Trailblazers and Explorers should be aware of. Claim flags are now crafted and no longer auto granted when you create your character! You can craft your root claim flag at any of the workshops, including the Basic Workshop at the Hub of any island.

New Features

Claim Ratings
The first phase of Claim Ratings is now in game! Once a player has tagged their claim, you can visit them and give them a thumbs up. As more people upvote their claim, their Temperature Gauge will change from an icy blue to a fiery red. (Votes expire after seven days.)
As this is just the first phase of Claim Ratings, we have lots more to look forward soon, including, but not limited to:
Searching via ratings / tags / visitor count / recommendation count
Filtering via ratings / tags / visitor count / recommendation count on the Map
Sending Feedback / Tips to the owner of the Claim
Claim Upkeep / Foreclosure
Claims now require an upkeep cost.
You must deposit resources in your Upkeep Bank to pre-pay for upkeep. To fill (or refill) your Upkeep Bank, press “U” to open the Claim Management window, and click the “Upkeep Management” button.
Upkeep is due every 24 hours, but can be pre-paid for up to 5 days of real time. (tweet comment)
If your claim expires, it is automatically deleted. However, we'll template up your claim(s) for you, and email you all of the resources and props that were present in the claim when it was foreclosed on.
FOR NOW, the upkeep cost is 300 copper ore per claim - this will change in the future to use in-game currency.
Character Create
We've added new options to character create! Choose from a variety of faces, hairstyles, and facial hair for both male and female characters.
New Islands
We've generated a bunch of new islands for you explore and stake your claim on.
Previously almost all (48 of the 50) of the islands were either Tropical / Desert or Tundra / Old Growth Forest. No longer!
We now have all available combinations available! Want a lush tropical jungle that blends in to an old forest? Maybe you'd like the cold mountainous tundra, that smoothes in to the rolling sand of a desert? You can choose!
Since we've also added new islands... how about a new Tier? Tier 4 is now available! You can now find Mithril and Diamond in Tier 4 continents.
Founder's Pack Chest
We've added a chest to the Spire that will automatically re-grant any Founder's pack items that you might have missed or accidentally deleted.
New Outfits
There are two new outfits that each come in 7 different color combinations that can be crafted at the Outfitter’s Table.

Harvesting / Crafting Changes

The Crafting and Harvesting systems have received significant overhauls.
Tools and Resources
“Resource Rating” has been renamed to “Tier” and all previous resource rating values have been flattened to 6 tiers, each of which corresponds to the tiers that resources are actually found in. Several resources were reallocated to support this change.
All mined resources are introduced in the tier before their home tier, meaning that Tin and Iron can be found in limited quantities in Tier 1, even though they are Tier 2 resources.
Pick progression has been modified to support the resource rating change, and rare pick upgrades have been removed from the game.
All picks still have a chance to be crafted as rare or legendary, but picks that required uncommon picks as a recipe component, such as bronze and silversteel, no longer exist.
Axe progression has been modified to support the resource rating change and now has 6 tiers.
The Tin Axe now harvests special jungle trees which yield the Tier 2 resource palm heart.
The Silver Axe now harvests special desert trees which yield the Tier 3 resource thistle seed.
The Gold Axe now harvests special old growth trees which yield the Tier 4 resource ancient rootstock.
The Rubicite Axe now harvests special tundra trees which yield the Tier 5 resource spindle cone.
The Etherium Axe, which completes this progression, won’t be available until Tier 5 islands and the Deciduous Forest biome have been added to the game.
Pick and Axe item descriptions have been updated to indicate the resources they now harvest.
Picks, starting with Iron, now require special tree resources corresponding to their crafted tier, not the tier they can harvest (e.g. iron requires palm heart).
Axes, starting with Silver, now require special tree resources harvested by the axe from the tier below (e.g. silver requires palm heart).
Axe damage and speed was tweaked to provide a better progression cadence.
All axes now have the potential to be created as either Superior, Exceptional or Legendary.
All axes now have a chance of getting a random mod.
Item descriptions for resources have also been updated to provide information about tier and, where necessary, the location they can be found.
A new recipe which creates coal from wood has been added to the series of forge crafting stations.
Tree Harvesting
All trees can now be targeted while an axe is equipped, even trees the equipped axe cannot harvest.
Attempting to harvest a tree that cannot be harvested by the currently equipped axe results in an error message explaining why.
Tree health has been rebalanced to better match tree size.
Tree rewards, including heartwood and special resources, have been standardized across tree size to drop at a consistent rate regardless of tree size.
Plant resources are no longer dropping from trees.
Plant Harvesting
Plant harvesting has been added to the game!
Using the Silver Sickle, which is crafted at the Stone Forge, you can now hunt for special plants procedurally spawned across all islands. These plant resources are used in various clothing recipes that have been added to the new Outfitter’s Table.
Crafting Stations
A new crafting station, called the workshop, has been added to the game.
This station crafts other crafting stations, props, and utility items. It can also refine lumber and stone.
A basic workshop has been added to each of the Hubs across all islands.
The series of Forge crafting stations now exclusively produce tools, metal ingots, and also coal, in addition to the new series of ingot refining stations.
All forges after the Stone Forge have been removed from the game. Recipes previously crafted at the higher tier forges are now available at the Stone Forge.
The Enchanted Alchemy station is now simply known as the alchemy station, and is used to combine special tree resources with heartwood to make higher tier heartwood.
Oil sub-combines previously created at the alchemy station have been removed.
The series of Workbench crafting stations have been removed and replaced with the Outfitter’s Table.
The Outfitter’s Table crafts outfits and accessories. Outfits are produced with woven cloth, also created from the Outfitter’s Table using resources gathered through plant harvesting.
Refining Stations
Several new crafting stations have been added to the game that are used to refine raw materials into refined materials with improved efficiency.
The smelter produces metal ingots.
The infuser produces heartwood.
The loom produces woven cloth.
The series of Saw Table crafting stations are now used exclusively for refining wood and stone with improved efficiency.

Bug Fixes / Optimizations
Made numerous client optimizations that should speed up your initial load time. This should also greatly reduce the amount of spinning gears / bouncing you might get when running through the world.
The state of your props will now save whenever we have to bring the game down for any reason. This means you don't need to turn on all your torches and lights when the worlds go down for maintenance. Rejoice!
Clicking on another player should be much more reliable now.
You can now enter Tweak mode even if the cursor is red. This should make it much easier to place large templates or paste volumes.
Added a new Party Bonus icon, along with a tooltip that describes what it does.
You should now get a warning when attempting to delete a mail that has an attachment
The Mail compose window should close once you send the mail. No more accidentally spamming mail to your friends!
The Mail compose window shouldn't get in an odd state anymore when resizing it.
Crafting stations will now show if the item you're crafting will reward more than one of that item. For example, you can now see that ten wood logs will generate 100 wood planks.
Previously, Claim and Spire Teleport shared a one hour cooldown. They now have separate one hour cooldowns, and the cooldown for teleporting to a friend is 30 minutes.

I have 4 keys: quote post to redeem (talking dirty to me may or may not help, too)

I have 4 keys  3 keys: quote post to redeem (talking dirty to me may or may not help, too)

I have 4 keys   2 keys: quote post to redeem (talking dirty to me may or may not help, too)

1: Cadaverine
2: Taolurker
3:
4:

I have 4 keys   2 keys: quote post to redeem (talking dirty to me may or may not help, too)

1: Cadaverine
2: Taolurker
3:
4:

I have 4 keys   0 keys -- ALL GONE: quote post to redeem (talking dirty to me may or may not help, too)

1: Cadaverine
2: Taolurker
3: Rasix
4: Rendakor

Ended up running into Pennilenko on Serenity/Lowland right away.  Him having a bunch of crafting stations already built was handy.

Also, I have keys.

Also note the founders pick is a piece of shit. You won't be using it long even if you have it. Also, what Bz said.

I forgot they wiped because I'm playing minecraft and really have little urge to log in and build on a postage stamp.

Also, I have keys.

3 claims to your name, but about 9 claims attached to each other and with shared permissions, so if anything it's like 9 postage stamps. Hard to call that a small area to build on.

So, what the hell do I do in this?  :awesome_for_real:  How do I find you people?

3 claims to your name, but about 9 claims attached to each other and with shared permissions, so if anything it's like 9 postage stamps. Hard to call that a small area to build on.

Have you played minecraft?

I'm interested in where Landmark is going, but it's quite limited right now and I don't think it will ever become the platform minecraft has become.

Messed around a bit.  It was neat, but having to grind out a claim flag and a port stone is a bit of a turn off. 

Can you rebind the "use tool" action to something other than left click?  Or is there a way to let it swing in the target area without having to hold the button down the entire time?  My click arm needs a bit of a break.

Messed around a bit.  It was neat, but having to grind out a claim flag and a port stone is a bit of a turn off.  

Can you rebind the "use tool" action to something other than left click?  Or is there a way to let it swing in the target area without having to hold the button down the entire time?  My click arm needs a bit of a break.

I want to like this, I was excited at first but the resource gathering sends me to sleep and I just can't deal with it.

Have you played minecraft?

I'm interested in where Landmark is going, but it's quite limited right now and I don't think it will ever become the platform minecraft has become.

I have played only an hour of the beta, as compared to maybe 40 hours of the alpha.  It's a novel product but not one I'm going to stick with for two reasons. 

First, the grind to get things is too great.  I went to build something, maybe a tungsten pick.  I had all the items I need except for an item that doesn't grow in my zone.  So the only ways to get it are to hike to a new zone that has a biome that isn't labelled, or to maybe buy it off the marketplace.  The options are there, I'm just not interested in either.

Second, Minecraft is about building things that do things.  Landmark is about building things to look at things.  There's little to no function at this point which was the appeal of Minecraft.

Are there any islands that feature rolling hills rather than mountains  and gorges?

So, do I need a bronze pick for aquamarine or not?  The resources online seem to be behind the current beta build.

So, do I need a bronze pick for aquamarine or not?  The resources online seem to be behind the current beta build.

Yes? No island really "features" any one thing.  All islands have two bio/temperature biomes and have a range of terrain features jumbled together. Most have most terrain features I can think of at least.  I know I've seen areas with rolling hills at least a couple of times.  NE quadrant of Shield has some I think.

This is nothing like the daily (at least!) harvester/sampling rush/grind of early SWG at least!

That said, 5 days max pay in advance is clownshoes stupid.

In all seriousness, they could very well make it dumber than it is, cutting out people who just want to build without all the game and revenue shit getting in the way in favor of some new audience they think exists. Fine by me. I got my money's worth just in the alpha, so if this is it, then it's it.

Copper is 8850 pieces per 100SC, which equates to roughly $1.00 per month for the initial claim.  That's not terrible, provided they allow for claim upkeep to be greater than 5 days.  It really should be an indefinite period of time.  Providing I'm paying them, they should hold my spot.  

Between finishing up classwork for this semester and D3, I don't have time for anything else.  I can't be bothered to login every 5 days - it's just one more thing I have to remember to do.  That's primarily why I'm not playing now.  Anything I build will likely be packaged up when I get back.

This upkeep issue people are upset about, is actually a non-issue. The day they released closed beta there was a twitch where they covered questions about upkeep time. Mr. Ponytail said that their plan is to keep people logging in weekly for closed beta. However, towards open beta and release, he said that their plan also includes extending upkeep prepay time to longer increments the longer you hold a claim. The big problem is that it seems only a tiny fraction of the community saw that twitch stream, they need to recap that stuff in forum posts so that more people have that information.

Also, people who are upset over all of the stuff they want to do with landmark confuse me. They have been very clear about what they want landmark to become and their plans for it, so I don't understand all of the shock and dismay over future systems they want to put in.

So, I've made a copper pick and a tin axe. I've crafted a claim thingy (haven't used it) and one of the crafting stations (the stone forge, I think). So I'm ready to stake a claim...

What am I looking for? View? Metal deposits? Access to the portal? Should I look at the t2 or higher islands, or just the t1 ones?

there's really no reason for me to check back in until it's all done.

Land mark is one of those odd games that I go in intending to just do a couple things then switch to something else then 4 hours later I find myself still puttering about my claims futzing with stuff.

This. The building aspect is really engrossing... unfortunately, harvesting is so GODDAMN BORING yet I find myself spending too much time doing it because I know I need this shit to do the building. I may have to lay off of beta after I get my castle built because I'd hate to put a shitload of time in only to have it wiped in a few weeks.

Barring some horrible bug, data corruption or exploit, templates will never be wiped. The ability to USE a template often has and continues to be problematic however. For example I failed to remove all the props from my structures when I templated them before the conversion to closed beta. Some of those props can no longer be made, so I can't use any of those templates, the whole structure is lost for lack of an advanced alchemy table or whatnot.

They are supposed to be fixing this FINALLY today(?) by allowing templates to be placed even if you don't have all the props. We shall see.

They've also had and (mostly) fixed problems with templated plants, ground types, empty space, and the inability to fit a template of an entire claim on a new claim.

Why is there such a long ass cooldown timer on the portal shards?

Why is there such a long ass cooldown timer on the portal shards?

I saw the devs flying around their claim in videos to do work. That would be mighty helpful. Is there a fly command or is that something only for alpha/devs?

...  I can already tell that I'm going to accidentally chisel through the outer wall of my structure and then spend fifteen minutes dicking with the grappling hook and smooth tool to fix it, like, a billion times.

Bug Fixes

    Fixed an issue where you couldn't build across Claim boundaries.

    Tin should now appear more regularly at the end of copper veins.

Closed beta to open beta wipe is only wiping claims (which will be templated), all of your mats and tool progression will be kept.

I can find copper and trees, but I cannot find tin or gemstones. I can find stuff I think is tin, but I can't mine it with the stone pick.

Why is there such a long ass cooldown timer on the portal shards?

It's kind of telling that I still have 3 keys left.

Closed beta to open beta wipe is only wiping claims (which will be templated), all of your mats and tool progression will be kept.

Honestly at this point there is still a LOT of the game that is left to be added its way more fun now than it has any real right to be but it is still pretty much the most basic land mass type with some very basic grouping/social features and basic building tools. That people are able to do some of the insane interesting designs we have seen is incredible for what is actually there currently.

So I've noticed you can raise and lower claims, and I suspect when you add adjacent claims you can stack them above or below. So you can have basements? Not sure how'd you'd excavate them yet, but then the only "building" I've done was lay a flat area of stone to stick a forge on.

So how many claims can you have? and how many adjacent ones can you add to it?

I admit, I was really surprised -- when I turned on "view claimable land" how little was claimable! I did get a nice spot near a portal though, perfect for the tower I plan to build. Sadly not up as high as I'd like, but I'd have to get a fair distance from the portal to do that. A nice hill will do.

Ugh, might not have dropped my main claim low enough, although it looked pretty deep -- that box is a little hard to judge depths by. I take it pulverizers have something to do with excavation?

Currently I'm running around trying to get a silver axe and build the third crafting tool (I've got the forge and the one that lets you infuse heartwood, so I think I'm working on the tinkerers one?)

And I'm a little annoyed that my copper axe is faster than my bronze one, or whatever. The one that'll dig silver does more damage, but it's slow....

Good lord... are you mining away your plot  :ye_gods:

Build the Delete Tool then work towards the Selection tool. Excavation: Done.

The harvesting grind to get stone may be the one thing that really kills this for me. I'm going to need a LOT of stone.

When I need stone I go to a deserty biome and dig straight down.  Pick up 50k in about 5 min.  Then I spend the next 10 grappling to the top, and fallingback down, rinse repeat.

When did your inner child die?

300 for each attached claim too.. So for 3 (1 root claim and 2 attached) it's 900 upkeep per day.

People have started hosting 'Swap Meets' on claims that have open permissions.  This allows people to place structures and make templates of the stuff on display.  The one I went to was on the Adventure server in Tunnel.  It is a three block claim a little to the southwest of the portal.  It has 4 floors of objects plus a basement.  Since they are basically wide open permission wise and lol internet there are reports of other swap meets getting griefed (asshats come in and delete everything) so I don't expect them to last long.  So take advantage of them while they last.

I can't tell if I'm bugged or not. I'm working with the next size add tool from smallest (add tool, increase the size of the cube) -- the damn thing is stuck partway in the ground. I can't get it to stack. Part of the cube is ALWAYS in the terrain.

Is that a bug?

I think they are going to get rid of tiered continents and go tired layers once the underground is more developed. Digging downward seemed really important in the unveiling of Landmark.

Maybe I am not seeing the point of caves... why?

I think they are going to get rid of tiered continents and go tired layers once the underground is more developed. Digging downward seemed really important in the unveiling of Landmark.

AAANND... Emergency downtime... Servers up for long enough to see that instead of giving us ONE additional hotbar, they gave us 9.. For 10 in all (supposed to be 2?). Also the current hotbar becomes hotbar # zero.

I think calling it amateur hour is pushing it a bit, especially as it's a beta.  Weekly updates for any dev teams on any project will introduce unknowns; I don't care how awesome the team is.

Still on Rebellion but I moved to Kettle.  It's tundra and old forest but pretty empty with some nice woodsy nearly flat areas and some snowy areas pretty near the hub.  I like it better than Timber. 

adding a compass to the UI

There's a gypsy dress?  Are there shoes?

Can someone tell me why the fuck I have such a hard ass time placing or pasting ANYTHING I build? I can't line that thing up for shit. Is there someway to move something once it's been placed (and I don't mean something crafted, I mean an actual piece of a building)?

If you're pasting a template or something copied, you can select air/no air using the shift+click tweak menu. Once you select/deselect it the selection stays that way for future pasting.

Well, it will overwrite any voxels, and merges some of the micro voxels if they overlap, plus textures will bleed, but technically you can paste a box around something existing and the structure inside will remain (mostly) the same.

I can't even remotely figure out how to use the line tool.

The shift-click thing on pasting, though... that was a goddamn godsend.