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Through Wolfy's Eyes

~ One gamer's view of the forest and the trees

Through Wolfy's Eyes

Tag Archives: landmark

The Landmark Chronicle – A Mission Statement

21 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by wolfyseyes in MMO Things

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

anger, building, cancellation, daybreak, delay, eqn, everquest next, hate, landmark, sandbox, sandvox

So that whole EverQuest Next thing.

Yeap, it sucks. Put a huge hit on confidence of the MMO genre and absolutely affirmed that MMO design and MMO business are so divergent from each other that they might as well be on separate planets. Of course, it also gave people a LOT of reasons to start snarling at The Big Companies for Crushing Dreams and Making Things Awful.

More directly, though, it put Landmark squarely in to the crosshairs of a huge load of bile. And I think that’s kind of unfair.

screenshot_20140922-20-31-04

People always hate on the pretty ones…

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Blaugust Day 29 – Screenshot Dumpin’

29 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by wolfyseyes in MMO Things

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Tags

dcuo, final fantasy xiv, landmark, scrapbook, screencap, screenie, screenshot, sim city, wildstar

Okay, I think I have an idea.  I’m sitting here staring at a blank text box while my husband watches some YouTube nonsense video I don’t know there’s a lot of swearing involved.  Which, admittedly, doesn’t narrow it down but anyway.

I have a lot of screenshots that I collect.  A lot of them from games that I’m not sure I play anymore or as much as I’d like.  So today, I decided to prompt myself by digging around in my pile of digital crap and start slapping up random shots.  It’s like scrapbooking but without any sort of really fancy decorations.

…this is a really creepy-ass example, actually. Whoa.

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PvE, Landmark, Disappointment

23 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by wolfyseyes in MMO Things

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

combat system, control scheme, everquest next, landmark, MMO, pve, sandbox, soe

I’d been fanboying over Landmark really hard of recent.  It was my personal best game of 2014.  It was the game that made me look at the sandbox MMO in a way that didn’t involve cocaine addict-levels of jittery paranoia.  It was something that both made me realize I suck at creating things in a 3D environment and also made me feel okay with that.  It brought a lot of great things to me this year.

So, of course I was excited for the PvE Patch.  I mean, it literally says on the front “This is a patch for your playstyle, Wolfy.  Here.  Please, drink deep of our flavor and enjoy.”

“Here, let me pour that for you.”

So imagine, then, my great disappointment when this patch turned out to not only to be a spectacular disappointment, but something that has shaken my faith in this game and the future of EverQuest Next.

I’ll need to elaborate, of course.  Combat has been a thing since the PvP patch in August.  I already knew that the combat model that was installed felt like an oily walrus trying to give people high fives with a sword.  But it didn’t really bother me, because PvP is a game mode that I don’t take very seriously, and so the complete ridiculousness of the whole affair didn’t have a great effect.  Granted, I was a bit worried, but I also wasn’t going to write it all off until I saw how it operated in a PvE environment.

Welp, I’ve had some time experiencing this in a PvE environment, and it’s not whimsical anymore.  It’s awful.

There’s been about two adjustments to combat–one major one that changed the weapon effects and output, and one that arrived with this patch that introduced new weapons and a variety of “keywords” that bring effects when you link pieces of gear together with the same keyword.  These are all neat ideas, but none of it matters if things still make you feel like a desperate LARPer.

“I’m trained in the Spastic Lemur style”

Combat is controlled in an over-the-shoulder third-person view, with mouselook aiming, and your left mouse, right mouse and E key the default attack keys for whatever weapon you’re holding.  The hitboxes are incredibly unforgiving.  Attacks do not flow well from one to the next.  Some attack animations actually stop you from moving for no reason, even after you’ve finished your swing.  Positioning doesn’t appear to provide any advantage other than ability to hide behind objects.  Enemy attacks are hard to pick out.  Aiming is loose, erratic and uncontrolled.

In short, it’s the hellspawn of DC Universe Online and Planetside 2, thrown at your eyes like an Alien Facehugger, and with about the same sort of horrible results.

Sorry pal.

Sorry pal.

The other big ticket item was the final version of Caves.  Before these were just small, randomly generated little areas that went down a few feet, had some random treasure and greater yield of minerals.  Now they have up to five different layers, head down to the core of the island, and have higher yields of treasure, minerals and monsters that get rarer and more awesome the deeper you go!  Sounds bitchin’ right?

NOPE!  What you get instead is a small hub area that literally is laid out the same, accessible only through the central teleporter crystal thing.  If you wanna explore the other, deeper more varied layers? You have to equip a mineral finding tool, use a Pulverizer machine, and DIG TO THE SHIT YOURSELF.  And it’s actually by design!  Dave Georgeson himself actually has said so!!

Add to that a crafting system that has been expanded into an even more numbing, boring grind, and…well…you can perhaps understand how things are becoming very frustrating for me in Landmark…and incredibly worried for  Neo-Norrath.

“What’s Next”? Intense disappointment.

I understand that this is perhaps an early build of things.  Maybe things can be improved upon.  But I doubt it.  Crafting hasn’t seen any actual touch-up in a year.  Combat hasn’t been changed in months.  It would appear that this is about as good as its going to get, and that makes me incredibly ill.

This game just does. Not. Work with a twitch combat model…and I say that as someone who actually prefers active combat.  It’s one of the best parts of WildStar.  It’s what also made me sick of DCUO and what is making me sick of Landmark.  SOE does not know how to build this stuff in-house and make it feel good…at least not with current examples.  I don’t see how this can be tightened up by simple virtue of the fact that they have yet to create an active combat system that doesn’t make you appear like you’re in a poorly animated slap fight.

I have laid out my concerns on the appropriate board.  I have rescinded my money.  I even tried to get a refund of my Founder’s Pack purchase.  That’s how strongly I feel about this whole thing.  I genuinely think they’re about to giddily crash into a reef…and that has me very upset, because this game could make sandbox MMOs the new normal thing…but as it stands now?  It will kill all potential for this genre.  This is a squandered opportunity in the making–a train wreck happening before my very eyes in slow motion, and I can’t help but watch in teary-eyed horror.

I hope I can be proven wrong.  I want to be.  But early looks right now are telling me that this is not going to change very much.  And with full attention going over to Next in the coming new year, I have had my faith in this game series utterly dashed to the floor.

Landmark Through Wolfy’s Eyes

03 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by wolfyseyes in MMO Things

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

everquest next, landmark, MMO, open world, sandbox

Minecraft eluded me entirely.  I’ve watched videos of people playing the game, and had even tried to dip my toes in myself…but for whatever reason–be it not using the right mods or not doing enough research prior–I just wasn’t hooked.  It was one of those games that just never really gripped me, though everything around me had me convinced it should have and therefore I was suffering some synaptic defect.

So, when EverQuest Next: Landmark was being announced, I decided to try to see if perhaps getting in on the ground floor was the missing cog.  What happened instead is a game changed my entire perspective on MMOs and sandboxes…while presenting a whole new set of problems.

"Freaking amazing views" are not one of those problems.

“Freaking amazing views” are not one of those problems.

I’ll get this out of the way first, in the interest of full disclosure:  I am terrible at this game, and stupendously jealous of those who are not.  These so-called “voxelmancers” have taken the game’s engine and tools from the very outset of alpha and blown the minds of players and the game’s own developers with their ingenuity and ability.  While this is obviously a great thing for EverQuest Next, as it gives the devs tools and concepts to apply when forming Neo-Norrath, it sort of leaves me cold.  In a game about building stuff, it’s hard to not see those things and look at your dinky-ass cube and think you’re doing it wrong.

Dave Georgeson, director for all things EverQuest, had even said in the opening video for the game’s current beta that it’s not a race.  Being amazing at building things isn’t the point–it’s having fun while doing it or just making your own stuff regardless that’s the idea.

screenshot_20140922-20-02-26

Seeing things like this makes that advice seem hollow, though.

So I’ve been tumbling around the different islands in the attempt to salve my wounded creator’s pride, as well as to perhaps get what Mr. Georgeson and several others have stated.  One of the pieces of advice I’ve been repeating to myself as a mantra whenever my frustrations rise has been “The game needs standard, basic structures as much as it needs grand palaces”.  In my charging around the game, I began to see what that was about.

For every statue I’ve witnessed or every grand castle I’ve seen in my Twitter feed, there’s also been a variety of claims that speak to that player’s personal desires–here, there’s a simple platform with the crafting stations lined up.  There, a giant hole in the ground as someone brainstorms.  Over there, some start of a PvP arena that looks interesting.  A bunch of templates hanging in midair for practice.  A weird castle made of glass and ice.  And here is someone’s house in the middle of a desert because that’s something one can absolutely do.

screenshot_20140922-20-10-00

*insert your favorite Sims theme here*

No other game has fed and ignited creativity and personal expression more.  Dressing my paper dolly in MMOs was about the most invested I had gotten, and the most creative I was allowed to be.  Then this game absolutely put that on its head for me.  Every glowing cube in the game’s map is a little thumbprint of that player.  Even WildStar’s excellent free-form housing doesn’t come close.

That’s not the only thing that continues to strike me about the game.  Not only are claims permanent marks on the world, but digging around in the ground feels significant.  Being able to mold and shape and have genuine effect on the world is probably one of the most striking experiences I’ve had in my MMO life, and if I were to just join a mining or logging guild to supply people with materials, I would likely be just fine with that.  It is just that compelling.

Still the most powerful feeling in gaming.

Still the most powerful feeling in gaming.

Continuing my tour of the island, I start to appreciate the efforts of those who are just simply building for the sake of building.  The point begins to take shape.  I start to open the map, mentally consider a random destination, and run, grapple and leap around to that point.  Taking in the sights becomes a joy, where before it was just a random path from Quest Hub A to Quest Hub B.  The horizon means something.

Even when compared to the megabuilds and featured Twitter vistas, the efforts of the everyman voxel pusher becomes a delight.  I find a run-down sort of Wild West area, with the same sort of ghost town eeriness that one might feel when they find a deserted piece of civilization springing up from the middle of the dust.  The detailing is not the sharpest, but the whole package comes together and feels like another world regardless.

And suddenly I want a pair of six-guns.

And suddenly I want a pair of six-guns.

With the recent advent of combat, there are lots of folks making places where one can fight.  It’s a fun diversion, and has sprung whole new levels of creativity…but the whole thing still doesn’t feel right.  Combat is handled with freeform aiming like a third-person shooter, and it’s all very floaty and liquid-feeling.  And not in a good way.  Additionally, the weapons are horribly imbalanced to the point of parody.  In a PvP event I had joined in on, there was an outright abuse of the Staff weapon–a sort of mystical shotgun that also let you lay down a dome that slowed your target.  Still, perhaps because of the fact that it’s hilariously underbalanced and not terribly serious, I find it fun.  Even if I am horrible at it.

I can't imagine how many people fall off of these bridges in a match.

I can’t imagine how many people fall off of these bridges in a match.

My leaping from claim to claim finally refuels me.  I want to make my mark.  Even if its a drop in the bucket, I wanna be part of this.  Truly, fully a part.  I start to dash around to find an ideal place to plant my flag…which is another powerful sensation.  Laying your claim down…finding that ideal spot….it just strikes a chord in me.  There’s ownership.  Permanence.  Even if you’re never found, you’re there.  This land is your land to do whatever you wish.

Finally, my rambling around has paid off–I find a sort of valley in the middle of the forest that just makes me pause.  I look around, and think that it could use a sort of house-thing.  I’d been looking at pictures of tea rooms in the UK an awful lot recently, and the spark is lit.  I slam down the claim flag and make the clearing mine.

Claims are maintained with upkeep, paid in raw copper one can mine or with Station Cash–SOE’s funny money.  This induces eye-rolling, but an eventually free-to-play game has to be kept afloat somehow.  The island I’m on is a Tier 1 island, where copper veins are in abundance, so I’m not terribly worried by the mechanic.  The upkeep thing is still an apparent work in progress, and forcing people to pay to keep their claim active helps with a lot of the overcrowding.  Still, it’s imperfect, and for those like me who can be easily distracted, a balance needs to still be found.  They’re getting there, though.  Extending the days one can pay for in advance helps.

Something meh this way comes.

Something meh this way comes.

Having planted my flag, I continue on until I reach the edge of the island.  The somewhat recent addition of water to the game has made a huge impact.  Not only does the water look great, but it also made people excited for the future, as water is provided as a building material, and will eventually become a dynamic, actually flowing thing.  And that’s what this whole game really provides for me.  It’s the most future-forward MMO I’ve ever really seen.  In a genre where new ideas seem to be stifled by safety and concern of ROI, this game really tries to break new ground.  The forward thinking of Landmark’s devs has me eager to see what will come next.

It’s not perfect–the game is still in beta, so systems are missing or bare-bones.  Crafting is still the same boring-ass thing.  Framerates need to be improved.  Building tools are still weird and a little imprecise, and making the most standard of shapes still requires levels of manipulation that are obtuse and needlessly complex.  Combat is looser than teens post-prom.  But even in an unfinished state, this game feels more compelling, more engaging and more like a world than the majority of completed MMOs I’ve been in.  It has frustrated, delighted, mystified and swallowed me.  It has changed the way I see virtual worlds.  And it has shown me how completely terrible I am in a visually creative space.

Still…it’s a home.  A home I can make out of anything I want.  And the icing?  This is just a bit of what EverQuest Next can be.  A real, honest-to-God PvE sandbox that provides you with a sense of adventure, exploration, ownership and impact.  Even if your impact is mediocre.

I finally get it now, Mr. Georgeson.  I get it.

Now bring me that horizon. And some more basic damn shapes.

Now bring me that horizon. And some more basic damn shapes.

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