Burke's Law or Never Ask A Question Unless You Already Know The Answer: EQNext, Landmark

One thing that got mentioned in passing during the recent " one character" teacup storm was that, despite a Round Table poll in which 97% of voters said they'd prefer multiple starting areas in EQNext, the current plan was for there to be just one. Well, that plan's changed.

I'd embed the YouTube video but it doesn't seem to be quite ready for that yet so in the meantime here's the link. It's only five minutes long but there's a lot to unpack. It's good news, on the whole, and quite encouraging for the new co-operative development process in some ways. I look forward to taking up my role as untrained, unpaid developer with a certain amount of trepidation but also a good deal of enthusiasm...bagsy me the Gnome Lands.

On the other hand I do hope they aren't going to be quite as flexible on this poll. All the developers quoted were negative on negativity. The players? Not so much...

Nearly half of all respondents want to be able to "negatively affect other players' gameplay" non-consensually, all the time. Hey! It really IS an Everquest game!

The Landmark alpha seems to have settled into something approximating a once-a-week patch schedule. For those who are still playing regularly it can seem glacially slow. Yesterday we got some useful UI improvements and very necessary bug fixes (including one that should have solved Isey's laptop problem).

The only actual new content added was a couple of chests. I had all the mats to make one of each, so that's what I did. They seem to work the same way they do in Vanguard. You craft them, you place them, you open them, you stuff them with junk. I don't have any junk to stuff them with just yet but it's only a matter of time.

So, that took up fifteen minutes or so, what with the run to the Donut Shop to use their crafting machines. That was all I planned on doing but then I started fiddling with my new stairs and then I had to build a wall and suddenly it was three hours later.

At the end of this week's  patch notes there's a trailer for next week which sounds far more exciting:

• A new smoothing tool that should allow for much more intuitive behavior and results!

• Claim permissions! When this is in, you’ll be able to work with friends to make even more amazing things!

• 12 new islands and 2 new biomes! This will include new materials to build with, new props and new areas of the world to explore.

• Attached claims! The ability to place another claim directly attached to an existing claim you own. This will allow for bigger builds or space to do more builds next to one another. 

 The new biomes are "Temperate" and "Snow" so Mrs Bhagpuss informs me. She got that from yesterday's Livestream, which she stayed up to watch. I haven't seen it yet - it's supposed to be on YouTube at some point but it hasn't made the Playlist yet.

With closed beta due to start "on or before March 31 2014" according the FAQ that only gives us another four updates before the cheap seats start to fill up. There was a suggestion that we might even see the first iteration of mobs in game before then but it's quite hard to imagine at the moment.

In the meantime a second claim should keep me amused for a while.