This week at GDC 2014, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that EverQuest Next Landmark will be leaving alpha and enter into closed beta on March 26th. It has been in Alpha for two months and now it’s already coming up to the closed beta, just before the end of March, just like SOE had said. Anyone who has purchased one of the founder’s packs, now including the $20 Settler option, will be able to play the game as it reaches this stage.
When players play Minecraft, they are allowed to create things through square pixels. Though with EverQuest Next: Landmark, players are allowed to create modern environments, with a “sandbox style” control. In Landmark, you find spare space and claim them as yours, you gather raw materials, and the skills to work with them, like building houses, castles, or whatever you would like on that plot of land. You will learn how to use different tools, as well as be able to be gifted more advanced tools or items by your in-game friends, who have already earned the items. Though you won’t be able to use them just yet, until you’ve gained that skill for that item.
The last day of Alpha is March 23rd, as both March 24th and 25th the servers will be down. All data, meaning everything will be wiped on those days and new islands will be set up. If you are thinking about having anything for the closed beta, it is best and highly recommended that you template any items that you have, even the claims (founder packs or marketplace purchases), to be able to bring it into the the beta. Whether that means you template individual things with props, without props, and or re-texture it as something simple to be able to rebuild when you have only some resources available. Once the closed beta starts, everyone will start at the same place, where you need to choose a new appearance, get new resources, craft new tools and make new claims all over again.
“It’s working really, really well right now,” SOE’s head of franchise development David Georgeson told PC Gamer. “Alpha’s been working fantastic. The whole idea of, we’ll be open, you can be part of the dev team, that was courageous, let’s put it that way. But it’s exactly what we hoped. We tell them everything…they’re being extremely helpful, they’re trying to make things better and they’re literally using our tools in ways we did not know could be done.”
Those interested in participating in the beta can sign up at the EverQuest Next: Landmark website.