We took a closer look at the latest updates to Landmark during E3.

During E3 2014 I was joined by ZAM's Vice President of Technology, Michael Ender, as we checked out the latest additions to SOE's sandbox MMO, Landmark. We both had played the title since Alpha, but hadn't been in-game recently to experience the newer updates which featured water and caves. What we saw at E3 impressed us enough to dive into Landmark once again.

The demo started off with delving into the latest addition of the cave system. Director of Development Dave Georgeson quickly found an opening in the world and ran inside, jumping off the ledge and plummeting to the ground far below... reminding us that once falling damage goes in, leaps such as this would not be a wise decision. Within the cave players can find plants and ore, and sometimes even treasure chests that will hold exclusive items. Hidden pockets of the cave (which you can use the new detect ore device to find) are often where these chests will be located.

Georgeson went on to discuss how impressed the team continually is with the skill and initiative of the community, referencing the recently concluded Landmarks of Landmark challenge, which awarded dozens of winners with their creations being immortalized within the game. He also discussed that the devs are constantly looking for ways to make discovered building methods, such as micro-voxels, more user-friendly for the masses.

Dave passed on the reigns to Senior Producer Terry Michaels, who ran over to the nearest ocean and dove in. The swimming and water animations look fantastic, and you can place a claim in the water to commence your building there, or just simply swim around and do some mining. Prior to the addition of water players would crowd around the central spire hub, and now they finally branched out to the latest hotspots on the far reaches of the isles.

Looking forward, combat is also a long-discussed feature that will be coming eventually to Landmark. Combat is slated for July according to the latest Roadmap update (subject to change), and will introduce an element of danger to Landmark. Along with having to nail details such as physics and AI pathing, the team will be putting in a simplistic version of the EverQuest Next combat system. Discussed during SOE Live 2013, skills will be tied to your weapon instead of your class, so it will be interested to see how this plays out in Landmark.

Landmark is still in closed beta, and you can dive in by purchasing the $20 Founder's Pack either on the official site or Steam. The Steam version just launches the desktop app and has no achievements tied to it.

Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor
Michael "Argo" Ender, VP of Technology