This information is from the alpha build of Landmark and is subject to change.

The advanced building tools in EverQuest Next Landmark are designed to put power at your fingertips, allowing you to reshape and manipulate voxels in amazing ways. In this edition of Making Our Mark we'll take a look at the Line Tool!

By this point we've covered everything you'll need to create your Selection Tool, as well as the Paint and Smoothing tools. The Line Tool is currently the final tool in our aresenal and will require a lot more crafting stations, picks and resources, building on where you leave off with the Paint and Smooth tools.

First, let's take a brief look at what the Line Tool can do.

SOE has released their March edition of the Year of EverQuest video series, featuring Thom Terrazas, Terry Michaels and Holly Longdale all discussing what players can look forward to in their respective games over the next month. Check it out after the jump!

The Guild Wars 2 World vs World (WvW) Spring Tournament 2014 starts in three weeks. In preparation for the new tournament structure, ArenaNet has released a new blog post giving out more details. In addition to the blog post, we had the chance to talk with Devon Carver, WvW Coordinator, about the new changes.

Square Enix shared more details yesterday on the story and characters that will be introduced in Patch 2.2.

Long dormant forces stir, their awakening a presage of night eternal.

Political unrest pervades the three city-states as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn leave behind their home in the Waking Sands. For the betterment of Eorzea, they have re-established themselves beyond the reach of those who would sway the Scions of personal gain.

Continue after the jump for more!

If you’ve played any MMORPG in the past 10 years or so, I’m sure you’ve grown quite familiar with the plethora of mechanics that accompany the genre. Everything from questing to battlegrounds to loot-filled bags that need sorting out should all be familiar territory to any MMO veteran. Another one of these well-established mechanics that you might be accustomed to is none other than the “Holy Trinity”.

While this commonly used gameplay mechanic has proven time and time again how much it works, it has grown a bit stale over the years. That being said, I believe the upcoming Carbine Studios-developed MMORPG, WildStar, aims to give players a fresh take on what it means to play their chosen group role. With free-form targeting mechanics, a complex telegraph system and its huge emphasis on movement and position-based gameplay, WildStar may be just the game to hit the sweet-spot between combat innovation and familiarity.

Today I’ll be taking a look at the Holy Trinity of WildStar and what things players may need to learn or keep in mind for their role in group play. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll be well on your way to helping lead your group to victory upon arriving on planet Nexus, so let’s begin!

Brewday kicks off on March 6th and your faithful ZAM staff has been working hard to bring you all the help you need. While drunkenly stumbling through the Bar of Brell we helped Mraugl Stonecrusher investigate the strange noises under the bar and served a lot of drinks! In the Butcherblock Mountains the pesky goblins trying to ruin the local Brewday festivities can once again be gleefully knocked over by clover carpets. The event also features a new crafting scroll, Brewday Accoutrements to Craft V, and a new Beer Token currency good for wares from Balin Copperfoot!

Back by popular demand we also offer you our updated Brewday Quest Tracker! Happy drinking!

Hello and welcome to the ninth edition of the Eorzea Examiner, ZAM’s column on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. For this column we’ll be taking a break from all of the armchair game designing and talking about actually playing the game. FFXIV has been out on PC and PlayStation 3 since last August, but there’s one more version of the game that’s not yet released: the PlayStation 4 client. The PS4 version of the game won’t be officially released until April 14^th, but in order to prepare for launch Square Enix is holding two beta test events. The first was this past week (February 22^nd through March 3^rd) and the second will be right before launch (April 4^th through 7^th). As someone who plays FFXIV (well, and just wants something else to play on his PS4 until Infamous Second Son comes out), I jumped into the beta this past weekend to see how playing on the console compares to the PC.

With a torrent of news and announcements about EverQuest Next Landmark this week I was spoiled for choice when it came to choosing a topic to discuss, though one stood out as a foundation of the game's potential success.

This week, Minecraft passed 100 million registered users, with over 14 million paid accounts, so it's safe to say there is a market for voxel based sandbox games.

Minecraft caused a seismic shift in the gaming industry; it totally changed the landscape of how games are made and viewed. Many games have seen great success that may not have even been possible without the foundation laid down by Marcus 'Notch' Persson and Mojang, but the question remains whether SOE can build on these foundations with EverQuest Next Landmark or if it will fall into the traps set for the Free-to-Play developer.

Director of Development Dave Georgeson took to the official forums to give us a first look at what to expect from the business model for EverQuest Next Landmark, causing an emotional rollercoaster worthy of an Oscar nominated film. At least, that's what you'd think reading the comments. With the exception of a few standouts and hints at features to come, it's pretty standard fare, the good and bad of what we expect from a current Free-to-Play title. So read on for the ups and downs of the post, keep your hands and arms inside the column and remember that this is subject to change.

Very soon we'll see the beginning of the long term monetization strategy for Landmark. By the end of March, SOE is planning to give us the most and least controversial items on our future shopping lists.

Item 1: Outfits

Cosmetic outfits were a given, really. With Landmark being a canvas for players to paint with their creativity, it makes perfect sense that we should be able to dress our characters as we see fit. Hopefully in the future we'll see additions from the Player Studio to complement SOE's catalogue.

Item 2: Resources

Buying resources is certainly the hot button issue at the moment—it’s even been called Pay-to-Win. Exactly what you win is yet to be seen, but with the possibility of making real money from the Player Studio every hint of an advantage is bound to be scrutinized. Dave Georgeson did his best to smooth any potentially ruffled feathers by reiterating the point that the final model for progression will not be focussed on amassing large volumes of resources, and hinted at an achievement based progression system that could be rather interesting. This has been more interesting than a debate about how much a game needs to resemble a Skinner Box before it can satisfy the compulsive behavior of certain 'hardcore' players, at any rate.

The party is underway in Shimmersand, Tempest Bay, Meridian and Sanctum as the Carnival of the Ascended makes its rounds once again. This year it has been scaled back to a two week duration (down from a month last year) and the Wheel of Fate warfront has been removed. New companion collection achievements and a new mount has been added, and all our favorite carnival games have returned!

The Carnival of the Ascended runs through March 12, 2014. Check out our updated event guide over on Rifthead!

This information is from the alpha build of Landmark and is subject to change.

The advanced building tools in EverQuest Next Landmark are designed to put power at your fingertips, allowing you to reshape and manipulate voxels in amazing ways. This week we'll take a look at the Smooth and Paint tools!

To make both the Smooth and Paint tools, you'll need a Marble Forge and a Tungsten Pick. If you followed along with creating a Selection Tool last week, you should already be up to an Iron Pick. So let's start off from there!