Last week, SOE unveiled their membership changes:

On or about April 2nd, we will be rolling out a simple, new All Access membership plan full of value. In the new All Access plan, members will be able to:

• Claim 500 Station Cash monthly from within the game marketplaces.
• Receive a 10% discount on marketplace purchases.
• Gain access to exclusive promotions and offers throughout the year.

And we’ve gone a step further…
We will be upgrading all existing individual game memberships to the new All Access plan, which will include the top-tier membership level in all eligible SOE games (EverQuest, EverQuest II, DC Universe Online PC, PlanetSide 2 PC, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and the upcoming EverQuest Next and EQN Landmark) for one, low monthly rate of $14.99 (with extra savings for 3, 6 and 12 month plans). We’re also finalizing membership benefits to other games such as Dragon’s Prophet and will share these new updates as available.

Some players may have special subscription rates and have been concerned about losing the value of their plan. According to SOE's FAQ:

Q: I am grandfathered in under a special legacy promotional program or locked-in rate and want to make sure I don’t lose my status! How do I find out how I am affected?
A: Our goal is to honor all special rates and programs for our players. Please contact Customer Service with any special concerns you may have! https://help.soe.com/

Feedback threads are available on the EverQuest and EverQuest II forums regarding the changes.

Today Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be launching on the PlayStation 4 system on April 14, 2014. The preorders for the Limited Collector's Edition and Standard Edition will start on January 27th. Both editions will contain the Mog Cap and Cait Sith Doll minion in-game items and the ability to participate in the Early Access starting April 11th!

The last week of January is almost upon us! SOE is hosting an EverQuest Next Landmark Community Celebration next Friday and David Georgeson's twitter feed is awash with teases. Winter is here. Alpha is coming.

As this is potentially the last 'Your Next' before the servers go live, here is something to keep in mind:

We are going to be participating in the development of a game that will be used as a tool to build EverQuest Next.

What a privilege, and what an opportunity for all of us. If you had told me 15 years ago that this would be happening I simply would not have believed it. From the level of skepticism we have seen about the promises of both games, it seems there are many who still don't believe it.

In this new era of game development, where designers are turning to their players and communities more and more, we have the chance to help shape EverQuest Next into something really special. How appropriate that it should be the franchise that stood on the strength of its community and the boldness of its vision that once again leads the way.

So yes, I'm excited for alpha. It's felt like time has frozen recently as more and more tidbits of information are let out of the black box. This week I was particularly impressed with Developer Michael Mann’s Lead System Designer diary. If you missed it, you can watch it here and read our summary here. 

This year marks a huge milestone for Sony Online Entertainment. Its flagship title, EverQuest, will turn 15 years old in March, and in early November, EverQuest II will celebrate its 10th birthday. To add to the celebrations, EverQuest Next Landmark will soon launch into its Alpha testing phase.

SOE will host a public celebration event on January 31, 2014 at its headquarters in San Diego. Developers will be on site to chat with players, a 15-minute demo of Landmark will be available (be prepared to sign an NDA for it, though), there’s been talk of SOE building tours to see where the devs work, and the community team will be livestreaming the event for those who cannot attend in person.

We got the chance to chat with EverQuest Senior Producer Thom Terrazas, EverQuest II Senior Producer Holly Longdale, EverQuest Next Landmark Senior Producer Terry Michaels and the EverQuest Franchise Director of Development Dave Georgeson about what players can expect to see in the coming months.

Hello and welcome to the sixth edition of the Eorzea Examiner, ZAM’s column on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. For this week’s edition we’re going to talk about the way FFXIV handles its content gating. Now when I saw instance gating, most of you coming from other MMOs are probably just picturing raids since those are usually the only thing you have to earn your way into these days, be it through an attunement quest line, an item level requirement or something like that. FFXIV goes a bit further. Want to run dungeons with your friends? Hope you’ve been keeping up with your story quests.

As the MMO genre has grown and matured, demands for convenience have seen massive increases in solo-able content. Instant group finders abound, and community ideals erode in the glare of instant access group content, designed to be completed without any need for communication.

Many people see this as a problem, the strength of the MMO genre is the persistent nature of the experience, what good is it if all its parts are disposable?

What is the answer to this problem? Many think it is to wind the clocks back to a pre-World of Warcraft state, but this is simply not possible. The realities of making online games has changed dramatically, playing with other people over the internet is now no longer a novel concept. This was a time without YouTube, when social media was in its infancy and people thought Steam was something that came out of a kettle.

John Smedley swooped in earlier this month, reverting some unfavorable changes to memberships and announcing his desire to only keep a $15/month All Access plan to their games, doing away with the individual game subscriptions. Over the past week he's taken to Twitter, keeping everyone apprised of what's been going on.

Continue after the jump for a compilation of his updates!

SOE released a preview of the upcoming fabled dungeon, Halls of Fate, due out next Thursday, January 23.

If you have infiltrated the Halls of Fate in the past, you already know that it is the base of operations for the draconic warriors that refer to themselves as the Doomwing Legion. If you’re new to the Halls of Fate, join us for a brief history lesson of the lore of this dungeon.

The minions of Lord Vyemm call the Halls of Fate their home. This fortress is one of the most important places to The Awakened. As such, the Halls of Fate and the treasures within these walls are guarded diligently.

Within the walls of this massive fortress, the Doomwing Legion toils to create draconic weapons.  Hidden within the laboratories of this dungeon, you may find the secrets behind the creation process of the weapons. But beware! Dragons do not respond well to intruders in their domain!

 “I thirst for battle. You shall go no further. Prepare to die.” – Sothis

The Fabled version of the Halls of Fate dungeon becomes available to players starting Thursday, January 23, 2014. Gather a group of the top adventurers you know and get ready for this upcoming heroic dungeon. Do you have what it takes to defeat the Doomguard Legion?

Today EQII Lead Designer Kyle "Kander" Vallee announced some long-anticipated PvP changes for EverQuest II. In his letter on the forums he discusses the removal of all procs from PvP, a class balance pass in February, and a new open world PvP zone on the Nagafen server. PvE to PvP server transfers are also mentioned.

Here's the entire letter:

Hello,

We are working on some changes to pvp that will be coming up over the next few weeks. We will be removing procs from pvp entirely. We simply cannot tweak and balance the thousands of procs and effects that were intended for PvE in any sort of reasonable amount of time, most of them are too specialized and situational to elegantly translate for use in PvP. We had them mostly removed prior to the expansion and things seemed to be okay from that standpoint. We will be upping player damage and adjusting the amount that players can crit in PvP to counter the recent hit point increases to keep PvP fun and viable.

This evening's EverQuest Next Landmark livestream was helmed by Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani, Community Manager Colette "Dexella" Murphy, Senior Producer Terry Michaels and Lead Designer Darrin McPherson.

Colette encouraged those attending the EverQuest Community Event on January 31st to email communityevents@soe.sony.com to let them know where you're coming from and how many people are coming with you. Demo and on-site tour participation require an NDA, and those who are under 18 must have a parent or guardian present. 

Terry and Omeed went on to discuss the alpha, stressing that the game will be in an earnest alpha state with it estimated to only be about 65% or so complete. Alpha testers will be integral to assisting with not only finding bugs, but also helping to shape the game. A "DevTalk" feature will eventually be introduced, enhancing the dialogue between developers and community in-game.