EverQuest Next Landmark: Founder's Packs

Want to distinguish yourself from regular players? Buy a Founder's Pack!

In an effort to start monetizing EverQuest Next Landmark, Sony Online Entertainment has unveiled the Founder’s Packs. These $20, $60 and $100 bundles enable players to join in on testing the game and provide a wide assortment of rewards. Senior Producer Terry Michaels goes into detail about the Settler, Explorer and Trailblazer tiers you can buy:

Given it will be free-to-play, they obviously need to find sources for their revenue stream – but is this much of a fan-friendly approach? It's not exactly made clear how long certain perks will last and paying for the privilege of testing is often a contentious concept. Also, will the perks influence game balance? Perhaps eventually we'll find out first-hand.

For a few more bits of info on EQNext Landmark, check out one of these half-dozen previews.


Colt "ShdwFlm" Casey
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pou cheats
# Jan 21 2015 at 9:38 AM Rating: Decent
i found this video really very useful..i too have some relevant information about how to hack pou
well i like it
# Nov 12 2013 at 11:35 AM Rating: Decent
well i like it for two reasons


1st being they not taking more EQ1 $$$ to give to this verson if they can get $$ to play alpah and Beta.

2nd I like the idea of limited beta keys -7 days that might allow more various peeps to test the game up front.


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Free to Beta
# Nov 12 2013 at 10:48 AM Rating: Decent
This must be the new "Free" to Beta system they are trying out Smiley: lol
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Pay to Test? Hmm... and other comments
# Nov 11 2013 at 9:56 PM Rating: Good
12 posts
I've been involved with some very frustrating, buggy MMO "final" release launches; much less an alpha or beta test. I cannot imagine paying for the privilege of tear-my-hair-out-frustration ironing out their bugs, only to get wiped every once in a while, just when I'm making headway.

What happens to these goodies you paid real money for when the servers are wiped in preparation for launch? Are the goodies going to get nerfed as a result of testing? Hmm.

Anyway, the precept of this game reminds me of now defunct Shadowbane, which was a mmo pvp game long on promise and short on delivery. It allowed players to build anything anywhere and form alliances, etc. Permanently Change the World!! I hope this time it works out. It's an attractive concept.

Does anyone else remember how cluttered the landscape became in the now defunct Star Wars Galaxies? There were parts of the continents which were just covered in player made housing and other crap. It made playing the game not so fun when you had to travel through miles of empty buildings to hunt. I like the way EQ1 has implemented housing with the special zones for just houses.
ouch
# Nov 11 2013 at 5:18 PM Rating: Good
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69 posts
Pay to play beta. What a concept. I just hope it doesn't affect my application to play beta for free.
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Fendy
ouch
# Nov 11 2013 at 5:28 PM Rating: Excellent
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pintoy wrote:
Pay to play beta. What a concept. I just hope it doesn't affect my application to play beta for free.

To be fair, they do mention that there will be chances at limited time beta access to those who don't pay. They hid it behind that really tiny "more info" link in the introduction of the page.

To save everyone the time, it says:

Quote:

Here's how the Landmark Alpha and Beta Programs work.

Alpha will begin on or before February 28, 2014. To get access to the Landmark Alpha, you must:
  • Purchase or obtain either a Trailblazer or Explorer Founder's Pack. A Trailblazer or Explorer Pack purchase gives you unlimited access to the Landmark Alpha.


Closed Beta will begin on or before March 28th, 2014. There are two ways to gain access to the Beta:
  • Purchase or obtain one of our Founder's Packs. A Founder's Pack purchase gives you unlimited access to the Landmark Closed Beta.
  • Acquire a Time-Limited Closed Beta Key.


What is a Time-Limited Beta Key?

A Time-Limited Beta Key works like this:
When you redeem your code at EverQuestNext.com, you will get access to the Landmark Beta for seven days. Time-Limited Beta Keys are stackable – so you can redeem multiple to gain additional game time.
We will be offering Time-Limited Beta Keys through a variety of mediums, including:

  • Random selections from our Beta Applicant list. To apply for beta, click here.
  • Random selections of our EverQuest and EverQuest II gold members. To learn more about gold membership, click here for EverQuest and here for EverQuest II.
  • Giveaways and promotions through various gaming websites and our social networks. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus and Twitch.tv.


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ouch
# Nov 11 2013 at 8:34 PM Rating: Good
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69 posts
My point was just that I applied to EQNL beta weeks ago when it was first announced.
https://www.everquestnext.com/
I'm just wondering if that version has gone away and been replaced with these various pay versions.
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ouch
# Nov 11 2013 at 9:16 PM Rating: Excellent
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pintoy wrote:
My point was just that I applied to EQNL beta weeks ago when it was first announced.
https://www.everquestnext.com/
I'm just wondering if that version has gone away and been replaced with these various pay versions.

It falls under the time limited beta key part: "Random selections from our Beta Applicant list."

So, your application is still valid, but their implementation is unconventional to say the least.

Edited, Nov 11th 2013 10:17pm by Cyliena
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pay-to-beta
# Nov 11 2013 at 5:10 PM Rating: Good
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4,580 posts
I'm really mixed views on this...

On one hand it is such a money grab, has to be game-unbalancing to justify the price-points they have given, and is tantamount to selling "pay for this before we decide what it actually is".

On the other hand... I've been in late stages of other mmo betas, and this scheme will remove a lot of the pretenders, or at least the pretenders that budget their finances. Granted this isn't a subscription model game so it shouldn't have the cliff-like drop in population once the original free subs run out (usually 30 day mark in past mmo launches)
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