Right as I was snuggling down in bed last night, I saw an email from Karen regarding a bunch of changes coming to Landmark today. I didn't want to forget this, since it seemed like something I'd be full on into. Not to mention the fact that I haven't written about Landmark in awhile, which adds onto the excitement for me. Landmark's combat has received a few updates, with changes to Heroic Movements, changes to weapons, and the introduction of armor. Armor! Crafters everywhere rejoice. I'm one of the worst crafters ever, regardless of game, and probably wouldn't get around to crafting anything worthwhile in Landmark, but I am friends with quite a few people who put crafting far over adventuring. Craftable armor as the only means of obtaining armor will totally be their jam. Me, unless there's something like a Coldain Prayer Shawl at the end of the rainbow, I'll likely continue to sit in the corner and play with my blocks.
Combat armor isn't the only change players will see with their wearables. With the introduction of armor, all of those outfits players have been crafting will now become appearance gear, wearable on the Appearance Outfit page from the character sheet. Using this appearance tab will let you slot whatever you would prefer to have shown, so you can control the way you look. Any outfits that have been crafted, obtained from Founders packs, or bought from the Marketplace will be able to be slotted as an Appearance Outfit.
If you haven't played Landmark in awhile, the next change will be easy to readjust. If you've been fully immersed in building a new Norrath, then expect to need a few days to get used to this. Default controls had keybindings have been changed. For example, calling out your Grappling Hook is now defaulted to Q, rather than E. With the ability to create custom keybindings in game, you can change these, if you wish, or you could see if you can get used to what they are now. Karen put together an overview at EQ Hammer going through all of these. The UI itself is in the middle of an update, which has begun this update with an Action Bars overhaul, which includes the ability to lock them.
New materials have been added into Landmark as well. While I won't list everything here (it's a super long list, which you can see in Felgon's forum post), this is the image that was included with the update notes.
Heroic Movement received a pretty huge update today. Karen also wrote about that for EQ Hammer, which you should check out. Heroic Movement in PvP arenas can now be restricted by the arena creator, if so desired. SOE has come up with a small list of rules they want to adhere to Heroic Movements, regardless of whether it happens in PvP arenas or in other types of gameplay:
- Keep heroic movement a focal point of Landmark
- Make heroic movement an active choice and not a passive one
- Create many diverse and interesting heroic movements
- Narrow the number of available heroic movements at once
- Design with strategic and tactical combat in mind
To begin, all Heroic Movement items have have had their passive abilities removed, replaced with unique abilities. These are still activated in the same manner (shift+spacebar), but now have ability casting rules. Felgon says that these changes will make combat “less frenetic and twitchy” while keeping it fluid, and ultimately giving us more options to choose from. Because players need to use shift+spacebar to call Heroic Movements, pressing shift to sprint has been removed. To compensate, run speed, which was previously 10%, has been boosted to 13%, which was previously sprint speed. He also says that there are some items that will have duplicate abilities, which is intentional. This is because some items are available through promotional means. These items will have the same abilities as items you can get in the game, but due to their nature, they'll have a different look for players. I like what they're doing here – if you get a code from going to a convention, your Awesome Amulet will have a completely different cosmetic look from a necklace you can make in game, but they'll both have the same effects, so players who cannot attend conventions don't feel burned or left out. For a full list of items and their changes, see either Felgon's post or Karen's coverage at EQ Hammer.
Lastly, we have the combat armor and weapons update. You betcha Karen covered this over at EQ Hammer, as well! (Seriously, you guys, she was on FIRE in a frenzy of writing late last night!) Felgon starts off the post with a bit of exciting news: “Each current weapon got an upgrade that includes a new ability, particles, sounds, and even ability functionality updates!” These changes will give each weapon a distinction from the others, and also adds in a third weapon ability (bound to E, which is why the Grappling Hook is now Q). If you count the Heroic Movement ability now available on boots, that's four to use in combat. Three sets of combat armor have been added in: Soldier's (tank), Mercenary's (hybrid), and Slayer's (DPS).
Will you be readjusting your keybinds back to what your used to, or will you be checking out the defaults to see if you can get used to them? What do you think of the other changes, including the introduction to combat armor? Will you be taking full advantage of the appearance tab?
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