This week's patch has been pushed back until later today from it's usual Wednesday slot. The team is siting issues as the reason the patch has been delayed, but considering it's only a day and this patch has some really neat features, so one day looks like it will be worth the wait. Players will have a whole new slew of props they can make, and now, they can finally make glass.

Glass will be a material that can be made from sand at the forge or smelter, which can be found in the stone category. Now that glass and water exist, the team has been able to redo ice and give it a new transparent look. These ice textures are completely new and not reworked older versions. Water has been updated to have a little bit more animation to look more water-like.

There's also a whole slew of new props to come with this patch, and they're not just related to new materials. Want to open up a cake shop in your player run town? Maybe your local inn needs some kegs, barrels and roasted meats to liven the place up. In addition, all sorts of glassware is added in, from goblets to classy stemware. You'll be able to give added details no matter what your build. If that's not enough, you can also create spotlight props. Just thinking of them is giving me all sorts of ideas.

My personal favorite change in these patch notes is the part about claim upkeep maximum prepay is being increased from the current eight days to fifteen. It'll be nice to go on vacation and not have to worry about rebuilding everything. Claims also now support multi-screenshot functionality for templates, for those times you do either want or need to rebuild. Players can now also find new Planetside 2 inspired outfits on the marketplace, updated code for Voxel Vision, better integrated Steam friends and guilds.

Oh yeah, guilds. Kind of that thing in the title here, right? Kind of a big deal. So big, in fact, that there is an entirely separate post to discuss guilds outside of the patch notes. It's also said that this will be the first iteration of guilds for Landmark, so there's a very good chance that the guild system EverQuest Next will show its roots in what Landmark is getting later today, but there is a high chance that it will not be the same system we'll first see in Landmark.

It looks like creating guilds, at least for now, will be a pretty easy affair. You won't need to find five other friends who might need to travel for an hour or two, so the six of you can pool together your coppers and buy a charter. For Landmark Guilds 1.0, simply press N and fill in the blanks to create your guild. Once you have your guild created, there are a few features you'll have access to, so you can add in some customization and details for your guild, such as creating a description and setting a message of the day. Straight from the guild roster, you'll have access to administration details of your guild, inviting others to the guild, and even leave the guild, should you choose to do so.

Naturally, SOE wants feedback on the system in its current state and what can be added in to improve it. They've said that the current state of guilds will receive polish, but there isn't a guild feature specific roadmap. This is what guilds will be like for the foreseeable future. If guilds are your thing (if you're playing an MMO, they should be at least part of your thing), and you want to take a part in shaping a feature that will be in EQNext, I highly advise logging into Landmark and checking out guilds.

Remember, feedback is important, but it is equally important that feedback is constructive. Find something that sucks? Tell the dev team what it is you don't like. Even better, let them know what you think can be done to improve that part. If you want your idea to get across, insulting dev teams will only make anyone collecting feedback see the insult and dismiss anything you have to say, even if it's a good idea. You can be very critical and constructive at the same time!  

What do you think of the first version of guilds for Landmark?