19 December

Update Notes Summary: End of December 2014

The full update notes with screenshots and detailed information can be found on the official SOE Landmark forums, but we wanted to give you a highlight summary here in the meantime.

UPDATE NOTES HIGHLIGHTS: December 17, 2014

The Landmark cave system is being expanded and true layers are being introduced! Rather than altering the current surface caves, which would require popping off any affected claims in the area, surface caves will be removed from existing continents in the 12/15 patch. They will return in the new continents that will be generated for open beta. Beneath the surface of each island explorers will be able to explore through 5 layers filled with underground caves. Along with the cave and layer expansion, mining veins of metal and gems will be redistributed so that the higher tiers of resources are found in the deeper, more dangerous depths.


Five new types of monsters, some of which have never been seen before, will appear in the world. Each type has a unique mode of attack and strategies to learn. While there will be a few monsters found above ground, more will lurk in the underground caverns and around buried ruins, so explorers and adventurers seeking treasure in the deeper depths should be sure to take some sturdy armor and weapons.

In Landmark, your choice of equipment is what determines what abilities you can use during combat. This allows you to try a wide variety of combat styles, and mix and match equipment to customize your fighting abilities to suit exactly what you want! Armor, weapons, and equipment use a synergistic key word system which allows items with matching key words to enhance each other’s effectiveness. Four new types of weapons and over twenty new armor sets and accessories are coming with this update.

Key words on equipment are represented as icons and colored text. Combining equipment that has the same key word can provide a bonus to abilities based on that key word. In the case of abilities, the background of the tooltip will be the color of the key word(s) of that ability.

The portal spire on each island is expanding into a full leyline network, which will include additional teleport points both above and below ground for ease of transport. The transport UI is also being upgraded to include more useful information such as which type of environments are found on which island. Each subterranean layer will have a hub that explorers will be able to travel to, but additional leyline points will need to be discovered before they can be traveled to.

With the addition of NPC monsters to the world, the chances that adventurers will experience death has increased! If you die on the surface you will return to the hub. If you die below the first layer you will revive in one of the graveyards which are scattered around the underground layers. When a player dies in the wilds of Landmark they now have the option to revive themselves at the spot that they died. However, to do this the player needs to spend a Spirit Anchor. Spirit Anchors can be crafted at any workshop.

Grab your pulverizers, because resources are moving underground! With the arrival of underground layers our various tiers of surface and subsurface resources have moved into the extensive cave networks that can now be found deep beneath the islands of Landmark. While this change makes the search for resources a far more interesting and exciting prospect, it also makes it a bit more challenging. But don’t worry! We’ve taken this into account and made a number of changes to our tiers, the resources assigned to them, and the way those resources are used to accommodate gatherers, crafters, and builders alike. The resource/harvesting changes below have also been added to the in-game help system (the ? button on your bottom menu) so you can refer to it at any time.

Redistribution of Plants
Plants have always been biome specific, but they were also designed with a progression in mind that required a layered world. With the advent of those layers our underground botanical progression dreams have finally been realized! To accommodate this new progression we’ve adjusted the tiers at which certain plants spawn and in some cases also swapped around their home biomes. As a result the following distribution changes have occurred.

Redistribution of Voxel Materials
As with plants, our stones, metals, and gems have been redistributed and pushed underground to fill out the vast array of caves now found beneath the surface. However, as we considered the implications of underground gathering in the deepest layers of our world, we also decided to move forward with a long idle plan to streamline our gathered material list with composite materials. The result of this plan is that fewer materials are found in the world, but those materials can now be combined to create composite materials. For example, rather than mining a Mithril vein you would create that rare metal by combining Iron and Gold.

The point of this change is to simplify the goals of gatherers when hunting for resources underground, making it easier to focus on a smaller selection of veins, which in turn should make it easier to accumulate those resources in sufficient quantities over a reasonable period of time. To accommodate this new resource plan we’ve adjusted the tiers at which certain material veins spawn. As a result the following distribution changes have occurred.

Composite Resources
Landmark isn’t a game about grinding levels; it’s a game where everything you gather and create has value, and we want to ensure that's as true for crafters as for builders. To accomplish this, we are introducing composite resources. These are materials used specifically for crafting, and they include low tier resources in the creation of high tier composites.

These composites are called "Cut" materials on the crafting stations (e.g. "Cut Rubicite"). This means some resources that were formerly mined directly are now created by combining other resources; for example, rubicite is no longer a mined ore, so to craft an item using rubicite, you would first create cut rubicite out of copper and gold.

Building Resources
We don't want the gathering of resources for building to be onerous. Thus, while composites are our solution for gatherers and crafters, we've created a similar system to allow builders to make many building materials out of the resources they gather from the world. Our solution here is the introduction of Blocks, which work the way wood and glass have already been functioning. By giving builders recipes to craft blocks, which are only used for building, we can allow a much more generous conversion rate than we could when you were building directly with mined ore. In other words, instead of one unit of mined rubicite equalling one placed voxel of rubicite, the block recipes allow a small number of units of mined copper and gold to convert into a large number of placed voxels of rubicite. Wherever the resource you want to build with is not directly mined in the world, look for a block recipe to build with!

: http://steamcommunity.com/app/297810/discussions/0/626329820814436880/

4 December

Update Notes - 12/4/14

First off, as we approach our first holiday season in Landmark we'd like to say: Thank you!

• As a token of appreciation, check your in-game mail for one of three special holiday outfits.

Starter Templates

• All players have been granted sets of Starter templates, to get you building quickly
  
  • A set of Arcs, from 1 to 100 voxels in size
    
  • A set of Ovals, from 10 to 50 voxels in size (and one of a 100 voxel size)
    
  • A set of Triangles, from 1 to 100 voxels in size
    
  • Four sets of fonts (including one in the Landmark Style)
    
  • The Landmark Logo
    
  • A set of Angled lines
    
  • A set of Cylindrical Pillars
    
  • We've also included two Holiday templates: a Snow Globe and a set of Reindeer!

Competition Changes

• We're making some sweeping changes to the way that Competition entries are submitted.
  
  • Competition entries are no longer submitted via a Template - they now use the entire claim.
    
  • Once you tag your claim, a Competition button should appear in the Claim Management UI (assuming there is a competition active)
    
  • Once a claim has been entered, it cannot be edited / deleted / foreclosed. It also no longer costs upkeep.
    
  • Once entered, the entry should be viewable in the Competition section of the Showcase.
    
  • Once the submission phase ends, other players can now vote on your entry.

New Material

• Added a new material to your tray: Green Cloth.

New Props

• Ogre Workshop Props
  
  • Intricate Chandelier
    
  • Intricate Lowback Chair
    
  • Intricate Round Table
    
  • Intricate Small Table
    
  • Oxidized Brass Mug
    
  • Oxidized Brass Carved Horn
    
  • Coiled Chain (Iron and Brass variants)
    
  • Curved Hanging Chain (Iron and Brass variants)
    
  • Straight Hanging Chain (Iron and Brass variants)
    
  • Large Iron Barrel
    
  • Brass Trimmed Basin
    
  • Plush Pillow (Turquoise, Deep Red, Hammered Gold, and Ivory variants)
    
  • Round Pillow (Turquoise, Deep Red, Hammered Gold, and Ivory variants)
• Kitchen Props
  
  • The following props come in Copper, Stainless Steel, or Carbon Steel variants.
    
  • Large Stockpot
    
  • Medium Stockpot
    
  • Large Braiser Pan
    
  • Small Braiser Pan
    
  • Saucier Pan
    
  • Medium Stockpot Lids
    
  • The following props come in Apple, Blueberry, Blackberry, and Cherry Variants
    
  • Full Pie
    
  • Partial Pie
    
  • Slice of Pie
    
  • Toaster
    
  • Toaster with Toast
    
  • Microwave
• Misc
  
  • Iron and Gold Lamp Post
    
  • Lastly, we've also created a Winter Holiday Tree.
    
    • This one should fit your rooms much better than a shrunk down tree prop from one of the biomes!

Crafting Window Improvements

• As part of an on-going process to update and improve our UI, the Crafting Window has received a bit of a revamp.
  
  • In addition to new art and a cleaner, more streamlined look - the window now has a search function!

Bug Fixes

• When attempting to place a claim on an invalid area (such as a cave) the message is much more specific now.
  
• Barbed Armor will no longer react to fall damage.
  
• You should no longer see incorrect / garbage text when viewing claims from the map.
  
• Waypoints should no longer appear under the map when changing islands.
  
• Chopping down trees should no longer take more than one click.
  
• The Selection Tool should no longer unequip when using CTRL to enter Tweak Mode.
  
• You can now properly grapple while gliding.