EverQuest Next Landmark’s proposed business strategy outlines by SOE

By Stephany Nunneley

EverQuest Next Landmark’s proposed business strategy has been laid out by director of development, Dave Georgeson, who took to the SOE forums to outline five phases of the plan.

The game, will of course, be free-to-play, so players will be able to decide whether they wish to purchase anything or not.

Here’s the preliminary plan so far. Note, as the game gets closer to release, things may change.

Per SOE:

• Phase 1: This is the “Founder’s Pack” era of our game that we’re in now. Everyone in Alpha bought a back-stage pass so that they could hang with the band and influence their music. That’s what we’re doing together now, and it has been amazing so far.

• Phase 2: We start selling stuff. Not a lot of stuff. Basically, just resources and character outfits. This phase will happen in the latter part of Alpha. Outfits are a no-brainer, and we’ve all seen this kind of offering in other games. Currently, our progression game is limited by resources, so selling those resources may seem like we’re allowing you to pay for power. But our current game progression is not the intended real progression. Very soon, you’ll only need handfuls of resources to make picks and other tools.

• Phase 3: An ongoing phase where, as we add features, we also add time shortcut methods as well. This phase will be ongoing, but you’ll start seeing these features toward the end of Alpha.

• Phase 4: Launch Player Studio. At that point, all of our players can start submitting templates to the store and letting other players buy them. This should occur early during Closed Beta.

• Phase 5: Finally, at the end of Closed Beta, we add one more chunk of items. These are bigger-ticket items like cosmetic pets, sound/music packs for your claims, name/gender changes, extra claim flags, and more.

Georgeson noted that should data wipes occur during testing phases, player inventory will always retain any purchased items at the time of wipe.

“We strongly believe that we can support the game well in these positive manners without compromising the game’s balance, economy, or fun,” eh said. “After all, we’re playing the same game that you’re playing and we all want it to be fun. We honestly want to hear your feedback about these ideas and we’re happy to answer questions and discuss this further.”

Currently in closed alpha testing, Landmark which will eventually contribute to EverQuest Next – which isn’t expected till at least 2015.