We had a lovely chat last week about the way persistent online games are evolving—in particular, how innovation is becoming more possible. As the industry moves on to the fresh scavenging grounds of the MOBA genre and MMO players are becoming savvier and discerning about the type of content they want, the way we think about MMOs is changing.

Inertia, nostalgia and confirmation bias all still play their part, of course. It's not difficult to find examples of all of these in large scale discussions of any game, but it seems there is a growing sense that things don't have to be done the way they've always been done. An argument from tradition is, after all, no argument at all.

In the past a major barrier to innovation has been the massive investment and risk involved in releasing an MMO, and once it was loose, keeping the beast fed with a stream of content and features to maintain a healthy playerbase seemed like an impossible task.

Last week I mentioned No Man's Sky as a specific example of how the industry is changing, as it seems to encapsulate many of the current trends while still managing to be fresh and exciting in a way that the stagnant behemoths around it at E3 couldn't compete with. It was made by just a few people who wanted to make something really special, in a time where that has become more possible than ever before.

With no points, levels or specific goals, emphasis on exploration and emergent gameplay, being voxel based with gathering and crafting being core mechanics, No Man's Sky could be considered a Minecraft clone. I do not mean that in a derogatory way at all, I use the term only to make a point. Are you ready for the point? Here is the point.

As we of a certain age are aware, there was a time when every first-person shooter was called a Doom clone, it was fertile new ground for the industry to explore and it took a while for the genre to mature to the point that games could be considered on their own merits. Once we stopped thinking of these games as clones we could start seeing what possibilities existed.

There have been a fair few games labelled Minecraft clones, including Landmark, which is why it's important that No Man's Sky has largely avoided the tag – not because the comparison is offensive, but because it means the game is being considered on its own merit. We look at the game and marvel at what it is and what it could be without resorting to shorthand.

We made it! I got around to talking about Landmark, finally.

UPDATE: If you signed up for the EverQuest Next (not Landmark) beta through PSS1, make sure you re-apply for the beta via SOE.

The 2.5 year-long SOE and ProSiebenSat.1 partnership is finally coming to a close. It was met with controversy back when it was announced in January 2012, spurring a huge feedback thread that had even players not affected by it upset, and caused others to stop playing SOE games entirely. A couple of months after a 30-60 day transition warning was released, the lack of cohesion and foresight in the original agreement caused PSS1 and SOE go back to the table (though 'lessons learned from DCUO's transition' was the proported reasoning), kicking off a delay that resulted in current EU SOE accounts not being forced to migrate to PSS1. After all the pain the community went through, the integration finally went into effect on June 20, 2013.

After over two years of community grief and a year of the actual integration, SOE has announced that it is ending its partnership with PSS1. We can only hope that our EU friends that left the game will now return to EverQuest II.

As of today’s date (June 18, 2014), region locks have been lifted. New EU residents wishing to register should do so via SOE hosted sites.

On or about July 1, 2014, we will offer PSG players the opportunity to migrate their existing accounts to SOE account management, in order to continue playing SOE games. All earned status, characters and in-game coin will transfer with the account.

Continue after the jump for the entire message.

During E3 2014 I was joined by ZAM's Vice President of Technology, Michael Ender, as we checked out the latest additions to SOE's sandbox MMO, Landmark. We both had played the title since Alpha, but hadn't been in-game recently to experience the newer updates which featured water and caves. What we saw at E3 impressed us enough to dive into Landmark once again.

One thing that we, as MMO players, tend to agree on is the fact that it is impossible for a developer to produce content at the same pace players can consume it. 

Obviously this causes many challenges for a team intending to provide the service we call an MMO—if players don't feel like the game is offering them anything new, players will leave. 

We all know, or know of, someone who 'went back to WoW'. I am one such person, just in case you were the one person who thought you didn't. Don't say I never do anything for you. Of course, people don't go back to their old MMO because they're excited at the prospect; it simply acts as a comfortable place to maintain the holding pattern.

The trick for MMO developers then is to find systems that keep players playing and feeling engaged with the content without adding too much expense. This is the reason you have to run the same raid over and over; it's nothing but a timesink designed to keep you on the treadmill.

It's a tactic that's worked for many years, and adding extra goals and rewards into the mix kept the illusion of progression or mastery, and there's nothing wrong with that. Everything we do in these games is designed to give us this illusion, all we're doing is pressing buttons.

The problem comes when the players see behind the curtain—we’ve we've spent years doing laps of this circuit and we've got wise. We know it's a ploy, we know it's all smoke and mirrors, and once the trick is revealed, the magic is gone.

If your favorite video games tend to be those with massive marketing budgets and day one DLC, you're probably foaming at the mouth for all the HUGE announcements we'll be bombarded with from the big players at E3. 

Basically, name a big budget game from the last few years and we're almost guaranteed to hear about a sequel, reboot or new platform for it. 

It's the kind of self-aggrandisement we're used to from the big Hollywood film studios, the kind that perpetuates the myth that the marketers and middle-men are the driving force of the industry.

Expect non-representative trailers, flashing lights and egregious use of words like 'emergent' and 'sandbox' to describe the next annual incarnation of a white man with brown hair and daddy issues killing stuff in bullet time.

I'm not a fan of this kind of thing.

There are, of course, a few titles I'm interested in hearing more about. Evolve is an interesting take on asymmetrical PvP made by people who know exactly how that should work, Battlecry has a cool Team Fortress vibe that could add a bit of life to the 'action combat' arena, and The Division looks like the type of game that could do a lot for the image of persistent online gameplay. Also Elite: Dangerous and Wasteland 2, because being different isn't the same as being better.

Just when you thought it was safe to hang up your legendary picks, the Landmark development team have dropped an epic reason to dive right back in.

I've spent a number of weeks sharing ideas about EverQuest Next and Landmark through the context of other games and general MMO design goals. I haven't felt the need to share any specific developments about the games with you, as I feel like if you're here you are probably keeping up to date with the news.

This week is different; a new development has come around that, for me, will be a defining feature of Landmark and something that I hope continues for years to come. So permit me, dear reader, to gush for a while about how amazing everything is and how Landmark and EverQuest Next are going to be the best things EVAR.

One of the biggest draws for Landmark when it was revealed, way back in the distant past, was the chance for players to have their own creations show up in the upcoming EverQuest incarnation. This possibility is still incredibly exciting, but now SOE has gone one better and given us optimists something to point at to prove they want the input of players.

I think it's fair to say we're in a bit of a lull as far as excitement levels for Landmark go, and many of us have been looking around for something to scratch our MMO itch as we patiently wait for the game to mature. This is totally understandable; it's all part of the peaks and troughs of open-development – we, as mere mortals, cannot keep up the levels of hype some commenters seem to believe is required for months on end.

With WildStar and The Elder Scrolls Online both floating about there's plenty new MMO to go around, but games of this type just don't excite me like they used to. You may feel the same if you're as excited for EverQuest Next as I am; the sandbox elements and the prospect of the open world having meaning were just as much of a draw as the new systems the team at SOE are bringing to the table.

With that in mind, I've been playing a new game that scratches that itch and then some. I can happily say that I'm excited to log in to a (finished) MMO for the first time in years.

Two whole columns have passed with barely a mention of EverQuest Next or Landmark; today we find out if it was worth it.

As I said in part one, I have been thinking a lot recently about why I enjoy MMOs, why I seek them out, and why I put an inordinate amount of hours into them, as opposed to seeking out the more carefully directed gaming experiences to be found elsewhere.

Don't get me wrong, I love games like Portal, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Skyrim, etc, that exist to revolve around the experience of an individual player. I just like to spend the bulk of my playing time in a virtual world, alongside like-minded people like you.

The more I think about the great single player games I have played, the more I lament how much MMOs have been trapped trying to capture success in the same way that they do, and I think it comes down to playing to the strengths of the medium. By and large, MMOs miss out on their opportunities by looking to emulate greatness from other genres.

A good joke doesn't need explanation, you either find it funny or you don't; the same goes for fun. You know if you're having fun, and the only possible effect of someone telling you why is that you stop having fun. You'd have to be some sort of demented sadist to expect anyone to read multiple columns on that topic.

So here we are with Part 2! 

In the previous edition of Your Next, I lamented the fact that I couldn't get on with The Elder Scrolls Online. I have been critical of it for some time, and while that could have clouded my judgement of the finished product, I still feel it is underwhelming overall. Again, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't like it.

One thing the game did give me was the desire to figure out exactly what it was that made MMOs fun for me, why I was still drawn to the genre after so many duds. Maybe it's the same reason we kiss so many frogs when looking for a prince.

So we move on, and look to the horizon for the next potential disappointment. This time we don't have far to go at all, with WildStar already dashing in like a neon cavalry, replete with hoverboards and a sense of humour that is so refreshing after years of po-faced offerings. 

SOE All Access (the artist formerly known as Station Access) has been re-re-released, this time as the company standard. Abolishing separate subscription models, All Access offers membership to most of Sony Online Entertainment's titles. Like before, current subscribers can enjoy full membership benefits on EverQuest, EverQuest II, DC Universe Online (PC) and PlanetSide 2 (PC), while Landmark, H1Z1 and Dragon's Prophet are slated as "coming soon" to the fold.

All Access team lead, Mark Tuttle, recently posted reasons why he thinks "All Access is Awesome" over on the official forums. Short version:

• Subscription is $14.99/mo (less with multi-month plans), same as a single game cost before
• 500SC/month is now redeemed on welcome screens (or in the SC store for EQ)
• 10% off Marketplace purchases; members may receive special promos so opt-in to emails

Now through May 11th you can upgrade to a reduced one-year subscription: the first year is $99 (charged instantly with one year time added right away), then the next time you renew, the one-year rate returns to its normal $119.88. Check out the full All Access FAQ for detailed information.