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An Exploration idea........
I understand we will find whatever when exploring, but I have an idea, if its not done already that is.
My idea is simple.
Keep a fog over the map of unexplored areas, so you really don't know what is there. When you go out to explore, you open the map up for your eyes only, no other player will get to see what you do on the map. At this point you can find a swamp area, hidden forest, tall mountains, etc. Now here is the exciting part, you have to return to a claims vendor, and record your findings, then what you found will be opened for all to see, to a point, you found the general areas to check out, now people can go out with better maps to take a deeper look at what you found. At this point world events can be triggered from the deeper exploring, and even a new node might be found too.
You will be given naming rights to the areas you find, within reason of course, and once the name is accepted your given the credit for the find. Oh and maybe you get a finders fee for opening up the map a bit more. This idea comes from Elite Dangerous, I play on there while waiting on this game, and in that game you get money by exploring new areas, and the better the find, the more money you make. If you find something new, you get the naming rights for it.
In this game I say use this idea, and take it a few steps more. Even while exploring you come across a rich mining area, you need to get back and process the claim to your name, so no one else can take it. You find a lost city, you get rewarded a small fee. You find a dangerous area, your given a small fee. Mind you this is just exploring in general, not deeper studying the area finding all the hidden stuff that can be there.
a note of claim, I feel if you put a claim in your name, you can do one of two things.
1. Lease it out for others to mine, you get a % of what they find in the mine. or
2. You sell the claim to someone else for profit.
I think this would be a great way to handle mining at the start.
What do you guys think?
Comments
It would be great to see a place name after people who discovered it or just named by people who discovered it, but i don't think giving a % of what is gathered inside is a good idea. I think it would disavantage new player coming to the game and will lead to a massiv early rush. I might be wrong but it's how i feel it would be.
On the other hand, i really think about selling maps or maybe maps part would be a great feature. Meaning that if you discover a cave you can explore it and sell that map part in wich their would be the kind of minerals / mobs their is. This way it would be easier for people to go gather / farm some kind of ressources. Even the boss place/type would be accessable.
What do you think abut that ?
it would work, if your have a stealth ability on your guy. If you mapping a dungeon out, you need to stay unseen, and also, know how to avoid the traps within. Just selling maps in general I was thinking to an NPC vender, and it opens the map to everyone else. But maybe making a player market of maps, from people who have explored the areas ahead of everyone else is still a good plan. Again it wouldn't be very detailed, you can still find hidden areas, but the maps would give you a better idea what's in the area over all.
It's my thinking after all, but mainly I would like exploring to take on more meaning, then just running out and finding things.
I think it would be neat but it seems like one of those things that's good on paper, not in practice.
Areas "fogged out", and when a player returns to his node/city, turns it in to a Cartographer NPC, granting a player a reward of some sort, unlocking maps to be purchased by other players. Under the name of the area could have the player name in parenthesis- showing who was the first to explore/unlock maps.
If a player does not have a map, his map/mini map is completely blank, forcing you to either explore it yourself, or navigate completely by landmarks. Of course, if there is quest tracking, you could still have a mark on your maps, but nothing else really to look at. This gives you the opportunity to explore an area yourself and save some money from having to buy a map. First player to explore still has their name in parenthesis, though.
While I agree that taking a cut of something for the duration of the game's lifespan would be unfair to new players, it is completely reasonable to give credit to the pioneers of the game regardless of hardcore or casual status.
With a fogged out map, the player who spends all day playing will be the most effective. They will name every dunegon they come across which turns it into THEIR game, not the communitys. The dungeons and secret places will be limited. This isn't No Mans Sky will 10 quadrillion planets, eventually, with a discover and naming system, everything will be discovered and named! A player who downloads the game 3 months after its release will NOT enjoy the same experience beginning players have...
This is so obvious that it doesn't need to be stated. Giving content that is LIMITED will not keep Ashes lasting. People who desire to explore --which is, I would guess 99% of all MMO playerbases, won't feel motivated to explore knowing that all the places which may be fogged for them have already been discovered.
I won't just criticize though, fog and naming of structures or dungeons could be used if the dungeons were not static. If landscapes moved (i.e mountain disappeared) due to whatever cirumstance and if named places could be reset through their collasping, for dungeons, or degrading, for structures, then perhaps these would work. The point is that the content that you want in the game should never be "one and done" it needs to provide everyone with an oppurtunity to play with just as much excitement as another player.
I prefer IS to name all places in the world.
I also don't believe players should be able to "claim parts of the world" just because they came there first.
It's a public world, and people can use PvP to fight for resources if they wish so.
Personally, I would like markers to show up within a certain radius on the map. You can look at the map and see the bridge, but the map doesn't have a name icon next to the bridge until you get close enough. What I would call "traditional rpg rules."