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What is your opinion of auto-pathing, quest navigation and map markers?
I recently bought and played Bless online and in my opinion I really hate these features in a game. There is no real sense of fulfillment or achievement with something like auto-pathing where you press a button and have your character run to your quest of location. One can argue that I don't have to use it, but when something is placed in a game I want to use it (contradictory I know). The reason is simple, I want to use everything I can in a game to be ahead of the curve.
I really enjoyed The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, because every time I found the location or completed a quest I am excited and proud of myself no matter how big or small the quest is. Reading through long text or having to pay extra attention to a speaking NPC made me feel more immersed in the world and I can really appreciate the EFFORT put into game by their creators.
I know my ideal is extreme to some, but I would really like to see a game like this again. A game where the effort and creativity isn't squandered by trying to make game easier for those who have no intent of doing effort.
I really enjoyed The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, because every time I found the location or completed a quest I am excited and proud of myself no matter how big or small the quest is. Reading through long text or having to pay extra attention to a speaking NPC made me feel more immersed in the world and I can really appreciate the EFFORT put into game by their creators.
I know my ideal is extreme to some, but I would really like to see a game like this again. A game where the effort and creativity isn't squandered by trying to make game easier for those who have no intent of doing effort.
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I need quest markers but they can be generic.
Example: My World map shows a dozen doodles of mountains in a mountain chain. They represent mountains. A quest marker shows a flag at the lower end representing the general location of a cave.
I still have to search, but I know where to search - imagine being that player who spends an hour looking for a quest in the wrong spot. It makes me as a gamer very very unhappy.
I don't need laser precision telling me the number of meters to my quest, but I don't want to spend more than 5-15 minutes looking for the quest location.
Maps should be representative of the world, not a sattelite image.
Ex. An NPC can tell me "if you start at the soutern most city, there will be a winding road that head north through a forest to the foothills of very large mountains."
BUT if an NPC tells me that, and I get 3 more quests with the same amount of information and then go to bed, I will forget the details. BUT if it is accompanied by a flag on the bottom of the mountain, I will remember roughly where I have to go and what I have to kill - that I need to go to the bottom of THAT mountain and search around for a bit.
Following a direct route doesn't help in learning to navigate a map or to plan invasion or defense tactics. I learned years ago that being on "auto follow" with a companion hindered my learning the lay of the land myself. Auto follow does nothing but make a person lazy and puts the brain to sleep. That would be the same as auto-pathing. Also there is nothing quick about auto-pathing. I tried in Bless also.
I think over time most have gotten used to quest markers.myself included. In the greater scheme of things I believe they take away from the experience of surprise and discovery. Unless it is considered a main story line quest that if not done messes progression in the game I would rather stumble across quests and be surprised.
Who knows what you might find hidden behind a tree or under a rock. Perhaps a treasure, or an entrance to a cavern. Or maybe a new friend lost in the woods.
It can be annoying not having a direct path to a quest giver or an item, but more annoying is the fact that others could easy find or jump you on a proven route.
ROBERT FROST
There are not going to be obvious quest markers such as question marks and exclamation marks telling players where to turn.
Quest navigation: No. I also hope they put in many hidden quests, too!
Map Markers: Depends. I hope that players are given maps to maintain. Or copies of maps. If a quest has a discern-able location, and I have a map of the region (probably purchasing it from a map maker, a library, or self discovery - perhaps through a profession), I wouldn't mind allowing the NPC to scribble on my map, or point to a region where he thinks I'll find it - which could also be inaccurate, he has a bad memory, or is purposefully misleading you!
I also want my own personal map to maintain. Scribble where I found certain treasure chests, or herbs, mining nodes, rock formations, points of interest... heck, even map out a region where I can find certain animals or monsters (perhaps they have a 'territory'?). I also want to be able to buy or sell those maps from other players.
Is there a big coordinate siege coming up? I want battle plans & maps with player scribbles on it! It might not be live drawings for coordination, but at least it's something to start on.
- If its not the hard way, then there's no way
" hand-holding mechanics " suckAs you explore the map it becomes YOUR map. I think labeling locations is fine and being able to add your own pins with a mouseover note to YOUR map would be awesome.
How thrilled I was yesterday when the 20 year old called me and let me know how he re-discovered the joy of reading an actual book.
Also, when you enter the world the first time, the map will be unknown. You will be able to buy maps from other players that have explored, and most probably somewhat from NPCs.
The only concrete quotes I have seen from Steven regarding auto-pathing is that it is undecided.
Personally, especially after playing Project: Gorgon for a few days, I hope quest navigation is not included. As long as there are interesting things to do and exploring is fun and rewarding, finding the quest location is a quest in itself
Map markers - definately hope they're in, combined with the system described above. As others have noted, this will better give a feeling of "my map" and perhaps the stories I have experienced in different areas.
Auto-pathing combined with quest guiding/navigation is horrible. However, without quest navigation, and in a game with no easy fast travel and large distances, auto-pathing might be a nice feature. Image a 5 minute run along a road back to town to sell stuff (you have limited inventory), or a 15 run from one town to another. Nothing immersive about doing that manually, imo. You should not be allowed to auto-path to undiscovered map locations.
Life, nature, holds all answers if one is willing to listen.
This issue I have with maintaining maps and scribbling down locations of resources and quests because you "discovered" it is simple. Online Guides.
If I happen to be an herbalist and I find a growth of mushrooms around a particular tree, I'm going to mark it on a map and return there at a later date to see whether they've regrown or not.
Or perhaps the mushrooms only grow on the shady side of specific types of trees? Well... I'm going to map out where I find those trees, and then I'm going to go looking for those types of trees when I need more mushrooms. Better yet, if I had a detailed map of the forest with every type of tree, rock/sediment, creature habitat's or territories that I all mapped out myself? You bet I'd be the best gatherer around, and I wouldn't want to share my secrets! ...or get rich off selling them.
With player-owned and player-edited maps, you can mark anything and everything you want!
If I'm a guild's battle planner, and I want to absolutely humiliate the opponent - well, my battle plans might look a lot like I drew a happy face. And I'm going to distribute that to the guild, and then post it all around to show how much of a laugh it was to conquer that city.
I do mean endured, because the combat was a nightmare.