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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Dev Discussion #43 - World Map Discovery
Glorious Ashes community - it's time for another Dev Discussion! Dev Discussion topics are kind of like a "reverse Q&A" - rather than you asking us questions about Ashes of Creation, we want to ask YOU what your thoughts are.
Our design team has compiled a list of burning questions we'd love to get your feedback on regarding gameplay, your past MMO experiences, and more. Join in on the Dev Discussion and share what makes gaming special to you!
Dev Discussion - World Map Discovery
Would you like to see a traditional MMO world map that, once explored, updates with the ever-changing state of the world, or would you prefer to see more innovative ways of keeping maps up-to-date?
Keep an eye out for our next Dev Discussion topic regarding Tank Participation!
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That said, I can't imagine Ashes being quite dynamic ENOUGH to update in a way that will physically matter to the map's appearances other than 'adding Metros'. This isn't MineCraft where you can actually change the landscape and have to update your map.
Having players able to make markers on their maps and then sell the 'marked' maps is my opinion of how this can be done best. This is a real ingame work process and has some good options for people, particularly since we would no longer be tied to what the mainmap thinks is important.
As always please reference FFXI's magic map markers.
If I find a boss, and I mark the location of that boss and a few other things in the sub-area, I wanna be able to copy/trade/sell that map with the markings to people. Is it a lot of database space? Maybe, but not MORE than any other 'actual map stuff' I could think of that I'd care about.
Formerly T-Elf
So yes, the map should change in any way you can to keep it alive, while also staying loyal to the soul of it
But this is Ashes of Creation. We're flipping the script, changing what's normal, etc. I think that exploring the world should come with near constant positive reinforcement. A good way of doing that is having your map update with the world events. If I go to a mountain while leveling/farming, then go back to my freehold (that has a lovely view of said mountain in the distance) and watch that mountain explode into a violent volcano because a dragon spawned, it would be cool to not have that reflected immediately on the map but having to go there and see what changed.
Maybe the UI can be designed in a way that allows you to "leaf back through old maps" where you can toggle to see what a map looked like in Winter or before an event, etc. This kind of thing could be in the UI or included in the library for a node. Regardless having access to these records in game will make it so people that are planning for the future (guild leaders, traders, PvP organizers) can access the information without using outside sources. Scribes could even make copies to sell to people that don't explore as much or went away from the game for a month or 2.
That's my idea anyways.
Professional Skeptic, Entertainer, and Animal Enthusiast
For example. I go to node "X" and discover it's a level four node on June 14th at 4 pm. I know there are tier 4 minerals there as well, at quality 80%. My map then updates to tell me this information. I then leave that node, and don't visit it for over a month. My map doesn't change in its information, but unbeknownst to me there was a siege there, and it has been demolished. The minerals have also switched over to tier 3 at 60% quality. My map doesn't automatically update, but another player has been to that area recently. They generously update my local scientific node's library, and that map is now updated. Now I go to the library and can update my map for a fee, or for free if I'm a citizen. Player exploration is more important, and there's an element of imperfect information in the game that lends to the enjoyment of resource-gathering exploration. You can gain a bit of renown for updating the library maps as well, and there's a community effort to keep these community maps updated. Maybe it's even an unspoken rule that caravans must update your local maps to trade there.
I think that would be inline with what Steven has previously said he's wanted for a fog of war map system.
I like all of these ideas but I have an additional critique relative to information control on maps. Essentially I view having node levels being updated on a map or announced on a server as a negative because they will cause large amounts of people to go flood a node whenever a node update happens to reach a normal milestone.
This can severely impact the locals of the node and distort the local economy. I therefore think it's better if this information has to be sought out by buying maps from other players, visiting the locations themselves, or just going to a 3rd party website if you are really that interested in keeping track. This encourages community interaction with the game, local politics, and encourages travel in a more natural part of the gameplay loop.
So over all I want static maps that you need to update your personal copy of, and investigate manually or pay a cartographer to update.
An explored area that remains the same the entire time until some huge expansion kicks in is so boring. Make it dynamic, make it random, make it various, make it colorful.
How I understand it would work :
* World is visible without any markers on as the map is already shared with the community
* As you explore, markers appear for point of interests, nodes and maybe other informations.
* As time pass, markers fade until they are greyed out, letting the player wonder if they are still there
* Ownership/ZOI indications could also be shown on the map and have to be updated through scouting
Why have it be innovative :
* Dynamic content based on nodes and events would mean markers would appear, disappear or change
* Adventuring, you may want to go buy potions somewhere, but then you discover a destroyed area. This adds to the Narrative of a breathing living world
* The community will have reasons to share information, collaborate or compete. Maybe even have map trading capabilities in game
* Cartographer profession and objects could be added to create a new aspect of the economy adding to potential expansions for the game after release.
* Can always remove it later if players really don't like it later
Why have it be traditional :
* Many will try to gamify this by having alternative characters placed everywhere. It might end up not being meaningful
* Such a system is different and has never been tested. It might bring more harm to a majority of player compared to the gains for the explorer type of players.
* More dev time
Personnaly, I really love exploration and I think Ashes of Creation node system and dynamic world is a unique chance to add a new innovative way of doing World Maps.
I totally agree that if node levels are displayed on the map, people might just flock to one specific area more than normal. Id also like it to have to be figured out and explored first to know what each node is looking like. Thus crafting more natural exploration across the world.
Regarding the full OP question, it could be cool to have some sort of mechanic to updating the map, but i dont think it needs to be overly complex for any random reason. If players take a bit of a break and come back and their whole map is fogged out again it might be pretty confusing or feel alienating and not comfy. Though how fast we’d be getting changes or would be changing the map i dont know, updating the map every couple weeks seems fine to me
That way it changes with dynamic events.
This way you could look at your map and use certain things as Vista points while trying to figure out why and how the landscape may have changed over time. You could do this similarly to city info. Let things fade the more it changes.
~ I feel more than 1 change every 2 years is a bad thing & That is this, just changes to Current maps, not new areas of a map from DLC/Expansion updates.
~ My largest issue here is, To make a map change it needs to be a large event, Which means people need to do a quest for it, which means people need to do quests/said quest, Which just wont happen!!!! insert countless mmo examples here & on the other side of the coin Forced to do said quests puts you off that MMO & its publisher, Less examples but FFXIV is the obvious one.
~ Lesser issue is nostalgia is to much of a map changes over time after a break it doesn't feel like home, you can overcome this by having 1 major town as players safe & market town. But Ashes isn't doing this so, RIP.
~ ^^ Only Good thing is "it keeps things Fresh" which is also a Con.
So really its more Cons that Pros for it deep down. Static maps are the best way to go. Or instance per player maps.
I love this idea.
On the other hand, you can keep the map simple. An actual map is kind of minimalistic and doesn‘t show you more than necessary. Then it could be like an “explore to unlock“ system or you could be able to buy parts of the map from a vendor in the city of the region maybe.
Another idea is to add carthography as a profession. This would unleash a lot of potential in regards of gimmicks such as being able to get to hidden places or do treasure hunting. It also increases player interaction by alot.
- Cartography skill tree ( something on it's own, that doesn't impact any other job in a negative way )
- Map data sharable / sellable to other players ( if you explored deep in a dungeon, you could sell that precious map to others or share a map of the gatherables if you are high on the cartography skill tree, that other players who didn't maxed it high enough don't have access to on their own)
- A map that updates with the season layout
- The map shouldn't update by itself until you go back to the place that changed ( Points of interest or gatherables that changed )
Also, make the map a donut, if you travel to the top, you come out on the bottom, and from left to right etc...
That's so old to have a " flat map " with invisible borders, i'd like to see that innovation here as well, it can create interesting travel routes imo
The system I may enjoy would be one where my guild can draw an advantage from our exploration by having something like the guild map, while also not having updating the map become a chore. So the system i would implement is
Castles - t6 nodes = Global automatically updated maps available for any player, instantly updates player map when interacted with.
Vassal nodes to T6 = ZOI of metro map automatically updated with all public events.
Guild maps - Any player in the guild can upload their personal map to the guild map, giving any player in the guild access to their current map. The map only keeps the most recent data and automatically removes the least up to date version of data.
Allow special map notations (pins) by players, the player with those pins can then update guild maps or attempt to sell the map on the market or post it on any node.
Pins like this would be used for events that IS has designed under a "private" event design, something that can happen but isn't obvious, like perhaps the micro dragon who spawns boss loot who dwells in the cave below the river. Things global maps would include are resource/monster locations etc.
There would need to be a system to prevent players from putting down troll pins on the global maps, but that is beyond the scope of my points.
Love the work you guys are doing IS, good luck!
Let other players trade their updated maps with minor relevant scouted information. Give points of interest some short hand data that an adventurer might just jot down on a map like "Strong enemies" or "Bandits sighted". Or maybe a note about gatherables seen by a high level gatherer.
The map update can be a requirement that if this many players visit this spot on the map and bring back the updated version of it back to their information area the whole node will receive the update.
I would love if upgraded libraries can show more detailed information about certain items on the map such as herb, monsters, and dungeon and be able to drag information in your map so that you can focus on what you believe is important. If I'm a miner and I don't care about herbs I do not want a lot of spots shown of different herb spots and only have different mining spots.
I would like to see a test where the map will only update discovered area info while you're within a certain range (This can be a large range).
Large enough as to not be completely tedious, but small enough so that you don't know that a node across the world was destroyed or leveled +any other changes that come along with it.
I feel like It could make an information network form.
Maybe there could be a way to keep the fog from rolling back into specific areas that you have a stake in, like visibility over a node and its ZOI while it exists and you're a citizen, or something like that. I think a world as dynamic as Verra needs a map that can change along with it to keep the mystery alive and encourage more exploration.
I personally wouldn't mind going and exploring old updated areas to update my map. I think just going and buying a map is a surface level option. An option that I think could add more depth could be that there are quest givers or explorer NPCs that you would find throughout the world that have a quest to go and discover that new change.
One downside of making our own maps might be that they'll look ugly.
If we do get a system where we have to keep track of waypoints, i think litteraly all waypoints should be placed manually (or bought). This would include cities, buildings in the city, roads, points of interests, landmarks. This way most players would have knowledge of most cities and big landmarks in their region, but the more detailed landmarks like specific trees, some dungeons, fishing spots, lesser roads or building layout in the city would only be known there where you come frequently. The landscape of land/water should be visible for everyone from the start though.
This would also make quests more questlike, since instead of a marker on your map, the questgiver could instead describe things like 'follow the road east and walk towards the third purple tree on your right' (i believe quests where like this already in alpha aswell).
Another interesting thing here would be selling/sharing fake landmarks
Also before an area has been explored I think a fog of war would be a great incentive to explore.