Curse

Esprit · Feb 28, 2006, 05:01 PM // 17:01

When we got the PvP factions update, we were given a slightly different map layout. Your Guild Hall and PvP locations were located on a map separate from the regular map. This was probably done to separate PvP from PvE. A PvP character would only have access to the Guild Hall island with all his or her PvP options. Before, the Guild Hall was on the map, so you could go to your Map and choose a place to map to.

But for PvE, it often means an extra step to gain access to the full map. If you are in your Guild Hall, you can choose ‘Leave Guildhall’ and you are mapped to the last location you were at, whether on Tyria somewhere, or a PvP location. If you are at PvP location, you have to choose ‘Travel’ and go to Lion’s Arch, then map to wherever you wanted to go. Before you flame me that it takes little to no time to do that, please continue reading.

First Thought – Adding a ‘Full Map of Tyria’ icon or button to the PvP map. When I refer to the PvP map, I am referring to the Guild Hall, Random Arena’s, etc. But when you press “M” (or whatever hotkey) and you are given the small map to pick a PvP location, there is also an icon to choose ‘Travel’ where you are given the option to map to Lion’s Arch, and I imagine, once Faction’s comes out, there might even be an option for ‘Cantha’.

In any case, along side the ‘Travel’ icon another icon would be added that allows you to access the full map of Tyria, the one you see in PvE. This would give you access to both maps, rather than having to map to a location, bring up the Tyria map and then choose your location. In my opinion, it would make the mapping functionality a little more fluid and that much smoother. And in that same line, if you are on the PvE map of Tyria, there would be an icon that reads ‘Guild Island’ which would give you a map of the Guild Hall, Random Arena’s, etc. If you were a PvP character, you wouldn’t have access to the PvE map, of course.

Second Thought – Adding ‘Recently/Frequently Visited Locations’ or a drop down menu of places to travel to. Zooming around the map isn’t that big of a deal, but I know when I first started playing the game, I sometimes forgot the exact location of places I previously visited, this was more the case on my first time through the game.

For a first time player, in the Southern Shiverpeaks, he or she might find a rune they want to sell, and remember seeing a Rune Trader at Henge of Denvrai, pulls up the map, and draws a blank on the exact location. But if you had a drop down menu of locations you have visited, it would make it easier to get to. (I know many players can probably put their zoom cursor on the exact location of every town, but not everyone.)

Along the same line, adding a drop down menu for recently/frequently visited locations would make mapping a little more smoother. This would work great if you play PvE and PvP, you could, for example, map between Augury Rock (for griffon farming) and Random Arena’s by accessing a menu on the Map you pull up.

These ideas are mostly cosmetic, as the map is fully functional and works quite well. Adding these tweaks would just make navigation a little easier, in my opinion.