Rewards for Exploring

First post here but I've also posted this on another forum...though this one seems a little more active so here I am!

My brother and I love to explore the areas in Guild Wars...and while we certainly haven't even come close to exploring every zone and area..we've found some interesting places.....but thats all they are..interesting..and the interest only lasts so long.

I'm thinking that on the world map view there could be an option to Show Borders. It would show all the borders between zones you've entered(or have explored to a certain percentage or something) Once you explore that zone 100%(all the land on the map can be seen in that zone or maybe there are certain beacons you have to get to to complete the zone or something) then maybe the border becomes gold.

Maybe exploring enough of these zones and getting gold borders will bring some kind of reward..or maybe each zone, when completed, gives you a certain reward. The rewards could range from gold, crafting materials, weapons with interesting mods, or maybe the option to fight a cool boss once an area is gold.

Perhaps these rewards could change every few months or something to keep things interesting. It'd make exploring well worth your time and keep it exciting. The cool areas we've found so far were worth the time we spent looking for them..but a screenshot or two prevents you from ever going back for much..

Just a suggestion..dunno if it would work but I dont see any major problems by doing this..For people that love to explore and want to take a break from PvP this seems like a great way to do so.

as long a the devs approve i have no objection to this maybe even some kind of explorer rank with no actual value that gives the total area you have covered in per cent.

you think you have covered everything but there is still only 92 % listed with no clue as to where you missed it.

YOU HAVE TO FIND IT YOURSELF

yah, that'd be fun, I love exploring but there's no incentive

my incentive is to go and look for some new (and old) place that you go around a cormer and stop dead in your tracks and go *WOW THATS BEAUTIFUL*

minor tangible rewards accepted as well without complaint

Yeah, but I mean, it's fun to explore but not that much of an incentive after you take the screen, I mean, how many times can you go "WOW THATS BEAUTIFUL"? Not that many for me

I like this idea as well. It certainly adds more reason to go ahead and play the game yourself. I can see it now, "LFG EXPLORATION!" I wouldn't mind joining one of those. Of course, that depends on the style Arena.Net implements as well. If it's gonna be like Star Ocean 3 where you have to hug every wall in order to get every bit of exploration done, it won't be worth it.

OT: Disgaea rocks.

LOL yah, star ocean was annoying

Yea Lovi I agree with you that finding really nice looking and interesting places is really a lot of fun. But all I have to do is take a few screenshots and then...well why bother going back?
They'd have to figure out of course, when 100% completion is obtained....I mean when walk a few feet the terrain around you is shown on the map...so it'd be pretty easy just to uncover all the terrain...maybe they'd have to add like beacons, or certain monuments that you'd have to come in contact with in order to gain completion in a zone or something.


Haha and yes...Disgaea does rock...!!!!

Sounds good to me! I would love exploring but there's really no reason... So this idea is a great one! /signed fervently

Chests?

Well exploring is fun since i havent beaten the game yet so i get to go oooh i've never seen that enemy before...whack! *lvl 13 elementalist dies in 3 hits while henchies take out ettins

Incentives would rock and you could actually get a group to go exploring...Even though I can't really stop and say anythin is beautiful becaus im runnin an intel "extreme" with 256 mb of ram. On the lowest graphics. With lag.

I dont really explore anymore because they'res no point for me to, Once you get to level 20 there's really no point for me to explore anymore, because you cant level up!

Yea but if exploring yielded rewards such as weapons, gold, or materials, or even dyes then exploring your level wouldn't really matter. I meanwho doesn't enjoy an interesting weapon with some cool mods or a few dyes here or there?

Hopefully people from the GW team see this and maybe take it into consideration....that'd be awesome.

I still explore a lot, which is very fun and rewarding. Did you know that there are 2 unkown areas in between Temple of Age and Sanctum Cay. I never knew about this before and when I rushed my guildie, I was like "WOW" new places =D.

I also agree with the OP about the reward thing. It would be a nice challenge to fight a special boss when I explore the entire area.

Yeah.... good point, I would like some stuff... You should be able to choose from a set of items

An interesting idea about special bosses here for completing an area. Once an area turns gold (when you ahve the Show Borders option on..if they added it) you should be able to form a party, and click on the now gold zone. It would ask if you would like to teleport there and when you do, you and your party get teleported to a special boss fight in an area at that zone.

There wouldn't be any other enemies...except maybe a couple to support the boss of course. This doesn't have to go for all zones, but a special boss fight here or there would really be exciting as a reward...and of course you can capture whatever skills or take whatever items he drops.

/signed

I love to explore around and just do shit, since I've beaten the game already. I remeber this being in Star Ocean, you'd get a little Bunny that made you run faster when you finished a map (tediously I might add, sometimes I'd run around the edge of the map about 5 times to get 100%).

I like this idea. I love to go exploring. Opening chests doesn't do it for me either. Most of mine seem to be empty.

I'm not sure about the border idea. Maybe once you have completed the section to 100% the border comes up. Part of the fun of exploring is not knowing how big the area is and how much more you have to do. One reason I like GW is that you can get lost. You have to backtrack sometimes. Yeah it's frustrating as hell but it's fun at the same time. It's like getting lost for real sometimes.

actually, I don't think they should add incentive to explore. If there was you can be assured that any place you find will have been found by 90% of players out there who are just trying to reap the awards. That might not matter to you but it does to me. If I find an odd land feature or structure that's beyond the realm of any quest or mission it seems like I've stumbled on to something special - not just landmark #37 of 40 - to complete the exploration missions.

So why explore the unknown when there's no guarantee of reward? Simple - "Because it's there."

/sign + an addition

I would love to see rewards for exploring in the form of things you find out there... for example, what if there was a non-mappable outpost on the far edge of Dragon Gullet, even with quests and skills?

What if there was a cool shrine that is unique in all the game if you run half way through Lornar's Pass and then venture East far away from the normal route?

What if there were statues of the pantheon that were very strikingly different from the standard TOA shrines that were hidden throughout the furthest corners of Tyria and which upon paying tribute would give you a one time only permanent bonus (sort of like how infusion works)?

And, to add to the mystique, what if these special areas had a screenshot lock that wouldn't allow you to take screens. Of course people would just download screenshot freeware, which would be a sacrilege and blasphemy... but for a while, those who use the normal screenshot method wouldn't be able to take screens and these areas would work into a sort of mythology...

Where is the Holy Grail?
Where is the Philosopher's Stone?
Where is the Elixer of Life?