Explorable mode for the entire game

[Malthurius]

Sensationalist titles usually just lead to discussions about the title... better to just be modest and state your points in the body of the OP.

[Delias]

Sensationalist titles usually just lead to discussions about the title... better to just be modest and state your points in the body of the OP.

Well it's not like he can change it. He tried (if you look at the OP edits) and realizes that exaggerating wasn't the best way to get his point across, but a mod has to do it. Having 80% of the posts doing nothing but commenting on the title isn't productive. This may sound ironic coming from me due to the infiniteretro thing, but this guy unlike him quite obviously is not trolling and did not intend for it to be an issue. He's not insulting the game, he's not bashing anything or anyone.. it's just a suggestion that would take away nothing from the game that he would like added to immerse him further in the game world. It's just retarded that people are coming in here guns blazing just to bash him for the title.

[Deleted]

So me and a friend have talked a lot on skype about this game, coming up with ideas and plans of how we were going to play this game. A month or so ago we got really stuck into this idea of having the option to disable map features and letting people explore the world blindly. This includes minimap event tracking and event / renown tracking in the top right of the screen.
I feel like this would immensely add to the experience of this game as it has a world fit to explore in such a way.

So just to recap:
No tracking for the following on objectives, minimap and main map:
Points of interest
Events (including world events)
Waypoints (We're in two minds about this one)
Renown hearts
Creatures / bosses

NOTE: This is supposed to be an option for those who want it not a definitive change to the core game.


Anyone else feel like this would be an awesome way to play the game? Would love to hear people's thoughts on this.

EDIT: Fixed title to stop people getting hung up on it and we can concentrate on the topic.
EDIT2: why didn't it fix the title? :<

I kinda like the idea. Not that I would use it myself, but I can see it being of interest to others, be that for the sake of surprise, immersion or other personal reasons. I hardly use the zone/world map when I play, and stays with the minimap (when I look at it or remembers to do the same).

But, if you and other players would want to see this implemented, maybe you could ask for it in the forums next BWE and see what the Devs says about it? At least it can't hurt to do so.

[Malthurius]

Well it's not like he can change it. He tried (if you look at the OP edits) and realizes that exaggerating wasn't the best way to get his point across, but a mod has to do it. Having 80% of the posts doing nothing but commenting on the title isn't productive. This may sound ironic coming from me due to the infiniteretro thing, but this guy unlike him quite obviously is not trolling and did not intend for it to be an issue. He's not insulting the game, he's not bashing anything or anyone.. it's just a suggestion that would take away nothing from the game that he would like added to immerse him further in the game world. It's just retarded that people are coming in here guns blazing just to bash him for the title.

Yeah, I know, I haven't said anything about the title until now, just for future reference I guess.

[Delias]

Yeah, I know, I haven't said anything about the title until now, just for future reference I guess.

Oh I know. I wasn't aiming at you, just saying. A thread like this is a retarded thing for people to get angry at.

[Terranullis]

Sounds like a pretty cool idea.

[Delias]

Sounds interesting, but I'm afraid that it'd turn into a situation where you've "explored" the zone 3 times and still missed a lot of stuff, are really short on levels, and are just walking around in circles searching for Events the way a farmer searches for Thorium Veins in WoW.

It's not like he's saying to completely disable them, just suggesting to have the option. Like a little checkbox on the map that is on by default. If you were lost and frustrated, you could simply enable the tracking again. =P

[Deleted]

Sounds interesting, but I'm afraid that it'd turn into a situation where you've "explored" the zone 3 times and still missed a lot of stuff, are really short on levels, and are just walking around in circles searching for Events the way a farmer searches for Thorium Veins in WoW.

Then let them. It's not the games fault if you have your settings set that way and misses out on the fun and interesting stuff.

[DrakeWurrum]

Worth noting: Comparing what we get in GW2 to what we get from a more typical MMO... I happen to wonder if this system actually discourages exploring.

Think about it. When you're playing WoW, and you have a full quest log, how many of those quests are actually nearby? How many of them tell you to even go to a completely different zone?
A lot of times I'll remove those from my quest tracker until I get done with the area I'm in. This results in me not having to explore as to where things are happening... Because I already know where to go next.

But in GW2, I only know where to go next if I actually open the map, and even then, I still won't know where all things are located - just the boring chores of a heart task. Sometimes in Gendarran Fields I could also see HUGE DEs that were going on, but those were usually something as major as a large town being taken over by centaur. The kinda big thing that you want lots of players involved in.

For the most part, I wouldn't open my map for hours. I just kinda went where my whimsy took me, which sometimes meant "Oh, there's a DE happening just barely to the north!" I felt like I was exploring, and coming across events and happenings in the world as they happened.

[Malthurius]

Exploring is pretty much the name of the entire PvE game in GW2 outside of dungeons. Since the bulk of the content is Dynamic Events and they are found by exploring "Go explore" is the equivalent of saying "Go do PvE".

As for "encourages", if you don't have fun doing the main bulk of PvE content, IE; Dynamic Events, then you probably won't have fun doing events at max level, or even at all.

[DrakeWurrum]

Exploring vs being required to follow a path. I.e. following a linear progression of quests through a zone, from start to finish, with very little sideways movement.

It's a very common complaint after the leveling experience of Cataclysm.

[SoraGrey]

A "vital option" would be including a Twitter client into the game, so that one doesn't need to alt-tab to brag about how awesome GW2 is.

Ooh yes please! I have been hoping that Raptr might do something like this, as they have with gtalk, but if GW2 did it alls the better. Just no auto-posts, I don't want to spam people with "Sora just hit level 10!" "Sora just crafted some pants!" "Sora just scratched her nose!"

[DrakeWurrum]

I once had a Facebook app that did that for my WoW characters.

I stopped using it when I realized that I would delete 90% of the posts it made, even after filtering things out.

[Hellspawnxxx]

Not sure why you're mad. He was obviously exaggerating, getting stuck on the title is no big deal. And I highly doubt it would cost Anet much time or money to add the ability to uncheck map markers, plenty of MMOs have the feature to do so. Christ, you'd think he asked for tanks and healers or a gear treadmill with a reaction like that.

LoL I like you Delias... Sometimes but you dont honestly think its just a matter of the art departmen adding a button that says shut off Map UI and then a coder typing

{Shut off UI} script On<Off

No thats not how it works. They have to then spend man power making sure the coding is debugged and that it doesnt cause any annomyles issues. Make sure it doesnt crash the client or that it can spam the server. Not too meantion writing the code itself is probably atleast a thousand lines of code that not only make the feature work as an off/ on switch but that it changes the coding of the game too actaully hide the minimap and also that the coding correctly responds too the server and client. Where talking about probably 5000 - 10000 lines of code for that one feature and people seem too think its just 10-15mins of slapping something into the game and taa daa new feature enjoy I did it over my lunch break so it was free.

If its so damn cheap and easy too do then by all means feel free to write the base code and email it too ANET. if not then mind your bussiness and enjoy the game they designed.

[Delias]

If its so damn cheap and easy too do then by all means feel free to write the base code and email it too ANET. if not then mind your bussiness and enjoy the game they designed.

I didn't say it was a line of code. Saying it's going to cost hundreds of thousands of development dollars is an exaggeration, though. No one said it had to be in for launch, but it would be a nice feature that is standard in most other MMOs that wouldn't take anything away from the game and would help some people with immersion. I don't know why you seem to have some severe problem with this feature, or why you feel the need to go after me (someone who doesn't even care for the feature and is just saying it would be nice for them to add it for the people who want it) for pointing out that your 'hundreds of thousands' of development cost was an exaggeration.

I didn't say I could code, I didn't claim it was going to be done in 10 minutes, and I didn't say it would be free or would take absolutely no work. It's a feature that is standard in most other MMOs that would not negatively effect anyone in any way, it would be nice to have it in GW2 at some point for those who want to use it. They fixed a rock in the middle of nowhere that I'm sure less than 10 people reported (you could step like, 2ft into it. Was hardly noticeable even if not for the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere) that they were willing to fix, and I'm sure less people would benefit from that than a checkbox to disable map markers. If it was a useless feature and not worth their time, it probably wouldn't be a standard feature in basically every game that has a map in it. If THQ is able to put it into Saints Row the Third, I'm sure it's within Anet's power to put it in GW2.

[Hellspawnxxx]

I didn't say it was a line of code. Saying it's going to cost hundreds of thousands of development dollars is an exaggeration, though. No one said it had to be in for launch, but it would be a nice feature that is standard in most other MMOs that wouldn't take anything away from the game and would help some people with immersion. I don't know why you seem to have some severe problem with this feature, or why you feel the need to go after me (someone who doesn't even care for the feature and is just saying it would be nice for them to add it for the people who want it) for pointing out that your 'hundreds of thousands' of development cost was an exaggeration.

I didn't say I could code, I didn't claim it was going to be done in 10 minutes, and I didn't say it would be free or would take absolutely no work. It's a feature that is standard in most other MMOs that would not negatively effect anyone in any way, it would be nice to have it in GW2 at some point for those who want to use it. They fixed a rock in the middle of nowhere that I'm sure less than 10 people reported (you could step like, 2ft into it. Was hardly noticeable even if not for the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere) that they were willing to fix, and I'm sure less people would benefit from that than a checkbox to disable map markers. If it was a useless feature and not worth their time, it probably wouldn't be a standard feature in basically every game that has a map in it. If THQ is able to put it into Saints Row the Third, I'm sure it's within Anet's power to put it in GW2.

Ok For one I didnt say hundreds of thousands thats obsurd I said tens of thousands. which is a realistic price tag on that sort of feature worth of development.

Lastly I dont like it when people feel entitled and that ANET should consider this feature just cause another game has done it. By that mantality I guess I should ask that ANET put in Mounts like in WoW so it helps with my immersion.

heres a constructive Idea OP instead of aksing for stuff from ANET how about you play the game they designed and see if you like it. if going through the game was a huge disssapointment because you could see the minimap then write a 10 page diatrab about the issue. Man the games not even out yet and people are all give me give me give me....

[Delias]

Ok For one I didnt say hundreds of thousands thats obsurd. secondly I said tens of thousands.

Whatever. Either way, the main point stands.

[Deleted]

Great idea but waypoints would have to be disabled if you don't want to see the map or how else would they possibly be used. or would you want the map for areas you have already discovered?

[Kelesti]

Ooh yes please! I have been hoping that Raptr might do something like this, as they have with gtalk, but if GW2 did it alls the better. Just no auto-posts, I don't want to spam people with "Sora just hit level 10!" "Sora just crafted some pants!" "Sora just scratched her nose!"

Exactly. No auto-posting, but yes an ingame client would be awesome.

Doesn't Rift already run an in-game client?

[Deleted]

Ok For one I didnt say hundreds of thousands thats obsurd I said tens of thousands. which is a realistic price tag on that sort of feature worth of development.

Well, that might've been the case if (most of) the function wasn't already there. The map and objectives tracker hides as soon as you open the map, so the baseline work already exists, they just need to call on that function for those specific entities if a checkbox is checked or a hotkey is pressed. The only thing I see that isn't already coded is the text announcing that "A dynamic event is nearby!", and to say that hiding that alone would cost tens of thousands of dollars seems fairly absurd to me. Considering the function exists for all entities but one, I'd wager one of Arenanet's coders could whip this function up in 2-3 hours. I don't know how much they're paid by the hour, but I'd guesstimate the final sum reaching somewhere between one to three thousand dollars, tops.

Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, you could actually play in the way the OP wants, albeit you'd be a bit limited. You can hide all your UI with a hotkey and still run around and use abilities as you see fit. I think this hides "A dynamic event is nearby!" as well.