3D Overland Map suggestions

Now that we have the first version of the new overland map I thought it would be a good starting point for suggestions on how to enhance it.

First let me say as one of those who didn't like the cloth map I am very pleased by what I see so far of the new overland map. It actually looks like a world you are traveling on and I am really happy about it.

Nonetheless this is the first version and as Darkstarr and Chris have already mentioned it will be further improved.

Maybe we could give some suggestions on how to improve it and what we would like to see on the map. And it would be really great if the devs could comment on these suggestions for us to see what we can look forward to and what is doable.

We already know that we will get an animated avatar and encounters as well a different trees, dungeons and city models. Also some kind of fog of war will be implemented, too. So what else would we like to see on the new map?

Here are my suggestions, feel free to contribute:

1. Ambient animals -NOT encounters, just animals like birds flying by or a whale or seaserpent coming out of the water and diving into it again on the ocean for ambience reasons. Don't know if foxes and deer will qualify as encounters...

2. Clouds - Some low hanging clouds drifting by occasionally like it was the case with the cloth map - including cloud shadows.

3. Weather - A weather system would be fantastic. As the weather gets worse, more and darker clouds could come up, the lighting changes, it begins to rain, you hear thunder. Lightning strikes down occasionally. There could be different kinds of weather from a bright sunny day to a real nasty storm. Also foggy days would cool, too. Maybe fog in the early hours of morning...
The weather should also have an impact on the scenes. So if it is raining on the map, it is raining in the scene, too. Also ressources could depend on the weather so that you for example can find nightshade only during a thunderstorm in the night.
Maybe even some scenes would only be accessible during certain weather - a magical tower only appears during a full moon with no clouds in the sky etc.

4. Hexgrid - As the map now looks like a real world, I think that the upcoming hex grid should be optional for atmospheric reasons and immersion. Maybe we could turn it on or off by pressing a key.

5. Location names - The names above cities etc. should also be optional and it would be great if we were able to turn them on or off by pressing a key.

6. Hole up and camp - I think it would be cool if we would be able to rest in the wilderness. So if we press the "rest" key or click on a "rest" icon, you enter a special scene, the hero sits next to a campfire and you can manage your gear and skills. There could be random encounters while resting. Camping would of course not speed up the time of day due to the multiplayer nature of the game. It would just be a means to manage your inventory and skills while traveling and add to the atmosphere. Maybe you could use the campfire for cooking, too.

7. More flora - I think the world needs more and also more diverse plants and maybe some rocks, bushes etc. here and there. I think some 3D grass and flowers swinging in the wind would look great (at least when you zoom down) as well as wheat- and cornfields.
Maybe here and there a lone tree etc.
Also some drifting ice in the ocean in northern regions would look great, too as well as waves crashing to the shores with splashes.

8. Special "surprise" areas - While traveling across the map, there could be some special areas appearing when you get near them. This could be indicated by a flashing light or a sparkle, so that you know that something interesting is hidden there. You then would have to enter this scene to investigate. Another idea would be that when you enter a forest a hut is appearing that was not visible on the map while traveling outside of the forest - just as an example.

9. Animated trees - I think it would really look great and add to the atmosphere if the trees were swinging in the wind a bit.


Movement:
Right now the movement is a bit clunky. I think that movement should be adjusted to either like it was in the RTX demo or like it is in the Neverwinter Nights 2 Addon Storm of Zehir. This adds much more freedom to roaming around on the map.
If rotating the map is planned, then we would need a small compass somewhere on the screen.

Movement examples:

SotA RTX demo:



Storm of Zehir:




Sound Effects:
I think it would be great and enhance the atmosphere a lot if there would be certain ambient sound effects on the map. Birds singing, waves crashing to the shores, thunder during thunderstorms and - although it may sound odd to some of you - wind blowing through trees.
I suffer from tinnitus for around 20 years and such ambient sounds always sooth the "pain", so I would be very glad if the game would offer something like this.

In conclusion I just wanted to say thanks to the devs for creating this great 3D overland map. I think that SotA will profit a lot from it, in fact it already does.

 

Yes, spot on Mr Darkmoon, sir.
What you're suggesting is an interactive map, not a static one. If you check out the Kickstarter marketing map that is an interactive map, lets just hope they get the message.

 

all the functionality mentioned is stuff they are looking at... you are totally forgetting that they simply haven't had the time to implement much of the functionality and features they want to you since redesigning the overworld map from scratch....

 

All great ideas above and I think most of them the devs are aware of already. But I did want to comment on Hole Up and Camp. I don't think that should be a separate special scene. It would feel too disconnected, like you're not part of the world. I think they should just simply allow you to hole up and camp anywhere in the wilderness (ie, any non-POI hex). That way it's more immersive and connected to the scene in which your traveling through.

 

Only point here that should be focus movement imo.

Other important things should be multiplayer, encounters, pvp, territory, special items, more charactar gui, party interface, dangerous environments.

These are all up to interpretation but together make up the engine and server side of things..

Sent from my GT-S5690M using Tapatalk 2

 

More than the advancement of the overland map I would like to reduce the loading time between the end of a hex and the overland map. Why do we have a loading screen anyway? In Guild Wars for instance you can swap between landscape and map without any delay or loading screen.

 

I really hope that they manage to include some kind of zooming in and zooming as transition between the views. This way it would look like you still being in the "same world" just zoomed in or zoomed out.

 

Since Darkstarr has already said what is in and out of scope, anything that isn't currently in scope should be shuffled off as a stretch goal. Then people can vote with their money to fund the out of scope ideas.

 

With disconnected hex areas I don't think that will be a possibility. Zooming in like that will only show how each area does not connect properly. The way it is now they don't have to worry about joining each hex area.

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It could work with a trick. If you leave a scene the camera zooms out a bit, then fog or clouds obscure the view, the world map loads, the clouds vanish and you are on the world map zooming into the default camera position. The same with entering a scene...

Did I miss this? Do you have a link to this post from Darkstarr?

 

The map is starting to appeal to me now the light shading and animated water is working, if the devs can continue to bring the map to life I would be satisfied.

 

Darkmoon, when Darkstarr announced the switchover form the cloth map to the 3D overworld map, he laid out what their goals were and what they didn't have plans for. Here's the link https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/navigation-through-new-britannia.10474/