The overland map MUST GO.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Malishan, May 17, 2015.

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  1. Malishan

    Malishan Avatar

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    The overland map for me is a huge turnoff and immersion spoiler. I was thrilled to see that a successor to Ultima Online was being made until I saw video of this feature. I can put up with zoning, but running in giant form through this overland map for me and I'm sure others is a huge letdown.

    In this day and age an open world is almost a must for an MMO. Immersion is everything, and this just blows it out of the water. UO in it's day and long after was one of the most immersive games I've ever played, don't ruin it with this cheap mechanic. Immersion should be this game's biggest selling point.
     
  2. Drake Aedus

    Drake Aedus Avatar

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    A quick forum search for "overland map" will supply you with an endless list of Pro's and Con's, as well as developer input.

    I'll not want to beat a dead horse, the poor girl...
     
  3. Malishan

    Malishan Avatar

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    Eh there can never be too many complaints about this feature imo. WHY? WHY!?!?! THUMP THUMP the dead horse.
     
  4. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Why has been explained many times.. as is the fact that this isn't UO2.. or the successor to JUST UO.. there is an entire Ultima series out there that preceded UO.. nor has SotA ever been billed as an MMO.

    It is well beyond too late to not have the overland map. To remove it would be to pretty much have to start over.

    This horse isn't just dead.. it's buried.. decayed.. reincarnated.. and dead and buried again..
     
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  5. Siren

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    Well, give it a chance you guys :) I know it's different from what's out there currently, but it's allowing our game world to be much larger and more modular than it would be otherwise. While I'm not completely in love with the overland map, it has unexpectedly grown on me quite a bit - there's definitely a charm to it.

    It's possible though that some of the zones could become linked as the game developes over time - and eventually, who knows? :) Remember, this game will be a living work in progress for years to come - all kinds of great things are on the way!

    Overall though, given the resources we have at the moment, I think the overland map is the right call.
     
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  6. Mastese

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    I'm cool with the OM...not sure of the issue and admittedly too lazy to read your post.
     
  7. majoria70

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    Welcome Malishan to Shroud of the Avatar and yes it is hard to see the whole picture when you have just arrived but that is understandable. I have been here since Nov 2013 and seen this games progression. So hopefully if you are interested you will get caught up to understand where they are going with this game. **cheers** :)
     
  8. Beaumaris

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    The overland map has lots of potential for the addition of many more sense in the future, if scenes can be tied to any object or landmark just like they can a player town.
     
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  9. Dirk Hammerstrike

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    Hopefully... if one day we have scene exits which correspond as transitions to other scenes... we could have travel from scene to scene without the overland map. While you'd have to pry the overland map out of my avatar's cold dead fingers, I could see the desire for some to not use it. It would be nice if it were optional by the design.
     
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  10. Stryker Sparhawk

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    You can always take the underworld nexus...
     
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  11. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Well it's certainly possible to just transition from scene to scene but that too could be just as immersion breaking to some as the map is. Even more so in some cases without doing a lot of major work to update some areas. Imagine for example.. you're in a forest and the next scene over is a desert or wasteland. At least right now the map gives you a good sense of biome changes.
     
  12. smack

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    I agree, the overland map MUST GO.......................BIGGER. :p

    One major issue I have with the current overland map or rather, overworld of Novia, is the scale. I think they can adjust the scale so the overworld feels bigger. Otherwise Novia feels tiny. I really did expect it to be much bigger when we were still on the Vale, awaiting for the release of Novia...but now that it's here...hmm. I like the graphical polish that's been done recently, but still. I'm not expecting 100x bigger...just bigger than it is currently (debates about the buggy movement and travel speed aside).

    I think it's great that new players are still voicing their opinion on this matter. Even if this horse is reincarnated hundreds of times over, the devs need to hear this. It's not about completely overhauling their design for the overworld at this point. I think it's fair to say this dual scale design is staying. So now it's about how to make the current experience an enjoyable one (*cough* unrewarding random encounters *cough*), not despite of its design, but because of it. One that fully embraces and maximizes the potential of its design. It's clear they have a lot of work to do, but I think they have some upcoming features to make exploring the overworld both rewarding and fun.
     
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  13. Asclepius

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    I know that this poor horse has been reincarnated many times, but as majoria70 and smack said, new players are arriving all the time, and will get a shock when they see the map structure.
    I would ask the new arrivals, and the OP to consider a few things:
    1) in UO, you could see a 2D image of your little avatar running around the world. A bit smaller that on the over world map. And that was as good as it got.
    2) In Shroud, when you enter a scene it is huge and gorgeous. That comes at a cost - when I am in Ardoris (yes, a big town) I am using OVER 4 Gb of RAM. And that's only for that scene - when I leave Ardoris I can dump a lot of that and load something else. How many terabytes of RAM do you have??
    3) just go to Ardoris, or Paxlair, and see how long it takes you to get from one end of town to the other, or even just find your way around! Now imagine walking from one end of Novia to the other if the world was rendered at that scale. A simple journey from Ardoris to Paxlair would take a whole play session! So I'll see you on the other side of the map "next week".

    On the whole I think the current setup is the best alternative.
     
  14. Razimus

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    The overland map has made a great amount of progress. I really feel bad for the guy who's main job is to work on the overland map. Because he's told to make it better every day at work probably. And then the forums are full of threads of people saying that they wish it was better. It is better. Take a look at the old ones, and see the progress. I believe they will need to rescale the map to a larger size for multiple purposes. To fit all the towns, to adjust the distances so you can't walk across the world in a few minutes. To adjust the size and scale of the avatar. A simple re-scale-adjustment and simple shade adjustment would do a great amount of help, but I'm sure it's not simple for the guy having to do it. So hats off to the overland map guy or guys, he or they are doing a great job with great patience. Keep up the great work.
     
  15. Sara Dreygon

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    The overworld map has grown on me. I enjoy it now.
     
  16. Kara Brae

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    I agree completely. Without an overland map people would be clamoring for more instant travel options. I was always a fan of the overland map, and it has gotten so much better over time.
     
  17. SmokerKGB

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    Sorry you feel that way, but this game has never been "the successor to Ultima online", where did you get that idea? It's the successor to the "Ultima series" don't you remember the single player games (I - IX)? All of them had an overworld map with places you could enter, encounters that would happen... SotA isn't even a "MMO", it's "selective multi play" a lot of us play SPO (single play online), I think it's very immersive...
     
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  18. Weins201

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    What I find funny is you want to leave the town arch and have to run (ride) all over from place to place. But I bet you also want a small map in the corner showing you where you are so you can figure out the direction you want to go?

    The overland map gives you a way to travel over large distances WITHOUT using TONS of computer / server resources, and even has some hitchy instances. I sooooo hope those instances become something much more than an annoyance.

    Running around like in WoW is Lame and they even have created ways to go from place to place without having to cross ALL over.

    Enjoy what they have created - it is a MAP - Allows travel over long distance and you can even see (mostly) where you are and want to go - and it has its own scenarios.
     
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  19. Lord_Darkmoon

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    Errr, no.
    And you should remember that SotA is not an MMORPG. It is a selective multiplayer RPG. It even has a solid and classic single player part, too. This is not Ultima Online and not Ultima Online 2.
     
  20. Mata

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    Welcome Malishan!
     
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