Add maps to the game.

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Strawberry, Jun 12, 2021.

  1. Bigz_Zupdarty Augur

    They do give you maps in game, they give them to you in the starting zones, as intended.. The rest of the maps are intended to be player made.. Dont ask for features that are already provided, just because the feature isnt how you want it.

    The main problem with everyone in this thread asking for maps is their entitlement. You were never suppose to have maps in EQ. If you dont want to download someone elses maps, you have every right to make your own. If you do not want to make your own, as the game intended, that is on you.
    nitrocutter and Kase like this.
  2. Kase Augur

    Another post trying to completely change the concept of the game. Sense heading was taken away as a tool to level up and I hated that. As others have stated there are basic maps in game.
    Recently ( last couple years ?) there's more and more posts about trying to make the game 'easier'... if these types of changes happen, the game won't be the same.
    This game wasn't intended to be easy.
    (I still miss doing CR's, albeit a PITA but it was also fun)
  3. Igniz Augur

    I started playing everquest when my brother gifted the 10-Year Titanium box to me. With that, he showed me a file holder with hand-drawn maps of all the zones that existed back then, lists of named mobs that dropped useful items, printed out lists of spells with hand written notices where to get them. This was part of the immersion that initially pulled me to EQ.

    He then "took me by the hand" and showed me the most important websites (allakhazam (eq resource didnt exist back then), eq interface, mapfiend, eq trader, etc. and we subsequently had a LOT of fun over the next 10 years.

    Yes, having no maps of all the zones as a fresh, newly starting player without any kinds of contact to more seasoned norrathian inhabitants. But I do think, it's a lot easier then OP makes it out to be.

    Especially if it is a twitch-streamer. Without knowing anything abhout that one in particular, from the information that it is someone who streams him/herself trying out a new game (or rather a very old game) for the first time, I do think he/she will have a certain amount of basic gaming experiences that are translateable across ALL games ...

    Like this, example given

    Honestly, OP? *waves hand* This is not the problem you are looking for.
    Auntie Edith wanted to ask: When you buy a new car ... do you argue with the manufacturer why there is no roadmap included?
  4. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    I'm sure someone else would pick up the mantle, I can remember at least 2 others that used to do maps and I'm pretty sure they allowed EQ to use their maps as the defaults and had an agreement to use the same map design for continuity.

    Maybe EQ should approach our 2 map makers with a view of using their maps as the default maps.
    Jennre likes this.
  5. Jumbur Improved Familiar



    Ironically, the link you posted, leads to... https://www.eqmaps.info/eq-map-files/

    where the download link doesn't work...:oops:

    edit: seems like it works in microsoft edge though, but not chrome...o_O
  6. Igniz Augur

    Jumbur likes this.
  7. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    The Cartography system was created & designed to allow players to make therir own maps or to support each other with them - this kind of "community outsourcing" is a common part of what has been a staple of EverQuest's interaction with its community.

    EQ originally had no map system at all, you learned the zones off memory or you built your own maps by hand - the map system was added as a tool for players to make their own maps - the intent was to give you a way to make the maps yourself that you would otherwise be making by drawing them out on graph paper or whatever you used.

    http://www.allakabor.com/eqatlas/atlas.html was originally an example of some very good hand drawn maps that a player created a website for to share with others that pre-dated the cartography system that came with LoY.

    I know most modern games provide basic maps to players but with those at best you get the locations of the major Quest giving npcs - other stuff you are made to locate yourself from whatever clues are in the quest text which is about all you get from the default ones that do exist.

    So sure I think having "basic" maps that show the major quest NPCs is a reasonable and justifiable demand at that level - however expecting the game company to provide you maps which have very high levels of detail such as those provided by Brewall & Goodurden which show major quests, groundspawns, named PH locations and a bunch of other super helpful stuff is asking for way too much all those things are intentionally not given to the player community by the company.

    Use a quality Anti-Virus.
    The paid AV I use (Bit-Defender) automatically scans & checks any & all files for me.
    Jennre, Maedhros and Jumbur like this.
  8. Cidran Augur


    Did this myself as well. They weren't maps at all but more like lines connecting markers and pointers so I could better navigate the zone.

    To me, it was a perfect moment. I was just looking at the map occassionally as an orientation tool instead of just blindly following it. When you got it working, it felt satisfactory and rewarding.

    As you say, it was magical and also very creative. I hadn't done any "cartography" since Eye of the Beholder and now I wish I could ignore the map packs and push myself back to that motivation.
  9. Jumbur Improved Familiar


    Eye of the Beholder is much easier to map for, as it has a grid-based layout. The early days of EQ also had very flat dungeons with at most 2 floors(kurns tower was the exception afaik), ToFS had separate floors that did not intersect.

    Imagine making a hand drawn map for GMM! :eek:


    edit: I never knew there were tunnels beneath Kurns tower!!!!
  10. Tarvas Redwall of Coirnav, now Drinal

    I wouldn't mind them including basic topography of each zone that gets downloaded by the client. But if they don't, they do provide a find function that will put an X on the blank map for zone lines and quest givers. It should be pretty easy to see that and get from point A to B discovering stuff along the way.
    Raptorjesus5 likes this.
  11. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    I would imagine that everything that is on find, and all the zone-connections that the zone-guide recognizes, can be automatically added to a basic map.
    Autogenerating the basic map layout by reading the zone-files is probably more tricky, but it might be doable? I doubt it would be as pretty as the manually drawn maps though...

    I do recognize(and appreciate) the hard work by Brewall and Goodurden...:)
  12. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome


    This is a s4!t response.

    This sounds like a WoW developer response. Many MANY QoL imrovements have been aded to the game due to payers asking, Maybe more people would play EQ if people like YOU left.

    All these mean, very unhelpful smug and dismissive, elitist responses in EQ forums anymore.

    Have a suggestion? Want to make the game better?

    Quit.

    OK, you first.
    Raptorjesus5 likes this.
  13. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    and FWIW after many many years, they finally DID add Butcherblock and Blighfire maps to noob zones, which were lacking since the cartogtaphy tool was brought in game.

    Oddly, ony 2 starter areas were left out to begin with.

    People suggested that change for a decade.

    So unfriendly.
    Raptorjesus5 likes this.
  14. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    Yes, any 3rd party downloads are scary in todays security aware web. Everquest should provide base maps. If people want to download OPTIONAL content to them, that's on them. Elder Scrolls has all maps and also has things like Map pins add ons.

    Randomly saying you think OP has an issue with a download is just something you made up and is a slide away from main topic, As if well Mapfiend sure was SCARY as was 3rd party, now umm Oh yeah you suck at downloading.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    non se·qui·tur
    /ˌnän ˈsekwədər/
    noun
    noun: non sequitur; plural noun: non sequiturs; noun: nonsequitur; plural noun: nonsequiturs
    1. a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
      "his weird mixed metaphors and non sequiturs"
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    and lol Lowball what people pay for EQ as if everyone buys an annual at 9 bucks and noone spends on,, Krono, Store, Month to Month, etc.
    You sure do rhetoric a lot when you dislike a suggestion.
  15. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    How the heck does having a map ruin the immersion of a trip to the Riviera?

    I would imagine being hopelessly lost on vacation would ruin the experience.
    Vumad and Svann2 like this.
  16. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    You mean like those uber stable Mapfiend maps> That site is now long gone and coopted with malware, yet returning players still go there looking for what they remember. it's a shame Everquest doesn't care.
  17. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    I agree, but 1) every player making maps is silly. 2) Requiring 3rd party downloads to keep up is a dumb policy. period. 3) as soon as ANY better alternative to NO maps, like blind 3rd party installs, people preferred THAT to NO maps, so how hard is it to figure out, people actually prefer maps already made. By far and away, more players seek made maps over making their own because, maps are all about saving time. it's why humans invented them to begin with.
  18. Joules_Bianchi A certain gnome

    OK- A suggestion-

    Have a contest of player made maps and install the winning player maps to game with credits.

    Or at least provide basic zone maps with very little information other than zone geometry and zonelines and let people use cartography tool for labels, etc, or EQ put a sanctioned list on a download site or something.

    As it is, there have been 5 dofferent map providers and none of them company backed and 3 of those are defunct, one of which has ad revenue parked on it with malware delivery from some of the ads.
  19. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I have been in EQ a long time and I have read the posts. Sorry but just about all of you are wrong for plenty of reasons.

    All zones in the game should include some kind of map. There is no reason for people to be hopelessly lost. I'll give the example of West Karana because I was just there on Thornblade. The following should be included in the default map file...

    The zone boarder.
    Major terrain features like water edges.
    The zone lines.
    The roads.
    The location of some key places, like some guard posts and some trading areas.

    All of the other goods/brewalls stuff should not be included. No bandit camps. No named locations. ETC.

    To argue otherwise is ridiculous. Nostalgia is great but not as good as having new players to group with. And give me an example of a nostalgic person who is not downloading maps. No one is taking the time to map roads and such. One thing to remember about the maps is that when it was new, everyone was talking about it, you didn't have to ask, people asked you if you had heard. Now when people are new we are like map packs duh ya newb.

    And to make the game realistic, the real world doesn't work like that. Everyone gets a map, then they write the places that are important to them.

    EQ needs a basic map included. I have NO doubt that if EQ reached out to goods/brewall and asked them to supply maps that had a lot of the extra information removed, they would be happy to do so. I don't know the legal part of using player generated content but if there isn't a legal reason not to, I bet the both would be happy to provide them for nothing more than a cartographer signature at the bottom of the map.
    Skuz and Syylke_EMarr like this.
  20. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Good lord it was a joke about mapfiend - smh - get it....fiend.....maps....no? ok on with something else.
    Dythan likes this.