New ideas for a maps?

[MattDu.7123]

With Anet seeming to go a bit left field and mixing things up with group stories, strike missions and an incoming tug of war map I thought i'd have a go.

 

I'm not sure if either of these would work but here goes.

 

**Vertical Maps**

I would like a Vertical Map, four to five times the height of the JP in siren's landing ; with a piece of land on top smaller than the PVP Lobby, that has a portal gate. And then leap off it like pilot wings on Nintendo or the Flying Circus adventure from Verdant Brink but straight down. Use the floating rocks from Bloodstone Fen, broken Asura gates and the assets from flying circus to populate it. Hidden chests on floating islands, multiple routes and courses, a timer to get down and platforms or pools of water to land on/in. Mounts, gliders and swimming costumes from the diving goggles or a mix of them depending on course and difficulty.

 

**Shadow Maps**

The second one is a way to repopulate some of the existing maps and also giving new places to investigate. This time taking a leaf from Shadowman, Soul Reaver and Shadows: Awakening. Give an existing land a shadow realm, most things in the same places but new monsters and quests. New plants and a higher chance of getting rarer metal and wood. You could have misshaped towers or castles that on your return will need a hasty glider. But your time their is limited. You need to build up a portal by completing a strings of quests before you can you jump over at waypoints to prevent overlapping. By being able to only pass over at specific places but return anywhere you can add to the existing maps but not remove. This could possibly be the Charr lands with a ghost realm, as it looked before it was destroyed??

 

They are only fun ideas that will never get made, so tear them apart, improve on the them, tell me they're rubbish. Or share your own idea for a map, hopefully not one where all the doors are Asura height.

 

Just passing the time

[Randulf.7614]

I enjoy vertical maps so I'd be happy with more of those

 

I also like the fundamental backdrop behind this even if it couldn't work in reality due to split populations and other myriad issues

 

> @"MattDu.7123" said:

> **Shadow Maps**

> The second one is a way to repopulate some of the existing maps and also giving new places to investigate. This time taking a leaf from Shadowman... Give an existing land a shadow realm, most things in the same places but new monsters and quests. New plants and a higher chance of getting rarer metal and wood. You could have misshaped towers or castles that on your return will need a hasty glider. But your time their is limited. You need to build up a portal by completing a strings of quests before you can you jump over at waypoints to prevent overlapping. By being able to only pass over at specific places but return anywhere you can add to the existing maps but not remove. This could possibly be the Charr lands with a ghost realm, as it looked before it was destroyed??

 

 

_There is a place beyond death, where every soul that has ever shuffled off this

mortal coil finds its spiritual home. It is a place that has no boundaries, no

hope, no past and no future, trapped as it is in an unending present. A country

of the dead, where the massed ranks of billions of souls range across a

limitless expanse to a dead horizon, shuffling through the echoing halls of

vast, funereal palaces, trudging over blasted plains, putrid with morbid

vegetation._

 

_As a god I step forth upon the writhing suppurating surface of the Deadside serpent.

What sleep is here?

What dreams there are in the unctuous coilings of the snake's mortal shuffling.

Weapon in my hand.

My hand the arching deathblow at the End of All Things.

The horror. The horror.

I embrace it..._

 

 

[Tails.9372]

I really want to see some OW maps in the mists, one space / asura themed (like how the mistlock sanctuary is) with low gravity and one kind of like a broken fractal merging multiple ones together to give you the feeling of constantly jumping from one dimension to another.

[Bast.7253]

On a sidenote the latest teaser of the map in the next episode has me pretty excited. Saw a bit more variation and it looks like it will be a nice place to explore or lounge around in! Also makes me want another guild hall option even more. :(

 

As far as new maps go, I'd personally love to see somekind of aerial high fantasy cloud city or something at some point. Something kind of like the heart of the mists with floating islands and such. If they redid the Wizard's Tower into its own zone that could be pretty neat looking. It would probably be pretty niche with not everyone having griffins and skyscales and such. But a portal setup could work. Maybe even integrated into the story so that you unlock portals to the upper levels (if you don't have a mount) account wide. Like completing a heart on one island unlocks the next.

 

I'd also really love to see some maps with more realistic lighting. I.e. pitch black like the snowblind fractal at night. With them going with more of a horror theme this saga I feel like it would be a nice touch. Surprised they didn't try it with the woods area in Bjora and the boneskinner. Just imagine being in pitch black woods and having some bright red glowing eyes from the boneskinner in a tree top somewhere! I'm not sure if they don't do it because they're afraid to alienate/annoy a large playerbase or if it's somekind of technical limitation with the overall zone lighting.

 

Revisiting some older maps could be neat too if they found a way to implement an optional phasing system and integrated them into the story somehow. I.e. An npc in Orr that lets you visit a newer, cleansed version. But I think I'd just prefer to see the personal story/dungeon versions and the unexplored areas released as one giant cleansed open world map.

 

Other than that the only things really left are underground and underwater. Underground was handled pretty well with Tangled Depths, but I feel like it would all start to look pretty similar unless they took a Journey to the Center of the Earth Draconis Mons approach and gave it unexpected varying aesthetics.

 

I think underwater could be cool if they found a way to make the normal above ground physics work. I.e. making you walk on sea level and ground targeted abilities. Or just have the zones be set in some sprawling infested Largos city that's encapsulated by somekind of forcefield that keeps the water out. That could be cool too, and then you could have the surrounding area covered by swimming fish or pitch black with the deep sea dragon's eyes peering at you.

 

I don't know, just throwing things out there. The map artists in this game are pretty exceptional and show and put an amazing amount of detail into their work. I do truly think exploring the whole realistic darker lighting thing could be really fun though.

 

But then I'm also still sad we didn't get the spider mount and probably in a minority that looks creepy things.

[artcreator.4859]

a cool map could be one overrun with baddies, like an army of the inquest or flame legion ( any bad guys, doesn't really matter). And I mean a full map and a real army

 

and then the players have to work together to overtake the map, OR you can speak to a flame legion recruiter and join the other side.

 

so a PVP situation in PvE,

 

of course, this should just be a limited event, eventually, the baddies should be chased off of the map and the map can become fully PvE forever.

 

 

I don't think well ever have something like this, just a fun idea :D

[notebene.3190]

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> I think underwater could be cool if they found a way to make the normal above ground physics work. I.e. making you walk on sea level and ground targeted abilities. Or just have the zones be set in some sprawling infested Largos city that's encapsulated by somekind of forcefield that keeps the water out. That could be cool too, and then you could have the surrounding area covered by swimming fish or pitch black with the deep sea dragon's eyes peering at you.

 

I think a zone that was a giant underwater city, with different places you had to swim between big areas (at least until you opened waypoints, or maybe the waypoints are contested during certain times or events) would work great. Combination of swimming elements as well as huge underwater structures where the sky or ceiling in places was essentially domes and above that was the sea. You could also make it really claustrophobic in places, maybe making it feel like Mines of Moria, or at least how I remember it feeling when I played it years ago. Those were all huge, underground zones, but they were also quite open in places.

[coso.9173]

i hope we get different things in general.

what about a huge haunted forest? a big map that's just a ruined castle interior or a ruined city?

i like creepy things so ls5 has been nice so far, but too much snow is "eh"

[GummyBearSummoner.7941]

> @"coso.9173" said:

> i hope we get different things in general.

> what about a huge haunted forest? a big map that's just a ruined castle interior or a ruined city?

> i like creepy things so ls5 has been nice so far, but too much snow is "eh"

 

I actually enjoy the snow. It gives me a game of thrones vibe . I actually hope we get something like that one day too. Would be nice

[Bast.7253]

> @"coso.9173" said:

> i hope we get different things in general.

> what about a huge haunted forest? a big map that's just a ruined castle interior or a ruined city?

> i like creepy things so ls5 has been nice so far, but too much snow is "eh"

 

Have you done the newish Dwarven fractal? It's all optical illusion but the place looks huge. I could see them capable of building an entire underground dwarven city like that as a map, or at least having a multi-layred map and have some other stuff going on above ground. Could be a really dark and creepy Diablo style dungeon crawl type map/escort meta. I was hoping as we've traveled up North we would find some in-tact huge Jotun city/settlement that could give us a glimpse of what their civilization might have looked like before their fall.

[artcreator.4859]

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > @"coso.9173" said:

> > i hope we get different things in general.

> > what about a huge haunted forest? a big map that's just a ruined castle interior or a ruined city?

> > i like creepy things so ls5 has been nice so far, but too much snow is "eh"

>

> Have you done the newish Dwarven fractal? It's all optical illusion but the place looks huge. I could see them capable of building an entire underground dwarven city like that as a map, or at least having a multi-layred map and have some other stuff going on above ground. Could be a really dark and creepy Diablo style dungeon crawl type map/escort meta. I was hoping as we've traveled up North we would find some in-tact huge Jotun city/settlement that could give us a glimpse of what their civilization might have looked like before their fall.

 

oh my goodness i didnt even realize there was a dwarven fractal, thanks for metntioning it.

 

I've got to try that right away!

[mindcircus.1506]

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > @"coso.9173" said:

> > i hope we get different things in general.

> > what about a huge haunted forest? a big map that's just a ruined castle interior or a ruined city?

> > i like creepy things so ls5 has been nice so far, but too much snow is "eh"

>

> Have you done the newish Dwarven fractal? It's all optical illusion but the place looks huge. I could see them capable of building an entire underground dwarven city like that as a map, or at least having a multi-layred map and have some other stuff going on above ground. Could be a really dark and creepy Diablo style dungeon crawl type map/escort meta. I was hoping as we've traveled up North we would find some in-tact huge Jotun city/settlement that could give us a glimpse of what their civilization might have looked like before their fall.

The fractal is really great I agree... something like this in the format of Forging Steel would make me really happy.

Great idea. Truly.

[Frostfang.5109]

Whatabout a map where race matters. If the majority of the ppl are, charr for example, that finishen x numbers of events (winning the competition over the other races) then a charr merchant opens a shop with new cultural armour.

[hugo.4705]

Tortuga like map. Like Artcreator said above, a city of baddies, even the occasion to bring back sinister triade from brisban wildlands.

And a map featuring very dense spooky dark fog, nah, not like bjora aberrant forest, I speak I fog like the forest in snowblind fractal.

[Sigerk.2897]

Underwater map, I know its not popular and the caveat would be that they absolutely have to fix the way UW mangles your build, make all classes viable underwater, including their specializations. I didn't have a problem with the 360 environment, maybe it helps having played Elite Dangerous. But it was such a big selling point at the start of this game and they just gave up on it without ever really trying. At least, thats how it seems to me.

 

They don't need to retroactively introduce UW skins, just add them from that point on. Legendaries included.

 

With mounts and masteries, the possibilities to make UW content more enjoyable for everyone is surely more feasible than it was at launch when neither of these things were present in the game. They seem to have no problems with verticality as seen in HoT, and the introduction of certain mounts like the Springer/Griffon/Skyscale.

So why not bring that same innovation down into the water. Lore wise there are plenty of reasons to go underwater with the Largos, Quaggan and especially a fucking Deep Sea Dragon.

 

From a selling point, besides triggering interests from those who already desire it, the possibility to allow for new mounts, and all kinds of aquatic gadgets and skins should make this viable from a sales perspective as well. If they do it as well as they did the introduction of mounts, which had a lot of naysayers turn around, then it could be great.

[MattDu.7123]

> @"notebene.3190" said:

> I think a zone that was a giant underwater city, with different places you had to swim between big areas (at least until you opened waypoints, or maybe the waypoints are contested during certain times or events) would work great. Combination of swimming elements as well as huge underwater structures where the sky or ceiling in places was essentially domes and above that was the sea. You could also make it really claustrophobic in places, maybe making it feel like Mines of Moria, or at least how I remember it feeling when I played it years ago. Those were all huge, underground zones, but they were also quite open in places.

 

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> I think underwater could be cool if they found a way to make the normal above ground physics work. I.e. making you walk on sea level and ground targeted abilities. Or just have the zones be set in some sprawling infested Largos city that's encapsulated by somekind of forcefield that keeps the water out. That could be cool too, and then you could have the surrounding area covered by swimming fish or pitch black with the deep sea dragon's eyes peering at you.

>

> I don't know, just throwing things out there. The map artists in this game are pretty exceptional and show and put an amazing amount of detail into their work. I do truly think exploring the whole realistic darker lighting thing could be really fun though.

>

> But then I'm also still sad we didn't get the spider mount and probably in a minority that looks creepy things.

 

Maybe a mix of these with the swimming section in-between being pitch black except for a choice between a lantern for light or weapons for protection, like the mini-dungeon in Dredgehaunt Cliffs. except if you drop your lantern it will sink into the darkness below. Make tubes, falling rubble and poison water to keep it claustrophobic with the ever present danger of creatures in the darkness. If your swimming down into a hoard it could be a good idea to drop you lantern and keep pace with it, likewise attach a balloon to it for going up.

 

**And Kralkatorrik dead-ish**

For something a bit different and gross how about going into the body of Kralkatorrik. To kill the undead infection that's using the host body to knit themselves together. A final unforeseen byproduct of the essence it absorbed from the death of Zhaitan. Something dead is growing in their from thorns and crystal and the bone of those that get to close.

 

 

[Cerioth.7062]

Something akin to fireheart rise would be a thing I'd enjoy.

 

Or a map that has some more obscure landscape as most dominating presence - for example a swamp, underground settings, heavily interior based maps, etc.

[Perihen the Thawk.9527]

I understand that most people aren't huge fans of underwater combat, so I don't necessarily want an "underwater expansion."

 

But I think in a Living World season someday they could just do one episode with a completely underwater map, just go all out and give underwater content its last hurrah. A big map with an Atlantis-like city, volcanic vents, deep chasms, beautiful reefs, etc. Add an underwater mount with that episode, do a bit more tweaking to the combat, a couple of underwater masteries, and hand out swimspeed infusions like candy through the meta event.

 

If it's not well-received, I'd be okay with shelving underwater content from there and moving on. But let underwater content at least go out with a bang. One episode should be toleralble for the folks who don't care for it. And if it does go over well, then they have the justification they need to devote resources to revamp the combat system.

[Randulf.7614]

I don't think UW content needs to go out with a bang or is a case of all in or nothing. There's little reason not to add it into maps where appropriate. Frostgorge is the perfect example is mixing the biomes successfully. Bloodtide too.

 

There's no need at all for them to be so adverse to utilising the underwater stuff and just putting out empty water space. If it's there.... they should use it. A map doesn't need to be all underwater for it to be a thing

[coso.9173]

they could alwys handle underwater maps like ffxiv, some parts of it with reggular underwater, and other parts with large bubbled places where you move as normal.

not a fan of underwater as a concept though, but who knows.

[dbill.7483]

I'd like to see a city/urban battleground map added to WvW. Something like Ebonhawke, Divinity Reach, etc., without siege or mounts, where small groups (15 to 20 per side) can fight.

 

 

[Bast.7253]

> @"coso.9173" said:

> they could alwys handle underwater maps like ffxiv, some parts of it with reggular underwater, and other parts with large bubbled places where you move as normal.

> not a fan of underwater as a concept though, but who knows.

 

Given how easily Jennah put a forcefield around Divinity's Reach as just an allegedly "strong mesmer" I don't see any reason why the same logic couldn't be applied to an underwater zone if we had some reason to explore one. Or a bunch of guardians and elementalists for that matter. I feel like it could be pretty easily rationalized. As much as I'd love to see some huge Atlantis-style sprawling Largos city I'm not sure that we would in a living story. I feel like I've been seeing some new assets pop up here and there that give me hope, but designing a huge city with presumably unseen and new architecture makes me think that probably wouldn't happen outside of an expansion, (unless they're developing them because they plan to use them in the expansion which they have done before.)

 

With the release of Grothmar Valley and Aurene's branded section I was kind of hoping to see some more of those assets mixed in on upcoming maps.