Game Feature Suggestion - Cartography

[Longhairdfreak-Vynn]

I do like the idea, especially for bounty hunting. The maps do not need to be high resolution. It could have the caveat that you must be off horse and then actually use a skill to sketch the area you are in, which would take time. Higher skill, less time to copy out the area. That would make them vulnerable, increasing the risk of being a cartographer. It would also make it tedious enough to make it a rater class.
We used to have occasional private events where we would post a screenshot from random places in the world and offer a prize to anyone who posted a screenshot of themselves there. The map idea could be worked into that, especially if we have the ability to mark where a house or treasure is.
I do think there are functions that could take advantage of this. Found treasure map pieces where you could dig something up could be used with this skill. To find where the map piece points to could require you to look at cartographer maps to line up features to find where they point to. Similar to heroes of might and magic, just a sliver of map to point out where items are buried, or where in the ocean they are sunk.
Like I said, they don’t have to be high resolution. You could have to equip it and look at it in your hand, not just hit the M key. If there is the treasure map pieces I am suggesting, you could hold piece in left hand and map in the right to try and match location. Also, the maps should be available in multiple sizes. Larger taking more skill... There is a good idea workable here.

 

[Dastardly]

I don't think it should be automated in anyway. It should just be a hand drawn map. This also allows the idea of scam maps etc. The maps shouldn't display your location. Just a simple hand drawn map. Each map having to be hand drawn keeps it rare and costly.

 

[Necromantic]

Cartography was supposed to be in Mortal a decade ago.

 

[barcode]

to be honest, i'm not opposed to being able to buy a crudely drawn map showing the continent's general features. it should not, however, show your position on the map. mountain ranges, plains, lakes, forests, rivers, this kind of general big landmark stuff.

-barcode

 

[KermyWormy]

I don't know how much having this be a skill would necessarily add to the game vs the time it would take to develop it. If the reason for it is to help a new player have a basic lay of the land they're in I think it'd be a better compromise to have a small local map in town maybe as a prop detailed enough to be able to distinguish a couple regional landmarks from it, maybe see where following the river outside town will take you, maybe a farm that is a useful landmark for figuring out kind of where you are or something. Something just very basic and general to kind of get a basic familiarity with your regional area if you really have no idea yet, but really after you go out exploring the area a couple times the need for any kind of map almost becomes irrelevant.

They just need to have plenty of POIs in the world that you can use to navigate and orientate yourself, and the rest takes care of itself like it does in real life, and how I imagine it would have been 1500 years ago or whatever. I might be wrong, but I don't really think everyone was running around with a map in their hands, or needed one to get around, even if they were new to an area.

SV should definitely add main roads connecting paths between towns, and plenty of POIs, and I wouldn't be opposed to a physical map item which is very regional...so like Fabernum area map would only have the town, some farms outside, maybe the Lake South of it and Kranesh at the bottom or something, and you could add your own marks on it, so you could add a mark for a mob spawn or a cave you found, but you'd have to know where you were generally and you yourself place a mark on the map as to where it was, no GPS junk, no "you are here". Then things are more natural. You could mark a noobs map if they asked where they could find brown bears or something if giving them verbal directions wouldn't suffice, then they could use POIs in the world and your mark to find the spot or whatever.

I don't think this map needs to be hand drawn by a player or connected to a skill, just an item you could look at like a real map, sized to about the size of a region you might expect someone in this world having knowledge of and a reason to visit. I like the idea of keeping it regional since the world is going to be 6x larger or whatever Henrik said recently in the interview, so maybe a different map you could get in each major town or region, maybe tied into how they plan on separating the regions for criminality, it'd help people kind of learn how the regions are broken up and see where those important borders kind of are.

 

[Najwalaylah]

Wondering around aimlessly in the woods does get old after awhile

I think you underestimate the skills of MO* players veteran and yet-to-come

a) to learn the territory, and​

b) to make our own maps or guides, for personal or guild use.​

Many will do (a), and (b) has been done before, even without special tools (even a compass) or skills.

(Specifically, I'm not talking just about the justly famous but historically annuated Aegis Imperium map, but about the guides on Getting to Vadda and Getting to Moh'ki that Zehtuka came up with in the very earliest days of the first game.)

 

[Amadman]

I am not for an in game map with location and arrows pointing the way to things.

However, I am all for a skill where players can make map items that can be carried ,looted and traded.

The need would be there for such items, so there would surely be people in the world attempting to make them.

They also could make good collecting items and even possibly be used to make displays in a house as well.

I could see the maps having low durability. But the cartographer skill allowing you to be able to read it more times does not seem logical to me unless they was copying the old map to make a new one or something.