suggestion A way to survey the whole region

[Ghurcb]

Look at this piece of art, this beautifully drawn map of Timberwolf Mountain. Isn't it great?

And here's my best attempt at surveying it...

Those black spots are (mostly) parts of the map that couldn't be surveyed, because they are too high up. And there's no way to map the mountain range that surrounds the region.
And this isn't the worst example. Here's Desolation Point.

Did you know that when you're in Blackrock, you can't map the Blackrock mountain? It's the most important landmark of the region, and you cannot put it on your map.

 

What's the solution? I think, when you've surveyed every location and every vista in a region, its whole map should be uncovered. "You've completed this region, here's the reward"

What do you think? Would you want to be able to uncover the whole map of every region?

[Kranium]

I agree!

 

What I did - and only after I'd mapped every possible pixel - was use dev commands to do it. Otherwise, we are SOL.

 

DeveloperConsole 1.4.0  |  command= map_reveal

 

[APixelatedLemon]

I like this idea, but I would add one requirement. 

Instead of just map every named location and vista, I think you should also have to map out a certain percentage of the map so you couldn't just "speedrun" your way around the map getting to all the P.O.I. and that's that.

That percent amount would depend on what the region was, so maps like Mystery Lake, a map you can map most of would require 80%. Maps like Desolation Point that are more "incompletable" would be a bit lower to make it possible.

[Ghurcb]

12 hours ago, APixelatedLemon said:

I like this idea, but I would add one requirement. 

Instead of just map every named location and vista, I think you should also have to map out a certain percentage of the map so you couldn't just "speedrun" your way around the map getting to all the P.O.I. and that's that.

That percent amount would depend on what the region was, so maps like Mystery Lake, a map you can map most of would require 80%. Maps like Desolation Point that are more "incompletable" would be a bit lower to make it possible.

That sounds a little too arbitrary. How would players know that they have to map at least 75% of Hushed River Valley for the game to complete the rest? Once you've mapped all the locations and vistas in a region, there's not much utility in doing the same to every square meter of land. I don't think it's easy to speedrun surveying every named location, find the polaroids and survey all the vistas afterwards. And if you can do all that in a few in-game days, that should be rewarded, not punished.

[APixelatedLemon]

2 hours ago, Ghurcb said:

 How would players know that they have to map at least 75% of Hushed River Valley for the game to complete the rest? 

Uhhh... Just have a thing in the in the surveyed location menu that tells you how much the region needs to be completed?

 

2 hours ago, Ghurcb said:

 Once you've mapped all the locations and vistas in a region, there's not much utility in doing the same to every square meter of land.

Not much utility in having the whole map complete once you marked all the named locations either. This is about 'having the map look nice' at the end of the day.

2 hours ago, Ghurcb said:

 I don't think it's easy to speedrun surveying every named location, find the polaroids and survey all the vistas afterwards.

It actually is, most intermediate players can do it within one in-game day. Only regions it likely wouldn't be feasible is on climbing rope heavy regions. Also you don't have to find the polaroid's, you just have to go the vista. 

[Ghurcb]

16 hours ago, APixelatedLemon said:

Uhhh... Just have a thing in the in the surveyed location menu that tells you how much the region needs to be completed?

Yeah, that would work, but it would probably confuse players a little. If there's some game mechanic, it's better for it to be consistent, so that players don't ask "why do I have to survey 80% of Mystery Lake, but only 20% of Desolation Point?".

16 hours ago, APixelatedLemon said:

Not much utility in having the whole map complete once you marked all the named locations either. This is about 'having the map look nice' at the end of the day.

What I meant is, if you surveyed all the important locations, the game can just as well fill in everything in-between them. Look at the Pleasant Valley, for example. It's mostly empty spaces, so surveying the surroundings of the Molly's farm or that big red barn is a complete waste of time. Sure, you can do it so that the map looks more complete, but that's exactly what I think should be done automatically.

16 hours ago, APixelatedLemon said:

Also you don't have to find the polaroid's, you just have to go the vista. 

Really? I tried surveying vistas before finding a polaroid, but it never worked. Ehh, maybe I'm doing it wrong.