Feedback:User/Neithan Diniem/Compass and Map... Advanced!

So your playing the game, right? You have your party, your gear, and whatnot... and your going out to slay big 'ol Whatshisname. You've already explored around the area, and know where he is, but you need the [U] map to keep on track. Compass is (as always) there, letting you manage your heros and tactically interact with your bud that is tagging along (Ping!... Pingpingping!). Now your there, and Whathisname is there, and the battle commences. Problem is, your screen is cluttered! Its hard to see! Sure, you could spend that microsecond to press [U] and close the menu, but why have the unnecessity of the whole thing? Couldn't the compass and the map be combined? And furthermore, why cant we properly coordinate with our party or guild members? Couldn't a system be made to let us do this?

Well... Why not?

Mapping it out
As with my other ideas, this ones simple in nature. Its just a UI suggestion to keep the screen less cluttered, while still providing all the features we expect. It has a ton of updates to those features to boot! So you have the compass, right? Sittin in its corner.. chillaxin like usual. You've got your click function (again with the pinging...), your drawing function (not for Picassos), and oh look... something new! Why not a map pan and scroll feature? How about an integrated map with matching new features? We have the technology, so lets throw em in, eh?

The Compass...
In GW1, when you Left-click the map, you have access to the traditional tidbits we all know and use. What if you Right-clicked? Well, you would just switch to camera view. This suggestion would change that. Now if you right-click, you will "grab" the map, and pan it round... any which way you desire. Similar to the [M] map, the borders of your movement are only restricted by the edges of the map, and the edges of your desk. Releasing the right mouse button will return your mouse pointer from hiding to right where you left it, as well as hold the map where you moved it to, Allowing you to use the traditional left-click functions. Moving your mouse back out of the compass's area or moving your character will return the map to focus on you. Possibly, a "Lock" button could be used, to lock the compass in place, however I'd find that unnecessary, as well as problem causing.

Also, players could scroll their wheels over the compass to change their zoom level, letting you zoom in or out on the compass as you do on the GW1 [U] map. The compass would stay at that level of zoom then until the scroll wheel was clicked over the compass or the player re-scrolled the map to its starting level. This permits you to lock in your level of zoom for personal preference.

Additionally, to help keep cohesiveness with the party, members can sync their compass views with that of any party. This would be done by a member Ctrl-clicking their map, making a tab appear next to their name (just like the Ctrl-Space [T] function we have now). This sync will also accommodate for the player's scroll level. Once synced, the compass would be under your control again. From there you can tactically talk about whatever are you are viewing. However, you will not be able to see any enemies that are not within your party's visual range. The borders of that range would be marked by a fog of war, tinting the map a slight shade of gray. This is to prevent players from having omnipresence in the game. If the party is spread out, the combined views would be shared. This range would be equal to that of the compass's visual area.

As a possible addition, a button on the compass could be made that when clicked, a small menu would drop down with buttons in it. These buttons would be small and simple, numbered to match the party members, and linked to the their compass views. That way any member could use any other member's compass view to keep track of that member's movements (such as during coordinated attacks or training) without needing them to constantly keep pinging their maps. Just need to click on the compass tab for that party member and you're golden. The pings would then just be alerts in function (just like how the Ctrl-Space [T] button functions now), making the party aware that you want them to see something on your view.

...and The Map
Now the compass is more useful, but what about or [U] map? Don't fret, little in-game window, as you will come back better than ever. Located around the compass's boarder would be a tab. Pressing that tab would open the pop-up map (saving a key-bind). This map would keep all it's original features, only now instead of a window, the map would have smaller boarders and be part of the compass. This is explained why in a bit. The map is resizable, and can be re-positioned anywhere on the screen (not everyone thought the [U] map was cluttersome). Closing the map would return it to its hidden state. New to this map however would be a transparency feature. A small slider in the options menu would set the max transparency of the map, and once the map was opened, would be affected accordingly. Options for the map could be a fadeout when the mouse is not over the map, minimum and maximum level of transparency, and transparency lock. Subsequently, a tab on this map would open a legend menu, letting you toggle the appearance of map icons on or off. What good do resource icons do you when your searching for treasure, or are on a top-secret stealth assassination event? Or what about those shop icons when your just trying to get somewhere in particular? Well, turn em off if you don't like em. Accordingly, turn them on once you have a need for them. Its all up to you.

A new look for a new game
Now onto the Map screen. It needs a face lift to say the least. Lets start by fitting that map into a big box to fill most of the screen. Boxed away above the map is a field to display your current location's name, as well as your exact location using a coordinates system (X,Y,andZ). The available space on the left can now be used for menus. Dominating the menu bar at the top is a large window (the Data Menu for future reference), perfect for all the information about things you select on the map. Nifty, huh? It gets better. Below that are an array of tabs, each expandable to display its contained information. Only one tab can be open at once, however. Not mattering on the final order Anet places them in, the tabs could be as follows: Legend, Marks, and -=-. Now lets get onto each of these features in turn.

Now where oh where...?
Now I'll explain the Coordinated system. Considering that the general extent of the game will be on a relatively flat plane, a coordinates system would work just lovely, eh? This way, players can locate various NPCs, locations, or other players even through a coordinate system. As stated above, your coordinates are displayed above the map. This you can tell other players so that they can find you. Similarly, selecting a NPC or Player will tell you their current coordinates (coordinates of Selected characters would display in the Data window, as well as the target's name and other relevant information). Simplifying, eh? But what if you need to get somewhere specific, and want a visual icon to show you where that place is? Onward, then!

Mark one up for the map!
Need help finding that certain place? Well, type in the coordinates in the Mark tab and Bam! There's a marker for you (displaying at least the X and Y variables of your target in relation to the map.)! This marker would be locked in place on the map upon creation, but click-dragging it will un-clip it from its spot and let you position it at will. Ctrl-clicking this marker whilst in a party will share that marker with your group, allowing you to share such locations with others. These shared marks would then be labeled with the character's name that posted it. Targeted enemies, NPCs, and Players', when selected, will have a temporary marker properly named pop up on the map. Unknown locations would just be that, blank marks, no fancy name for it. These locations, however, can be named by the player and stored so as to help them remember what that little tick on their map is for after however long they choose to keep it.

Now these player-made marks aren't the only little ticks garnishing your map. All NPC Services and important locations are documented as marks. Each mark type has a unique color, allowing you to visually discern between mark types at a glance. Through the legend, you can turn on or off mark types to give you greater ease in locating that one icon in particular your looking for.

What about dynamically changing marks? sure! Toggle on the Guild, Ally, or Friends marks and you can then see the locations of all your peeps. Want privacy? just like how you can hide your online status or set it to Away, you can also set whether or not your mark would be visible to others. Just check the box in the Marks tab to hide your mark from others. Players you've blocked will never be able to see your dynamic location, nor can any dynamic mark location be shared. Perchance, a list of mark-blocked players could be used, to let you temporarily block a particular player or group from seeing your location, without having to resort to you blocking them entirely. Now, These dynamic marks would display the name of the player, as well as be differing in color or appearance to differentiate as to what relation they are to you. Friends marks would overrule guild and alliance should they be selected simultaneously (meaning a friend in the guild would still have a friend mark on your map, even with both friend and guild marks displayed).

Now all these marks gotta be kept track of, and its all contained neatly in the Marks tab. There, the marks you have stored will be listed (limited to whatever number Anet would choose). They can be checked on or off, renamed, or deleted. Sorting can be done via arrow buttons that will shift either up or down the selected marks. New marks can also be made, just fill in the coordinates when you click the "new mark" button.

Easy, eh? Once you've tidied up your list, we can move on to the fun part...

Work with me, People!!
Its all a matter of coordination... or so it would seem. Unfortunately however GW1 is plagued by uncooperativeness, not entirely out of ignorance, but out of difficulty to do so at times. Why not a way to let our guilds and alliances work together better, eh? They need love too! So, back to the new Map we go! We have the legend and coordinate system, the list of marks, and the map itself. Lets make room for Guilds and Alliances then. One of the tabs on the menu now is the Alerts tab. This handy little tidbit works similarly to how guild announcements do. However they have a defining feature: These alerts send a message out to all guild or alliance members contained within a mark. These marks appear like the others on the map, only they have a slight red pulsing circle emanating from them (like a map ping). In the Alerts tab, they will be listed and sortable. New alerts will have a green ! next to them. Selecting one of these marks will display the message they contain on the Data Window. With this, Guilds can alert other members or allies of events, coordinate meetings, share interesting locations, or just rally up and explore with. Similarly, when one such alert is sent out. The receivers must be made aware of the alert. Once an alert is received, a small circle attached to the compass would begin flashing a Green ! with a red pulse, signifying the presence of an alert. The red pulse will stop after a few seconds, but the green ! will just stop flashing and remain there until new alerts are checked.

First Idea, then Application
So now we have the compass/pop-map/map combo, mixed with a dash of functionality. But is it worth it? I think so...


 * An integrated map/compass would reduce screen clutter while providing advanced functionality for its use.
 * The new Map menu screen will allow for a far greater number of features to be useable than was previously available.
 * A legend system would permit players to add or remove map marks from the visible map, clearing map of unwanted marks and permitting easier location of various particular things.
 * Coordinate system would make finding particular things within a persistent world easier, not to mention that such a system would be plausibly in-use anyways in a real-world environment.
 * Using Marks to replace Icons will broaden their usefulness, in that they can be used in far more places than just towns and outposts.
 * Shareable marks would increase player interaction, and simplify sharing particular locations with other players.
 * Custom Marks will let players keep locations they wish stored so as to return there later.
 * Dynamic marks would let you know where your acquaintances are at all times, restricted by privacy settings.
 * Guild and alliance-wide Alerts will let these groups coordinate for things easier than before, making some events and town games far more populated now and again.
 * Organized Marks are better than cluttered marks any day of the week. Its all user-preference.

However, it does have drawbacks.
 * Its more work for the developers to... develop. No one wants that, when the game isn't released yet (it doesn't have to be a feature in the initial release, though).
 * With so many features, new players could find it frustrating (user manuals and in-game tutorials could help reduce any occurrences, perhaps a help button or tab to direct players to a wiki/website help page for map feature usage).
 * Dynamic marks would probably be a strain on the system if too many marks are on the map at once. It all depends on how the system is designed as to how taxing it would be.
 * Players might still not like the existence of dynamic marks, even with a privacy setting in effect (parents worried about children, players worried about being harassed).
 * Annoying guild leaders might spam the alliance or guild with alerts, causing annoyances.

And there you have it. One advanced map setup to increase functionality of an aging idea. Im going to attempt to make up a mock compass pic or two so as to help convey the idea I have in mind, once I get more time.

Thank you for reading, and if you have any comments, suggestions, or critiques, leave a message on the Talk page. Ill promptly respond as quickly as I can.

Credit for the Alert system added to this suggestion goes to Jarak. Credit for the alternative party-wide compass buttons goes to Jimmer123