New Map.....Like or Dislike.....Pro's/Con's.

[PrincessAriel]

The new map is gorgeous, and I appreciate all the hard work put into redoing it. But does anyone else have a like/dislike relationship with the new map? Here are the pro's and con's after useing it for a few months.

New Map
Pro's:
1. It is beautiful. Very colorful.
2. Great feature to zoom in and out.
3. More detailed so easier to see a path or a building in main cities or major zones (supposedly, personally I thought the other one was easier).
4. Better pathing (supposedly, see no difference).
5. New mini map. Mini map with flashing arrow pointing you in the right direction.

Con's:
1. This one is huge compared to the old one and yes I know the new one has a mini map but the old one you could have open and still see exactly where you were going and not run into walls, mountains, rocks, things that would like to kill you, etc.
2. The mini map is just another ui piece you have to try to find a home for, takes up more space, blocks view and have to get use to.
3. You either have to have the mini map opened or closed. You can't just push a button or two to toggle between open and close you have to go all the way into options to toggle it which is really annoying.
4. The main map's size can be adjusted to smalller but then you can't see path, clear, etc. And you have to constantly adjust the size it to put in waypoints/coordinates. And the waypoint/Coordinate window is way to small.
5. Can not get rid of the dots just to find a named, or a the little blue dots to go through to find a specific quest or Npc.
6. Half the time you can't find what your looking for because all the little pixel books, crossing swords, arrows look exactly the same and mix in with the back ground.
7. Harder to find zone entrance's.
8. Won't really have a choice will have to use new map system because the old one won't get updated which means no new maps for new zones.
9. Very confuseing to use.
10. Seems like it is alot harder to go from map to typing in chat. If you have just put in a coordinate you have to click on the main screen to get out of map before pushing M to close the map window or you will put m in the waypoint/coordinate window which screws everything up.


Old Map
Pro's:
1. Could toggle the dot pixels to find what you are looking for.
2. Not to big so you could have it open and follow the map and still see where your going.
3. Could easily type or paste in waypoints/coordiantes.
4. Able to put in cordinates without haveing to constantly adjust map size.
5 Easily could find zone entrances, couldn't miss the giant bright yellow circle.
6. Easier to read the dots because they don't all look the same. Well they were the same dot just nice and bright and different colors.
7. Don't have to be a genius to figure it out, just nice plain simple and easy to use.


Con's
1. Not as pretty.
2. Can't zoom in and out.
3 Pathing not as accurate. (supposedly, see no difference.)
4. No mini map with flashing arrow showing you the direction to go.
5. Can't see roads or buildings as easy. (supposedly, personally I thought the other one was easier.)
6. Old verison will become obsolete (regardless if we like it or not) and no new maps will be added to it.

To me the pro's of the old map win. Personally I would have rathered seen them update the old map verison and make adjustments. Like add the zoom feature, add the mini map as long as we can push a key or two to open and close the mini map window. At least give us the choice and keep updateing the old verison. We can choose from hundreds of differnt UI's so why can't we choose a different map ui as well?

For 5 years the old map worked and maybe it is just an adjutment period but all I keep thinking is what my grandfather use to tell me (in his southern farmer accent):
"If it ain't broke don't fix it....You can tweek it, change it's color, put duct tape on it, adjust it but don't throw it out and replace it because nothing is as good as what you already have. Newer don't make it better."

My grandfather was a wise old man....LOL, a drunk grumpy old man but still wise.

[gm9]

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

3. You either have to have the mini map opened or closed. You can't just push a button or two to toggle between open and close you have to go all the way into options to toggle it which is really annoying.

There is already a key for it, default should be Ctrl-M or M, I forget which one.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

4. The main map's size can be adjusted to smalller but then you can't see path, clear, etc. And you have to constantly adjust the size it to put in waypoints/coordinates. And the waypoint/Coordinate window is way to small.

After GU51 we should have the possibility to adjust the search bar to a two-line layout when you make the window too small for the current layout. The waypoint/coordinate window is not too small, it scales with the map window.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

5. Can not get rid of the dots just to find a named, or a the little blue dots to go through to find a specific quest or Npc.

Since SOE wants to add filtering to the default map we are wainting for them to implement it and use that in EQ2MAP.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

6. Half the time you can't find what your looking for because all the little pixel books, crossing swords, arrows look exactly the same and mix in with the back ground.

I agree that some of the icons could do with better contrast. Hopefully there are some custom sets to choose from soon.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

10. Seems like it is alot harder to go from map to typing in chat. If you have just put in a coordinate you have to click on the main screen to get out of map before pushing M to close the map window or you will put m in the waypoint/coordinate window which screws everything up.

That was brought up before. The functionality is the same as in every other window you type in. We discussed this internally and the EQ2MAP team decided to leave it with the default functionality and not try to click out of the window for you because the available solutions all also have disadvantages (like forcing the map window to lose focus while you may not have wanted it to).

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

Old Map
Pro's:
2. Not to big so you could have it open and follow the map and still see where your going.

Moot point with the minimap, I don't understand why people keep bringing this up.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

3. Could easily type or paste in waypoints/coordiantes.

There is no difference here between old and new systems. You are just more likely to type in the new system that's why you notice it more.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

Con's
2. Can't zoom in and out.

Not that it matters now, but the old map system allows zooming.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

At least give us the choice and keep updateing the old verison. We can choose from hundreds of differnt UI's so why can't we choose a different map ui as well?

Because we do this for free in our free time and we did not want to invest time into making it compatible with the old and (in our view) obsolete map system. Nothing is stopping you from doing it yourself though, so stop complaining.

Originally Posted by PrincessAriel

For 5 years the old map worked

I think it was three.

[Dolby]

New map system is 100x better then the old. I use it every day.

Like gm9 said nothing stopping you from learning the xml and making an old version of eq2map. We like the new version so we are going to continue down that road.

[Vandiin]

I agree with Dolby and gm9. Love the new maps, and am waiting patiently for filtering to be added with GU 51. (And maybe some icon packs, but that will be a bit less of an issue with filtering) As far as entering waypoints, I've found it easier (with both old and new maps) to just type /way blah, blah, blah. Quick, easy, and doesn't change my focus.

Also, as far as finding quest items, NPC's etc. (until filtering is available) Make use of the Find button up top. Brings up a list of all the poi's, sorted by category. Scroll down till you find what/who you're looking for. I've found that much easier than trying to search through the map manually, on a cluttered map.

[Taubin]

The only one teeny tiny thing I don't like with the new one, that I have to get used to, is not clicking the zone locations to get a trail. Now when I click them it opens up the zone map for that zone. It's a nice feature, but, I would love a clickable POI right next to them so I can get my scout trail (since scouts can't go anywhere without a map )

[gm9]

Originally Posted by Taubin

The only one teeny tiny thing I don't like with the new one, that I have to get used to, is not clicking the zone locations to get a trail. Now when I click them it opens up the zone map for that zone. It's a nice feature, but, I would love a clickable POI right next to them so I can get my scout trail (since scouts can't go anywhere without a map )

I agree, but we haven't yet come up with a viable solution for this yet (and putting a POI next to it isn't really one) short of disabling the whole map linking feature. Ideas are welcome.

[sorinth]

while map linking is useful, I think functionality like a standard POI is more useful. Would there be a way, if a user clicked on a zone poi, a little popup would occur asking for trail or zone link?

[gm9]

No we can't do that for various reasons.

When we finally have POI filtering (and unfortunately it appears that we won't have it yet for GU51) it should be possible to just filter out the links. We already made it so that we put the links in a separate file so you can permanently remove them if you want. Replacing map_links.xml in UI\<YourCustomUI>\POI\ with an empty file and making it read only would achieve that if you want.

[nluerdarea]

Would it be possible to get a waypoint and link the maps at the same time?

[gm9]

Originally Posted by nluerdarea

Would it be possible to get a waypoint and link the maps at the same time?

No, when I had tried coding that it crashed the client.

[nluerdarea]

lol, nice going, break the game gm9

[gm9]

happens all the time, I'm known for breaking things.

Wanted to add to the link/POI discussion that of course in EQ2MAP you can right click the zone icon, select POI and click on "Path" on that window.

PS: And on the minimap the links are just POIs.

[missjackie]

I actually prefer the older maps. What I dislike about the new maps is that I can't select which mobs, nameds, locations I wanted to be shown.

[Coriolanus]

I agree the older maps are nice and more useful. Especially with mob locations.

Also I had an add-on which let me show all the POIs on an unexplored map. I liked that and wish we had it in the new map. I honestly wish SOE would stop trying to copy WOW with everything.

Personally I use the old map in the old zones -- I find the new map too awkward to use and unwieldy. Yet it is beautiful but it is not very functional.

Adding a POI sucks -- you have to type in one by one into a box -- you can't cut and paste -- they should get rid of the box and allow cut and paste. A lot of times you want to add a POI location from Wiki or something else and you really need to be able to cut and paste into the ADD POI box.

[gm9]

Originally Posted by Coriolanus

I agree the older maps are nice and more useful. Especially with mob locations.

Also I had an add-on which let me show all the POIs on an unexplored map. I liked that and wish we had it in the new map. I honestly wish SOE would stop trying to copy WOW with everything.

Personally I use the old map in the old zones -- I find the new map too awkward to use and unwieldy. Yet it is beautiful but it is not very functional.

Adding a POI sucks -- you have to type in one by one into a box -- you can't cut and paste -- they should get rid of the box and allow cut and paste. A lot of times you want to add a POI location from Wiki or something else and you really need to be able to cut and paste into the ADD POI box.

Which game are you talking about? EQ2MAP already has all the features you ask for, but from your statements it sounds as if you may not have installed it. Lol.

[Coriolanus]

Originally Posted by gm9

Which game are you talking about? EQ2MAP already has all the features you ask for, but from your statements it sounds as if you may not have installed it. Lol.

I have the new version installed but it is a struggle to use it. I just find it so terribly awkward.

I get a blank map with NO POIs and when I click on ADD POI - I get a box with separators that means I can't copy and paste.

I see nothing that lets me remove MAP FOG.

I just hate it when I have to use the new maps -- they are just clumsy and unwieldy.

[lordebon]

Originally Posted by Coriolanus

I have the new version installed but it is a struggle to use it. I just find it so terribly awkward.

I get a blank map with NO POIs and when I click on ADD POI - I get a box with separators that means I can't copy and paste.

If you are seeing no POIs, then it is not installed properly. And ADD POI is *NOT* the old way of typing in a waypoint to get the circle on the map. That remains the /waypoint command in the chat window. Add POI is for either adding a POI to your personal copy of the map or submitting it to EQ2MAP for all to use.

Originally Posted by Coriolanus

I see nothing that lets me remove MAP FOG.

The new map system has a different kind of fog, so the simple button to remove it no longer works. There is a manual way of removing fog, and the black fog for older maps (instead of the shading/coloring fog for the newer maps) is not exactly ideal, we know.

[gm9]

Originally Posted by lordebon

the black fog for older maps (instead of the shading/coloring fog for the newer maps) is not exactly ideal, we know.

We changed the black fog to a blank map image with the EQ2MAP logo a while ago, there shouldn't be any black fog anywhere.

[Mooska]

Hi everyone-

I mostly like the new maps for EQ2. The graphics are great and it is fairly easy to see what is happening. I love the easier way to find / path a spot. That however; brings me to the trouble I am having.

1. I really hate the hand. God it's a bitch to target something when more than one is very tight to each other. Even expanding the map often doesn't work and I have to spend precious time twitching the hand this way and that in order to get the spot I want.

I would love to see a way to revert the hand to an arrow

2. The zones. This is a pain in butt when trying to path your way to a zone. Everytime I click on a zone- it kicks me into that zone itself, thus defeating the purpose of having a path or even having a map lol.

I would like to see an option where you can shut off "open new map if zone click" heh. Have it "open zone on click yes/no"

Other than those two problem areas (for me), I think the map is awesome.

[lordebon]

Originally Posted by Mooska

Hi everyone-

I mostly like the new maps for EQ2. The graphics are great and it is fairly easy to see what is happening. I love the easier way to find / path a spot. That however; brings me to the trouble I am having.

1. I really hate the hand. God it's a bitch to target something when more than one is very tight to each other. Even expanding the map often doesn't work and I have to spend precious time twitching the hand this way and that in order to get the spot I want.

I would love to see a way to revert the hand to an arrow

2. The zones. This is a pain in butt when trying to path your way to a zone. Everytime I click on a zone- it kicks me into that zone itself, thus defeating the purpose of having a path or even having a map lol.

I would like to see an option where you can shut off "open new map if zone click" heh. Have it "open zone on click yes/no"

Other than those two problem areas (for me), I think the map is awesome.

For #2: It's not an option in game, but if you go to your eq2map\POI folder and find map_links.xml, open it and delete everything in side (i.e. save it as an empty file). Then make it read-only and clicking on the zone icons will give you a waypoint instead of shifting maps =)

#1 is an issue that is a combination of a) relatively large POI icons b) not being able to zoom in far enough to accurately separate them and c) the exact position of the hand icon being less obvious than the arrow. I agree that at times they get somewhat unwieldy in tightly-clustered POIs.

[Coriolanus]

I find it much hard to find things on the new map. On the old maps there was money bag ICON - on the new maps you have to find a banker, click on the name then click on the map - HOW AWKWARD.

Can't the icons be more useful? Right now they are not very useful in identifying helpful places. I mean the stables used to have a horse head- not any more.

You could find thing a lot more easily on the old maps than the new. Also I find the roads in town are not well marked either - I know that is SOE's problem not yours - but it still makes the new map system a real PITA.

How can I remove FOG from the new map system?

[himay]

First thing I did was to resize the minimap to the size of the old map and then reverse the keymapping for the 2 maps. So now [m] opens the minimap which is much like the old map, and [alt]+[m] opens the main map that I only open when looking for a hard to find poi or whatever. I do wish the minimap had a close button and I might look into adding one for those of us who are resistant to change.

[smilr]

Personally I very much dislike the new map system.

I used Otheseus' "Show just the map" plugin for the original EQ2Map and it was WONDERFUL.

I could shrink the main map down to a reasonable size to use it as a minimap. I could click and drag in this window to look around my current location. Poi's and everything were rather easy to mouse over to find information for. I could click the window and immediately enter coordinates to find something. In short - I had the best of both a fully interactive mainwindow map, and a small always present "you are here" minimap.

The new system looks gorgeous - the new POI interface is rather nice. BUT the new SOE official mini-map is awful. I still use the old map system unless I'm in a new TOS zone without supported maps. When I have to use the new system I find myself trying to move the map around in the minimap window, and CAN'T.

If someone were to apply the minimization and UI hiding features from Otheseus addon for the old EQ2Map, to the new main map window I'd be in heaven. As it is - I cannot make the new main window map small enough to fit where the old one / new minimap fit, and I hate the new minimap SOOOO much.

[gm9]

Originally Posted by smilr

When I have to use the new system I find myself trying to move the map around in the minimap window, and CAN'T.

Hold Shift to move.

[Lanadad]

Originally Posted by gm9

I agree, but we haven't yet come up with a viable solution for this yet (and putting a POI next to it isn't really one) short of disabling the whole map linking feature. Ideas are welcome.

Left-Click -> Path
Right-Click -> Change ZoneMap

I have no idea if this is technically possible, but that would make it more userfriendly imho.