Mapping and beacons

dragonette4063

A lot of people have complained about the beacons being irritating, confusing, and just generally inadequate for the task of marking places of interest. I am inclined to agree: the beacon system should be either modified or replaced with something better.

A map would be ideal, and here are some of my thoughts on how it might work:

• The map should definitely NOT be completely filled in at the start of the game - maybe not even accessible at all until the player crafts something.
• The map should be filled in little by little as the player explores, uncovering details in a certain radius around your current location.
• Perhaps a handheld sonar or laser-scanning device would be required to add to the map?
• A 3D holographic map would be nice (and would fit with the level of high technology in the game), but a 2D map with color codes for depth and/or different biomes would also be acceptable.
• The map could be integrated into the PDA - it already has different pages for inventory and blueprints, so a map page would be easy to add and would make sense.
• The player should be able to make notations on the map - maybe by placing a little dot that, when moused over, displays a tooltip with a short text string (and possibly coordinates and/or depth).
• Beacons could function in tandem with the map, such that the player could see and enable/disable them on the map interface. (Perhaps the aforementioned map dots ARE beacons? This would certainly be the simplest and most sensible way to handle notations on a 3D map...)
• Whether or not there is a HUD mini-map is up to the developers, but I personally think it would obstruct our view of this utterly gorgeous ocean world. (Perhaps it could be enabled/disabled in the options menu, or in-game via a HUD upgrade item like the compass and thermometer.)

Just my two cents. I absolutely LOVE this game so far, and I look forward to seeing it become even better!

tarek

yes i imagine they will add a nice 3D map maybe