Guild Wars 2

Why is it that all the zones are squared off? Even the ones in Orr are squared off by mountains and ocean. Who designed an entire world to be squared off by mountains? Were the gods who created this land just that lazy? Well that’s my rant, while other games don’t have the awesomeness of Guild Wars 2, their worlds does seem to be a bit more believable.

The patchwork is pretty obvious on the map, but actually playing it feels not that bad. I mean if you never look on the map and just go where you like you will never think about how squared all the zones are.

This and WoW have some obsession with mountains.

Yes, this does irritate me as well, as it’s rather disappointing to see such lazy zone layout on the world map, and even though other MMO’s like FF11, had instanced zones with a heavy use of mountains to block off the edges, almost none of them were completely rectangular.

ahh well, it’s only a minor complaint really, it’s just a little disappointing.

So what do you want them to use to block off zones, a nice white picket fence?

I don’t think I’ve ever played an MMORPG game where zones haven’t been craters surrounded a ring of mountains.

Most modern MMOs aren’t constrained by rectangular maps.

Moreover there ARE games in the world that manage a seamless connection of zones, such as where you could walk back and forth between Queensdale and Kessex Hills all along the border without having to endure a loading screen.

GW2 is not one of those games. It’s a shame, it’s a bit of old-fashioned kludgeness, but it’s not game-breaking, imo.

It is rather lame. But I get no sense of rectilinearity while running around.

It is one of those things you don’t notice while running about but as soon as I press M, it’s an immediate let down. Just a minor complaint but minor stuff tends to add up.

Shootsfoot.9276:

So what do you want them to use to block off zones, a nice white picket fence?

Calm down there big boy, just throwing it out there, most people agree it is a small let down.

Yes, every zone is instanced off with mountains separating it because the other zones are impossible to walk to. It does take away from the visceralness

On the positive side, it does make it easier to do a thorough search for that one…little…sneaky…point of interest I have left

DirtyHoudini.2917:

Yes, every zone is instanced off with mountains separating it because the other zones are impossible to walk to. It does take away from the visceralness

Just to make sure this point is made clear, since i don’t think some people get it.

It’s not disappointing and a bit lame, that all the areas are surrounded by mountains on all sides, that’s understandable. What’s pitiable is that, if you look at every zone, each one is shaped like a rectangle, in some patchwork way of putting the world together.

It’s just a bit odd, but like i’ve already said, it’s only VERY minor, but the complaint exists non the less.

I had a discussion with someone in game. We determined the cause of this was Primordus. He clearly decided that sectioning the world off into zones was a nice way to help older PCs play the game. Bubbles is responsible for the strong undersea currents in the southern areas that create the same effect.

shingui.4197:

DirtyHoudini.2917:

Yes, every zone is instanced off with mountains separating it because the other zones are impossible to walk to. It does take away from the visceralness

Just to make sure this point is made clear, since i don’t think some people get it.

It’s not disappointing and a bit lame, that all the areas are surrounded by mountains on all sides, that’s understandable. What’s pitiable is that, if you look at every zone, each one is shaped like a rectangle, in some patchwork way of putting the world together.

It’s just a bit odd, but like i’ve already said, it’s only VERY minor, but the complaint exists non the less.

Yes, If you look at a fully explored GW1 map, All zone were also surrounded by mountains, but except for a few, they didn’t look very square and the world looked more organic than GW2 from a map point of view.

If you never played GW1 you probably cannot even tell where a map start or end.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/0/0b/Tyria_clean_map_2.jpg

Yeh iw as looking at my map last night and thought there were alot of mountain squares for each zone.

Lazy design in my opinion.

They could have left a zone open and maybe had a little border like what capture points have showing you the next zone and you would port there if you crossed over.

Budg.3064:

I don’t think I’ve ever played an MMORPG game where zones haven’t been craters surrounded a ring of mountains.

Asheron’s Call was one HUGE open world. You could run everywhere you could see, there was no zoning in that game.

The way their world worked, it was still split off into zones via server, but inactive zones were turned off if no one was near it. But if a player was in one area, the areas around it would activate and so on.

I once died far off in the mountains when the game first came out, months later came back and my body and all my gear was still there.

Usually it would have decayed after an hour, but since no one had gone back to that specific area, it was saved because that zone was turned off.

Do give them a break. Yeah they’re a little rough around the edges, but the interior of the maps are incredible

While I have no complaints when I’m inside the world,I have to say that the rectangular squares on the world map is,for me,the only part of the game I’d call ugly.When I started playing,the world map was a work of art.Having unlocked most of the world,it is now a mess of squares.

Furthermore,It makes the world feel contrived and the zones feel that they lack character.Look at this for example:
http://greywolf.critter.net/images/wow/maps/Travel-Map-Kalimdor-NL-B.jpg

The zones there are still mostly rectangles but the sides are molded to give them a “natural” feel.I know it’s pretty low on the list of priorities right now but I’d welcome a rework of the world map even at the cost of total accuracy .Just changing the thickness of the mountains (places you wouldn’t be able to go to) could give the illusion of organic zones.

Also,I’d love to hear from a dev,whether the zone design was intentional and the reasons behind it.Very curious about it as they seem to know exactly what they are doing with the game.

I agree. When I saw the “discovered” world map, it’s square-ish. Guild Wars 1 is not like that, even though the zones are surrounded by mountains and waters.

What is needed is the redesigning of the world map so it wouldn’t be so obvious that the zones are square-ish. It should be the same as Guild Wars 1 as far as the world map design is concerned.

Now to those reacting to the zone-based instead of seamless world, I’ll bet it’s a technical decision. Zone-based games are lighter on the system vs. seamless worlds.

Let me add: they also need to do away with square-ish zones.

Cawesome.1580:

Shootsfoot.9276:

So what do you want them to use to block off zones, a nice white picket fence?

Calm down there big boy, just throwing it out there, most people agree it is a small let down.

Sensitive much?

Right. So you assume that they were being “lazy” for making the zones squared off for you. Let me get this straight, take out the squared off and how do you divide each zones with the right zone transition triggers and such? I mean come on, you guys always have something to whine but at least for this kind of thing.. No offense but you just showed us that you are the kind who know only how to PLAY a game instead of ever MAKING one.

It’s kinda weird, but it’s not noticeable while leveling. I wonder why they made this decision? I assume it has to do with making it easier to work on the maps simultaneously and also probably a bit easier when programing DEs. A square zone makes for an easy coordinate system when programming, and the artists did a really great job hiding it while running around.

Reinth.1498:

Let me get this straight, take out the squared off and how do you divide each zones with the right zone transition triggers and such?

someone didn’t play gw1…

It seems to me that rectangular tiles make it much easier to expand the world than a jigsaw puzzle of custom fitted regions.

Could not tell from this map that it was square (the the one who had the GW1 map as comparison).
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/archive/3/33/20120521050248%212012_April_Tyria_map.jpg
Personally I know what you guys mean, I am not phased by it much though. Sometimes it makes it even a bit easier to figure out which corner you haven’t been to yet (on a first glance basis, obviously it’s not all too hard to tell in any case).

Once you zoom out on the world map totally all the way you can’t tell where one square is an the other starts really
But really they needed some way of distinguishing the corral areas to hold us in

Reinth.1498:

Right. So you assume that they were being “lazy” for making the zones squared off for you. Let me get this straight, take out the squared off and how do you divide each zones with the right zone transition triggers and such? I mean come on, you guys always have something to whine but at least for this kind of thing.. No offense but you just showed us that you are the kind who know only how to PLAY a game instead of ever MAKING one.

It’s not that they are surrounded by mountains, or each zone is an instance. It’s that every zone is the shape of a rectangle in some patchwork way of putting zones on the map. It makes the world feel less believable and less natural.

Again, it’s a very small complaint that hardly has any impact, it’s just a strange design choice.

The only reason i can think of them putting zones to the world like this, is that it makes it easier to add new zones in the future? like filling the world in, piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle.

neccessity of game design, just deal wiht this incredibly minor (so minor as to be not worth mentioning and certainlly not worth making a thread over…) issue and enjoy the game.

The map will always be a rectangle, because even if you make a circular area of terrain, the map its based on has to have an X and Y axis which will be the max dimensions in the zone. No matter the shape you make the terrain the map will always be a rectangle.

Why waste the resources in the zone on empty land just to make zones strange shapes? its much better to make as much use of the available zone as possible as its taking up resourses anyway even if left blank.

Its just a quirk of how these games work that forces certain constraints on designers.

I guess they could have tried making it less obvious. But it doesn’t bother me at all.

shingui.4197:

Reinth.1498:

Right. So you assume that they were being “lazy” for making the zones squared off for you. Let me get this straight, take out the squared off and how do you divide each zones with the right zone transition triggers and such? I mean come on, you guys always have something to whine but at least for this kind of thing.. No offense but you just showed us that you are the kind who know only how to PLAY a game instead of ever MAKING one.

It’s not that they are surrounded by mountains, or each zone is an instance. It’s that every zone is the shape of a rectangle in some patchwork way of putting zones on the map. It makes the world feel less believable and less natural.

Again, it’s a very small complaint that hardly has any impact, it’s just a strange design choice.

The only reason i can think of them putting zones to the world like this, is that it makes it easier to add new zones in the future? like filling the world in, piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle.

The reason probably was to pack in most content in zones so that we wouldn’t have to get even more loading screens for the same content. They could have made it less obvious at the cost of removing walkable areas from the map.

As others have already mentioned, it’s probably an efficiency thing. Maps are always rectangular by default, even in the seamless worlds. Arena Net has chosen to make the most of the entire space instead of blocking off chunks of it as impassable terrain for the sake of making the area look organic in the eyes of a bird.

I think we can all agree that running around on the ground we don’t feel like we’re marching around in a large square or rectangle, and that’s the real victory there. I can happily live with the world map being comprised of rectangles if Anet can keep delivering an awesome world that’s fun to explore.

The only territories that don’t come across as completely rectangular are the main cities, but they don’t need to pack 12+ hearts and everything one could do to fill them into these areas. For the most part, the only areas worth visiting in cities are the crafters, culture merchants, trade post, and Asura gate.

Yeah, it definitely seems like lazy design when looking at the map, but being in the zones themselves doesn’t feel boxed in, so I can overlook it. It’ll be pretty cool when we finally see a true open world, seamless MMO without loading breaks, that has gradual changes in terrain, real dynamic weather, and all the other bells and whistles to make the world seem more alive. But that’s still some years off, I think.

How else are we gonna fold the map and fit it into the glove compartment?