Guild Wars 2

It would be great to have opportunity to draw permanent map markers with some descriptions and notes. Also in game personal diary would be great.

Are there plans for implmenting this? Or is there some 3rd party plugins which can be used?

I don’t know about the diary so much – the amount of memory that could start to accumulate for multiple characters might be a bit much. Account-bound diary seems to almost miss the point somewhat . . . at least, in my mind.

The map markers? I’d love to see that happen, but there’s the issue of memory again. How many markers could be set before it becomes a significant toll when magnified by how many player characters there are total? What about the annotation text you could put in, how bad would that push the memory issue?

If you want 3rd party diary? I suggest Notepad, easiest method and you don’t have to risk installing anything dodgier than Windows.

I agree. Two things I wish all RPGs would have are an in-game note book you can type your own notes in (either like Neverwinter Nights which put it in with the quest log or like Ultima Online where you could find actual blank books) and a map you can write/draw on like Phantom Hourglass.

Admittedly I never really thought about either until I played those games, but once I’d tried using it I found myself wishing I had the same option in everything else as well.

I have no idea if there are plans to implement this but there aren’t any 3rd party plugins. Anet doesn’t allow mods for the game, except for stuff that doesn’t actually interact with it like the boss timers which are just an overlay.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I don’t know about the diary so much – the amount of memory that could start to accumulate for multiple characters might be a bit much. Account-bound diary seems to almost miss the point somewhat . . . at least, in my mind.

The map markers? I’d love to see that happen, but there’s the issue of memory again. How many markers could be set before it becomes a significant toll when magnified by how many player characters there are total? What about the annotation text you could put in, how bad would that push the memory issue?

If you want 3rd party diary? I suggest Notepad, easiest method and you don’t have to risk installing anything dodgier than Windows.

Well those files can be saved locally like screenshot does. I hope that ANet will make this happen.

I’m just considering the problems of how much data space it would take up. Not serverside so much (though that could be considerable if you multiplied by a million users) as loading it all when loading into the game may slow things down as you add more notes.

MGjam.5706:

Well those files can be saved locally like screenshot does. I hope that ANet will make this happen.

That still doesn’t handle the problem of loading the notes into the game every time it starts up. Get enough notes in there, it can become an issue.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’m just considering the problems of how much data space it would take up. Not serverside so much (though that could be considerable if you multiplied by a million users) as loading it all when loading into the game may slow things down as you add more notes.

Don’t worry. Unless people start composing War and Peace in their map annotations the performance impact of plain text is negligible.

dace.8019:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’m just considering the problems of how much data space it would take up. Not serverside so much (though that could be considerable if you multiplied by a million users) as loading it all when loading into the game may slow things down as you add more notes.

Don’t worry. Unless people start composing War and Peace in their map annotations the performance impact of plain text is negligible.

Yeah, I wouldn’t count people out for that. I know I hit a LOT of annotations when I played Stonekeep back in the day. Like . . . a ton.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

MGjam.5706:

Well those files can be saved locally like screenshot does. I hope that ANet will make this happen.

That still doesn’t handle the problem of loading the notes into the game every time it starts up. Get enough notes in there, it can become an issue.

That can happen. but they don’t need to be loaded all immediately. The can loaded one by one according to map you are viewing or diary lists you are browsing. Similiar addon was in WoW and i don’t encountered any issues

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

dace.8019:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’m just considering the problems of how much data space it would take up. Not serverside so much (though that could be considerable if you multiplied by a million users) as loading it all when loading into the game may slow things down as you add more notes.

Don’t worry. Unless people start composing War and Peace in their map annotations the performance impact of plain text is negligible.

Yeah, I wouldn’t count people out for that. I know I hit a LOT of annotations when I played Stonekeep back in the day. Like . . . a ton.

Let me put it to you like this, your concern is not unlike fretting over whether a few grains of table salt will over burden a train. Consider how many grains of table salt are required to meaningfully impact a train.

There would probably be someone out their who might try to break such an addition (only impacting themself, most likely, as has been pointed out such notes would be local to the user) and a simple limit on characters per note and notes per zone should suffice.

MGjam.5706:

That can happen. but they don’t need to be loaded all immediately. The can loaded one by one according to map you are viewing or diary lists you are browsing. Similiar addon was in WoW and i don’t encountered any issues

I’m not a programmer, per se, I just remember talking with some about this sort of thing a while back when working with MapTools and getting a crash course on why copying a one-tile piece of art was giving the program fits.

I would like to see that too. Especially the first one I’m missing since day one.

Fellows, I am a web designer and web dev, and I can assure you text doesn’t take up considerable space at all, storage-wise, and I doubt it would increase loading time for the game… I’ve arrived at this post because I’d love to see this feature built into GW2 and I think it’s more of a matter of convincing ArenaNet this is a good idea, regardless of how much it would cost to implement it because I don’t think it would be much, honestly… I mean, not in terms of storage resource, that’s for sure, if annotations were text only…

Anyways, just dropping a line to clarify that point! Hehehe

You can always use TacO, it lets players make their own markers

MGjam.5706:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I don’t know about the diary so much – the amount of memory that could start to accumulate for multiple characters might be a bit much. Account-bound diary seems to almost miss the point somewhat . . . at least, in my mind.

The map markers? I’d love to see that happen, but there’s the issue of memory again. How many markers could be set before it becomes a significant toll when magnified by how many player characters there are total? What about the annotation text you could put in, how bad would that push the memory issue?

If you want 3rd party diary? I suggest Notepad, easiest method and you don’t have to risk installing anything dodgier than Windows.

Well those files can be saved locally like screenshot does. I hope that ANet will make this happen.

If it isn’t already bad enough with all the guides online this will just open the door for mods to replace those files that will do just that.

No thank you!

^ And that’s bad… how? You’ve made the argument. Now flesh it out.