Guild Wars 2

The monsters depicted with this thing are smaller than miniatures, only display for half a second, and are not placed well enough to recognize the shapes that it shows. For instance sometimes the thing shows 3 monster types but by the time I’ve panned and zoomed in the monsters are gone.

Also, in order to actually make use of it, I have to keep my inventory open until I can tell what monsters are displayed, dig into my achievement panel to see what maps to go to, and read a guide to find out the rotation of the spawning monsters.

This is too many tabs and windows open, too much switching between tasks. Can’t we just get some sort of indication of which direction to go? Kinda like using a shovel in Silverwastes?

I can help with the first couple of issues you describe:

Position yourself facing down a slope and zoom in before you activate the device. Hit I to open inventory, double click the device, instantly hit I again. (If I is your hotkey, that is). The panel closes and you get a good quick view of the beast shapes.

For what maps to go to, well, after I’d attempted it a few times I just learned where to go. Not every map that could spawn one, just the ones that the most players were using (eg se Mount M for shark). On rotation, I copied Dulfy’s line on it into chat; you can /w yourself to have it saved in pink for quick reference.

I agree these are work arounds and the device could have a much easier interface, but maybe they can help you deal with the issues it’s giving you.