Team ping in map, compass marker for target

I have 2 ideas:

.....Idea #1.
How about a location pinger that players can use to display visible, temporary pings on teammates maps? Imagine being in a mission and getting lost but having a teammate 'ping' the map with the location of the rest of the team. I'll freely admit stealing this idea from Warcraft III, but it is something that would make life in AO so much nicer.

Teams could set rally points, point out lifts in missions, call for help at their location, and even point out loot/mobs/etc, all by, say, Shift + Right Clicking on the map. (if the ping is off the visible map, it still makes its pinging sound and maybe centers the map temporarily on the ping.

This would also help newbies find stuff in large cities as they can ask where something is and a teammember can simply ping the map. No more trying to type out complicated directions. (also, maybe there would be some way to make the ping 'permanant' like the "always up" red push pin, and perhaps even show the direction on the compass [see idea below]).



.....Idea #2.
I want a line on my compass that shows me the direction my current target is from me, much like the red line on the compass when locating a mission. The line should be a different color so they don't get confused and it would make finding teammates, Tab'd mobs, etc much easier to find and keep track of.

And one more thing, while I'm on the subject of maps, when are the city maps going to get updated? FC keeps moving stuff around, but only half the time do they even update the map to show the change (example: the West bridge in Tir from West gate to Fair Trade).

OK. So it is some time way way in the future and I have all my map upgrades install. Anyone want a way to input coordinates and have the compass "point" toward the destination, just like we can in missions?

Seems simple enough. I HATE tapping F9 every few seconds trying to determine which direction to go and how to reach a location, someone else has given me.

bump.

I didn't really think of it that way, Eye4get, but being able to ping the map could require comp lit (after all, there is a huge gap between the 130 see monsters upgrade and the 450 view faction upgrade. But, and this is very important, everyone must still be able to see the pings on thier maps, even if they have no map nav skill.

I am in total agreement for the need for more targetting options.

I dont care if they are more map reader upgrades, one possible idea, which would help engies again, would make the targeting functionality into an engie buff - like some of their shields. It would make sence as they are the masters of gadgets

Like,

the buff would increase crit chance, put extra targeting lines on your compass and maybe overhead, it would also add a small runspeed boost (as you have better chance of knowing where you are going). It would be fun to add this into a line of nanos, including, targeting for monsters, players, mobs in general, crates and so on.

I would add another simular buff for engies that would increase team perception, which woudl make sence because the engie releases a nano cloud of bla bla bla techbabble that reports back to all members of the group about what lies in the next room...

Good ideas!

Ani.

All good ideas...

I never even thought of that, but I do think there should be various, profession-specific nanos that add information to the player's display (which could be implemented in addtion to the map pinger/compass marker). Why should all professions have the same display? I'd love to see some diversity.

examples of profession specific nanos that alter the players display:

Crat nano "Command and Control": a crat only or targeted nano that flashes a "Teammate is under attack" message and adds a blinking red compass marker for the direction of your teammate.

Agent nano "Unseen Spy": The agent leaves behind a nano camera that provides the agent with a coninous view of what she is facing when the nano is cast. The view is in a small, seperate window (like the map window) and the nano is terminated upon zoning or recasting.

Adventurer nano "Track Monster": The adventurer casts this nano on a target monster to make its position appear on his map, regardless of how far away he gets from it (a purple circle appears on the map to mark the monsters position and it does not dissapear if the adventurer walks too far away).

It's about time they updated that map. It's really rather primative. All it can give you are a few coordinates when you mouse-over and it will display things based on a few minor map upgrades.

Create more navigational upgrades!

The ability to imput coordinates and have a map beacon would be a great boon for anyone trying to find a rally point or building. With sufficient comp lit requirement of course (say 300?). Shouldn't be to hard to do exactly what they do with missions (put a stationary dot on your map) but have the input be a text command. Use the same function call as the map coordinate update but pass it the coords you give it. (this is assuming that it uses coords and doesn't have fixed points, which would be kinda weird)

An upgrade for the compas would be nice as well. The functions there are numerous.

I think all of these would be pretty easy if you just made it so that a person could have only one map indicator at a time, then it would work the same way missions do and not require too much extra coding or functionality (I think).

Anyway, great idea. Let's hope for it in the next few patches? (I said hope... and hope doesn't have to be reasonable)

I would love to see a map up grade that will always give you the position of the lift to the next lvl once you have found it on a floor.

This would help out alot now when you are running along and loose your team do to warping or stopping to loot something then your completly lost and have to ask the team for directions to the lift for the next lvl.

Funcom can make mission maps 1000 times easier to use just by adding walls to mission maps. I hate how my character is able to create a map, but all detail is lost (doors, walls, lifts, mobs, etc) and nothing is permanant (not even the map!). It becomes rather confusing to navagate when my map is just one huge grey blur.

Maps need the following added:
1. permanance (why should you 'forget' where a door is on your map if you walk too far away or even forget the whole map if you leave the mission for 10 seconds?).
2. Walls!!!! The damn things need to show walls.
3. The exit needs to be marked.
4. Lifts need to be marked (once discovered).

Even if FC makes it so you have to press a 'map' hotkey or macro in each room to map it, the misssion maps need to not forget where things are. (this would be good if they feel useful maps make blitzing too easy).