I played an emulated EQ1 server back in the day called Shards of Dalaya (orginially Winter's Roar) and they had this awesome idea for additional challenging content in the world.
A treasure map was just a random drop of just about any mob in the game as well as from fishing (maps in bottles, gotta love it) with extremely low probability.
Once you opened the map you had a certain about of time (something like 4 hours) before the treasure decayed.
If you examined the map could see a general area where the treasure would be, then as you got within close enough range it worked like sense heading in that it told you the direction the treasure was in (in words of course). The map also becomes no-trade at this point
Once you found the "X", you busted out your shovel and started digging. A failed dig would produce either nothing, or a wave of monsters to fight. While a successful dig produced a treasure check with rewards.
There were several difficulties of maps from duo'able to 10 group raids. The rewards, as well as the waves of monsters, were based on the difficulty of the map and the level of the player who opened the map.
These added so much fun to all stages of game as anyone could do them and get rewards appropriate to your level, but sometimes they might send you into zones way beyond your power so trying to get to the dig location could cost you your life.
I would absolutely love to see these appear in Pantheon!
This would be cool. I kinda like it more when you're forced to find it or accidently come across it yourself. By jumping ontop of the highest buildings and mountains. People can make guides, add to it, or not. Maybe they will just tell their friends and guildmates.
I think in general finding something to benefit you or some cosmetic as you explore such a big world would be really huge for this game. I don't know what they have planned yet in terms of that, but I know they want exploration to be huge.... So, they have to add something....right?
This idea is neat, although if I understood correctly I think the Shards of Dalaya implementation you described could use some additional design. The treasure in this implementation sounds like it's essentially instanced and exists solely for the purposes of the treasure map holders. I think what could make it better is if hidden treasures spawn in the world regardless of the existence of an associated treasure map, and could theoretically be discovered without the map (but it'd be significantly less likely). That makes them more real and a part of the world that was already there to be found. Additionally, I think you'd want to thematically tie the creatures that drop treasure maps to the areas that their associated treasures are in. For example, if a pirate has a chance to drop a treasure map, the treasure might be along the coast somewhere or on some pirate ship.
The idea of treasure maps sound very nice in my ears and I think such mechanics can easily be implemented in the perception system.
I generally like such non static content, where you don't know in advance where you have to go and what is waiting for you at the target location. This could even be extended to messages that need to be decipherd first like for the beale treasure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers or where you have to solve some riddles. This could even have different stages, so the people may have fun over a longer periode of time.
While there should be personal treasure hunts where only you have the information to find the treasure, there should also be public treasure hunts, where everyone has the information and the first one who finds the location gets the treasure. The MIT mystery hunt (http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/) is just an example about what I have in mind when thinking about multi staged, public treasure hunts.
I for sure would join a guild, that will focus on this kind of content, because I like solving puzzles. :) Unfortunatelly I'm not very sure, if this will make it into the game and to which extent.
I kinda of remember something like this in WoW. I really enjoyed the minigame/challenge it presented. I think it would be a great idea to get people to explore and see the world that the Devs created. I also like the idea of the more difficult the treasure map the more others will want it so the player has to protect it if they want to find the treasure. A hypothetical version would be difficulties from 1 to 8. Public treasure hunts and the like would be events but have a difficulty of 0. The more difficult the treasure map the higher the rank. Treasure maps from 1 to 3 are meatn for solo, duos and 1 group content. Maps from 4 to 6 would require 2 groups of players and anything over 6 plus would be raid versions. The treasure maps of difficulty 0 to 2 are nontradeable, 3 and above are stealable while treasure maps that are raid level content are tradeable/stealable/lootable.
This relates to really old EQ. But when I was adventuring Paw - the original Splitpaw Lair there would be parchments dropped from the gnolls. I believe there were 5 different parchments written in Gnoll. I spent a lot of time deciphering those parchments to piece together what they said. I actually thought it would lead to something - a hint at something hidden. Back in the early days everything was being discovered so imaginations were also rampant with "what about" and theories of...
Unfortunately, it only described the history of Splitpaw and that was it. So, I absolutely loved deciphering them and piecing them together but having it just end was a let down. This is the memory I get when the thought of Treasure Maps is brought up.
Like I said, this was the original Splitpaw Lair before revamps so not a lot of people are even familiar with what I am describing. I would absolutely be on board with things of this nature. Even if they end up being a dead end it is kind of fun while it lasts.
Since I had other ideas with my first post but alas I had other committments at that time I wrote down a couple of ideas I wanted to throw out to go along with Treasure maps.
The first idea I had was for the Dueling/Challenge system. make it so that there is a definite reward for doing them. I have it in my head that the victor of a duel/challenge should be able to receive something from the loser. Whether it be money a potion/consumable, or something else I would kind of like to see a system put in place that would allow that type of immersition.
The second idea I had was for tweaking tweak/make pickpockets realisitc. Since theives are masters of slight of hand and the like, why not make it so that to "pickpocket" a rogue must replace the item they are taking with something of the equal weight/size? I originally thought it would be neat to have the rogues required to replace said treasure map with an unused scroll or parchment. However I took it one step farther and thought why limit it to just the maps but anything that is pickpocketed.
I know in WoW there was a tradeskill called Prospecting/Surveying. I thought it would be interesting if RotF has something similiar to it but limit it to just one specific tradeskill. I am thinking tat the skill would be called searching or Seeking and it would apply to all tradeskills. Not really a foraging skill but more of a focused effect. For instance have a miner's search skill be called scrounge. Where they are able to find a specific item that they might need later, like a specific smithing component or a special effect component. Each tradeskill would have a specific Search/Seeking command that would give them the possibility of finding something helpful to them or to the player they will be selling their harvested items to.
Seems like a great idea that would fit with the perception system very well. I am pretty sure it has been done to some degree before in other games as mentioned. I will say, one thing I do not want is 10 group raids. I mean, you get a mega rare drop, and then have a limited amount of time to find the spot...then BAM, the heavens rain down unforeseen death? Nah. It would become a stress...you have to get together a massive raid super fast before it decays? Then, what if your map is only a basic one with a minimal fight or no fight? No thanks. I would love a system where the maps are mega rare, create a random spot to find that is dynamically created so you cannot know what map does what or where the spots are, then it should be something that you can do alone, or at worst, with a couple of friends. I mean, if I find a map and I know I need to take 2 more people or something that would be fine...that way everyone knows what the expectation is for a map hunt. I should not have to expect to fight an army when hunting buried treasure off a map in a bottle.
Convo said: I pitched a treasure map idea wayyyyy back on the original VG forums. Ive always had a soft spot for them. Wish I still had access to that post. It was a good idea;-)
Well I hope you guys decide to put it in, even if its not at launch. A lot of people seem to think it's a good idea, and it's interesting to say at the least :D
antonius said:Seems like a great idea that would fit with the perception system very well. I am pretty sure it has been done to some degree before in other games as mentioned. I will say, one thing I do not want is 10 group raids. I mean, you get a mega rare drop, and then have a limited amount of time to find the spot...then BAM, the heavens rain down unforeseen death? Nah. It would become a stress...you have to get together a massive raid super fast before it decays? Then, what if your map is only a basic one with a minimal fight or no fight? No thanks. I would love a system where the maps are mega rare, create a random spot to find that is dynamically created so you cannot know what map does what or where the spots are, then it should be something that you can do alone, or at worst, with a couple of friends. I mean, if I find a map and I know I need to take 2 more people or something that would be fine...that way everyone knows what the expectation is for a map hunt. I should not have to expect to fight an army when hunting buried treasure off a map in a bottle.
I understand your feelings and I realize I did not explain the system in full, but the maps were marked as "Very Easy Treasure Map", "Easy Treasure Map", .... , "Very Difficult Treasure Map", "Extremely Difficult Treasure Map". The users could see these rating before opening them so they could plan accordingly. Generally if someone came accross an "Extremely Difficult" map then they would let their guild leader know and try to tie it in to a raid.
Some common practices for looting in treasure map fights were the owner of the map gets first pick of 1 item, then everyone else randoms (or dkp or whatever your guild does) for the rest of the items since the owner usually had to invest their own time/money into acquiring the map. But this was just a practice implemented by the people and was not coded or EULA'ed. Also, all the items dropped from these treasure maps were lore (and a lot of no-drop) so people couldn't just stock up on loot to sell.
The No-drop also enticed people to get out and do treasure maps of their own for those items. I remember there was a t4 (L30-L39) drop from the maps that casters loved, but if they were already 40+ they had to try to buy loot rights or something because they could no longer do those maps. I think there was some code in there that would reset the map if anyone over-leveled got too much agro or something. It has been a while, but I remember people making alts so they could do tmaps for their mains who were too high level.
I love the idea of a treasure map, but perhaps as a scrap of information on a torn piece of parchment rather than the grand visual "x" marks the spot sort of map.
Parchment scrap: We pitched our tents on the smooth sands in the desert valley. Mountains stood on the horizon to our east and south. The wind blew hard throughout the night revealing the sparkle of beautiful crystals beneath the sand in the early morning light. We filled out sacks until we could carry no more. The rising sun brought with it a shifting wind and what was revealed was just as quickly hidden again.
Our plan is to return again, pitch our tents, and wait upon the cool evening breezes to reveal fortune once more. We've found treasure indeed.
Today was an article published on MassivelyOP: Link.
It was about a game called Sea of Thieves, not really an MMORPG, but what they have implemented about treasure maps so far would be a good starting point for treasure maps in Pantheon.
They have maps with an X, where you only have to find the landmark they are showing you. They have riddles to solve, to find the correct Landmark. They let you interact with the world e. g. by using items to unlock the next step of your treasure hunt. And as already more or less said in the sentence before, they have multiple steps treasure hunts.
I think a similar system integrated in the Perception System would be a very good foundation to keep us busy with treasure hunts.
Jeah, I could imagine great tales being told by the community about legendary treasures and the adventures made during the search for them.
A treasure map, that was released to the public month ago and no one was able to get the correct location of the treasure since then. All the rumors that would be generated over time of what cool stuff the treasure would consist of. All the stories of the adventurers who failed on their search for the treasure but found other nice things while exploring the world.
The hype in the first days the treasure map is release with everyone trying to find the correct location. Then after weeks or month only hardcore treasure hunters are left trying to solve the riddle, leading them to the treasure. And after a long search finally a Howard Carter or a Heinrich Schliemann who is able to solve the mysterium and find the famous treasure.
Love treasure maps and exploration. Which reminds me of EQII and their framed pictures you put on the walls of your little house. You could click them and enter a new zone. I LOVED that!! Don't remember how I got those pictures exactly might have been a veteran reward..memory is hazy on that. As for exploring I will enter any cave or jump down a hole, walk through a waterfall, to see what's there. Now granted that can be dangerous. :) And any body of water is sure to be explored by me..coastline and out into the deep as far as I can go. :)
Cana