Posted by Amatera on Friday, November 6th, 2009 - 15 Comments
Tags: 3.3, add-ons, cataclysm, interface, map, patc, ptr, quest, quest helper, quest log, tracking, ui, video
As you may have read in the latest patch notes, Blizzard has gone ahead and given players the option to integrate the Quest Log and World Map into one big, conglomerated objective-tracking monstrosity! People will wail and people will moan that they’re, once again, making the game too easy, but then those same people will turn around and log-in to their characters with add-ons like Quest Helper long-since loaded up. And that’s pretty much what this is, minus some of the more esoteric functionality.
Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. Personally, I couldn’t stand using Quest Helper, and one reason was that damned “GPS arrow” that wouldn’t permanently go away no matter how many times I told it to. Likewise, I never really cared for the associated “quickest route” feature because it would nag me every time I went somewhere it didn’t want me to go. I’m game for something a little more coherent, a little more simplified.
Blizzard’s stab at this sort of functionality places your tracked quests into a numbered list. When moused-over (or clicked), the map lights up with the area in which their objectives can be found. Easy and clean!
At this point in the game, I’m pretty excited to have something like this. It’ll no doubt come in handy when I’m leveling an alt or simply can’t remember where precisely a quest mob is located even though I’ve done it a dozen times in the past. But moving forward? I think I’m going to leave it off, as something like this can quickly ruin the journey of exploration and discovery associated with brand new content. I don’t want the solutions to all of the new quests (in old zones and new) handed to me the second I boot up Cataclysm for the first time.
That said, on with the video, which will show you the finer details of the new map/quest interface:
So what did you think? As it didn’t track all of the quests I gave it, I’ll venture to guess that this system isn’t entirely finished yet, but it’s sure a lot more functional than when we say it in its infancy (the first build of 3.3 on the PTR over a month ago). As I’ve already said, I like it for what it is, but undoubtedly some people are going to continue using their more robust add-ons, just as they have with the inclusion of the Equipment Manager and Voice Chat (oh god, the in-game voice chat). On which end of the spectrum do you exist, readers?
Related Posts: PTR 3.3: Patch Notes Update, New Map/Quest System Implemented, Project Lore’s Alex Albrecht on CNN, Interface Tips for Patch Day, Community Check-in: Calendar Tutorial & Interactive Northrend Map, Welcome to Project Lore!,
By vince on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
ok projectlore i have a question i would like answered, i as forced to quit wow for awhile but now i want back in but the problem is that my gaming laptop(personal Laptop) has the w key broken so i was wondering what the best solution is for solving the problem without having to pay to fix my key board
By Amatera on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
That’s a pretty random question….
But, uh, I’ll venture to answer it anyway. Try rebinding your movement keys yo ESDF instead of WASD? Or you could always hold down both mouse buttons to move forward.
Though I imagine having your keyboard fixed would be a good idea anyway.
By VValkindead on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Two v’s make a w. “vv”
See?
You’ll be getting my bill soonish.
By Taskun on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 12:36 am
As far as the new system, I might use it for going through old quests for alts and such but as soon as new quests come out I won’t be using it…call me a puritan but I like figuring it out (it’s usually not that hard anyway)
By Phanttas on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 3:22 am
I’m wondering how much old content they’ll bring into it. Knowing blizzard (and the incoming destruction of the old world) I can’t see them doing all quests 1-80.
Still, I look forward to trying it out. Not sure that it will replace my trusty old Quest helper quite yet though.
By Meloran on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 4:43 am
Does this replace the small “Shift+M” map, or is it still available? I’d miss it if it were gone. =(
By Amatera on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 4:55 am
@Meloran
Currently, the Shift+M mini zone map is still in the game. I doubt that will change.
By FozziE on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 5:29 am
I really like this.
I got the same problems with Quiest Helper as you, Amatera. Exept for that giant arrow. I said “go away, stupid arrow!” and it did, and never came back. Or do you mean the small arrow on the minimap? That one doesn’t bother me very much, so I haven’t tried to get rid of it.
And for people who is saying “I hate you now Blizzard. This will ruin the whole point of questing, and exploring and blah blah blah”: Just turn this function off. I mean, there must be an option to turn it off.
Anyways.. I give it two thumb up.
By Pedant on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Actually I think it would be two U’s that make a W, not 2 V’s.
It is a double-U after all.
By cocopuff on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
quest helper allready does all of that
By jimbob on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 9:05 am
…and is a memory hog
By Versatu on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
jimbob is so right QH being such a hog had me looking for an alternative. The answer? TomTom & LightHeaded. I can do my quests the way they were intended and if I hit a snag or draw a blank, LightHeaded will have a loc and TomTom will have the “GPS” arrow -which DOES go away when told
Anywho, I am looking forward to Blizz new implementation of a questing tool.
@ Pedant, phonetically W is double-U…on the other hand visually 2 V’s will make a W. If my memory serves me right the W in french would translate as double V
just my 2 cents
By Prower on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
People freting about making questing easy, removing the challenge, irritates me.
WoW was so sucessful because you didn’t have to puzzle over things, the questlog “attempts” to tell you everything you needed to know.
the “adventure” is in the story for example at no point in the wrathgate chain are you lost for what to do next.
all this new map is is the next gen, the Quest Log 2.0 , granted from an age old addon but still the latest way to >> successfuly << comunicate quest objectives.
By Rogue4Life on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 8:08 am
@ Amatera - you know in the options menu you can disable the waypoint arrow? I can’t recall it off of the top of my head, but if you take a moment to go through it I know it is in there. I hated that damn arrow. If you have one of the Cartographer map addons it might be in there. I know, why would it be under a different add, but I think it is how they work together as well. Hope that helps.
As for the post, i can’t wait, I only use questhelper for my alts, for my main(s) i know the dailies well enough that I don’t need it. And any new quests don’t take that long to figure out. QH takes up a ton of memory, so I won’t be too sad to remove it if the update Blizz does manages half of what QH does.
Thanks!
By Amatera on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
@Rogue4Life
Yeah, I think it was the functionality between Cartographer and QH that was causing the problem, back when I was actually running those two add-ons. That was awhile ago. I’m sure I could probably get them to work properly now if I gave them another shot, but I haven’t really felt the need to re-install them.