Hard to find my way in highstep

Suggestions
1

It took me over a day of almost constant playing to be able to navigate the maze of highstep.

For beginners this must be hell.

The circle around the tree looks almost the same no matter the direction you look, and the crooked pathways all have the same houses on the side.

My sugestion would be to toss in single painted houses on the corners of the paths, houses of quest givers, and for the player house, so you get a visual landmark when trying to navigate.

That or redesign the entire town

5 Likes
2

I had the same and sometimes still have :woman_shrugging: it’s a maze, I also would like to have the player house at the circle like it was in the first beta

1 Like
3

This would also greatly improve my ability to help people find the way. Looking for the salvage guy? Go to the green house! Heading for the player house? Take the path between the yellow houses, then it’s the house with a blue door…
And so on.

Right now my description is:

Uhhhh… ok follow me, it should be over hear.

4 Likes
4

Follow the path where the mayor is down there is the player house and critter capture. :slight_smile: but yeah I get lost every where in this game

5

Using a smal npc as a landmark is not a viable option

6

Would you guys like a map? :wink:

1 Like
7

We have maps in the journal

8

It makes sense to me that Highsteppe is more labyrinth-like since it’s practically the only civilization now. If it’s our headquarters, our center, our meeting/starting place, we’ll learn it like the back of our hand soon enough. However, I do like having more visual cues to make it easier to give verbal directions or associate a “landmark” with an area or path. We already have it a bit, such as “the ramp to go downstairs is by Darius, the humanoid/warg/wolf NPC.” My current description for player house is to “find Fellowship Court, leave it heading left toward Mayor Kaia, on to that guy at the booth, then follow that ally. When you see critter capture, house is opposite it to the right.” Aside from signs in game and compass indicators, I do like the idea of more visual cues to know at more of a distance which way is what. I tend to circle the tree a few times. I would especially like something to distinguish gate entrance/exits from inside Highsteppe, like the one with the guy feeding the birds is the exit that leads to the mouse trap dragon race. Technically now it’s the exit past Darius / beyond Darius and Mugon and the exit near the playhouse. So, aside from painting houses (although I think sunflower graffiti on a house would be great! We could keep the wooden looks and it appear that designs are painted on) below are landmark ideas I would like to see to go with the signs or intersections to be able to easily distinguish them.

  • The Twins game. “The player house is near the NPCs playing a board game. So is Critter Capture and the exit to the event.”
  • A little garden? Like a noticeable wooden trough with a single line (or few) of something growing. Could be whatever was growing in The Twin’s garden. “The makeshift garden is past/between Darius and Mugon. That exit leads to the mouse trap dragon race and the dummies”
  • Someone feeding a little gathering of hopping birds like the guy on the bench in old Guild City. “The fellowship can be created/upgraded at that booth where someone is feeding the birds.”
  • Chickens. Downstairs with the different paths away from the tree, one path could have chickens near the entrance, the other could have a fish market reminiscent of the one at Guild City, whether hanging like the catfish used to or the “shelf” that had a variety of fish sitting on it. Maybe both, one on either side of entrance. “Go down the path with the chickens on either side for the odds and ends vendor… go down the path with the fish display on either side for the dragon shop.” But then maybe a bit more, like “there’s torches on the walls outside the library” or just glancing from a distance down the hallway, you can see a few dragons outside the Sicilus area. (I LOVE that there are some inside, especially the visual of them flying around)
  • The band from Guild City! I hope they moved to Highsteppe and still perform somewhere! They could be cheering people at the dungeon entrance?
  • As for distinguishing buildings upstairs, I like that everything is wooden, but would love to see more banners and graffiti (yellow sunflowers, purple tulip design of old nightmare flowers, red tails, bluetails) to distinguish. “Critter capture is that place with sunflowers painted all over the wall / has the sunflower banner by the exit with the boardgame, near the playhouse. So from here (the big tree) head that way to Fellowship Court, turn right toward the guy feeding the birds, and down that ally with the seahorse house (frosted spit architecture), critter capture is on the left. It’ll be the one with sunflowers. Sign on the outside says critter capture.” Also, instead of a banner only being flat against a wall, I was thinking of a rod protecting out horizontally so that looking straight at a building we see wall designs but if we’re down the street we can see the banner sticking out, vs walking all the way down to see if the wall placard says what we thought
4 Likes
9

There are indeed maps in the journal, but they may not be the most helpful… Try this one and let me know if you still have issues (for overworld): Reborn Map

10

I like the idea of colors to help it be more navigable to new plaryers!! Kind of like Stormwind in Wow

11

While it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have some landmarks to help (as long as they keep with the style of the game), I don’t have any problems getting around and I’ve only had the game like 4 days now. There’s only like 12 or so points of interest and it’s basically 1 big loop round.

Outside of the town though, I don’t have the slightest clue. I basically know traders road and I can make my way to the graveyard (kingsway? - something like that) where there is a lake for fishing. I’ve tried to explore more but as I was like level 9 last I went exploring, I constantly found myself back at a graveyard very quickly.

I’d love to have a marker on the map showing your current position. We are all capable of magic by simply grabbing a wand and knowing the right way to wave it, it wouldn’t be lore breaking to have a little pin on the map when you look at your journal saying where you are. Players could then get to where they wanted to go using their current position on the map and the compass to keep traveling in the correct direction

12

Has this whole thing become you plugging your map @AcaviGER? :joy: On a serious note, I really do like the map and it’s quite helpful if you are looking for a fish, recourse or anything else.

13

well after a while i kinda got used to the new HS, but still so much confusing for new players

14

Why thank you. Sorry to plug the map periodically… Just trying to make sure it reaches anyone who has not yet seen it.

Also, not AcaviGER. I’m Atropos

15

Oh, I must have hit the wrong one, sorry…

1 Like
16

One letter in, eh? :wink:

17

C’mon, there are only 2 people in the thread that start with “a”! Besides Airis, but she is everywhere…

2 Likes
18

It became better with the pathway by the player house, but it is still quite flawed.
The tree roundabout has unmarked curved pathways leading from it. The standard way is strait paths out from a circle, making roads possible to defend with a single siege weapons, making the monument easy to see from any spot and making it a more enjoyable overview.
monumentcircle01-1

Angled walkways from a circle Center is a trick you do when designing a hedge maze in order to make people loose there direction or see where they are going.
downloadfile-1

6 Likes
19

So the theory is that they made it confusing on purpose to make Highsteppe look bigger then it is? :joy:

2 Likes
20

I love the idea of a few painted houses. Even though we’re ‘rebuilding’, the world does have dyes so a little splash of paint should be doable by the citizens :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes