Thursday, February 6, 2014

Exploring Guild Maps IX - Limited Addiction

Notice: This is just a look at some of the guild maps that have been made for Eternal Lands. This blog provides no secrets.
The entrances to these maps and any secrets to get around them will never be posted, nor will I provide them so don't ask.

View all Guild Map exploration via the Guildmaps tag.

L.A., Limited Addiction, is a dead guild.

Guard Bot: No

PK: Yes and No. Some PK areas are well-marked, others you can't really tell where it's PK without attempting to attack yourself and going by that message. It's a pretty messy map on top of that.


Of all the guild maps, this is probably one of the "least secret", as anyone who's been around a while knows where it is. Despite that, I don't post secrets so I won't provide that info.

Knowing where it is and getting around it are two different things though. It can take a little work figuring out how to find every area on the map.


So... here we go. Starting of course with where you appear when you enter. Unlike most maps, this one is not PK on entering.




L.A.


You may feel very cross if you enter this location.




L.A.


This maze was obviously designed to... um... train horses?

L.A.



Praise Jeebus! Here be the church!

L.A.



And inside, it's empty. No worshipers be here today.

L.A.



Looking elsewhere, we find an island with the primary PK arena.

L.A.



L.A.



Oh right... here's how you get around. A "map portal room" of sorts.

L.A.



Another island has a castle. Fully PK once you cross the bridge.

L.A.



L.A.



And the map's official "WTF?" spot. This most definitely does not fit in with the rest of the map, and no purpose for it can be seen.

L.A.



Here we have a large PK area separated into three "themed" sections, including the furthest back being a ship. Arrrr, pirates!

L.A.


L.A.



Another separate area... entirely pk, you can play... cowboys and indians?

L.A.



In case it's not blatantly obvious to you, this is a fort.

L.A.



Yet another separate isle, here we find many indoor areas including the "homes" of L.A. members of days gone by.

L.A.



Time for a break... beach relaxation.

L.A.



Bad Dudes place. Several of these rooms have unmarked but blatantly obvious PK arenas in them.

L.A.



Random house with a table set for six, but only a bed for one. I really don't wanna know what goes on here.

L.A.



Random "spare" house.

L.A.



Mrs_DrtySouth's "house". I wouldn't wanna live like this... complete with a jail cell in her bedroom. Another place where I don't wanna know what goes on here.

L.A.


L.A.



Burfoot's house seems to be the most extensive one, with several rooms though all sparsely decorated.

L.A.


L.A.


L.A.


L.A.



The first of the "this map is incomplete" spots... what appears to be a ranging area here is not accessible, there's no walking tiles in it.

L.A.



Still in Burfoot's place, this is called a "magic" training area. One side is PK, but nothing special magically about it.

L.A.



Farstar's house... still don't wanna know what goes on here either.

L.A.



Levinmage's house. While other members have disappeared, Levinmage apparently came back and cleared his stuff out.

L.A.



An outdoor view of the housing.

L.A.



Halo and Pinky's place. Despite the warning, I touched the bed. Ha ha!

L.A.



Their room also includes this not-so-secret PK room.

L.A.



The L.A. Hall.

L.A.



Here I go again... King of the Map!

L.A.



If you can find this secret room on the map, you can harvest veggies. (All guild maps are allowed a single fruit or veggie to be harvable.)

L.A.



Another sign of incompleteness... This room is obviously unfinished. There's no entrance to it, secret or otherwise. And once you're in, there's no exit. The only way in/out is to tele-to-range from another room on the map. (Yes, it looks like Levinmage's empty house, but it's different. Really.)

L.A.


Time for another break... bathing in the beach in the moonlight.

L.A.



And finally, one of the more secret places on the map. If you find it, you'll be taken to a deserted island.

L.A.



That's it! I don't really get the point of most of this map, but here it is anyway. Though if you happen to find yourself in this room, hope you have a tele ring. ;-)

L.A.


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Exploring Guild Maps VIII - Circle

Notice: This is just a look at some of the guild maps that have been made for Eternal Lands. This blog provides no secrets.
The entrances to these maps and any secrets to get around them will never be posted, nor will I provide them so don't ask.

View all Guild Map exploration via the Guildmaps tag.

~o~, The Circle, is an old and still pretty kinda-active guild.

Guard Bot: No

PK: No. Entrance area is PK, as well as several PK arenas and rooms. Some rooms aren't clearly marked but you can generally tell by looking at them.



This map is huge. And I mean almost-WhiteStone huge. There is an incredible amount of area to explore, and finding every enterable room will be time-consuming.

While interesting, I think the final thought I had after fully exploring was one word: claustrophobic. Okay, "incomplete" came to mind as well.

What has been done is quite detailed for the most part, and obviously took a lot of time. It's just that there was some missing concepts that in the end made it not the most interesting of maps found so far.

The issues noted:

1- Claustrophobia - Some areas, without the minimap, are difficult to move around simply because "streets" and other open areas aren't that open. Everything feels very crowded in most places, like there was an attempt to shove everything under the sun into one place.

And when dealing with such a large map on top of that... long-term claustrophobia. Giving good spacing on a map is just as vital as anything else. Considering how few of the buildings are actually enterable, just reducing those would drastically improve the map.

2- Walking Path Bugs - There's more than a few places where you randomly fall into the ground... as well as places you should simply be able to mapwalk from one point to another are not possible.

And on a side note that goes with this, as you'll see below, it's possible to go to completely different locations where there's no standard way to enter (but it's a complete house), an area where nothing exists is actually enterable if you find the entrance (a mapmaking no-no)... these and the walking path bugs are mostly what made me think "incomplete".

3- The 20-space rule - A basic of map development is that separate places  should have at least 20 spaces between them, so you can't just tele-to-range from one to another. This map completely abandons that rule, you can tele-to-range from inside one house to another, for almost all of the "internal" areas. (You'll see below in many inner images how close other locations are.)

4- Lack of secrecy - While there are a tiny handful of "secrets", they were easily found and used. A huge map like this could have done well with many more.

5- Some things just feel wrong - Huge areas with lots of houses, but only 1-2 can actually be entered. Ships and boats aplenty, many of which you can walk onto, but none take you anywhere. While there's something to be said for doing things differently, sometimes doing what's expected is necessary to avoid confusion. Using a boat to get from one area of a map to another would have made more sense than... wait, is that a random tele pad?


Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad map. It just feels seriously overdone in some places, and not done enough in others.


At any rate, a huge map gets a huge number of screenies. So let's start looking around!


Here is where you enter. Probably the trickiest place in the map.




Circle


And if you enter the wrong way... Zomg, prison! Common to many guild maps.




Circle



The PK areas are set up well at least. Noticeably marked or in some small areas it's obvious there's possible PK there even if it doesn't directly state it. Here we have a few of the obvious arenas.


The Great Circle Summoning Hall

Circle


The Fight Training Arena

Circle


The Great Circle Battle Hall

Circle


The map has many houses. Finding the ones that you can actually enter is an annoyance but you can figure them all out eventually. (Kinda, more on that later.)
Many are "owned" with player names. Though the majority of those players are long gone. A case for most guild maps.
Strahovsky's House



Circle



Bluejay's Sanctuary



Circle




Eili's Gateway



Circle


Pause for reflection. And please, allow me to preach to the audience of none. ;-)

Circle


Such fire-and-brimstone preaching made me weary. A campfire break on the shore.

Circle




ZOMG! SCARY PATH! *runs* ... (Oh wait, I always run, heh.)

Circle




A bit more of a look at the exterior map.

Circle




More houses... Monkeyb00y's Crib

Circle




Aarwen's Nest

Circle




Exterior of a house in an area that's slightly less claustrophobic than others, though still kinda tightly done.

Circle




Nice place to take your significant other for a night under the stars ;-)

Circle



This house didn't get the memo that Xmas is over, heh.

Circle





Okay... with all the unused boats around, this only led to the question... why?

Circle




As my friends will attest, when it comes to food I'm a pig. All this... mine!

Circle




This would be where the guild meets to discuss how to properly run around in Circles. :-P

Circle




Abode of the Rising Phoenix

Circle




It's beginning to look a lot like (more) Xmas

Circle




The Circle Lodge

Circle




One of the few names I recognize as a current player... Johnelf2's Place

Circle




One of several "guest" houses

Circle




Okay, I mentioned some of the "pitfalls" and glitches of the map at the start. Here's a very good example of one. And oddly enough, it's PK here. :-O

Circle




More map glitchiness. This happens in several other locations as well.

Circle




With every exploration, I look for that sweet spot where I can sit on a throne and say... I'm King of the Map!

Circle




Chess boards like this one seem to be a common thing, having noticed them on more than a few guild maps. The only oddity here is that they're normally PK arenas. Not here though.

Circle




Oy, a maze to get completely lost in! Or not... more exterior scenery. (Walking tiles are glitchy in this area as well.)

Circle




Phew, this map is huge... time for another break.

Circle




*Intentionally runs around and tramples everything growing, just cuz I'm ebul* Or not.

Circle




Some more buildings. The Great Circle Library

Circle




Hmmm, seems someone moved out of here. An oddly empty place, considering there's a fully designed house that has no entrance (further below)

Circle




The Circle's Great Hall

Circle




Some random exterior shots

Circle




Circle




Circle




I'm in your ship, being your pirate.

Circle




Mining and manufacturing...

Circle




Um... random cave!

Circle




Another guest house

Circle




Fortunately some non-claustrophobic mapping was done around the arena.

Circle




Another meeting hall

Circle




Some more random buildings

Circle




Circle




Circle




Circle




Here we are... No entrance could be found for this one. However, you can tele-to-range into it from a nearby house since the mapmaker didn't use the 20-space rule. Once in, there's no exit so tele out as well.

Circle




A slighty-more-hidden beachfront property

Circle




Oh my... the guild that bathes together, stays together. ;-)

Circle




And another Guest House

Circle




One last random house

Circle




Finally, the "incompletes". That is, some incomplete areas that were discovered that are only accessible via tele-to-range from inside other buildings.
These three houses for example that are empty.

Circle



And this area, which apparently had some big plans but was definitely not finished, with only parts of it even being walkable.

Circle




Yup, definitely not finished. ;-)

Circle


And that's it. *phew* That one took a while, hehe.



Some final notes, should you ever discover this map yourself:
1- Many of the buildings have signs outside. Eye-ing the signs will tell you what the building is.
2- There's apparently some hunting games you can play. One is to find all the scrolls. Eye-ing the scrolls gives you the letter/number/whatever for that scroll. Gotta catch 'em all? There also seems to be a jewel hunt game as well, eye any random jewels you see lying around...