Canthan Grandmaster Cartographer in a day - What's A-Net going to do about it?

Has this been proven, or are you just basing this off of Torqual's overexaggerations?

Is there any ingenuity in the Sweet Tooth title though? That gets recognised in the HoM as well, and can be easily bought with enough funds. I'm not sure ingenuity is even needed for LGMC, I, like many others just wall-hugged till my eyes bled, no ingenuity involved there either, although 'tricks and exploits' such as Eredon Terrace and Necrotic Traversal could be described as such, but then neither are necessary to get LGMC.

Most titles can be bought with enough money... People buy game gold online for real money which is against the rules but they still do it... I don't agree with it and won't do it but it will not stop others. GMC still has to be gotten by going out and physically doing it. I highly doubt that LGMC can be gotten in only a few days time. I agree that ingenuity is not needed for it as well... scrape around the edges till the red dots meet then run zig zag pattern across the middle. Still has to be physically done as well as dealing with creatures.

To be quite honest, I disagree with this statement. There is no ingenuity required unless areas like JQ and Eredon Terrace become necessary for the title.
Someone who wall scrapes properly can do this without the mod and without outside help and they will do it just as fast as someone with the mod. I'm nearly done with Elona and I've wall scraped every map only once this time - I've learnt from the mistake I made in Cantha.

The point that a lot of us are trying to get across is that there is no less effort involved. My current method is Elona is this:
Scape scrape scrape - alt tab - check 100% map - alt tab - check for missing bits - rinse and repeat.
If when I finish I have 0.1%s missing I'll probably open gimp and run some filters but I am not going to scrape maps more than once.

My method, I honestly believe, is no different than what the mod offers, except it involves more eye strain which is not a good thing.

By classifying people using mod methods "cheating" or even just "lazy" because they got the title done faster than others is suggesting that those of us who have learned from our mistakes the first time around are also "cheating/lazy" regardless of the fact that some of us haven't used the mod at all.

Summary - the OP wall scraped maps more than once and that is what took the time and the "ingenuity", but why should those who wall scrape only once be labelled as "lazy/cheats"?

Gaile: The mod changes the color of the fog. That's all it does, and not a single thing more. If this change is so dramatic that it causes you concern because people are finally having an easier time in the game and not straining their eyes, not switching back and forth between Photoshop, not playing with difference layers, maybe the original was a bad design choice to start with.

And for the record, there is absolutely zero ingenuity in the Cartographer title. Scraping walls? You do that regardless of what you use, and that's the only way to get this title anyway. Where does the ingenuity come in? Scratching your head wondering where that last .2% is? Figuring out how to use an outside graphics application and compare screenshots?

This mod takes what in my opinion is an extremely iffy design and makes it easier for others to work with. Take it away, and they go back to Photoshop as before - not a single thing will change except players wasting more of their time fiddling with layers.

I believe your concern here is a bit misguided, as well as unwarranted.

Because Gaile has opened this as an "issue" with her boss, and has taken sides in a community debate. Her statements suggest strongly that she really does not understand what the Cartography mods do.

Also: ANet documents and approves of Texmod on their OFFICIAL WIKI, yet there is now potential to have it BANNED.

Hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing another. ANet is a master of the art.

Ingenuity for scrapping walls?!? There are far better things to be ingenious about than that...

I hope that if such a title exists in GW2, they'll improve the fog contrast so that no mods, map images, Photoshop, whole encyclopedias on... scrapping walls for pixels... will be necessary... and keep the eye strain to a minimum...

Thank you very much.

So your suggesting that Anet should have used the mod method themselves from the start?

How exactly does a fluencient, highlighted map look natural and fit into the look of the game? The point of the map (as it is), is to look natural and like vegetation, rocks, water and other natural surfaces.

The fog method has existed since the early days of RTS games and it a well established method for hiding areas on a map before it explored.

They could have just completely blacked out the areas you had missed, but then it would look awfull because you couldnt see the entire continent or island and get an entire of how much is ahead of you.

Are you saying you would have rather the map was filled with fluencient colours, sharp ridget edges and completely unnatural shapes and objects from the very start? simply to aid exploration?

GWs is a game which prides itself on gorgeous visuals and it still beats most new games that have just been released. Its meant to look realistic. I would have concidered it a travisty is the map looked horrible because it used that modding mechanism from the start.

Maybe we could have had it as an option, but if the map used the modding system and we couldnt turn it off... id hate it! It wouldnt look natural.

The system which Anet uses is fine, it works!

Just look at the countless LCs out there ingame, with 100% on all maps! Dont suggest a system is flawed, when people are perfectly capable of using it to achieve the end goal. The evidence exists that it can be done using the existing system....

What is "fluencient," first of all?

Second, I'm not suggesting that Anet should have used this exact fog appearance as in the mod. What I am saying is that when it comes to exploration and actually needing to rely on that fog to achieve something, without any sort of counter per zone or any way of telling when you can successfully move on to another area, the original design is flawed. Just because people have been able to explore to 100% doesn't mean that the system is optimal and perfect as is. Clearly this mod has shown that there is room for improvement, and that many players desire a better visual aid.

GW is a very beautiful game, I argue precisely this in another thread here as well. And it's entirely possible to create a cartography system with graphics that are both beautiful and friendly at the same time. Plus I am all for options, so if you want the default fog but also have the ability to increase the fog's contrast or saturation or change its appearance when you are aiming for the title, that would be great.

She's talking about how the title itself, and how it is acquired, is poorly designed.

And sadly you based alot of your post off of this...

So. Since people have the title, it is not flawed? That's faulty logic. We're talking about the acquisition of the title, how annoying it is to scrape those walls, not being able to tell if you hit a spot, *missing* a spot, having to exploit game mechanics for a small %...The list goes on, and everything in that list takes a large amount of your time - JUST to find that .01% of map you missed.

What does this mod do? It takes away the time more than anything.

freakedoutfish,

What should have been done, and shouls still be done, is for GW to change the program. For as many people as do to use the Mod is a sign that the set up is not preferable. And the change can be made without destroying the picturesque beauty of the gorgeous and useless maps. (When you can't tell whether things are a path or blocked that map is Use-Less! But they are very pretty.)

Simple addition: Emote (/mapped) which will tell you how much of the zone is uncovered/explored.


Preferred addition: The ability to hit a key (one not so far used) or key combo (while holding ctrl + m) which causes the uncleared areas to become glowy red or flat black or something radically distinguishable (as even the terrain features often are not).

And how many of those LCs are out there because they had to use photo-editors to do pain the ass comparisons and Labor at something that is supposed to be entertainment and fun. I am no masochist, but I am one of the strictest persons you will ever meet. I will not use the Mod because it is a violation of the EULA - no matter how much winking ANet gives it. I will not ebay for gold, no matter how convenient it would make the development of my guild hall and 10 characters. I don't buy from others in game because I do not agree with the 100k+ectoes bullcrap that is prevalent there (and I have too much to do to waste weeks asking if anyone is selling what I am after - even tho I never expect anything I would enjoy playing to drop for me.)

And obviously, if so many people are having to use external programs to get the cartography titles (whether picture comparison or Mod) then the system which ANet gave us (What System - its an accident of happenstance in a void - O, did you happen to hit that cliffside at exactly .0174 degrees south of the line directly East from Ruins of Surmia at a 11 o'clock vector while holding a Charr Shaman eating a balogny sandiwich in an upside down headlock? - that is the ANet current system, ) - it does not work for many many people.

All of the arguments for keeping cartography the same boil down to "I suffered endless hours and by gosh and by golly, You Must Suffer As I Have! How can I consider my life worthwhile if I support something that makes things better for others... !

.... Cantha GMC was the easiest one imho..... I never compared a map I never modded I just scraped each zone once took me about 4 hours of actually scraping and I didn't have to go to Jade quarry or anything just ran the edges....

Not all characters are so lucky as to be Canthan.

Well not much to say that has not been said 500 times all ready So i will just say this. I am not only a client of the mod in question but made it not to upset anyone or to try and cheat at a game (don't like cheating except in sims). The reason we made the mod was to not have to map flip and to use Textmod for something more then WOW my guild hall has cool pics in it now. I wont tell you that it still takes time to get the title because with or with out it you know how long it took and it was not done in a day. I will say this mod gives you less then the PVP person using UI mods to see life bar % spirts and faster interupts. I play the game for the titles and go for what I can I am not rich and cant buy them like some others. In short this mod was made to make use of the textmod program and to help those haveing a hard time with the title. Its free to all and posted for easy download. So all in all if you like it as far as yet Anet allowes it so use it and have fun in what is most of us our favorite game. If you don't like it dont use it. to those that had to do it the hard way(I am one of them)sorry it was not around 2 years ago. I do thank all the people for there opinions that where offered both good and bad. BUT ABOVE ALL ELSE HAVE FUN...


PS had to say something after all I helped make this mess

1. Really, what is "fluencient"? According to Google, you are the first person to put those particular letters together in that particular order. (Merriam-Webster agrees with Google.)

2. I'm sure they could do something to make the fog more visible than it is now without making it look like crap.

3. Even if they couldn't make the fog more visible without looking bad, they can always make it toggle. Turn on the ugly, fluencient (?) version of the map when you want to get carto points, and then turn it back off for normal play. Piece of cake.

Well this is somewhat of a ridiculus thread if you ask me,but let me explain some stuff about me.
I happen to be one of the VERY few old necromancers who are still regulars.
I spended 24 months of my life wondering were is the last 4,6% on tyria,and when you are at 95% pretty much you are have to be a psychic to know were the spots are.
So i can say the thing solved a basic problem were no one was willing to help,and lets not hide behind our fingers.
The ones who managed to scrape the entire map arent that wilingfull to give some help or hint.
Now about the thread title,now thats entirely unbased considering you cant get an explorer title to max within 24 hours.
As someone stated,you still have to walk the walk.
So il be blunt and say that the thread starter was actually irritated from some 8year olds that were saying crap.
Cant blame him,simply this is a wrong way to make a point.
Making up a false accusation as well reduces the credibility of the thread subject.
If we did get seriously everything we heard ingame we would still be trying to cap the magical ventrilo boss over the shiverpeaks that gives you the elite skill to talk with others (dont look at me,its not irony its a DOA fact).
Gaile's words over the past was that client modding isnt forbiden and if something breaks,dont call customer support.
Now about some pvp claimings ,about spirit brightness etc are just another false accusation in an attempt to vent anger.
Texmod pretty much doesnt give any advantage which you cant do yourself with tweaking the graphic settings or just making a line with a marker over your screen.
It falls exactly under that category of home systems,were simply someone can make a macro chain of skill usage,he can have a pro keyboard or a lazer mouse.
So what does the poor guy with the 512 ram and ball mouse should do?throw a hissy fit and start saying about inba richy kids?
Bottom line is plain and simple,some of us spended litteraly years to get the %.
And Anet isnt gonna give us the time we spended back,no one is.


My two cent's.

QFT

But now where this overlay has been used, the developers can as well implement its function into the game.
More like damage has been done, and there is nothing else to do about it.
Since you can't:
- Ban those who used it. You wont be able to see who did and who did not.
- Remove the ability to use it would be unfair. Since it has already being used and you can't punish those who did.
- Remove the title. Some used a lot of time to get it.
- Just let it stay as it is. The whole community should be able to use it, not only the few who are on the forums.

I think that should be enough reasons why cartographer made easy should be implemented as a part of the game.
With a button to enable/disable it of course.

Maybe you missed the post, in which the OP calls opposing arguments excrements and utter tripe.

Reread his first words again..
This whole thread was started to vent off some steam using exaggerated arguments. There is nothing philosophical in it.


I can't believe you seriously did this.

GW has many issues that makes the game less enjoyable.
One of it is the character based grind that opposes Anet's original mission statement of "skill over time".
Before the release of EotN the developers said: "We want to reward the players". The Hall of Monuments only rewards players who concentrate on one or very few characters. Players who like variety are left out, even though they have supported the game for the same time.
Another issue are the various graphical glitches and clipping errors. Players asked for an option to change faces that got destroyed during the introduction of lip movement and to change hairstyles that clip with several armors. It wouldn't take too much effort to implement a "change character appearance" button on the character selection screen that takes use of the already implemented functionality of the character creation process.

Reasonable requests to improve the enjoyment of the game get repeatedly shot down with the "this would postpone GW2" statement, but this nonsense thread is worth getting the bosses attention and steal valuable time from GW2's development?
ArenaNet and GuildWars have changed over the past 2 years and not always for the better.

So we have the Cartographers who went through the tediousness of wall scraping and Cartographers who used Texmod. And amongst these we have the pro-Texmod camp, the anti-Texmod camp and the It's Okay We All Had Fun camp.

Uhh... so the old Cartographers can say with (indignant) pride that they put in all the painstaking effort, and the Texmod Cartographers can say with (insolent) pride that they did it in a day. Each to his own.

I don't proffer to be pro or anti Texmod because I haven't used it, but I'll just like to present the realist point of view. ALL titles are limited by an unchanging upper boundary, and they will be relatively cheapened, over time, and as new methods of achieving them are found. There's no escape.

You can't do it with texmod in a day. The people who claim to have done so are bragging exaggerations. Plus people who use texmod still have to wall scrape! There is indeed no escape in the basic method used to attain this title. It is simply easier to see the fog that remains :]

(There are a lot of misconceptions about texmod floating around, and I like squishing them out )

This had gotten way out of hand. First off, it seems by Gaile's posts that she probably hasn't seen the mod at work, and is basing her decisions on what's been said here, and possibly the description on the wiki page about it. Given that this is much more than a simply "dress up" mod, before any decisions about its legality of use are made, I feel it needs to be play tested by the devs. I would by more than happy to show the devs exactly how this mod works, it's potential for use/abuse, and ways to either integrate it into the existing system or permanently disable it (should that be the final outcome).

So I say to any of the Anet staff, if you wish to discuss the future of this mod, or be instructed in exactly how it does what it does, without exaggeration, PM me here on the forums.

She was saying the system was flawed and the sheer fact people have 100% on all maps shows it isnt. There a difference between a system being flawed and the system not being fun.

The system works, but you and others just dont find it fun!

Do you enjoy capping elites? Do you enjoy replaying missions in hardmode? Do you enjoy opening chests? Do you enjoy id'ing golds? Do you enjoy protectng NPCs in quests? There are lots of things ingame that arent fun, but that doesnt mean the system or mechanism is flawed!

Some people enjoy it and some people dont. Some people are realistic that its meant to be hard and the pleasure comes when you reach 100% after putting all that effort in.

But try to get some perspective... your not being forced to explore 100% of the map in anyway, shape or form! You dont get a benefit from it at all! Its purely an athetic thing for the map and 4 maxed titles.

I always have to hark back to this belief that people who complain about exploration dont actually care about exploring. Especially those who havent even tried and just winge before they start. I expect quite alot of people who are /signed for this idea purely want this to achieve 4 easy maxed titles.

They probably listened to some player saying "oh exploration is easy" so they run off and start doing it and reality sinks in... EXPLORATION IS NOT MEANT TO BE EASY!

Dont start winging because you started exploring thinking it would be a walk in the park. Its not!! It shouldnt be!!

Are any of the people who want this added, actually fans of exploring? Do you enjoy exploring? or are you purely doing this for more maxed titles? The mod does a hell of alot more then take away time, it makes exploration a walk in the park with absolutely no concentration needed at all.

Anyway, ive always said people can use it if they want, I have no issues there. I just wish people would stop making stupid comments like "hu, it doent make exploration easier at all..." and "its not lazey". If you want to use the mod then fine, but atleast have some self respect and admit to it making exploration easier and to it being the lazey mans way out!

I dont mind, because (as ive said) I know I did it because I love exploration and I did it before the mod existed. If someone else wants to come along and act all high-and-mighty and use the mod and then say "its not lazey", then I just have to mock them.

Ofcourse its lazey and ofcourse it makes it easier, and its just an excuse to get away from a lack of determination or inpatience! People start exploring and think it will be over in 2 weeks..... NO IT WONT! It can take weeks or months to explore. You all just want the quick way out and I wish you would just admit that, instead of trying to save your dignity.

i used the mod for elona and cantha..only for last few % so what..and for your info..it wasnt at all lazy way..(just because in your opinion it is lazy, doesnt mean you are right) yeah it gave me an idea where to travel too..but still doesnt have an arrow pointing here quick stand at this point you will get it..i still had to kill enemy and figure out how to get to those points to clear it...now i have these titles i will now go grind for norn, asuran, deldrimor and vanguard titles..so yeah now i can spend more time on EoN..

I never said the system didn't work, I said it's not optimal. Meaning there is room for it to improve. You can try to go on a "It's perfect as is, it's perfect!" rant, but the fact that some people are spending entire days doing guesswork about something that was never meant to be about guesswork, shows to me that there are flaws with this feature's design.

What is it with all this crap about people who use texmod supposedly not putting any effort into this title? Are you listening to yourself? Honestly. I still have to scrape every single wall. I still have to guess sometimes in what zone that remaining fog is, how to get there, survive getting there and hope I'm right and I don't have to approach it from somewhere else. Just because I'm not straining my eyes anymore trying to figure out if something is really fog or simply blurry terrain, doesn't mean that I'm not putting effort into this title track. Quit propagating this misconception!

Well, you can lump me right out of that category as quickly as you lumped me in. I already wrote that in almost every game I've played, I've been an explorer in some form - by name, by reputation, by guild rank, etc. I've always enjoyed the activity, and I enjoy being able to continue my tradition in GW. What I don't enjoy is wasting my time guessing in an activity that has nothing to do with guesswork. There are people posting here who found themselves with 100% in this title as soon as it was implemented, or who never used Photoshop or this mod or any screenshot comparisons. Kudos to them! That's very impressive, but it's also extremely rare, and I wouldn't base any conclusions about a feature solely because "They could do it, so it's okay!"

You have no idea how this mod works, what it does, how it helps, and why people use it. Quit thinking you understand people's motivations, quit thinking you understand what sort of time this mod saves, go and install it and try it out.

Seriously. You absolutely cannot jump into a discussion about something, in this manner, without seeing it for yourself.

Do you enjoy capping elites? Do you enjoy replaying missions in hardmode? Do you enjoy opening chests? Do you enjoy id'ing golds? Do you enjoy protectng NPCs in quests? There are lots of things ingame that arent fun, but that doesnt mean the system or mechanism is flawed!
:This part is true:

Are any of the people who want this added, actually fans of exploring? Do you enjoy exploring? or are you purely doing this for more maxed titles? The mod does a hell of alot more then take away time, it makes exploration a walk in the park with absolutely no concentration needed at all.
:If you have not used the mod what are you basing this off of, I have mapped with the mod and with out it after all I am one of the people that made them and like stated before even with the mod you still have to walk the walk the only thing it does is give you insight as the what you have missed same as looking at others map. And yes I enjoy exploring but after going through a zone 3 times hungin walls most any one will look for a hint to as the spot that they can not find:

Anyway, ive always said people can use it if they want, I have no issues there. I just wish people would stop making stupid comments like "hu, it doent make exploration easier at all..." and "its not lazey". If you want to use the mod then fine, but atleast have some self respect and admit to it making exploration easier and to it being the lazey mans way out!
:Just because some one that may have already been through a zone 3 or more times and then looks for something to help them out does not mean they are lazy and a loss of self respect flaming people for looking for a better way or even a hint is not the way to go:

Ofcourse its lazey and ofcourse it makes it easier, and its just an excuse to get away from a lack of determination or inpatience! People start exploring and think it will be over in 2 weeks..... NO IT WONT! It can take weeks or months to explore. You all just want the quick way out and I wish you would just admit that, instead of trying to save your dignity.[/QUOTE]
:I got more time one one toon than some have on there hole account and I have dignity in my game play and put in my time and effort into all that I do like the fact of makeing something to help out others with a title that I like you had to get as they call it the hard way. Makeing of these mods wasnot something we just hit a button and was done, we had to map the game caputer the in game map and mod close to if not more then 1000 textures. Ok enough said and yes I have respect for those who got the title the old way I am one of them:

Get off your high horse, there are plenty of GMCs who've never touched the mod who support it. There's no reason to prevent people from getting help with cartography, aside from a few players' inflated view of the GMC title.

This thread has gotten way over the top. The OP is certainly making a mountain out of a molehill on this one, no disrespect intended.

The only thing TextMod does as relates to cartography is make one better able to see the fog effect. It doesnt change any other activity related to cartography one bit. Long before the mods it was easily possible to take screens of your map and overlay them in Photoshop over a 100% explore map and hit the Difference filter. Same thing.

One still has to get to the location, scrape the walls, avoid or otherwise take care of any offending mobs etc. There is no way to do this in a day or even a couple, unless you have the map in question already explored to a considerable extent and you are seeking to hit those 10-20 places you need. How you determine what those places are, be they a map checker on a Guru thread, Photoshop, TextMod, luck or trial and error makes NO difference.

The rest of the "research" the OP cites is quickly available from Wiki or a cartography guide on Guru. Yes, this used to be somewhat arcane knowledge, but only a short time before Wiki and guides got up to speed. I fail to see any relevance between this and the cartography title. Do you wish to shut down Wiki?

There is no reason to limit people's access to TextMod since the same thing has long before been done with Photoshop. This is coming from someone who did cartography on another character sans any assistance. The OP does strike me a little as complaining about the preceived deflation of a title due to TextMod, but I see no such thing. One can just as easily blame Photoshop, map checkers, guides and Wiki - but none of that changes the fact that someone has to go DO it - which is all the cartography title has ever really been about.

I have watched this thread and a lot of people are under the misconception that with this mod all you have to do is step in a zone and the area is cleared out. It is not that way.

I know the developers of this mod, I know the work that was put into it, I know that they used at a minimum of about 3 people who had the 100% areas mapped in order to construct this mod.

The basic of this mod is that it changes the coloration of the fog to let you know what areas are explorable and what areas are not. It does not open the map for you, does not give you a one way ticket to the area. The developers of the mod used colors that would be distinctive to make it easier to look at and be able to tell where you might have missed. It does not say "stand here".

You still have to fight to get in the areas and map the same old way. You still have to do your quests and missions to get into the areas in order to open it up, It is just easier to SEE where you are missing some area.

I have approx 4,235 hours over 29 months invested in the game. I have one charactor that has gotten LGMC, and I have done it with out the mod.

I will not begrudge any one or flame anyone who has used the mod because I know how it actually works. I don't use it mainly for the fact that I have the title on one of my charactors and I am happy with that.

As for things being said about Gaile..isn't this something concerning the community of GW. People are upset about it (though they may have never really seen how it works) but she is human and is trying to do her best. The people in here have asked that it be brought to the Devs attention and that is what she is doing. Please do not get upset at her for doing as you have asked her to do.

As far as the mod goes if you don't trust it for fear that there is a key logger in it, or that it is considered a bot thing, or just don't want to use it then don't. But if you are wanting to judge it why not look at it first then make your judgment, other wise to me you are making an ignorant assumption about what this mod does and how it works.

Walk walking at a 45 degree angle and straining your eyes, triple checking every area.

Exactly. So why do you care?

It was easy before. Now it's just slightly less time consuming.

Took me two weeks without the mod. I'd see about a couple days difference w/mod.

Read my concerns from earlier in the thread. I don't want anyone to "look into this mod" because the only way they could disable it is through banning Texmod completely. And I don't want the modding community to die over this completely frivolous bullshit.

Going to say this again...most cartographers (and EVERY cartography thread I've ever seen) used photoshop to map compare. Why is this so much different?

I was stuck on 99.x % on all 3 continents, so i took SS of my map and started comparing to 100% of some L.Cartographer even i`m quite good with Photoshop a have reveled only 0.1% on one map !!!
And after days and days of tryin` to find missed spots my head started hurtin` like hell i had hedache`s almost every day (i wear glasses) then i heard about texmod and took my chance, put it on and finished those miniature 0.x% on maps !!!
And i`m forever GRATEFUL to people who made that mod !!!

I posted in an earlier reply that I can understand someone with 99% using this mod to find their last 1%. I sympathise and I can relate to that.

What I dislike is someone who hasnt even tried exploring, or put any effort in using the normal mechanism to use the mod right from the start. People should atleast attempt to explore to an extent before they resort to using a mod like this to make it "easier".

I can also relate to someone who has 5 characters and doesnt want to do it all again the harder way. But if its your first charactera and you use the mod from the word go, then that is "lazey" because you havent even tried.

That is what I personally have issues with.

Aslong as a person tries the existing system to explore to a fare %, then I dont mind. But I think the mod should only be used by those who are frustrated and in need of serious aid.

Not just for the first-timer to jump right in and uncover all edges really easily.

see this is what i don't understand, on one hand people who support textmod says its not easy using textmod et cetera. (read posts before this)

on the other hand people who come here and say, wow! its so easy, and thanks to textmod i now have 100%??

so is it easy or not easy?

I dont know how to use mods. I not going for the title. I just happy to see that some people were looking byond them self's to make something that helps EVERYONE ELSE..

I tried out the mod yesterday, and all I can say: why doesn't Anet add this to the game.

It's such an improvement and makes cartography the way it was meant to be.

Props go to authors as well, since they really delivered something that's not just a cheap hack, but an incredible addition to the game, that solves a major design issue that arose from the fact that cartography wasn't originally intended to be in game.

Once you waste hours and days trying to find that last %, it's much easier when you immediately compare your guessing method to texmod to notice where that remaining fog is - and that's because that fog is easier to see. On a nearly fully explored map, it's extremely hard to notice what edges you should consider revisiting. When those edges are highlighted more, you get a better idea of what zones to try.

Strictly from a design standpoint and speaking as an artist, if something as simple as a single color change makes a big difference in efficiency, the original was not the best choice - especially when it's involved in achieving or attaining something in a game. Why is it that color choice should prevent you from working through an activity quickly? Is that really how you should make a game challenging? Color?

Thats what I want to know too, I made a thread asking for a map overlay, but no one wanted it, all /not signed and also say i am lazy, then suddenly everyone is recommending textmod.

so why does ANET not do it??? like the vanquishing thing?

QFT

Ditto.

Map comparison providers, tool creators (such as Mapping Out), people who contribute to wikis (unofficial or otherwise) are all helping out the community.

The OP was annoyed that people boasted to him that they'd done it in a day. I can understand why that would piss anyone off, but it's not credible. Using this mod you still have to physically go to all the spots and clear them. I seriously doubt that could be done in one day, even from 60% - which is almost guaranteed by the time you finish Factions. How do we know the people who griefed the OP weren't simply lying?

Um, I don't think this should make a difference to any of the arguments presented, but does everyone that's contributing to this thread realize that the OP has retracted his statements and left the thread?

Here's the link. He basically said he's done some further research into textmod and changed his mind about his initial statements.

I read that but they are still awaiting a reponse from Gaile Grey