Player Features and Ideas Discussion

also would be nive if we could see corp and alliance bms in the map; and be able to warp directly to them from the map :)

Some of the above posters have voiced the same feedback (in particular, Altrue's comments are 100% spot on and need to be addressed) but here is my own feedback based on years of using the old map scanning almost every day, and many hours testing the new map since it was first released:

1) The single largest issue with probe scanning is that the celestial clusters (such as planets and moons) are too compact--much more compact than they were on the old solar system map.

For instance, say I want to probe down POSes (using combat probes and setting the filter to "show all"). I frequently do this in order to find a POS or find an inactive POS so I can potentially destroy the mods.
Here is what it looks like on the old map:http://i.imgur.com/PW5CUP4.jpg?1
As you can clearly see, all of those green clusters are different POSes, each on a different moon, and I can warp to each individually via the map. As you can ALSO see, even the old map does not zoom in far enough, as some of them are overlapping (and some celestial clusters are even worse). So even the old map needs to zoom in more.
But here is what it looks like on the new map: http://i.imgur.com/JxzZ5Je.jpg?1
This is as far zoomed as the new map will go, on the same celestial cluster. Needless to say, this is almost completely useless. For one, the probe icons themselves block out a bunch of celestial objects (more occlusion problems below). Second, again, I cannot zoom in far enough to interact with anything.

2) As other posters have noted, there are big problems with how information is displayed. For instance, showing jumps per hour, kills in the last 24 hours, players currently docked, and so on, are all very poorly communicated and very much a step back from the old map design.
Here is how "ships destroyed in the last 24 hours" looks on the old map: http://i.imgur.com/FPY2azO.jpg?1
And here is how it look on the new map: http://i.imgur.com/X45qSc1.jpg?1
The immediately obvious problem is that the new map does not visually communicate the numbers well at all, either by size or by noticeable colors. On the old map, I can immediately tell which systems have had 0 ship kills--a very important piece of information obviously--and I can immediately tell where the hot spots are. The way such information is displayed on the new map should model the old map but do it better--currently, it is doing it worse (even more so when it comes to jumps and other stats). (Compare this to how "systems I've visited" is displayed--which, I think, is a very nice improvement on the old map. With "systems I've visited" I can see each system distinctly and I can fairly quickly tell which I frequently visit and which I have never visited. Other stats should be just as easy to read.)

3) When "Group stars by region" is selected, the bright light representing the region usually covers up the name of the region, making it very hard to read (especially for a newer player). For instance, in this screenshot I am not even zoomed out much and the entire name "GENESIS" is covered: http://i.imgur.com/kC6zco6.jpg?1
A solution would be to either display region names above the bright circles, or move them above the circle as one zooms in so that they are not occluded. There is also occlusion when one region's bright dot covers up the name of an individual system nearby. I suggest making region dots smaller and transparent as well.

4) Please add the ability to collapse and expand the map by double clicking the top task bar such as on the name "MAP." I would like to be able to double click and collapse the map down to the top task bar, do something in space like cloak, and then double click the map to expand it again.

5) Zooming problems: If I am zoomed to the level N on a celestial object and I double click another celestial object, I am immediately zoomed OUT. This is highly annoying when probe scanning or trying to identify celestial objects. If I am zoomed to level N and double click another celestial object my zoom level should stay at that same level N.

6) MORE OCCLUSION PROBLEMS! If I am zoomed to the level of a solar system and am looking around at bookmarks or cosmic anomalies, they are frequently covered up by text (such as the name of the system). Here is an example:
In this screenshot you can see that there is an anomaly in the center of the system: http://i.imgur.com/BDmky2g.jpg?1
Yet in this example when I look toward the center of the system (say, to dscan the anomaly) it completely disappears. It is occluded by the sun and name of system to the point that the map does not even display it: http://i.imgur.com/8xNemin.jpg?1

Again, a big problem with the new map is that it has a lot of trouble clearly displaying information in a system, because celestial and bookmarks and anoms and writing frequently over lap and block one another. This was less of a problem on the old map, partly because you could zoom in much further. Here is the same system as shown above on the old solar system map: http://i.imgur.com/60QU7ZI.png?1
As you can see, it is far easier to tell clusters of objects apart, and nothing is blocked. And I am not even zoomed in as far as I can.

7) Annoying wobbling: When I am zooming it the map frequently wobbles. In general, movement on the new map is not at all fluid or fast. It frequently feels like I am moving through syrup when interacting with the new map. Oh, and yes, it does use a lot of system resources as well.

The bottom line is: The new map has considerably less functionality at the solar system level. The new map needs to be able to zoom in much, much further--even further than the old map, because the old map did not even zoom in far enough. And the new map needs to display statistical information and writing a lot more clearly and avoid occlusion problems. I will not use the new map until 1-7 (particularly 1) are fixed.

Since this last patch I get nothing but a blank starfield background. Map never loads. Anyone else have this issue?

Yeah I have same, but only on ONE of my characters. On all other the map works fine.
I have checked all settings, they same on every character. I don't know why I have only the background on this one.

I filled a bug report

I'd just like to hijack this post and say there's a bit too much sticky stuff in this section, the first page is more than half glued on, it's a bit of a pain for threads below to even get seen below that huge wall of stickies

I'd like to add my voice tot he feedback regarding the probing on the new map. The probing is a distinct downgrade compared to the old map.

Distinct pain points, as mentioned by others as well. The acceleration feature on zooming and panning is totally unnecessary, infuriating and time wasting. double clicking on sigs doesn't center view on them. The sigs are black circles on a black background, good luck spotting them.

Also I'd love if the universe map was able to be flattened compared to the system map, The universe map has much higher height variation and density, making flattening it a much desired option but solar systems are much more compact and don't need to be flattened.

I noticed that as well. But I also found that if you click the "focus current location" icon, it resets and works fine. on occasion, you may have click the icon a couple times.

but YES it's definitely a bug that needs to be addressed.

An amendment to my locations complains:

I do not need to see them on the star map, but I do need to see them in the solar system view map. If I want to see locations for all the systems, I check a box in the old map's filters to view them like any other filter. But I do not want to have to deactivate and activate them every time I switch between star and system map.

Not going to happen. Center on Self was removed particularly be cause it would have made the new scanning with preset patterns way too easy. Basically, center on self was removed and we got the patterns. Imagine how easy it would be to combat probe a gate, for instance, if you launch the probes, center, click the 0.5 AU pattern button, scan. That's 12 seconds (out of which 10 are the scan cycle) to scan down anything on the grid. Now at least it takes some effort and a lot more time to place the probes and scan.

Hello guys,

Probing:

In my opinion it is more difficult in the new map to direct the probes in space because of two reasons:

1) In the new map there seems to be a visual effect which feels a bit like looking through a lens. In CAD programs this effect is usually called "perspective". I hope you understand what I mean. This makes the obejcts look a bit more plastic but it is harder to navigate. Especially when trying to place the probes exactly in space.

- Could you please add an option to disable the "perspective" or remove the effect when scanning?

2) The scan results being displayed as gray dots makes is hard to see them properly with the dark background.

- Can you change the color of the scan result?


Many thanks,
Reven