Directional guidance

[siofral]

I run a lot of characters (alts) and I spend quite a bit of time in territories in which I have never played. Zygor Guide for me is more than just a do-it-in-this-order application, it guides me through places I've never seen.

It would be of inestimable assistance if the directional guidance had a consistent and more clear guidance throughout.

Left/right, downhill/uphill, south/east/west/north. Not down and up.

Sometimes the directions say down when the path goes up (okay, quite often) and the down is being used to signify southerly.

If the path goes south, say south. Use down when the character has to jump DOWN, over a cliff, off a bridge or building . . .

In caves this would be an incredibly useful addition for newbies.

[cabby]

If the arrow changes to pointing down and it looks like it's bouncing a little that does not mean you need to go down, it means you've arrived at your destination.

[kreelor]

I read what he/she wrote, and I see that he/she was definitely referring to the SEMANTICS (the terminology/wording, etc.).

I'm often very confused inside caves where a path goes up and down and has more than one path to follow (within that same cave). When the guide says "follow the path down" (where I'm standing at a junction of more than one path), but the intended correct path (one of the 3 paths) goes "down" only after I have to climb a small hill to then begin moving downward). It's often really hard to tell which path to follow and at from which exact location I have to be standing at before the path goes up or down. heh heh. I think I've spent more time lost in caves than the amount of time I've played the game elsewhere -- only because of two things:

#1. Blizzard's (round) mini-map is so extremely small (on my 1920x1080 rez monitor) and its graphics are damned-near black! It's miniscule in size, and it can't be re-sized! My gamma is adjusted perfectly for the rest of the game, but I can't see any 'paths' on the mini-map (zoomed in at maximum, or out).

#2. The wording-hints in the Zygor guide are often ambiguous and vague.

I believe it's #2 that he/she was referring to? Just my thoughts.

[cabby]

Ahh, I thought he was referring to the arrow. I can see what you mean about wording aspects. I'll have the team look into this aspect.

[kreelor]

Thanks Cabby, but the team was supposed to have been doing that already, for a long time now. I alone have posted numerous comments about the confusing 'text steps/hints' in the guides.... for a very long time. You've always passed on my reported issues to "the team", way back then -- at least over the last year or more! I guess they are busy working on new products to sell? I really doubt that somebody (a NOVICE PLAYER) is going to be hired to "step through the guide" and encounter the confusing step-hints. It's called unbiased "Testing". Experienced players won't even bother reading or relying upon the step info, and that's how it's being done now. That's why it isn't important enough to them. Zygor doesn't gain more profit from fixing it, but would certainly gain in product quality, customer satisfaction, and industry reputation. Each of those is an avenue to future profits on future products. My opinion.

[siofral]

Kreelor, I agree with you. I'm in a unique position as both a technical writer/programmer and complete and total WoW newby . The ambiguity or scarcity of the text-based guidance at times is extremely frustrating. Parts of it were so bad I almost didn't buy the product. And, I too have wandered around in caves and tunnels lost to the point I hearthstoned out and started again at the entrance.

I really do think Zygor isn't written to accommodate the newby. It's usable by us but not really and truly effective at providing the guidance a newby needs.

[29bb8f0a]

I am what my family call 'directionally-challenged' which means I never know which way to go. So, when playing WoW I am almost totally reliant on my Best Friend Zygor. I have been playing WoW since TBC so I'm not a newbie, but I too can get lost in a dungeon if told to go 'up' or 'down', especially where pathways divide. I would prefer it if Zygor told me to travel North or South. It would save me looking a twit as I attempt to jump up onto unreachable ledges just because the guide says 'up'.

I love the Guides and wish Zygor could have been sitting on my shoulder 20 years ago when I played D&D. By the way, I am an elderly crone of 65, and although I don't have any characters at Level 90, I have tremendous fun living in WoW.

[mzanker]

#1. Blizzard's (round) mini-map is so extremely small (on my 1920x1080 rez monitor) and its graphics are damned-near black! It's miniscule in size, and it can't be re-sized! My gamma is adjusted perfectly for the rest of the game, but I can't see any 'paths' on the mini-map (zoomed in at maximum, or out).

Hi Kreelor, regarding the mini-map - go into the game menu, choose System, then Advanced, then play around with the UI Scale slider. I have mine set to 1.0 so that the mini-map is a decent size on my 1920x1080 monitor. This also makes the button bars a decent size (I'm a pointer and clicker - never used key bindings in all my WoW years).

[kreelor]

Hi Kreelor, regarding the mini-map - go into the game menu, choose System, then Advanced, then play around with the UI Scale slider. I have mine set to 1.0 so that the mini-map is a decent size on my 1920x1080 monitor. This also makes the button bars a decent size (I'm a pointer and clicker - never used key bindings in all my WoW years).

That worked! Thank you! It took me a little while to resize my other windows like my Carbonite maps, the location of other floating bars, etc. But, it did solve my problem. I appreciate your reminding me of the UI Scale; I had forgotten all about its existence. Hadn't used it in years.