Forums

Treasure Trails QoL

Quick find code: 185-186-917-66249228

Mel 624
Dec Member 2021

Mel 624

Posts: 744 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I've been doing a lot of treasure trails lately and thought of some ways to improve the experience.


Towers:

An option to highlight tiles, possibly in two colour options to help keep track of progress solving it. It's basically a variant of sudoku and online versions usually have some sort of note or marking function the same way people generally write notes when solving physical versions of it. It'd cut down on a lot of the frustration players feel with it.


Celtic Knot:

Either a move X or move to next intersection right click option to move the runes more efficiently.


Coordinates:

Some way to look for coordinates on the world map itself to more reliably pinpoint the location through in game means. The sextant telling you your current coordinates helps over short distances but what location has what group of coordinates isn't something most players have an easy time remembering and a more visual way to at least get the general area down before traveling would help a lot.


Misc:

Some kind of Treasure Trails specific notes system could help players give themselves reminders on some of the clues they have trouble remembering, like NPC locations. It could be added to the collection log to give it more utility.


Reworking house storage to allow items to be stored without necessarily having the complete set, which would mostly help in completing clue sets without losing tons of bankspace waiting for RNG to finally give you that one last piece you need. It won't avoid clutter from extras but this would be to help with completing collections. It'd also help with storing the globetrotter outfit before having the full set, which collectively costs 4950 points.


If you have suggestions of your own, feel free to share.
How to block a forum user

Death And Taxes: An Analysis

24-Mar-2022 01:56:41

Kings Abbot

Kings Abbot

Posts: 10,747 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Mel 624 said :

Coordinates:

Some way to look for coordinates on the world map itself to more reliably pinpoint the location through in game means. The sextant telling you your current coordinates helps over short distances but what location has what group of coordinates isn't something most players have an easy time remembering and a more visual way to at least get the general area down before traveling would help a lot.


Perhaps this can help somewhat already:
https://runescape.wiki/w/Treasure_Trails/Guide/Coordinates#/media/File:Coordinate_map.png

It shows a line for every ten degrees. Or should it be more precise?
Kings Eastwood in
THE GLOOP , THE BWIAN , and THE WIKI
music by Trewavio Morricone

YOU-KNOW-WHO
,
GO
YOU-KNOW-WHAT
YOURSELF!

25-Mar-2022 15:53:10

Mel 624
Dec Member 2021

Mel 624

Posts: 744 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The wiki and other sites provide helpful guides for game content but what I'm looking at is how the in game content can improve to make people less reliant on external guides to solve clues. A visual aid like that wouldn't have to be precise as long as you can reliably tell the general area the coordinate is in. The existing sextant function can handle the more precise positioning once you're within more reasonable walking distance.

The simplest way to do it would probably be to provide a right click map option that opens a simplified version of the map with a coordinate grid similar to what you linked, with the clue's coordinate displayed somewhere for ease of reference. As long as you can still see the buildings and structures visible on the world map, you probably wouldn't need to put any names on it.
How to block a forum user

Death And Taxes: An Analysis

25-Mar-2022 20:28:38

Roddy Piper
Jan Member 2011

Roddy Piper

Posts: 13,751 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The towers fix would definitely work for me. I want to do them manually but it's a major waste of time when I guess wrong. So why should I even try? The only reasonable choice is to use the wiki's solver.

The coordinates would also be useful for me. I find it way more annoying to figure out the exact spots in pictures rather than by checking the grids. I'd rather do it manually, but just getting in the general area has already sent me to the guide.

I have completely given up on celtic knots. The first version was doable, but Jagex went out of their way to make them visually confusing.

26-Mar-2022 10:05:17

Mel 624
Dec Member 2021

Mel 624

Posts: 744 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The ones you figure out from pictures are map clues, which I don't think can be changed much. For those, anagrams and cryptics it largely comes down to remembering the solution, so the best that can likely be done is a Treasure Trails specific notes system to help players remember the parts they have trouble with. It could also help with remembering which ones you get attacked on or have extra steps like challenge scrolls and puzzle boxes. That would take care of a large portion of what people use the wiki and other guides for in relation to Treasure Trails.

I'm not sure how feasible it would be to change the shape of the more complicated ones while still keeping the number of intersections but I do agree some of them look a bit visually overwhelming. If they can, that would likely help make them more accessible in addition to the rotation improvements.


Something I'm pretty sure was discussed a long time ago that would be worth revisiting is letting players fix the broken bridge near Gu'Tanoth for easier access to the island after the quest requiring you to go there. The process of getting there for Treasure Trails is unnecessarily tedious with how out of the way the tunnel is if you even remember which one it is. It seems to be a semi frequent clue location and there just isn't any good reason to force players to go through all that trouble when it'd be a more reasonable trip from Yanille over the bridge.
How to block a forum user

Death And Taxes: An Analysis

10-Apr-2022 07:35:04

Spooky Xero

Spooky Xero

Posts: 309 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Celtic knots (for me) need to be "physically" bigger - I have to zoom the interface to do a knot (messing up the layout) then go back to normal afterwards. Not all players have great eysight :( I'd settle for changing zoom level with a keyboard shortcut rather than upmteen levels of interface.

I wish I could mark the direction of Compass clues on the map; that way I could triangulate them without needing a ruler. There could be some error in what's marked (maybe a narrow cone) so it's not too simple.

Wouldn't mind all of your other improvements.

11-Aug-2022 15:07:22

Mel 624
Dec Member 2021

Mel 624

Posts: 744 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Scan clues are pretty straightforward but I've had a few times where I misjudged the range and missed the spot by a few tiles. I think the ability to see the scanning range on the minimap would help better track what areas have been fully covered and which ones still need to be passed over.

Towers puzzles go a lot more smoothly when you take out something to note down the possible numbers for each tile, what you've ruled out and what you've definitively solved. I mentioned the possibility of highlighting tiles to help keep track of progress but there're some other things that could be done too.

Locking tiles:

This could potentially be used alongside the highlighting to help mark tiles players think are solved. Not just to visually distinguish them from the ones they haven't but also to allow the option to keep them intact while erasing the rest of the tiles if they mess up and need to redo the numbers. Combined with a toggle option for the puzzle reset warning, this could help make it feel less punishing and time consuming if you make a mistake and want to redo the thing instead of trying to pick out the problem numbers.

Towers notes:

The interface is big enough that there should be room to fit a spot where players can mark down possible numbers for each tile and rule them out as they solve it. This is pretty much what people do with paper sudoku and a common function in online versions. Solving Towers puzzles goes more smoothly when taking notes but having to do that through external methods because the game doesn't have it can get tedious.

Here's an example:



Towers is a bit different than sudoku in layout and game interface but it should be possible to work out a version of this that works for RS.

Another thing is that the backpack's clue swap should be able to select from multiple active clues instead of having to bank the others. You can only have one per type open, so the game should be able to tell them apart.
How to block a forum user

Death And Taxes: An Analysis

25-May-2023 08:51:07 - Last edited on 25-May-2023 08:52:53 by Mel 624

Quick find code: 185-186-917-66249228 Back to Top