The Map I Would Like To See - Pure Sandy Desert

I was disappointed that there wasn't a total sandy desert map, so I would like that in a map. There would be small oasis here and there across this deep desert, and environmental effects like dehydration, heat and cold would be constant. Get yourself to an oasis or die from the desert. Learn through a series of golden hearts how to be a "desert creature" (Dune, yes) that would allow you to traverse longer distances because the various environment effects would be lessened as you learned more. There's zero chance of going into the deep desert without learning how to survive. The people living here are well versed, but not tolerant of strangers and so would not readily give up their secrets.

This would be entirely a sandy desert with only small oasis of rock fortifications or underground delves. There are no mountains or swamps, no buttes or shrubs. This would free up the design time and allow a megamap the likes of which GW has never seen. However, because of that constant environmental effect, the map would disallow mounts until you learn special runes through golden hearts for your mounts. Even then, the long stretches are the worst of this map. Only the biggest Junundu wurms live there. This scenario would make the map feel like it was fuller than it is. There wouldn't be many mobs on the surface for you to see. Who knows what lies beneath, waiting? The mob density wouldn't be anywhere near as populated as the Desolation. Even one encounter that takes too long would sap your strength as you are reminded every moment that you still have to reach the closest oasis.

Massive and thick (I mean honestly thick, not half arsed) sand storms would tear through areas on a random basis, but have preceding effects that would alert well trained desert dwellers to know when they come. As they approach, certain brave desert dwellers know that's the best time to hunt as creatures look for shelter. When the storms come, they hurt. Be inside an oasis or through learned trickery in order to survive.

Djinn dwell here too, some inquisitive, some festering. They know secrets of the deep desert that might even allow you to call a wurm as a mount in desert areas like it.

What kind of map drives you to hope?

Your idea would've been very cool. I was expecting something quite frankly exactly like what you described, I loved the emptiness of the crystal desert back in GW1, I wished to experience that again. Probably in a future update.

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I totally agree that there needs to be a map that is just sandy desert. I was a bit disappointed about the lack of expansive sand dunes in PoF. Sand dunes in GW2 seem to only ever be in tiny little sections, like a tiny section in dry top, two tiny sections in the Crystal Oasis and literally 4 dunes in The Domain of Vabbi. The Elon riverlands has too higher density of enemies and sink holes to really enjoy the journey through it.

I'd personally like to see a massive map of sand dunes, with sandstorms, but no or very sparse enemies, the occasional prominent feature, like an Oasis, or small rocky area, with small camps or towns in various locations within and at the edges of the desert (again, sparsely). Traveling is one of the funnest things in this game; I wish Anet wouldn't be soo afraid of letting us just do that. Being able to just travel and feel like you've traveled a long way, while enjoying the view is better gameplay than being harassed by scorpions, lions, wurms, worms, and Logan's Nan while doing so.

i did read "pure salty desert".

I agree, I was really looking forward to a true "sand sea" map in this expansion, and there weren't any. The closest was I guess the NW corner of Elon Riverlands, but even that was fairly rocky, filled with quicksand, and relatively small. I want to see a truly massive and most barren desert, maybe with some underground portions to give it more "depth," and content mostly around the fringes, but with plenty of just peaceful "nothing" in the middle, like the Hissing Wastes in DA:I. I know game devs are tempted to cram ever square inch of terrain with "content," and I really appreciate what they did do with the PoF maps, but sometimes less is more.

I was hoping for one too. When they gave Dry Top, I was so excited just to go there and be surrounded by canyons, same for Silverwastes.Now for POF, I hoped it'd be more like GW1 but yet again, canyons everywhere. I know GW1 also had them but not as much as POF does.

Hearts would be a bad way to do it. I too would like a truly harsh desert, maybe constant sandstorms and an effect like the bitterfrost frontier that you mitigate with mastries, consumables, and environmental stuff. You're suffering a "Desert Scourge" debuff that deals damage, slows, and blinds. The Scourge can only be mitigated by drinking magic water from the magumma springs shipped in by the pact.

Not entirely flat of course, but with massive dunes and ruins to break up the space. Maybe make players to architects of survival by buying "supply drops" with trade contracts. You set these out and they work very much like a feast, but will stay on the ground for 2 hours. Using them will give you the "Super Hydrated" buff for 2 minutes.

However, you're not alone in the desert, and supply drops attract raiders, spawning a "Defend the supplies" event wherin raiders spawn and try and steal the supplies, taking time off the duration. The closer the supplies are together, the larger and tougher the raider spawns are for the event. These are a good way for players to create a maintain a series of "highways" on the map to travel, but require teamwork to keep operational.

You've also got the option of consumable "Consecrated water" that can only be obtained from roaming merchants throughout the zone in small quanitities (the map's version of dune's fremen basically) These are tradable, but are a much more costly way to move around than benefitting from and defending yours and other players supply drops.

The map itself probably lies south of The Desolation in the real heart of the Wastes In this area thee are no longer "pits" of sulfur, but rather the sulfer rests on the surface of the sand creating a very hazardous playfield in combat and making skimmers a great option for travel. Players probably need to pass through this area to obtain something important to the story from the original Chantry of Secrets, which can't be reached from Vabbi because of the maintain range to the south. Maybe some lost knowledge held by the original Order of Whispers of the Nightfall era that will aid in a device for pacifying dragons without killing them, who knows.

The mastry line "Wastes Survival" looks something like:

1 - Shared Survival - You have trained your mounts to consume Magical Water. You now confer the benefit of Super Hydrated to your mounts, mounts no longer suffer the effects of the desert scourge while you are super hydrated2 - Outland Training - You have trained your mounts to navigate with limited visibility. Your mounts may now use their unique movement abilities within the scourge3 - Survival conditioning - Your experiences in the wastes have hardened you against its effects. When you gain superhydrated, it lasts twice as long. When you are not superhydrated, you take half as much damage, and are no longer blinded or slowed.4 - Alchemic Reagents - Through your interactions with ((Fremen Race)) you have learned their methods of storing and rationing enchanted waters. You may now stack the duration of Superhydrated from consecrated water and one use of Magumma Springs Supplies up to 20 minutes5 - One with the Wastes - Further studies with ((Fremen Race)) have yielded powerful defensive magics utilizing the very sands of the Wastes. Using your Elite skill within the wastes summons swirling sands around you for 15 seconds. This small magical cyclone remains attached to you, blinding and slowing nearby enemies and healing allies who are also affected by this ability.6 - Junundu Affinity - You have earned the respect of the Greater Junundu that call the wastes home. You may call on Greater Junundu with your special action skill when near their tunnels or on the surface. Junundu are no longer hostile you you unless provoked (yellow) and may come to your aid, carry your through their tunnels (a map teleport) or create bridges and platforms to assist you with their own bodies (use that fancy moving platform tech you barely ever use Anet!)

It can still happen with ls4, who knows, preferably with massive Dune wurms, just like in the Frank Herbert Dune books ;) The Dune 2 game is what got me into pc gaming many years ago, loved the desert setting.

About to stop playing again for a while. Took two characters through PoF, loved it, tired of it. It's the mounts, honestly. Love them. Keep them. Feed them. Train them. They also cause me to skip through maps like nobody's business. As I got bone tired of looking at the maps, I realized I should stop using mounts at all unless content required I jump through the hoop to get it. That definitely made a difference, and so I still hope for a massive map that disallows mounts per se or otherwise is a punishing map with environmental like my idea I posted.

The problem with making sand desert in game is that they're always too small and lose their charm the first time you cross it. Valencia Desert in Black Desert is a good example. http://www.somethinglovely.net/bdo/ The region doubled the size of the world map when they added it and it still only takes a few minutes to cross on foot.It was nice though. Probably the best desert i've seen in a video game.

I'd also like a big desert somewhere... there's something truly tranquil about being out alone in an environment like that. In a game, of course. Nothing fun about it in real life. I'm not generally into wvw, but I do like exploring the desert borderlands where it's sand dunes. If you angle the camera right, it looks like you're in a desert and there's no one else for mile... oh, then you get killed by a thief.

They would obviously have thought about it and decided against it because people would QQ hard that it was barren and desolate.

We might get such a map in LS4. Like Bitterfrost area when you'd get the frostbite chill damage thing and masteries in Kodan Flame. Yes I'd like that!

@Haishao.6851 said:The problem with making sand desert in game is that they're always too small and lose their charm the first time you cross it. Valencia Desert in Black Desert is a good example. http://www.somethinglovely.net/bdo/ The region doubled the size of the world map when they added it and it still only takes a few minutes to cross on foot.It was nice though. Probably the best desert i've seen in a video game.

I'm not surprised you can cross a desert that big that quickly in BDO. As it is the player's default run speed is like an olympic sprint.

I was expecting a huge sandy area much like in Nier Automata, complete with sandstorms.