The Arlor Cartographer

[Greoatef]

OK, updated the Dimensional Gladiator map to represent all AP requirements. I pretty much spent all day yesterday and half the day before to find all these bunnies, but there they all are, jump in, jump out, jump in, find the required boss, squish him and move on ... bounce bounce bounce drove me nuts But i think its my favourite image.
I found the Replacement Challenger early on in actual fact, just lucky i guess? At the time there were only two other guildies online, but at least they got the AP. Many thanks to them for hiding in the corner while i screen grabbed?!?!!?? LOL ... was funny as it was vortex crystal on the Challenger, so we were bouncing around all over the Arena, chaos incarnate HA!!

In conclusion (almost)
What started out as a simple map and an idea became a bit of a monster actually ...... its taken months, literally, to run all the maps, grab all the mini map outlines (usually about 6 or so pictures) stitch and blend them together, then roto around the map outline to create a very accurate, correctly orientated layout of each map. Then run all the maps screen grabbing the fights and toying with captions .... getting the right shot was hit and miss, but i got many interesting results!
The captions were a mood thing .... sometimes playful ..... sometimes business like and straight to the point, a quiet concentration ..... at other times tinged on madness (Watchers Tomb was a confused space) LOL ..... and whats entertaining is that each map refelcts the time and place i was at mentally through out the long arduous journey to insanity
Near the end i now feel overwhelmed with my immersion in Arlor, lived and breathed it now for too long, and the real world seems faded ... gotta get out more .... lol ....
haha

I ran all maps solo, some boss were impossible to kill alone (Shuyal Innesh for one, and Wraith Heart of course, and Arena Bloodhammer plus a few others, basically any boss that self heals). It was an interesting journey, when i died i screen grabbed, when i found stuff i screen grabbed, like the locked crate ..... everything that happened revealed itself as i progressed through the maps at level 41, and its all been artworked as a tapestry of the adventures of The Cartographer of Arlor

What i find interesting now i look back over all the artwork is the simplicity of the first maps, and how it was hard to screen grab anything exciting simply because the fights lasted less than seconds! You can see overall when the going got tough, more mobs swamping me, and the more complicated the attacks and visual results became as i moved through into the higher levels. You can see how things didnt really start to get interesting until i hit Shuyal?!?!!?!?

There are still things i am missing and a few maps that need doing .... Hauntlet for example ..... also the Elusive Four .... and Krunch II .... and there are a few boss to add as and when i find them , plus i want to map out where the safety statues are in Shuyal Undim Fields, so this is still work in progress .... it never ends ... UGH xD

The Cities were the hardest ... so much information, so little space?!?!? So i might work on these if i have the time. Also what i am doing is photo bombing guildies in different environments and adding them into the maps .... i might add those updates here, or i may just keep those maps in the guild (on our forum at pheonixguild.com ) We are in taverns, in cities, on some maps, dotted around the place keep a look out, kinda like wheres wally.

Back to screen grabbies ...... i screen grabbed near 6000 images to create these maps over the last few months, thats one hell of a lot?!?!? What struck me now i look back at the images is how stunningly beautiful some of the photos are ... the graphical effects of weapons and pet abilities, and the different characters through out Arlor were breathtaking .... ive sorted through all the photos and compiled a best of the best that numbers around 350?!?!? I may well post some of them at some point so you can all see what a stunning job STS have done with the graphics in this game. You will have to forgive the over saturation of myself, Greo, in all the pictures .... hehe ... quite simply there was no way to screen grab things without me in every friggin picture?!?!?! So apologies .... and hope you are not too sick of the sight of me
HAHA
It took a long time to screen grab empty areas with no other characters, sometimes i had to wait 30 minutes for everyone to leave just so i could take a snap ... sigh ..... lazy and sometimes frustrating days xxxxx

Arlor is Astoundingly beautiful and fascinating .... amazing job STS!

Hmmmm .... and at the end of all that i had to run all maps on elite mode (pretty much all maps solo) just so i could check to see if any elite map is configured differently to the normal map .... and there are a few that stray from the path .... not saying which Killing Elite Boss was ok till about Nordr, then i just had to run and pot run and pot run and pot and run faster faster faster.

Hope These maps help people in some way, or inspire them to artwork, or simple to provide information, like where can i find Elite Bael II for example, or the Elusive Rockhorn Summit Mini Boss (still missing at least one) OR maybe you want to know what the Dimensional Arena Replacement Challenger looks like because you have never found him .... well look closely at the images and location and happy hunting

Oh ... and if you see me in the field do say hello!!!

Greo.