Finding your way with /loc

Being able to find your way with /loc is extremely helpful. It just takes a little practice. Far too many people have never learned it and are frequently lost in the frontier lands. This section was put in to help with navigating - especially in the frontier where you may have to cross several zones and avoid enemy occupied keeps to get to your destination.

Each zone can be divided into a grid based on what Mythic calls "world units." A given zone is approximately 65,000 by 65,000 world units. Almost every good map has this grid in the background. Typing /loc gives you the exact coordinates for your location on a grid for the zone you are in. A typical /loc might look like: 23103,4428,65 dir=42. Basically, it is an x,y,z grid. Lets break this down.

The most important information from /loc is the first two numbers. These numbers are often rounded off and given in thousands when communicating with others. So 23103, 4428, 65, dir=42 would be given as 23k, 4k or perhaps 23, 4. Be sure not to report it as 23, 44. If it were 23103,44280 then it would be 23, 44. Think "thousands" when reporting /loc. I cannot stress this enough. I've seen veterans miss this. Never, never, never mistake 3000 for 30000. Mythic does not use comma's in their /loc numbers so note carefully before reporting.

The first number is the east/west location on the zone grid. Zero would be far west, and 65,000 would be far east. The second number is the north/south location on the zone grid. Zero would be far north, 65,000 would be far south. Take a look at the grid to the right and note this relation. See if you can figure roughly which direction you need to head on the following questions using the grid as a guide. Remember, the first number is east/west and the second number is north/south.

Try it!

1. You are at 20, 60 and need to get to 20, 30. Which direction do you head?
   
   
   
2. You are at 10, 10 and need to get to 42, 11. Which direction do you head?
   
   
   
3. You are at 55, 40 and need to get to 20, 10. Which direction do you head?
   
   
   
4. You are at 23, 23. Your friend is at 5, 24. Which direction do you tell your friend to go to find you?
   
   
   
   

The other numbers in /loc are rarely used but it is good to understand them. The third number is your elevation. Zero would be "sea level" and 1,000 would be 1,000 world units higher. This may help you know if your destination is on a mountaintop, or in a valley.

The fourth number is simply the direction you are heading. This is based on a 360-degree circle. dir=0 would be heading north. dir=45 is north-east, dir=90 is east, dir=180 would be south, etc. This is sometimes helpful because it is hard to tell by the compass if you are going exactly in a given direction or not. For example: If you want to head north, and when you type /loc you note your dir=5, you are heading slightly east. Turn a hair west and check /loc again to see if your dir=0 or at is least a bit closer.

That's all there is to it. In summary, the most important things to remember are:

• The zone maps are on grids, roughly 65k by 65k
  
  
• When using /loc, the first two numbers are the most important and they are reported in "thousands."
  
  
• The first number of /loc is for east/west and the second number is north/south.

All that in mind, Mythic has recently added a feature which can be either helpful or harmful. This features is /faceloc. If you type /faceloc 23103,4428 you turn exactly in that direction. Just run straight and eventually you should get there. It does not, however, help you if there are dangerous mobs, enemy keeps, or zone walls in the way. If you see mobs, trees or structures you need to navigate around, you'll find yourself hitting /faceloc 23103,4428 every time you move off course a bit. This feature is virtually useless in zones like Dartmoor, Malmohus and Sheeroe Hills where zone walls cut right through the middle of the map. There is no substitute for learning to read maps and navigate them with /loc.