Yes, we will get a map. No ETA for it yet.
There is a site created by a guild that has good maps for Thronefast and Avp, but no maps for the Barrowdark or Sorhyrith have been publicly released to my knowledge. That site is Shalazam
The site has LOTS of spoilers of course, as well as info that is outdated due to recent changes/patches for EA.
There is nothing enjoyable about being lost when I'm just trying to spend the only 1.5 hours in a day that I get to myself to play video games in peace. Please, give us a damn map so we can get around and not just wander aimlessly, only to die and have to walk all the way along the same path we already traversed six times.
Typical MMO world formulas have been as such: Screw around in the newbie zone, build up some xp and power to carefully explore neighboring areas. Once you find new dangers, acclimate to the current threat before venturing further. Only the most Casual MMOs have systems allowing characters to march around willy nilly wherever they want regardless of relative strength/level.
I don't think VR should be expected to nerf, simplify, streamline, or hand hold to accommodate unjustified scheduling conflicts. These are grossly arbitrary and could be argued at all levels. What if job, kids, sports, clubs, or wife only left me with 30 minutes to play? Can I then demand VR set me up with an auto group finding hub that teleports me into a dungeon with epic drops while simultaneously preventing me from dying because I don't have time for a corpse run?
It took me several seasons just to get a good feel for Avalia and the surrounding area, as I got higher level I was able to venture farther off the brick roads to eventually find additional ways to get from point A to point B. Not having a map was difficult at first, and I found myself turned around many times, but it forced me to identify landmarks, create "known" routes to and from places.
After all that, I ventured to AVP. After a bad pull, my friend and I died while running for our lives. We'd been exploring and had no real feel for where we were. We both forgot to /loc before releasing, and spent a good hour looking around for our corpses with the "I think I remember that tree near were we died" said many times. Frustrating yes, but damn we had a blast that night just exploring and wandering around, and have developed a feel for the area.
Maps already exist, so there's no real hindrance in making them native in game.
https://shalazam.info/maps/1?zoom=3&x=3420&y=3309
Not having maps in game will force people to alt/tab for tools. Someone will ask in chat and everyone will go, "www.thissiterighthere.com" and boom... Map. Inevitably, people will develop things that are so advantageous those who use them will have a massive advantage over those who don't. We don't need a 'gps marker here' or "Everquest2 golden trail" map, but a simple map of the area they are in so they can look at landmarks, figure out where they are, and where they want to navigate to. You can add a map and have it be 'immersive'.
This isn't 1999 where the best third party map we had was hand drawn uploads on EQatlas.
I support the ingame MAP as a guide and not a perfect UI. Take MO2 for example: They realized that the game without a map means you could spend alot longer looking for a landmark or a pass than the player should be spending. They implemented a map for that kind of reason. You COULD always tab to a online webpage with the map and find details on that map but even then, those maps didn't have every Point of Intrest and some secrets were gatekept.
I think a good compromise is the inclusion of a 'basic' map that you could buy from a vendor with other crafted maps of higher quality from players. What makes a crafted map better than the basic? Well if you get burned in a fire or soaked in a river maybe your basic map is ruined while your crafted map of higher quality stays usable. Not to mention those 'gatekept' secrets could be added to the crafted maps. Shortcuts, saferoads, rarespawn, whatever. Could be included by the mapmaker on their maps for sale. Who knows... a certified mapgod could achieve prestige to a degree on their server?
Just a thought.
But locating quests in town should be easy and painless. A quest board intown or something of that nature to turn in and pick up quests. If a npc has a delemia ingame, shouldn't the society have developed a system inplace for QOL between the questgiver and the adventure.