There are other things to find out there beyond forsaken altars, but they will either be scattered everywhere or have multiple possible locations and spawn at the first one you reach. There's no requirement to rinse the whole map.

Ok thanks for your answers so far

you arent at the exploration point , i mean later you will have to - wait for iron and a long boat -karve is good on shorelines and rivers but dangerous in the open ocean - all you need now are copper and tin from your nearest black forrest -and cores found in caves... get gud with a bow and a mace,, maces crush skeletons in caves and later in the swamp - build base defences...... later when you have a long boat you can roleplay a sailor man very effectively and may need to to find swamps with crypts in them .....every couple real time days i set out in a long boat and sail for about a week in game time

Basically everything mentioned here is correct, but your journey goes as you go, as in finding the runestones(first runestone Eikthyr is at first spawn, they all look the same but in different areas as mentioned above) tells you where next boss is and you mine and search for the objects to summon the bosses one at a time to unlock more materials to upgrade everything including building materials. Now the Trader is in different locations but only first one you get close to will be your only Trader, Take A Portal, as a mater of fact,

TAKE A PORTAL EVERYWHERE YOU GO!
Sorry but cant express enough. If in doubt put a portal down, mark on your map if need be.

The main task is, of course, to find and kill all the bosses and gain their exceptional powers through their trophies. The guide to them is so-called Vegvisir's stone. The first is at the spawn circle and leads to Eikthyr. The second, which leads to Elder, is in the Black Forest either in the burial chamber or in the ruins. The third leads to Bonemass and is in the swamps usually in the Sunken Crypts. The fourth is in ruins somewhere in the mountains and leads to Moder. So far the last one is in the plains and leads to Yagluth. Each boss have specific item, which helps yo in the next biome (Eikthyr - material for pickaxe, Elder - swamp key, Bonemas wishbone, Moder - tears). To summon each boss on his altar, specific items available in the respective biome are needed (Eikthyr - deer heads, Elder - ancient seeds, Bonemas - withered bones, Moder - dragon eggs, Yagluth - totems of the Fulings).
You not need to explore whole map, but in each biome make all available crafting tools and upgrade all your gear to the local maximum.
But many people, after completing this task, create a new world with a new character and roam the map and enjoy, build bases, castles, bridges and other structures, try to kill bosses in specific time-limit or without the death etc etc ...

Every new landmass you encounter you should drop a portal. I personally run the shore of the landmass to create an outline. Then i begin to explore sections of it and mark every resource node and cave.

Inside some of the crypts in the black forest, doesn't matter which black forest, there is a glowing red runestone. Or sometimes you can find one on the back side of one of the towers but that's more rare. If you click on that, it will mark the position of the nearest location of the next boss, The Elder. There's more than one Elder location on the map, the runestone only shows you the closest one.

There's someone else in the Black Forest that is much harder to find and might require some random sailing. Finding them is optional, but helpful.

Stay away from other biomes when you're sailing around. Be terrified of brown grassy fields.

Originally posted by ShaftAlmighty:

Every new landmass you encounter you should drop a portal. I personally run the shore of the landmass to create an outline. Then i begin to explore sections of it and mark every resource node and cave.

my method exactly! oh and Vikings were respectful of the Oceans so sail kinda within sight of shorelines till you have a carve or Longboat

Originally posted by squashplayer1:

Hi,

just completed the first boss, current in Black Forest.

I don't understand how the exploration of the map is supposed to be done.

The map seems to be huge and Meadows, Black Forest and others are scattered around the whole map?

So I have to sail from island to island and explore the Black Forest on any island? Or how should I approach the map?

I mean this would take years I guess? Or is the Black Forest limited to a certain area?

Thanks for info

Maps are extremely big but with lots of ocean/seas in between. Land's have randomness to the combinations of them and bosses can be spread very far from where the first boss is encountered on a different island even. However, if someone is lucky, you can get all bosses on a map in a connected or semi connected "continent". Most maps though do not have that.

So, as far as navigation of the map is concerned, each biome has a potential for having markers for where to find the next boss. Some black forest towers will have red runestone showing on your main map where the elder boss is located and as well some burial crypts will have them too. However, not all so in theory you could be searching for a long time(usually not) to find out where you need to go to find the next boss.

Swamps have similar for the bonemass boss(warning: take the swamps very slow and very conservatively so you don't end up doing like others and quitting out of frustration. First 2 bosses/biomes are easy by comparrison).

There is also an online map seed generator showing you what all locations are for your specific map(if you wish) and details of where even crypts caves etc are. Some people use that to find specific maps for specific reasons/purposes but it also helps you to see in general how the game randomizes(not 100% random btw) the details of maps.

Yeah, learn the order of the biomes, and how you progress through them.

Stay in one biome until you've mined and gathered materials to make better gear. Upgrade the gear as high as possible.

Only when you're as strong as you can make yourself (armor, weapons, potions), should you venture into the next biome on the list. And go slowwwwwww... very very very slow at first

When you enter a new biome, you're going to be underpowered. Even with the best gear from the last biome, you're at a disadvantage. So be careful, be prepared to run, build defenses, etc. Then you repeat the whole loop. Gather resources, mine ores, etc. Make better gear, upgrade it, get more powerful... LOL... and then tip toe into the next biome.

The maps are huge, and you can finish the current game exploring 5% of it or so. Im on the last boss and have explored 2 islands partly.

You can explore it however you like, but
- boating, while risky at times, is faster (straight line between points, and high speed with wind or skill) and it lets you see what is there from a safer location if you stay just so far from the shore, enough to see what kind of zone it is from relative safety. Note that the raft is just not safe, use the karve to do any real boating.
- portals help go back home to dump loot and get rested again and avoid nightfall.
- one zone of a type is like any other with some exceptions; some zone are not big enough or something enough to have what you need (eg, some mountains are too low to have metal, the main reason to visit). Its hard to tell that without taking a quick look around, though.

Some games are not meant to explore every inch of the world. This is one of them. Its pointless, since one meadow is much like another, and there isnt time (it would indeed take potentially a year + to touch all of a map). That is ok. Enjoy the world your way, at your pace. And, there are near infinite worlds if you don't like yours.