You can use the console to completely uncover the map, I forget the command. But it won't pin bosses/dungeons/etc.

I don't even look at the in-game map "/nomap"...

I generally try to not pre-explore the map. That being said, I have been staging different game play concepts and peaking a bit. My key is to find a seed I like, create a world. Then forget about it for a while, come back later when I can then explore. Just can't study the map too much, just make sure it has the features I want.

Originally posted by FissionChips:

You can use the console to completely uncover the map, I forget the command. But it won't pin bosses/dungeons/etc.

yea i know about the console command, but i want to at least explore still a little bit here and there, thats too cheaty for me if thats makes sense

I use the map sometimes, sometimes not. Some maps are absolutely frustrating on yag, trader, and sometimes moder. If it becomes too frustrating, I will take a peek. My memory isn't very good, so typically after finding a landmark, I forget anything else I saw within a day or two.

I only ever use it to find the merchant, since finding that guy can be a massive pain.

I used it once to find a leviathan.

I just explore.

I don't enjoy spending hours sailing around blindly. So I do look it up.

I also don't enjoy sailing around for hours blindly.

I'll put in a fair effort to find things like the Trader and Yagluth altar but after so many hours of sailing along coastlines I'll toss in the towel.

I'm on my first play through, so completely vanilla and didn't even know this existed. Sounds like something I'd use for future play throughs though.

Way more fun to just explore, but I have looked just at the biomes only map to make sure I don't accidentally get too close to Mistlands (before ML released) and now to stay away from Ashlands and Deep North. I don't want to mess up our map by prematurely exploring them on our main world.

I have played so much Valheim that I did try to find a seed with a decent layout and a maypole that didn't force me to spend hours looking. Having a crypt heavy swamp and now a mine heavy mistlands is very convenient.

I think you can use devcommands to reveal the map but I don't know if it shows features like the online map generator does.

I use the online maps for making sure I get a good seed, locating biomes, bosses and the maypole. Everything else is exploration. My playtime is limited due to work, homelife, my kid, my kid playing sports, and my kid. Having good play sessions in my limited time is more important than some hypothetical purity factor.

I just explore it.