it would be incredibly useful to have return links on exploration pages.
an example of what i mean would be how, on a forum, you have links going back every step through the forum. for example:

forum index > trades and sales > auctions

with each of the titles being links to their respective subforums.
so for exploration it would look like this:

map of sylestia > viridian meadows > esior's haven > market

it would be useful to have on the exploration window as well since to return to town, you have to click the map button, the region, and then the town just to return to town. if you're exploring in viridian meadows and it looks like:

map of sylestia > viridian meadows > exploring

you can just click on "viridian meadows" and skip a step.
sorry if this is a bit wordy but i just wanted to be clear on what i mean! this sort of thing is so often not used, but soooo useful (in my opinion).

I've been thinking this same thing for quite a while...

I just kind of assumed it would happen with all of the revamping of things.

You're talking about a Site Map Path, most commonly known as Breadcrumb Trail Navigation. ^^ While easy to make, I personally wonder if it's really worth it? So far sylestia doesn't seem to have many subcategories, and the ones that do usually have a little map image or a link that will take you back to the previous area/page. The forums is the only place I could really see this navigation be needed...