Lets Talk about Greater Teleport Again.

[Impaqt]

OK, Silthe gave a well thought out answer to our comments and concerns about teleporting, and the limitations imposed on the Greater Teleport spell. I figured I'd start a new thread because I dont find his answer acceptable on multiple levels and instead of this getting lost in his 400 page bug thread, I'd bring it here.

FIrst. His Response for those of you that arent following the bug thread

-Greater Teleport does not function in public areas currently. Currently missing many possible areas it could port to as well.

First, as far as working in public areas go, the first attempt at fixing that faired poorly in testing. We're hoping for a more elaborate functionality overhaul in the near future, but it's tough to know when players will see it because it not only needs to be revamped, but it has to pass testing as well. Keep an eye on the WDA's for updates.

Secondly, I'm sure the main location reference by the second sentence is Meridia. This is a bit of a sore point around here, actually, since the Meridia set up was in response to many player requests for wanting a sense of "world." "Give us wide open spaces to explore," they said. "Let us cross great distances and feel that we're traveling the world," they said. So we did and now everyone /deaths to get there. And you wonder why we sometimes get a bit tetchy.

Bottom line is that we don't want Teleport and Greater Teleport to allow people access to everything as soon as they pick up the spell. Not only is that against the rules of the spell from pen and paper, but it ruins a lot of what we can do for stories and quests. Some of the new tech we're hoping to get for the Teleport spells will let us improve this particular situation, but alas, I have no estimate as to when there will be more concrete news on this.

As far as Public areas go, I can understand some of the difficulty. Seems to me it woulnt be immpossible to code it so it only effects people In your Party. This seems to work already inthe PvP Arenas. But Thats not my sticking Point.

Meridia. DDO has been a game of Immediate Gratification. It always has been. Sure, theres the role players, permadeathers and real casual gamers that enjoy a nice stroll.... but for the most part, we are a group of peple that like to get thigns done and move on to the next thing. Making people walk 2-3 minutes is a pretty poor attemp at making ebberon feel like a "World". Traveling to the Desert seems more worldly to me. Hey, I'm getting on a Airship for travel! Sure, its still immediate, but the Landscape is drastically changed its more open than any other areas, and it just has a feel of being somewhere else. Meridia has new Mobs, and some cool graphics, but for the most part, its More of the same... Same things we've seen in Cerulean hills, Searing Heights, Restless isles, Sorrowdusk, etc etc etc etc..... I'm n ot saying its bad by any means... Its a GREAT exploerer areas. Top Notch... but World traveller? Not really. Atraxias haven is more "Different' But alas, you stuck it way int he back of House K and provided no real incentive to go there. Some nice XP..... But Atraxias is NOT a desitation for anything..... Its just a glorified Side Quest.
If you want us to have a sense of the World, Give us more Unique locations. A Vast Underground Explorer Areas... A Frozen Tundra... A rain Forest..... Expose us to some of the other climates of Ebberon. THATS how to give us a sense of the world.. Not making us walk 2-3 minutes.

And my last point...... and heres the big one....

This spell instantly transports you to a designated destination, which may be as distant as 100 miles per caster level. Interplanar travel is not possible. You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed your maximum load. You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent (see below) per three caster levels. A Large creature counts as two Medium creatures, a Huge creature counts as two Large creatures, and so forth. All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at least one of those creatures must be in contact with you. As with all spells where the range is personal and the target is you, you need not make a saving throw, nor is spell resistance applicable to you. Only objects held or in use (attended) by another person receive saving throws and spell resistance.

You must have some clear idea of the location and layout of the destination. The clearer your mental image, the more likely the teleportation works. Areas of strong physical or magical energy may make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible.

To see how well the teleportation works, roll d% and consult the Teleport table. Refer to the following information for definitions of the terms on the table.

and now Greater teleport

This spell functions like teleport, except that there is no range limit and there is no chance you arrive off target. In addition, you need not have seen the destination, but in that case you must have at least a reliable description of the place to which you are teleporting. If you attempt to teleport with insufficient information (or with misleading information), you disappear and simply reappear in your original location. Interplanar travel is not possible. [/B]

There is NOTHING agaisnt pnp guidelines that prevents [Greater] Teleport from porting us to Meridia. Especially after we've been there once. It is Quite feesable that when we visit the twelve, they could easiily give us a description on whats its like and how to get there if youreally want to Role Play the Study and Familiarity with the location.

The problem is that you give, give Give, then all of a sudden you stop..... Getting to teh Titan raid was rediculous... You added the Twilight forge to the Greater teleport list..... Awesome.... We still have to run around those tunnels to do the Prereqs for the raid, but we now have a shortcut.

Taking away shortcuts does NOT make DDO feel bigger. taking away Shortcuts does not make us want to Explore more. Taking away shortcuts makes us find new ways to get around the system. (IE. /Death to port to meridia) You Constantly Underestimate the playerbase. And you constantly set presidents you later no longer follow. It gets quite frustrating.

To finish off, Please dont take anything here negatively regarding the actual explorer areas.... They are fantastic..... I love to wander around in em killing stuff..... On My Time.... Not the assembling parties time. Let people who WANT to explore Explore..... Let people who want to get to a quest, get to a quest. The 2 are not Mutually exclusive. Very Few People want to spend 5-10 minutes walking to a quest...... Catering to those people is a mistake. Seriously, Dev time is better spent elsewhere.