Fast Travel

[Templarion]

After writing "yes" and "/signed" in so many fast travel suggestions I decided to do my own.

Add universal fast travel option for every class. No reason to restrict it to the teleport users only. Just add a button you can press and travel anywhere you want (normal teleport and greater teleport options combined).


The existence of teleport spell is kinda stupid. It is like allowing only a few classes being able to press "Sell all"-button or buy more than 1 item at the same time. Things like these, don't make the actual playing more fun. But lack of usability makes playing boring and sometimes frustrating.

Many games have fast travel. If you have been in the place already, you can travel there whenever you want by a few clicks. That's how it should be here in DDO as well.

Keep gaming experience awesome! Don't make people feel bored at any point. That's a recipe for a good game.


PS. Also include Wilderness areas to this. If you have once traveled to the quest entrance, you can fast travel there at any point again.
PPS. TR'ing does not reset these. Of course, the toon must be in the correct level range to travel the location.

[Doomcrew]

Where in Stormreach and surroundings, does it take any significant amount of time to get to?
Other games that have "fast travel", also have a much larger world to travel around.

[Templarion]

Where in Stormreach and surroundings, does it take any significant amount of time to get to?
Other games that have "fast travel", also have a much larger world to travel around.

Sum up all the time you have been running around the Stormreach and you get a lot more time than you ever spent wandering around Cyrodiil.

Yes, maybe 1 travel is not taking much time but when there are thousands of those small travels the time is getting pretty big. In addition, waiting through 1 loading screen is less than waiting through 2-4 loading screens.


PS. Also, think about fast traveling from Meridia to Enter the Kobold quest entrance. There even that 1 travel time is pretty long considered that there are no random encounters or anything awesome happening when you travel.

[Ironforge_Clan]

GAWD...Devs please give this player the supreme option of starting the game and on the log in screen going directly to whichever quest he/she wishes. Also, please port him/her to the end boss with only 5% health so he/she doesn't have to waste any time in actually playing the game. Furthermore, while you are at it make sure he/she is awarded an epic chest for any quest at any difficulty so that he/she can win DDO without having to spend any actual time playing the game.

[Galeria]

Add more locations to city teleporters? Yes.
Add airship tower to House C? Yes.
Add more wilderness areas to ship navigators? Yes.
Give every player instant teleport wherever they want to go? No. Not signed.

[Templarion]

GAWD...Devs please give this player the supreme option of starting the game and on the log in screen going directly to whichever quest he/she wishes. Also, please port him/her to the end boss with only 5% health so he/she doesn't have to waste any time in actually playing the game. Furthermore, while you are at it make sure he/she is awarded an epic chest for any quest at any difficulty so that he/she can win DDO without having to spend any actual time playing the game.

Give every player instant teleport wherever they want to go? No. Not signed.

Nice. Fun comments and punchlines but I would like to see arguments. Why to deny better usability?

Should we also remove "Repair all" and "Sell all" buttons? Should we also buy 100 health potions 1 by 1? Carrying 1000 spell ingredients sounds too simple as well. How about making that 100 instead so you need to visit spell ingredient vendor between every quest?

There, an answer suitable to your answers. Simple questions which hold no arguments against or for. Tell me a good reason why to deny usability in this case.

[Simplesimon1979]

I could be wrong but don't they sell a rod of teleport with no UMD reqirement on the DDO store.

[Templarion]

I could be wrong but don't they sell a rod of teleport with no UMD reqirement on the DDO store.

Now that's a good start. Make it Rod of Fast Travel and it gets better.

Not a bad method to monetize with usability. Too bad all my party members don't buy it.

[madmaxhunter]

I have to agree with the others that it doesn't take that long to get anywhere in DDO. Even Ataraxia or Reavers(to me the two worst) is only 30-60 seconds to almost anywhere in the game. Of course that's with the House P pendant that everyone has. Fail that /death or farm "Bring Me the Head of Ghola Fan" for this: http://ddowiki.com/page/Royal_Guard_Mask I just got one, fun to play with. And useable by anyone.

[danotmano1998]

I feel your pain on the travel times..

Teleport is the best spell in the game, IMO.

This is why I make every character who CAN'T cast it have as much UMD as possible. There are myriad other benefits as well to UMD, but Teleport is the biggie to me.

Of course, this game is far better than a lot of others simply because of the recall button. Which is a personal favorite of mine. Recall ranks right up there with loot all and gather.

So I can't say I'd /sign on this because there are other options like the time traveling pendant, or UMD. (I'm not couting the guild ships or the teleporters either!)

[Templarion]

This is why I make every character who CAN'T cast it have as much UMD as possible. There are myriad other benefits as well to UMD, but Teleport is the biggie to me.

Yeah, I just don't understand why there couldn't be more locations where to teleport and why not to make it more obvious to new players how useful it is.

Like every new player should get this "Rod of Fast Travel (BtC)" with 30 charges for free. After charges are depleted they should be already so addicted to it that revenues from Fast Travel Rods should increase.

[MsEricka]

Like every new player should get this "Rod of Fast Travel (BtC)" with 30 charges for free. After charges are depleted they should be already so addicted to it that revenues from Fast Travel Rods should increase.

And everyone should start with 30 of each large ingredient right? NO

No more easy buttons. No more asking for everything for free because people can't get 150 House Phiarlan favor and get a pendant of time or get some UMD and use teleport scrolls or farm some free points and buy rods of teleport or god forbid, waste 30 seconds of your life to run across the entire game.

You want an exact answer, you got it. A simpler response would be we don't need fast travel because it's not required and because it already exists.

/not signed

[Flavilandile]

Like every new player should get this "Rod of Fast Travel (BtC)" with 30 charges for free. After charges are depleted they should be already so addicted to it that revenues from Fast Travel Rods should increase.

You can get them quite easily, either through the store... ( they are BTC ) or through Easter Egg Hunt ( supposedly binding ) or the AH ( yup, some don't bind, I have a heap of unbound them sitting in my bank, I put one or two on G-Land AH from time to time. )

Adding a few more Teleport Destinations is something good. ( that include the Rod, Ship Navigator and Greater Teleport )

Adding a 'jump to quest' function don't bring anything interesting to the game.
The worst run you can have is a Reavers Refuge Explorer Area to Devil Battlefield : that's 7 Loading Screens, less than 5 minutes, including the time it takes to cross all the areas concerned.
If you have a rod and access to a ship planescaller that's 4 loading screens, about 3 minutes.
Going to a quest in any other MMO I played takes between 5 minutes to several hours.
So basically DDO's worst case scenario is barely reaching the best case scenario in any other game.
( Note : I'm not counting clearing the way through explorer areas to reach a quest... some of these explorers areas are just timesinks designed as such *glares at the Cannith Manufactory, Menechtarun and Restless Isle* and would require a specific teleporting NPC to each and every quest entrance like it's done in Tangleroot )

[BruceTheHoon]

I would like to see arguments. Why to deny better usability?

Since it's a suggestion for a new feature, I'd argue that there has to be a good reason to implement it. I my opinion, you have provided none.

After writing "yes" and "/signed" in so many fast travel suggestions I decided to do my own.

Add universal fast travel option for every class. No reason to restrict it to the teleport users only. Just add a button you can press and travel anywhere you want (normal teleport and greater teleport options combined).


The existence of teleport spell is kinda stupid. It is like allowing only a few classes being able to press "Sell all"-button or buy more than 1 item at the same time. Things like these, don't make the actual playing more fun. But lack of usability makes playing boring and sometimes frustrating.

There is a reason: Lore, or consistent portrayal of the world.
We have a mode common mode of fast travel in D&D and it's called teleport.
So, we have a teleport in DDO - use it. How to use the teleport - that's an obsticle for a character to overcome. Not everyone can, but that's the world Turbne is trying to present.
They are pretty kind though - they do not make you stroll around the airship while it flies to Menechtarun, for instance.

On a more personal note, I don't have any characters that bother with teleport. With all the stormreach teleports, airship access points (House cannith is missing one) and the most basic navigator (I do explorer quests ), I can reach any quest in about a minute, on average. I find it a small price to pay for having Stormreach not turned into a ghost town.

As for being boring and frustrating, I don'f find it neither. This makes for just as strong an argument as Your own personal opinion.
I doubt that it's just me that prefers doing something (like clearing the path) while waiting for the group to fill. It makes the game less boring. One could argue, that it makes the game more repetitive, but, You are suggesting, that we can get to quests that we've run before quicker.

Many games have fast travel. If you have been in the place already, you can travel there whenever you want by a few clicks. That's how it should be here in DDO as well.

And many MMOs don't have it. Of all the MMORPGs I've played, only Guild Wars had the fast travel implemented the way that you describe. Others (WoW, L2, RO, LotRO, UO) have it in a very similar way that DDO has it. I see no argument here, why DDO should have it.

PS. Also include Wilderness areas to this. If you have once traveled to the quest entrance, you can fast travel there at any point again.

I'd support this idea only, if they implement random encounters along the path and only if the character has done the explorer quest for the area.

PPS. TR'ing does not reset these. Of course, the toon must be in the correct level range to travel the location.

That would be incosistent with the current TR lore. If the character's experience is reset, how could he/she know the way to an arbitrary location in the world?

TL;DR:
No.

[Nysrock]

/not signed

You can already use Teleport or increase travel speed in enough ways:

1. Roll a caster
2. Use UMD for scrolls
3. Get the Royal Guard Mask
4. Get a Rod of Teleport
5. Get a Pendant of Time
6. Carry haste pots/clickies
7. Get Run Speed boost enhancement on Rangers and Barbarians
8. Buy better striding boots
9. Buy Expeditious Retreat wands/clickies

If we just start giving everyone the same abilities as another class then were does it stop? Should fighters be able to cast Haste so they can attack faster? How about rangers having the run speed of monks or barbarians so they can get there faster? And my FVS should be able to cast Displacement so I don't get hit as often.

I can see why you want this but there are way too many ways lessen your travel time right now in DDO.

[Templarion]

And everyone should start with 30 of each large ingredient right? NO

No more easy buttons.

Nobody asking easy buttons here. Better usability =/= easy button. Think about it and you will understand the difference.

With depleting fast travel item the new players would understand the pros having one. Now, the most new players don't even know what they are missing before they roll caster and reach the level when they may choose teleport spell.

Adding a 'jump to quest' function don't bring anything interesting to the game.

No. It would only remove boring the boring part.

There is no reason to have any boring things in a game that aims to amuse the players. Note, that it is still possible to make it so that the new players have to explore the 'beautiful' landscapes before they can enter the quest and attain the fast travel possibility.


I am still waiting for a good argument against this. I wonder if there is any. Saying that "it takes only X time to get any quest" is not valid. This because forcing players to go through game content that has no value to them is just bad design.

EDIT:
One good argument delivered. This would cause players less to meet each other on the streets and see other players running around. Personally, I don't find this very big issue but this is a valid argument against.

[Templarion]

Since it's a suggestion for a new feature, I'd argue that there has to be a good reason to implement it. I my opinion, you have provided none.

But I did: Better usability. Less time spent in useless and non valuable areas => More players questing and buying stuff from DDO Store. There should not be useless areas and potentially boring phases in any game that aims to amuse players.

There is a reason: Lore, or consistent portrayal of the world.
We have a mode common mode of fast travel in D&D and it's called teleport.

This is a valid point. However, that is why I suggest it should not be called teleport at all but Fast Travel. No casting animations, just plain fast travel like in other games with this feature.

I can reach any quest in about a minute, on average. I find it a small price to pay for having Stormreach not turned into a ghost town.

Like I said in my first reply: Sum up all the time you have spent running around Stormreach and it is a lot bigger time than you expect. That time could have been spent questing & having fun beating bad guys and challenging puzzles.

About that ghost town thing, I don't know how to argue against. There you are right but I see it as a minor issue.

That would be incosistent with the current TR lore. If the character's experience is reset, how could he/she know the way to an arbitrary location in the world?

Players who don't enjoy exploring the areas anymore would have a possibility to skip it. I did not mean to connect this mechanic anyway to the lore. I am not a lore person, more like game mechanic monkey.

If we just start giving everyone the same abilities as another class then were does it stop?

Don't mix usability and class advantages. Fast travel is about usability. Firewall is about class advantage.

If only bard could press "Sell All" or "Repair All" buttons - wouldn't that feel little strange? At the moment, only some classes can press Fast Travel button.

[pie2655]

Nice. Fun comments and punchlines but I would like to see arguments. Why to deny better usability?

Should we also remove "Repair all" and "Sell all" buttons? Should we also buy 100 health potions 1 by 1? Carrying 1000 spell ingredients sounds too simple as well. How about making that 100 instead so you need to visit spell ingredient vendor between every quest?

There, an answer suitable to your answers. Simple questions which hold no arguments against or for. Tell me a good reason why to deny usability in this case.

You are comparing apples to oranges. I do not support this idea. This has been said before but- Stormreach is NOT that big. You can get most places pretty quickly, guild ships make it alot easier and there are the telepoters and planescallers to. I see no reason for all classes to get a "fast travel" option. It is pretty easy to get around, there are teleporters, planescallers, spells (haste, expeditious retreat), phiarlan fast movement pendant (cant remember name), bind points and the biggest one guild ships!. Guild ships can get planescaller's, navigators, and the captain. THese amenities allow you to get to anywhere with an airship tower, amrath, and many areas like GH and meridia (iirc). I see no reasone to add an easy button to anything especially not something already easy that isnt even a quest or raid. Also teleport spell does NOT equal fast travel, well not your version anyway. The teleport spell takes the caster to a spot in the houses, the twelve, and meridia (not going to talk about the portable hole here). All of the houses and the twelve are easily accesible from the market, the only one where casters have a bit of an advantage is meridia- but you can just bind there and release to get back. ALso remember you can use scrolls of teleport or teleport rods.

COMPLETELY /not signed


Oh and you keep saying "better usability" please explain that.

[Flavilandile]

At the moment, only some classes can press Fast Travel button.

you don't seem to want to see it.
There is NO fast travel in DDO except via Haste, Expeditious Retreat, Phiarlan Pendant of Time and Striding that makes you running faster.

There is Teleport and Greater Teleport ( spell, scroll and rod for the normal teleport ) that makes you go from where you're standing to a Well Known Location. ( as per spell description )

Now anybody and everybody can use these means.

Anybody with some money can buy :
- potions of haste
- scrolls of expeditious retreat
- boots of striding
- scrolls of teleport
- scrolls of greater teleport.

With enough UMD you can use the scrolls without any problem, I'm doing it regularly with my rogue.

You can farm renown to get the Phiarlan Pendant of Time, it's easy : Splinterskull Elite will be enough.

And Last, there's the rod of Teleport, that works exactly like the spell, that can be used by anybody. You just have to buy one from the DDO Store, or from the AH, or win one from the Easter Egg Hunt.

As such, with all the above means to go from A to B, fast, most if not all of them available to all class and all level ( hint : there is no ML on the rod ) you're points are moot.

You have the means, use them. If you are not happy with them nobody can help you.

What you want is what Neverwinter Online was supposed to be : a lobby where everybody is gathered until a quest is decided, then people jump straight into the quest. But it seems it won't be that way now since Cryptic was sold to PWE.

Last, Teleport is an Arcane Spell in D&D ( you know the game DDO is supposed to be the computer version of ).
That means that only arcane spellcasters can cast it.

If you find the loading screens boring, that's maytbe they are taking a long time on your computer... Then I suggest that you change your computer. I have a friend with an computer with RAMBUS RAM... and he almost never see loading screens, and that's on a 6+ year old computer.

[Galeria]

It's not better usability, it's your personal preference. You want to avoid part of the game that you don't like. That's fine. But your suggestion isn't about improving game play, it is about avoiding the parts you don't want to do.

Personally, I hate the Devil's Battlefield. Don't even like entering it. If there was an option for bypassing it entirely to get to the quest I need, I'd surely use it. But I'd miss part of the experience of the game.

You don't like that experience. We get it. But we don't agree.