You've all convinced me. Slayers to unlock teleports is a bad idea. you had several valid reasons, but the one that got me was the whole "because you don't have the teleport, the party will start the quest without you" problem.
So either implement the RL teleport scheme everywhere or leave it as it is.
I love exploring in every MMO, except DDO. On my 1st character 1st life, I explored every zone I ran across until I learned that explorer is per life and must be repeated. Since then, I've never bothered with explorers. I actually hate them on DDO.
If they were true real exploration rewards -- once and done forever (not just per life) -- I'd love doing them.
Definitely agree that slayers would be a poor choice for unlocking teleports, but do like the explorer idea.
It would be cool if the unlocked teleport locations dropped you off at a secondary (optional) quest entrance—like in the Bookbinder Rescue or the Mindsunder.
Ghallanda: Tervail (solo player)