Fast travel in EverQuest Next: love it or leave it?

Discussion in 'News, Announcements, and Dev Discussions' started by Dexella, Sep 25, 2013.

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  1. Dexella Content & Social Media Manager



    Watch as the Devs weigh in with their thoughts in this EQNRT response video:


    Can't view the embedded video? Watch it directly on our YouTube channel.
    • Up x 18
  2. Syllogy Well-Known Member

    Exploring in the world is something I believe should be a staple of the journey through the world.

    That being said, it can be extremely frustrating to run from one end to the other because you have to, whether it's for a corpse run, for a group, or for an event.

    I support the concept of some Character Class Abilities enabling players to teleport in a similiar way to EQ1 where they instantly transport you to a wide variety of areas, ranging from relatively close to major hubs to "out in the boonies."

    The Magician's Summon Player ability was also a great asset that they brought to a group, especially one that was forming.

    I also support assisted travel between major cities, whether that be by boat, train, airship, etc, similar to the automated Boat in EQ1 between Qeynos and Odus, or Dragon's Prophet's "Train" System.

    *Assisted Travel is much faster than by foot, but not instantaneously, like Teleporting.
    • Up x 75
  3. StarYoshi New Member

    I like the "fast travel only to previously-visited locations" approach, but I think it would be interesting to bring class-specific teleportation, too.
    • Up x 13
  4. Puppy Member

    I don't like the aspect of just teleporting to whatever big city you want. It breaks the immersion unless there is a great deal of sense behind it.
    • Up x 51
  5. Zofi Member

    Fast travel is convenient, but we don't want to take the fun out of exploring. I think hubs between major cities would be fine (and I mean major cities, not the little encampments).
    • Up x 21
  6. Aazimar Well-Known Member

    I voted Huge World, not because I want that, but anything else will be instant travel to groups.

    Nothing I can say will change that. Waiting is not fun; instant travel is fun.
    • Up x 9
  7. Corwynn Maelstrom Active Member

    I'm looking at it like this: I want a world that feels huge. I want to have to actually put in effort to travel. Now, that doesn;t mean NO fast travel options, but it should very much mean that they're not available to people ten minutes after firing up the game for the first time. Let the game be absolutely massive for a long time. Make it so that you have to acquire power, travel long distances, and put in the effort before you can hop skip and jump from here to there in an instant.

    I love wizard portals and druid rings. I think they should be a part of the game. But not "mariner bells" for example.

    [EDIT: I say wizard spires and druid rings as an example, not a way to "force" everyone to become those classes, btw...I think that the ability to fast travel could very well be independent of class, but use those kinds of geographic features as a base.]
    • Up x 29
  8. rott23 New Member

    I'm conflicted on this one. Travel and exploration is important, but it's also nice to be able to group up with friends easily.
    • Up x 9
  9. Cynderblock Active Member

    I think going the route of older MMOs is the right way.

    Give a couple classes certain spells/abilities that make it easy to teleport (requiring putting in the work to get the class up to that point, or else having another person do it for you).

    One of the things that killed other MMOs for me was the instant travel all the time. It got... boring. Why make an amazing, beautiful world if people aren't even going to see it?

    People need to work for their instant gratification! No spoon feeding in this game, baby!
    • Up x 66
  10. Kashim Active Member

    Please, just don't. It always goes like this in MMOs:

    A little bit of fast travel at first, but you have to visit the location.
    A lot more fast travel points added to the network.
    Fast travel is essentially obsolete, and you can queue for anything from anywhere.

    I remember taking hours to go across Norrath in Everquest. I want that again. Even smaller travel, like going from Kelethin to Ak'Anon, you had to go through GFay, LFay, Butcherblock.. I liked that. If you can travel between the two instantly or near-instantly, it makes the individual areas mean much less.

    You had to think about the trips you were making. If you wanted to go to a lucrative dungeon that was far away, you had to PREPARE for that trip.
    • Up x 65
  11. Matia Active Member

    Wizard ports and such are fine. Group ports/summons and the like, even raid ones. Possibly even some major magical transport from some cities to others. (Such things are referenced in the stories I think)

    For the rest of it, ride, run, swim, or take the boat.
    • Up x 12
  12. Kiaro Member

    Everquest had fast travel the right way prior to Plane of Knowledge, even the Nexus was alright, but instant travel should be in the hands of certain classes, it adds to the community. There can be NPC driven options that require you to have traveled there manually first, but are not instant (such as the cycle for the Nexus pillars) That being said - every class should have an ability that allows them to gate to a home point.
    • Up x 25
  13. Kashim Active Member

    Quoted for truth.
    • Up x 30
  14. Xurtan Well-Known Member

    Fast travel ruins games, and I'm not at all inclined to see much of it. Wizard/Druid teleports are fine, but with the way Sony has been reading polls lately and grouping them all together, I voted for the most hard lined choice I could - that of 'even if it takes 30 minutes'.
    • Up x 59
  15. Stupidog New Member

    Long travel the first time, quick travel after you've visited once.
    • Up x 6
  16. Deepwood Member

    One of the MOST exciting things about the original Everquest, was, as a low level Halfling druid, getting out of Rivervale and heading over to where my friend had created his High Elf wizard. Of course at the time of creation, we did not realize we were on different continents. I still fondly remember that absolutely perilous journey to Freeport, then across the water to the Feydark :) THAT is the essence of exploring a great new world, rather than short cutting from A to B. Of course by the time I had my druid ports, I was quite familiar with the land, but it was having to go the Long Way first that made it so very special for me :)
    • Up x 56
  17. Xurtan Well-Known Member

    Epic journeys across Norrath are still some of my best memories in an MMO. I recall running from Felwithe to Freeport and the friends I made, the fear I felt, learning languages during the boat ride.. it was an amazing experience, and truly made me feel like I was moving through a -world- and not a -game-, and I think that is the key difference.
    • Up x 67
  18. spacklewoof New Member

    I like the idea of fast travel, but I also like gathering places. When you used to have to wait 15 or even 5 mins for a mass travel, the waiting places became meeting grounds. So I like mass travel, but at scheduled intervals. Even if it is just 2 or 3 minutes. The socialization and informal grouping that takes place there contributes to players feeling connected to one another.
    • Up x 11
  19. Mallas Scumlord Well-Known Member

    I don't want GW1/2 fast travel. It doesn't promote exploring.
    • Up x 39
  20. Goodkitty Member

    Screw fast travel! Make traveling part of the "Taxi" economy like in classic everquest. It was a great and REWARDING reason to level up a mid-high level druid, but with the class system the way it is and unless it takes a good 2-3 months of consistent play to level a character to mid - high level then my idea doesn't really apply.

    Make the game REWARDING , KEY WORD DEVS, REWARDING.
    • Up x 31
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