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

What bugs me about the bells is that it felt like SOE knew it wasn't a good idea but did it anyway. That first trip to Zek on the boat where you had to fight your way there was really fun. Obviously every trip couldn't be like that but SOE had to realize how trivial the bells made things feel.

BOATS!

only acceptable way to travel imo!



gonna stump everyone one of these days with a reference!

... Im lost...

Ah yes, that's from the 1988 film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

no, I didn't just read the url title

yep, riding a cannonball

Isnt this a way of Travel in EQ2... Grrr I cant remember the zone now.. Shot out of a cannon in a barrel... into a net... Cause that will work great... Wood has to be stronger than my legendary enchanted armor.. lol

My take on all this previously posted in EQNexus forums:

It might make you feel easier in that when you hear the call to go rushing to another destination, that you might be out in the middle of "no where" and it will take a bit of travel to find that bell, spire, or druid ring, then once you zip over, there may still be a bit of travel involved getting to the spot. Not all events are going to be beside a convenient portal.

I think we definitely should have a bind point (in certain areas) for "going home" where ever that should be, and a 2 hour cool down should be plenty.

That Moor of Ykesha zone fired people in cannons.

i honestly dont think anything that can zip you anywhere should be implemented til at least a couple years from now just for the mere fact adventuing is going to be the thing that is going to keep the game alive plus all the zones are constantly going to be changing so one day what one zone didnt seem all that great could be awesome the next day and you would never know if you just simply zipped past it, but a "Return Home" feature would be a good idea

god i hope some info comes out in the next 2 weeks. Need to know if i have to play GW2 past December or not!

I would say fast travel between cities and hubs once visited "on foot" but with the added ability to port / summon people via player abilities to anywhere. (Within reason... Dungeon entrance? Yes! Boss chamber, not so much...)

-Bongo

I actually think this is one aspect that WoW did very well.

- Assisted Travel between major cities is fine (blimps, boats, whatever have you).

- Summoning Stones at dungeon entrances (so if you log on 5 minutes before a raid starts you can still make it in time).

- Graveyards scattered around the land to respawn at (living toon can't simply teleport around but can respawn without having to catch a blimp as a ghost).

- Hearthstones to get you back to a nearby major city (with a long cooldown so not used arbitrarily).

- Mages opening portals to other cities (convenience for other players, tips and sense of self-worth for the Mages).

- Flight Path Mounts (on-rails transportation, faster than a normal mount but not instant, gives you a sense of how large the world is since all there is to do is look around as you travel).

- Player mounts that could carry more than one person (high level friend gives low level friends a ride).

What I don't want to see is players being able to teleport around at will just because they've been somewhere one time. I also don't want a total lack of transportation options. The above list of WoW transport options is actually pretty well balanced, and I would not mind seeing it emulated in EQN. Don't fix what isn't broken!

I will add that I would also like to see areas that are entirely cut off from fast transport options. Very dangerous, open-world monster lairs that harken back to the olden days of MMORPGs, with a super boss at the end on an 18 hour respawn timer. It takes 50+ people to bring him down in a reasonable amount of time. No teleports, flight paths, or even graveyards. Open-world encounters are huge social events and something I really miss in modern MMORPGs.

A lot of the previous posters are all thinking Old School. This is not EQ or EQ2. We must think outside the box on EQ Next.
Here is what I see that we have so far....
1. A smart AI mobs will learn with every player that attacks them. Thus smarter Mobs.
2. Merchants that move around the world to find a better place to sell their wears.
3. A destructible world that heals itself.
4. Harvestable voxels to build with everywhere.
5. We are dropped in to a Pioneer Rally Call area I would figure the NPCs may have found horses to train for riding or be training other critters to ride.
6. Think of the old west you need a house or a tent to stow your gear. So you can go out and help to make a copper to eat and repair equipment.
7. Next comes adventuring and helping others gather materials, soon you will need transport. Maybe you got your horse or other mount. Maybe you had to train it or care for it. Maybe some of you players are training animals as mounts and selling them I don't know.
8. Say your friend has wondered off alone and got himself in deep trouble he is under ground and the ground has closed he is looking at a number of mobs and needs help. Mounts won't cut it you now need some magic to get you and a group there quickly. One of your group a Shadow Night who has picked up some wizard powers he can switch to. Thus we don't need a wizard or druid to get us there just the abilities of the class.
9. So now we have Riding mounts and Caster Portal Abilities. Anyone who picks up the abilities can port the group. Not necessarily a need for the caster classes just some one who has picked up the abilities. Same with healer classes No need for a pure healer class. Just need some one who has picked up the abilities to heal. Same with all the other classes. This is an interesting concept. And one that is hard for us to wrap our heads around.
10. Mobs will move around the world and set up shop where they feel comfortable. Finding them will take the tracking ability providing that is in the game. I did not say the scout class, I said the ability to track.

I see many post on the subject of, we should or should not have classes that can port or that all classes should be able to port. I think you see the answer above. All classes could acquire the ability to port or to track or heal or fight or use range weapons, but they will have to go out in the world to find the class abilities. I love the concept.

I do think boat travel would be set up via Rally Calls. People NPS/Players of the old west and of the medieval times were very resourceful they all needed to make a living and if getting you around the world quickly is of benefit to their pocket book, I trust, their will be a Rally Call to make it happen.

I believe that flyers will also come in to the game rather quickly as the EQ2 players are used to their fliers.
I would Imation that there will be broken wizard spires and druid rings that need to be activated. They had a type of Rally call in EQ2 to fix our spires and Druid rings I would expect there will be some in EQ next as well.

As for clicking on a spot on the map where you have never been and going there will be necessary for EQN Landmark but I don't see it in EQ Next not unless you clicked on a bell or a druid ring or a wizard spire. All of which might need to be built with Rally Calls before the ability is put in place.

Even though you may have the ability to use caster portals and mounts and bells doesn't mean you will always choose to use them. In order to get to the good harvest areas and hunt down the mobs you need you may want to travel on foot to harvest new areas and kill mobs or make friends with them to get access to more areas of great voxels to harvest. Those areas would be passed by with the fast travel.

So bottom line EQN Landmark Instant travel anywhere touch the map and go.
EQ Next earned travel it needs to feel like an EQ, EQ2 world.

That is my thought on this Travel thing.
Azari Lite
Old Timers Guild on Unrest Server if you are OTG PM Azari

Boy I hope you have a thick skin, you'll soon realize why I said that..

At any rate, people mentioned this kind of travel will make people skip content. (Flying Gryphons) There is one thing you've forgotten. I've flown over areas before and was like "oh ! what is that area? I've never been there before, I need to check it out" Did that quite a few times, and the adventure ensues as I try to figure out how to get into said area and explore it. Yes it can hinder exploration, but it can encourage it as well... anyway, *dons flame retardant suit*

Ports to major areas on the same continent you are on only after discovering them. Across oceans and such have to use druid port, wizard port, spires ect or boats. Every character should have a gate/bind spell. Then again the spells become a moot issue when everyone has access to all classes, that's one to ponder on.

I'm fine with taking a boat or a zeppelin or flying monkeys or a catapult, whatever, but I don't want it to take a half hour like it did in EQ. I don't have that kind of time to blow any more. -_-

Dunno why I need thick skin or you need a flame suit. Flight Path travel does indeed give you a view of new locations you may not even have known about. "Gee, that place looks dangerous, how do I get there? SHOULD I even go there yet?" Adventure ensues!

Maybe I'll be able to convince WoW players to climb into a catapult. "I've got your fast travel right here, arsehole."

I agree, but the hardcore players in here have already vehemently grilled everyone about how that type of travel system is the reason why MMO's are crappy these days.. Not sure if you've had time to read all 146 pages (wouldn't blame ya if you haven't) but yea, that kind of travel is the bane and and the reason for the decline of the MMO game nowadays!!!!

I wouldn't mind it, but I wouldn't mind some of the newer ideas I've seen in here as well....