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

I think it's important to establish what "exploration" is. It is discovering, and preferably mapping, a location that was previously unknown to your society. I think it would be fantastic if locations didn't even appear on the map until someone went there, mapped it out and then returned to the capital with said map.

If the game world were roughly the size of Asia (or even bigger if I had my way) and almost all of known civilization were located in an area roughly the size of Moscow, then exploration would take on a more realistic and important meaning. Whole guilds could form with the purpose of going to, and exploring, locations that were thousands of miles away. It might take them months to get there, but if there is always something to do everywhere you go, then there would be interesting things along the way that no one else would have encountered before. Heck, if they fully implement in game buildings, keeps, walls, castles and whatnot, then that guild could get there, set up a camp, start building a town, eventually build a keep, then some outer walls, a moat and eventually have a full blown castle. Maybe they could even form their own fully fleshed out kingdom.

That wouldn't be possible if the world were small and if the whole thing were explored within the first month. If whole armies of people can rapidly transport from any location to any location, then location would be meaningless.

Why should I waste my time voting is the new question the Round Tables have undermined the opinions of the players.... I believe this team had their mind made up on all factors before they even create these questions.....

I rather there be items and spells instead of a system to warp players anywhere. It would give players more things to craft and suck a little plat out of the world via consumables. The faster travel is and the more the norm it is, the smaller the world will feel. It may not even feel like a world in the case of EQ2.

One of the reasons I have people on my Facebook who I played EQ with in 1999 is because people played in areas and then moved on instead of simply warping all over the place.

I do not want fast travel options. I would rather prefer alternate options, such as boats, trains, caravans that travel at set intervals. I'm also okay with player skills such as Druid/Wizard port spells. I would be okay with a group/raid ability to call your mates from faraway places to nearby safe zones, they would still have to travel a short distance into dungeons or battlegrounds. But the fact is that a large world without any way of connecting familiar friends within a reasonable amount of time would make making friends a bit of a chore.

Who cares? This isn't LotRO. If you want to play that crappy game in that worn out IP, go for it.

Are you... new around here?

There's no "casters" in EQN. Anyone can be any class at any time.

Furthermore, even EQ1 launched with wizard's spires and druid rings.

1. Again, no "caster vs non" in this game.
2. Spoken like someone who's time is utterly valueless.

You mean... travel is the bane of RPGs exactly as you'd like them to be. There are millions of people who have no problem RPing, or playing an MMORPG, when there's fast travel involved.

they do but i think there is a possibility they use these for some ideas. Just look at each thread. Many of them have great ideas that may not have been thought of for certain things.

I could not agree with you more, simply put.

Wizards and Druids were the means to travel fast. Plains of Knowledge took away their might along with the familiarity of the old zones. Note I never played those Characters as my main so I'm coming from a good perspective.

When KIDMODE and ACCOUNTANTS hit a game, it's destroyed.

Definitely no fast travel into dungeons. I want to see people outside waiting for their raid/group mates. I want to fight for the actual right to zone in. Hell, some people don't even know where dungeons actually are and how they look outside...

I loved how EQ2 handled it long before the teleportations and Call of the Veterans. You COULD fast travel to a location ONLY if you've found the place or have a pre-set location to get to (port to port offerings). I'd vote for limited fast travel, exploration is a MUST, but once you found the way, make it available.

This way you have the beauty of exploring while avoiding the tedium of constant long travel.

Voted for : "Fast travel with limitations, such as only via player abilities or requiring you to visit "the long way" first."

This follows EQ1 and EQ2 exactly, unless something's changed recently. In EQ1 and EQ2 you had to get the "blessing" to use each Druid ring. Wizards had teleports without this restriction, and that's fine, both should be implemented slightly different. (note: in EQ2 the wizard still had to travel to the spire before they could teleport there)

There are controversial debates regarding the implementation of the Plane of Knowledge (easy teleports) in line with the great SWG:NGE change.

My personal opinion is that "fast travel", meaning getting anywhere in the game in under five minutes without using any teleports, really makes the world feel too small. Sure I hated the long boat rides in EQ1, but it also spawned some of my best memories, or gave me a chance to chat with friends while still traveling to a destination. It really wasn't -THAT- bad. People training the Cyclops to the boat was bad, or lagging off the boat was also bad - but those are besides the point.

The one area everyone should have a fast tavel tool is for getting back to a bind location at the end of the day. The "Call of..." spells in EQ2, but keep them on a very long timer; several hours (and allow the recast timer to tick down offline). This is just convenient to get back to someplace safe after a long night of gaming.

This brings up a good question though - If the game is layered and we have an epic fight and end up several layers below ground, how do we get back to the surface?

This. We need an MMO with consequences and meaning, something that isn't trivial. Fast travel is the first step on the path of trivializing accomplishment.

i think fast travel should be done within limits.

1. boats, flying devices or whatever between cities/hubs

2. like everquest 2 griffin or flying carpet or horse transport these may take a little time but offer no monsters to fight so take less time.

3. special abilities class like ability for some mages/priests

4. world wonders discovered only by exploration and that are rare. ie druid rings

Sorry I disagree. If Wizards and Druids were maintained as the means of fast travel then the game would have had a wider spread of players and interaction.

If I was a millionaire and purchased out EQ franchise, PoK would be blown up in the storyline.

Personally I don't mind the thought of mounts, but I am more partial to the Guild Wars 2 travel system. You go discover a waypoint before you can use it. Yes a bit of leg work, might still be required to meet up. But it takes a huge chunk out of your travel time once you find them. Be it way points, possible flight paths, or even mounts, I would look forward to a system that would make it easier to get to my Clone (Identical twin sister) so we can bring agony to our enemies together. In a much quicker and more efficient manner <insert evil laugh>. Um I mean so we can go hug the cute critters in the woods <smiles>.

I think EQ had it right with Plane of Knowledge. I know many may disagree with me, but I think having multiple portal options in one zone was awesome. Even though PoK let you teleport many places, you still had to run a few minutes to get to your group / zone that you were wanting to go. It even allowed Wizards and Druids teleports to still be relevant because some of the PoK books didn't take you near the high level content you wanted to get to.

The results of the last two Round Tables have seriously discouraged me. I think that a lot of people, myself included, have been hoping that EQN would be closer in atmosphere to the original EQ with a more modern UI and graphics. However it appears the development team is more interested in creating a mish-mash of currently popular games (Minecraft+WoW+FF job system).

I remember the Faydark areas of Everquest 2 before the horses were added to those zones, and then later to many of the original game zones. I remember helping to build the new locations for the spires and the rings. I remember having to be careful of enemies while traveling across the zones.These are fond memories, like having to quest for the right to be your chosen class or combining multiple things when crafting.

I like the way the griffins work in places like Eastern Wastes. You have to find the next station to be able to travel there in the future. The Sokokar in Kunark used to work that way. I miss the thrill of danger when I run a new character through that area for the first time, no longer worried about getting killed before reaching the next post.

I believe some kind of class ability should allow you to teleport to previously binded location, maybe locations.

I'd really like a kind of teleport to guild leader or one carrying the GuildStone(raidleader/highest officer)

Everybody will have access to that if they unlock the teleporter class i guess.

More is just luxury.

I'd like to remind you and everyone else that the "Fast travel after the long way" is how Skyrim and GW2 do fast travel. Those games are very large games that feel tiny because every 10 steps you get a new fast travel location.