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Topic of the Week!

What do you think about the travel system?

  • I am more than happy with how it is now.

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • I am fine in the moment, but would love to see some improvements.

    Votes: 8 23.5%
  • I am indifferent to it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I get by, but there needs to be a major overhaul in the system.

    Votes: 12 35.3%
  • I can't stand how it works and it needs to be fixed yesterday.

    Votes: 13 38.2%

  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
S

Seridove

Guest
Travel

The act of traveling is a very crucial part of life, and in the land of Hyboria there are many ways to go about it. These modes of transportation range from your typical on foot adventures to your infamous horse trot, which can invoke jealousy in your fellow denizens. A few of you (or maybe even a large majority), may purposely kill yourself for that 'instant warp' around the world.

A significant amount of players praise the current system in place, while equal numbers, if not more, condemn it. One big concern is that the legitimate means of traveling, (be it the horse, rhino, mammoth, foot) is not effective enough in moving about from place to place. Some argue that it takes an obnoxious amount of time to go from one city to a remote location out in the middle of who-knows-where. They're probably right. However you may feel towards the travel system, these opinions from the masses are most definitely valid concerns - and they are taken seriously.

What can we do to alleviate our problems? What can Funcom do to help out the players that consist of you and I? Well, for starters this whole week we will be covering all things travel. Hopefully we can gather some answers to our questions which will bring some insight into why things are the way they are.

The question is: What do you think about the travel system?
 
I

Ironforge

Guest
First off this is a great question to ask cause i have seen this system praised and condemned in OOC chat in game.

I personally like the system for the most part. Let me clarify on that a little more. I love realistic feel to the curretn system. Yeah for most players you cant afford your horse without help until you are well in the 50's when it comes to levels. It adds a much more sense of pride when you get that horse finally as well. We are talking about Conan times. You cant always be teleporting around and jumping from one zone to another at the blink of an eye. I love that they added in the ability to Path. That is a nice feature that comes in handy sometimes especially when you get stuck in that random out of place hole cause you took a wrong step.

Now it does lead to a lot and i do mean a lot of walking but in the beginning levels it isnt too bad cause you usually arent going to far for quests or you have a large number of quests in one area you can complete before heading back to turn them all in at once. What sucks sometimes is when you are out in the middle of nowhere and need to go three zones back to get to where you need to go.

In my opinion maybe they should put in some sort of mass transportation or harse travel you can pay for that will take you to another stable. I know your going to say it sounds like WoW but most games have some sort of transportation of this kind. I have seen level 60's and higher who could not afford their horse and were still running and at these levels i can see how people would be complaining at not having a horse.

I guess all in all i agree with the current system and like it but maybe some sort of mass travel or payment travel should be added to ease the travel of players.
 
D

deanwebb86

Guest
A simple solution to the travel issue, which would also decrease people literally killing their characters to teleport across zones, is to make all Resurrection points right-click-able, which would then teleport you to any other resurrection point in that zone.

Also, place a resurrection point at each entrance/exit to each zone. This would help the game in many ways, as it would give people an almost 'griffon-like' experience when travelling to far off zones.

You would zone into the next zone, click the rez tablet (cannot do during combat to prevent exploiting), appear at the tablet at the end of the zone, zone into the next one, and continue this until you were in the desired zone.
This would decrease travel time substantially, as of now we have few options.

This would also help on PvP servers as it would give you more options on where to spawn to avoid that constant gank squad that knows you'll be coming to life in one of uhh.... one places.
 
T

Tokio

Guest
This would also help on PvP servers as it would give you more options on where to spawn to avoid that constant gank squad that knows you'll be coming to life in one of uhh.... one places.
Funcom allows behavior like that to happen for a reason and it's not because they favor gankers, but the ability to load into a different instance allows it. Their stance is that they will not interfere if things can be solved through PvP or in-game methods.
 
I

Ironforge

Guest
Not a bad idea dean especially for the PvP servers. Nothing sucks more than getting killed over and over again casue you cant get anywhere else
 
B

bandyta

Guest
I heard somewhere idea about "traveling with smugglers". You know, in every location should be one, two or even more npc called "smuggler" and during talk there should be option to travel with them faster. I dont want some instant teleportation, some animation, bunch of artworks will be quite nice to spend travel ;)
Another idea is travelling with Asura priest who knows secrets paths ;)
Another one raiding on some magic speeded big wolves.

Thats how i see it :thumbup:

btw. forgive my english :p
 

dp_dropout

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
When you've ran through the same zone 30 times, it becomes a tad cumbersome. I can't count the times I've committed suicide to instantly get to the other side of a zone.
Especially when you're lvl 80 there are only 2 places left, Kheshatta and Atzel, which makes banking a real chore. Wouldn't be a bad idea to give you multiple Asura points as a price for reaching 80.
 
K

kwispel

Guest
Give us a travel Npc, who teleport you to your destiny
 
S

Showbliss

Guest
A simple solution to the travel issue, which would also decrease people literally killing their characters to teleport across zones, is to make all Resurrection points right-click-able, which would then teleport you to any other resurrection point in that zone.

Also, place a resurrection point at each entrance/exit to each zone. This would help the game in many ways, as it would give people an almost 'griffon-like' experience when travelling to far off zones.

Man this is perfect!!!
Great idea, i agree 100%.


I never understood the deathport aspect of the game. It is very anoying.

Im quoting your post on the forum to get responses.
 
B

Bedlambob

Guest
One suggestion I've seen previously and liked was very simple.
Just keep Each Azura path saved rather than over-writing.

That would at least give you a few points to travel too.
With the system as is at the moment, if you're currently saved in Purple Lotus and need to go to Poitan that is some serious travel time.
You dont need an Azura teacher in every zone, so you will still need your horse, or good shoe leather, but it does cut down on the unrealistic ( for most gamers time management) wasted gametime.:thumbup1:
 

Sawo

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Last thing I want to see is any kind of teleportation system, runes or portals or anything like that. If its not in realm of Conan, it should not be in game.
 
P

pplhatemynicks

Guest
Do you realise how instant travel from anywhere to anywhere will cripple an already suffering economy? what makes an item more expensive in a mmo is an extra amount of time needed to aquire it. if you neglect travel time, you increase the inflation even more, mostly on crafted items.

What WoW has right about traveling was that it took time but was on "auto-pilot", a lot of ppl complained but they just didn't think about the practical side of things (well, they're 12 after all :p). Eve-online has auto-pilot traveling too and moreover you can be engaged while you're at it.

Probably, wagons and ships would suit aoc, and traveling SHOULD take some reasonable time. And you could make it possible to fight on board of ships but then there should be another longer (like twice or 3 times as long) yet safer way to travel.
Yeah, and wagons are personal and just follow the road without collision detection on. About them being attackable - well, let's face it, it would be really fun but testers had to whine about npc cities being attackable cuz it "distracted them" (that's what the rumors are) so it's just not happening =\ But would have been cool with looting and everything and an ability to create large caravans so that bandits have to think twice before engaging it. Hm maybe it will be fun even without looting - but again, i doubt it will be implemented:p
 

dp_dropout

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You know, in the end it all sounds nice and dandy, wagons and bandits and something not belonging to the Conan lore.
People don't like wasting time. That's what it's all going to boil down to.
If I only have 2 hours of game time per day, I sure as hell don't want to spend 10 minutes of it waiting to find a conq to join the group and another 15 for him to get from wherever he is to join our raid in Atzel Fort.

The fact alone that people commit suicide to skip entire zones says a lot.
I just finished my lvl 50 destiny quest on my alt. I was questing in the Eiglophian Mountains, had to Asura back to Old Tarantia, had a 4 line conversation and was told to go back top the Eiglophian Mountains. Sorry if that's not my idea of fun. I have to travel through 2 entire zones which hold no interest or challenge for my char at that level whatsoever, and by now I've already seen the sights a dozen times.
 
P

pplhatemynicks

Guest
Sorry if that's not my idea of fun. I have to travel through 2 entire zones which hold no interest or challenge for my char at that level whatsoever, and by now I've already seen the sights a dozen times.
Fair enough but it's only the result of the bad overall design :S
 
S

SWATJester

Guest
Please don't hesitate to offer your opinions guys, if you have suggestions as to how the travel system can be fixed (if you think it is broken) or what it does that is good (if you think other systems suck and AOC's is good), please let me know here!
 
S

Sternhammer

Guest
I wrote about this some time back in it's own thread on the European forums, here, but basically my idea was this:
Many people, even those with horses, are finding travel to be quite bothersome. It’s not so much the traveling across the zones, as the number of loading screens that must be passed.

We all know about the travel options in other games, flight paths, teleporters, etcetera.
What if one of the functions of a Guild City was to have a stables, or similar building, that functioned as a travel point?

This would work much the same as in other games, one would have had to previously visited a zone before being able to travel there. The stables/stagecoach point at your Guild City would allow you to travel directly to designated points in zones you have previously visited, and thus would mean only one loading screen.

Potentially you could allow non guild members to have access to your stables/stagecoach, and pay a nominal fee in order to use it. This fee could either be a straight money sink, or could go direct to the guild bank.

This travel point could also be used as a staging ground for inter guild PvP events, such as sieges.
Original thread
 

dp_dropout

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The stables/stagecoach point at your Guild City would allow you to travel directly to designated points in zones you have previously visited, and thus would mean only one loading screen.
Very nice, but yet again people who don't want to be in a large guild or don't want to be guilded at all get shafted once more.

As if not being able to craft decent gear isn't punishment enough.
 
S

Sternhammer

Guest
Which is why I mentioned the use for non guilded players. :)
 
B

Bedlambob

Guest
Surely though, the Azura points are already inset into the game, are within the 3 hubs leading out to high level or in to low level areas and we could reasonably expect that it wouldn't take massive coding to implement.
( like a stable / stagecoach concept - which actually I really like ! )

Dealing with the issue, whilst working with what is already in game (even the die hards i'm sure are using the Azura points on occasion ) would be the easiest resolution.
 
A

ApacHeAM

Guest
Hope not to meet fanboys on this forum too. The travel system is unexistant, what I suggest is a travel system Lotro style, with horses among major questing zones and cities. Definetely we need a portal in our bag to our guild city too.
 
P

pplhatemynicks

Guest
Fair enough but it's only the result of the bad overall design :S
Sorry, that post just doesn't make sense, i probably wasn't paying attention.

But thing is being attackable while on a non-instanced travel encourages world pvp which is a good thing in my book. if the travel is instant ppl will seek pvp in mini-games and not outdoors - just like in, you guessed it, WoW.

Yet being attackable during the whole trip will make travelling all but useless. As to the work around, hm, maybe there might be a certain part(s) of the road on which you become attackable?
 

Sawo

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hope not to meet fanboys on this forum too. The travel system is unexistant, what I suggest is a travel system Lotro style, with horses among major questing zones and cities. Definetely we need a portal in our bag to our guild city too.
I think LotRO has same kind of system with DAoC? It was ok, fast enough but you had to travel, not just *zap*
 
V

vmnlogan

Guest
Sorry, that post just doesn't make sense, i probably wasn't paying attention.

But thing is being attackable while on a non-instanced travel encourages world pvp which is a good thing in my book. if the travel is instant ppl will seek pvp in mini-games and not outdoors - just like in, you guessed it, WoW.

Yet being attackable during the whole trip will make travelling all but useless. As to the work around, hm, maybe there might be a certain part(s) of the road on which you become attackable?
How about a compromise of several systems suggested here so far?
Option 1: Path of Asura locations are saved, not overwritten; you can travel to any you have visited when you use PoA.

Option 2: Wagons/ships with optional attacks. For players wanting to get from A to Z quickly, select the express transport. For players who wouldn't mind an attack situation, make a pirate/bandit attack available as a mini-PvP event as you travel. You can either side with your shipmates and fellow travelers or try to eliminate everyone to keep the goodies...

Option 3: Path of Asura allows you to travel to any discovered resurrection point in addition to any PoA destination. There would need to be some sort of expandable tree or a series of dynamic selection boxes to choose map and res point.

Option 4: Leave it as it is. Although the big-time use of magic and proliferation of sorcerers and fantastical creatures already stretches the limits of the dirt and blood vision of Conan's world REH described, that fantasy setting definitely did not include teleportation - and if it had, any Cimmerian worth his wolf-fur loafers would hack down anyone who did it!

Just my $.02...
 
T

trebor

Guest
It's after midnight atm, so I didn't read every post (as I normally would).

For me the current mode of transport is do-able. Not ideal, but effective enough for the time being. I like to see the world around me, but don't want to take 30+ minutes to get somewhere either.

I know it may not have complete relevancy here, but when I used to play Summoner on PS2, you were able to leave any major area (city) and were taken directly to an interactive bird's-eye view of the world map. This was the mode of transport. You would walk your character to whatever other questing area, city, PoI, etc. over the face of the world map. Occasionally, while in your travels you would be automatically instanced into an "Encounter". Depending on where you were located on the world map, defined what type of encounter you were engaged in. Some of them were even quest specific.

Perhaps an implimentation of this type of world transport might work.
 
D

Dethpatryn

Guest
It's after midnight atm, so I didn't read every post (as I normally would).

For me the current mode of transport is do-able. Not ideal, but effective enough for the time being. I like to see the world around me, but don't want to take 30+ minutes to get somewhere either.

I know it may not have complete relevancy here, but when I used to play Summoner on PS2, you were able to leave any major area (city) and were taken directly to an interactive bird's-eye view of the world map. This was the mode of transport. You would walk your character to whatever other questing area, city, PoI, etc. over the face of the world map. Occasionally, while in your travels you would be automatically instanced into an "Encounter". Depending on where you were located on the world map, defined what type of encounter you were engaged in. Some of them were even quest specific.

Perhaps an implimentation of this type of world transport might work.
This sounds too much to me like going into the realm of single player RPG's.
 
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