Ship Travel Poll

Here is the core of the issue... I'd prefer if the game favored entering and walking through the towns but the loading screens and the time they take becomes a big burden. Event if having to wander through all the towns were more "immersive", surely having to wait a couple of minutes for each transition voids that immersion.

I do hope they fix this and, even if that can't remove the loading screens, they at least optimize the game enough that they only take a couple of seconds. Only then could we ask this question again with more meaningful results, once the burden of the long loading screens have been lifted.

 

Seems like running through Britney to get to a boat is anything but fast travel.

Let there be fast travel to other POT's be inside the city, but the one between kingsport and brittany ought to remain as it is.

The whole dual scale map is fadt travel. Why have to enter a point of interest to find a ship to kingsport? You run 50KM in 10 minutes and then it takes 20 minutes within the scene of brittany and kingsport just to exit out at hidden vale.

Seems a bit strange and it is 20 wasted minutes. That's going to get boring quick.

 

What are your machine specs that it takes 20 minutes to traverse Brittany and Kingsport? Or are you engaging in a bit of hyperbole for dramatic effect?

 

I could not reconcile the idea of a community that becries local/regional player economy issues on one hand but on the other would too easily bypass an important NPC town (which also has players with wares) for the simple sake of boat access.

So I had to vote against the flow and go with town access.

Towns should be an interesting enough experience that a short loading screen is not a big deal. If that is the problem, that should be fixed.

 

~Subverting the Overland Map and Trade Zones~
The Unsound Pound ... Our game went through allot of trouble to place barriers that (normal) players must pass through...
"and now we want a few people with loads of economic advantage to have even more economic advantage"?

~The Pure Joy of Subverting Every Mountain Pass on Our Map~

That makes me a very happy player as an individual, because this means that I can avoid many loading screens by clicking on my boat home and travel to any economic sector in the world in only seconds
"For only a few elite pledge players" ?
~The Very Confused~Time Lord~

 

Why do you think it is longer on other machines?

There are plenty of reasons to enter Britney but fast travel isn't a great reason for it. If someone is interested in buying goods they might be interested in entering knowing this might be a great place to do it, and since the people using the boat are right there... if they are looking to buy stuff they could easily nust enter the city knowing this big place probably has what I need. Why pass up a major city to go visit another city far away if youre just looking for some items really quick.

However if someone is just trying to get back to their buddy's house in hidden vale, or the guy is a trader looking fir items over in hidden vale to being back and sell for a profit elsewhere. The extra loading of both scenes and running across the city takes a long time.

The overworld map simulates long distant travel cutting down the time. It is fadt travel. Taking the boat without entering Britney is just simulating the fact we did go though the city to take the trip.

The whole game is about relevance. Selective multilayer, instances, dual scale map, if the city is not relevant it is just like walking on the overland map and walking over a city on the trail to another city.

If we have to enter Britney Spears to get to the hidden vale then we should enter everything else we pass on the road.

 

You didn't answer my question, you simply made another speech repeating your position.

 

Boats are not going to be instant in the future, they are going to take time to travel from one town to another.

While i wouldnt mind it, you will have to consider that enter the town first would make these boat travel spots twice as long to cross as control points currently do.

Im in favor of this

 

Yes I remember some words long ago that stated something along the lines of ... Boats... Prepare to defend ... something er other...

You were right I was using a hiberboli or whatever. I think it it takes longer to go through the city instead of using the boat from the outside.

Since there are control points etc, there will be a convinced factor about buying stuff in the local area unless you are level 50 or higher. Even then if I can pick up arrows or a new bow in britney I'm going to buy it there instead of use a trashy long bow to make the trek across a control point to buy a cheeper one. The reason is convineicne. Why would I waste an extra 25 to 50 arrows using a less potent bow if there is a really good one right where I'm at that is a good replacement. So what if the guy charges less over near ... ah heck now that I think of it there might be a point in having people walk through town.

HOWEVER... The flipside seems worth noting...

If the founders are paying bux to land a good spot, and they crowd in the Britney area, it is more convenient to just buy in the three big towns in the center of the land. With all the lots in that multi-metro area... there are sure to be expert crafters of each type. It should be a huge draw and prices ought to rise there.

I think I see what you guys mean when you say they should walk through britney instead of just ship out to hidden vale. The local economies seem to be more important to me than just catching a good ride, besides hidden vale might be more hidden without a gigantic ship as large as the Brittany harbor. Some players might not even know there is a hidden vale until someone tells them about it or they happen upon it from exploration. That sort of exploration/excitement is the draw for people to go and explore other towns too.

IT also seems more Lord British-esq (if there is such a thing) to have a person explore. I don't recall having recall in Ultima 4, or 5. I do recall being blown to bits by pirates while sailing across the ocean. Maybe there is a point to this after all.

So I guess I'm fine with it either way. Fast travel, or though the town. I see the benefit of both ways, and I personally cannot say one is truly better or not.

Seems to me the Devs have all the data and the insider plan. Since they are far more informed than I am, I trust their decision is for the best, and since I see the benifit either way I most certainly won't complain if it turns out one way or another. I'm just trying to think about how I would feel... first reaction is I like the quick travel. Although will that hinder business, and if it actually does then no it really shouldn't hinder business especially if a player gets this spot in hope that they could be the best crafter in the world... or whatever.

 

~Our Merging Travel Issues~
Many of our players point to loading screens as being too slow (anything other than instantaneous is considered slow) or the trouble of going through an inner city for transport. "I like the big NPC ship outside", yet I find it lacking in content because it's instantaneous travel. When it comes to privately owned ships, many want them to become just another way of subverting the overland map. Many players "want all overland map transport to be instantaneous".
This all points to a single issue in my eyes and that issue is...

~Travel Entertainment~
Our game seemingly lacks allot in that category. "Is it so much more entertaining in a seamless world" ?'

In light of this failing within our game, our searches for alternatives leads us all to just "cut any and all thoughts of travel ever being a source of entertainment completely out of the picture".

Our game is very similar to a real life amusement park. In amusement parks crowds of people either must endure long amusement ride waiting lines and allot of walking between their amusing rides (walking in an amusement park is much the same entertainment value of a seamless world).

"~Oh! Get On With It~"

This is our general consensus about our overland map travel only because "it's not entertaining" <---<<< That's a sad thing to say about most all games, open world or not. Yet within an open world, there was the sense of danger or what may lay just around the corner. Other than that, "there's not much difference with what we have".

One of the general objections to extended time within our travel is "we don't have the budget for it"... "which is bloody hog wash of an excuse!" If our game wasn't funded, then our Portalarium would not be discontinuing any of our pledge offerings without replacing them with other pledge offerings which don't include land deeds. Thus, it's preposterous to ever think our game is underfunded enough to cut corners on our customer entertainment value.

~Our Game's Achilles Heal~
As long as our game has "ZERO" overland & oversea map entertainment value, our game will forever be doomed for it's lack of any excitement within travel.
You can all be content with our game's lack of travel entertainment if you wish, "but I for one will never become content until entertainment quality within travel is uplifted"....

A simple Los Vegas show does it better than we currently do


~Now is as Good a Time as Any~
Why settle for less? Our random encounters need some beefing up before the end of this year...
"On Our Land and Our Sea"
~Time Lord~

 

I hope this isn't thread necromancy here, but I just wanted to voice my opinion (rather than start a new thread and then be pointed back to this one) that NPC overland boat travel takes away significant traffic to players' shops and that is a bad thing. That is all.

 

Anyone going to Elysium should have to take a boat from Parrot's Roost, and they should have to run by my vendor on the way to the boat.

 

To me its kinda funny. We have major cities yet boat travel to them is rather odd. You can take a boat from the Vale to Brittany only...ummm duh why not the other major cities. I think once they get to where you have to pay a fee to travel by boat the other cities will open up with boat travel. The further away or harder to get to regions...Aerie and Ecteter could cost more. Going from Brit to Ardoris would be a standard fee. There is alot of water in Sota so they really need to make better use of it. Maybe they should hire Lurocian(spelled his name wrong) but he is the guy who worked tirelessly on the water campaigns and such in UO. LOL. There is so much they can do with the waterways. Say you are sailing from Brittany to Ardoris and your ship meets a random encounter. You could still be on the boat but would be overrun by pirates aka bandits. Red Sash is known for disrupting deliveries to the Vale....maybe this is why. Or you could have random encounter of a kraken sea monster attacking the boat....where you and the crew would have to fight the monster to reach your destination. If you fail ...you eventually reach a random land mass from drifting on debris. Its just some ideas of making sea travel interesting

 

Another idea would be a fee with only one location to travel to on the overland map and then a boat captain at the docks with a pop-up store/menu with more locations.

Perhaps completing missions with the Seafarers guild a player could earn a rank for reduced passage fees and open new areas/quests. Quests could even be initiated from the popup/store menu:

- Defeat pirates on a small island, make it to the top of a tower and ignite powder to destroy a cannon or boat, look for treasure map pieces, etc..
- Defeat the cannibals and rescue a scientist with a rare grog recipe
- Join a patrol and defeat a Kraken, etc...
- Hire a boat for a fishing expedition, gain access to large sea fish, etc..
- Choose to sail into a whirlpool and come out at a random location...(town or special scene with a chance for a rare item, etc..)

A whole bunch of fun stuff could be implemented from a simple NPC with a pop-up menu with destination/quest/harvest options. Long trips could also leave the traveler with scurvy de-buff for a while.


There is an NPC in Arire that talks about sailing to Ardoris and "uncharted waters". but no boat travel to those places. There is also the Seafarers Guild (or something like that in Ardoris). The NPC mentions hiring a ship to other cites, but no boats.

Ardoris bothers me particularly, as it is a major port city, with NO boats to anywhere.

Give me boats! Give me whirlpools! Give me Scurvy!