Please remove teleport scrolls

Correction BDF - you can get *anywhere* in the game without crossing a single control point. Also, for those that do not know the boat system. There are SEVERAL control points to cross between Radio City and Owl's Head.

so in actuality, the teleport scrolls do no more good or harm, then the boats do... shall we remove those as well?

 

I've already provided that information to Portalarium in the past. I don't need to provide any more details to have this discussion. Not a day goes by that I don't see someone asking anyone in noble chat or discord if they can friend them so they can teleport. They're otherwise complete strangers. You've no doubt seen those communications.

 

How bout we leave teleport scrolls alone, and if someone wants to walk through the control points and go through 2 loading screens they're free to do so. There's an option, why force others that don't want to do it. Myself, I'd rather pay the fee to get through the darn things so that I can quit wasting my play time if I can't teleport to someone...and pssst please put those npcs I pay to get through them on the overhead map so that I can avoid the loading screens, thanks.

Why is it that most of the time when requests are made for this game it's for the worse...leaning toward making it more boring and time consuming instead of enhancing or making the gameplay funner? It's already tedious enough.

 

I assume you mean on the overworld map and not by teleportation?

I know there's a gap in the map that should be closed near Brightbone Pass. I don't know about the one going to Gem Graff mines though, I assume you mean there's another similar map issue that needs fixed.

That could be true, at the moment. I suspect that will not always be true and believe it shouldn't be true.

 

From what I remember from the Direct discussion with Richard during our Baron hangouts is that he wants to balance instant travel with time+effort. he stated that if we had teleportation, in which we do now, that it should have a cost associated with it as equal as possible to the time and effort that it would take to cross the overland map. I think after a period of time it will balance out, but for now I would expect people to abuse it as nothing is truly balanced right now, as we are just a few short weeks after persistence. I would love for it to tie more so into the storyline with the black obsidian stone used by the obsidian sorcerers though.

 

they happened last fall. I wish they would share the sessions as I think firelotus recorded them. But there where a few groups of 8 that got to talk to richard for an hour or so. Not sure if they are going to have more but its worth messaging a dev or berek about.

 

Couldn't we say that about anything?

How about the players that like it when their character dies because it lost all of it's hit points do that, and the players that don't like it can just live forever and are invincible?
Why don't we just let those players that want to fly completely jump over all the map in a single bound and the ones that don't want to do that can walk?
Maybe the players that want this to be a medieval fantasy world can just imagine that's what it is, and the players that want it to be a 1950's american band stand themed world can get in their convertibles and curse up the strip looking for fun?

Games are not fun when everyone plays by their own rules. I'm trying to find a balance here, and the extreme abuse of teleport scrolls is leading me towards imagining a world where they don't exist. Granted, that would be an extreme solution, but it would also solve a lot of problems.

 

Why of course i mean the overworld map. You can not teleport to someone "inside" an instance presently. You try and it starts you at the beginning of that instance. So you would still need to go through that on your own. So any entrances - for example the gem mine. You would be able to teleport to your friend but would still be stuck at the start of the instance. It does not actually let you pass by anything.

As for travelling across the overworld map, nope. This is not done through any "bug" that may be in the game. I do not "exploit" bugs, even ones that may be there as map glitches. You can, get anywhere via the boat system and by pass control points (unless said point you wish to get to is inside an instance, then you still must run through the instance to get to where you wish to go)

 

Ok Baron, here's a compromise that I could live with.
If it takes 10 minutes to walk from NW to SE or SW to NE across Novia - then put a stupid 10 minute timer in between teleports.
Your suggestion of 4 hours, however, is beyond ludicrous .

 

Oh I would like that very much.

I find the boat system to be a huge imbalance as well and have resisted the urge to comment on that publicly for a long long time.

 

One of the loudest things I see you continue to say - "People are adding people to their friends lists that are not even friends, so they can teleport". Okay, so people are adding people to their friends list. This bothers you some how? This affects your personal game play? I have over 300 people on my friends list. Do I know them all? Nope! Have I met them at one point or another in the 2.5 years I have been in New Britannia? Yep! and they were added then. Does this affect your game play?

Richard Garriott has done the same thing. Added every single person in the game he comes across to his friends list. Does this, affect your game play?

Seems this appears to be your biggest issue. Not sure, I could be wrong. I accept that. But..... not seeing the issue.

You choose to not have friends, not use teleport scrolls, live as a hermit. I choose to friend everyone, teleport everywhere, and live as a community member with a very loud mouth. Am I affecting your game play in any way .. at all?

 

That's not actually a compromise because you would be at your destination while I'd still be walking.

A compromise would be more like it would take 10 minutes for you to teleport. Meaning that we would both arrive at the same time, I'd be walking and you'd be standing around waiting 10 minutes before you teleported. I'd be ok with that from a balance standpoint but I would never recommend we required people to do that because it's arbitrary.

Instead I'd like to see the scrolls either cost so much that people used them more sparingly, or the cool down timer lasted so long they would only use it when necessary because they wouldn't want to have to wait and consider walking there.

 

I'm only saying that because people keep asking me for "evidence" and I think that's fairly good evidence that many of us have no doubt seen and taken note of. It doesn't impact my "playstyle" one bit.

 

With this suggestion you could put a monetary value on distance. If you teleported past a control point you would have to pay the fee for that control point as well. distance * time = Cost per (ft/meter/mile, or what ever increment) + control point fee if applicable. Could add extra cost for extra encumbrance also.

 

Why, am i not surprised >.< BDF. DBAD... Seriously... there is no imbalance. Its transportation. Unless someone uses a scroll or a boat and when they do it, it takes you with them. They are in no way, at all, affecting "your" game play. Just.. let it go

 

Yeah, I would like that too. I mentioned that around page 2 or 3 I think, I've lost track.

 

They're impacting the economy. It has no impact on my gameplay, I agree. It just makes the game much worse because it's much harder to balance that way.

The boating system wasn't designed to just click click click from Etceter to Aerie. I know there's probably a lot of people that love that, but it's not supposed to work like that. You're supposed to get on a boat and the boat is supposed to go to a "boat scene" and you're supposed to actually spend time traveling and risking being put into a random encounter and maybe there's a blockade or something that keeps you from reaching your destination.

This current THING we have going right now is I HOPE not going to last. I don't believe it's going to last. The sooner we stop using boats like this the better.

 

Could you run that by me again ?

 

You gave some good ideas and hints which I appreciate but this time I can't agree. Not everything you dislike is against the economy - sometimes I think 'this isn't good for economy' is a kind of killer argument for everything I know you are a hardcore gamer but many players are not. Please keep in mind SotA is already a niche game. If it is too hard it will not be successful.

 

The solution wouldn't be very effective if we were both trying to reach point A from point B and you got there in 1 minute and then had to wait to teleport again, meanwhile I'm still walking (having not teleported). It doesn't work because you're not reducing your travel time to match what it would take someone to walk that distance normally, you're only reducing the frequency rate that you can reuse the ability to teleport.