Runes and Rune Libraries

(Wasnt sure what forum this belonged in...)

I really like the marking of runes, rune books and rune libraries of the old UO days. A well set up rune book was as valuable as a full spellbook back in the day. Will we be seeing the likes of this in SOTA?

Lin

 

As convenient as that was, I sorta hope they limit or don't have use for runes for instant transportation. It took people out of the world running around, and instead just brought everyone from A -> B with no delay. I just think it would be better if there were perhaps a few more travel options around the world to get players to every general area of the game without being too much of a timesink.

 

Yeah, Mark D, i see your point - it does take away some of the realism of travel in that age. But i would argue being able to quick travel added people running around town. For example, if there was no real quicktravel, no one would see me outside of my main hangout in Vesper (in UO). But, because i could travel around, people saw me in Moonglow, Minoc and Britian quite regularly. I would spam sell for 5 minutes in one town, then port to the next, repeat. And i think that was a benefit to the full feeling of the game.

A couple other points ill throw out there: known transportation lines also reveal chokepoints. Im not sure how PvP will work, but a known entrance point to locations may be a breeding ground for ganking - which in my opinion isnt positive PvP.

And, if i happen to have a shop that is far from the mainstream, being able to hand out runes to it would be a way to drum up business. Or for player run towns, to build up occupants.

I would love to hear more of that you and others think!

 

I like the idea of town to town quick travel but that would be it... similar to the old SWG type...

 

I'm against fast travel.

* it removes the challenge of getting somewhere
* it shrinks the world (everywhere is within walking distance)
* the differences between local areas (such as resources) mean less
* regional prices disappear -- we end up with one large market everyone uses
* it removes the incentive for people to stay in one area for a while, lowering the pop in outlying areas

 

Jonathon.Doran +!

 

I'm not quite sure where I stand on rune travel/quick travel. It has both its benefits and its disadvantages.

If people want to do a dungeon run, but say, only have an hour free in the evenings, they kind of don't really want to waste time running there when they don't have to. But then again, it does take the fun out of exploration etc.

I think it is important to have quick travel in some sort of fashion to allow people to do quick dungeon runs/ travel between towns etc. I personally like the idea of limiting the number of runes a player can have (say to a few or several for example). It means that they can have quick travel to important or highly frequented places (where the running to and from would just become monotonous and boring after a while), but when they need to mark runes to new places, they just mark over an older rune (for an already marked location they can currently sacrifice, but which they will then have to go find again to re-mark if they want to).

 

Also, I remember finding that quick travel was important in regard to the full looting system in UO. I would mark a spare rune for wherever I went hunting as this ensured I would get back in time to my corpse before it decayed or even turned to bones. If there is going to be a full looting system and a timer on corpses, a fair few players would probably appreciate being able to get to their corpses before times up.

 

We do have a duel layer map, along with the moon gates. I just don't see this as necessary as it was in UO, granted I would like to teleport to guild hall for events or meeting.

 

Since hexes and places can change I can see an issue with the UO rune system in this game.

I can see it having value if some places are hard to reach though (which I think will be likely).

I'm not sure how I feel about it. In many games I really wish they had a rune system like UO has. I'm not sure this game will be like that or not. Possibly. maybe some spots will be able to be marked by runes and some wont? (thereby removing the issue of changing hexes) I think I could see a system like that working.

Travelling in every MMO i've played outside of UO has been tedious.. even waiting to fly around on either flying mounts or their travel system in UO annoyed me... waiting for airships... etc. What is the purpose of that? slowing me down...

Now I also wouldn't mind a system where marked runes are bound to you and others can't use them. That way you personally have to explore and be there first to use it. (but if they portal you there then you can mark it once you get there so.. meh.. but atleast it's something)


It was always fun to mark a rune for a really dangerous area, and tell your friends or strangers that it's a good spot to buy something from a player vendor.. cheap GM weapons or some such

 

I think everyone's examples of why runes are a good thing hae been addressed but the reality of the dual scale map. I will be surprised if travel time from one side of the world to the other is even in the 10's of minutes, on the overmap.

I agree with Jonathon.Doran's reasons on why rune travel is a negative thing to the gameplay.

 

Sir Mishri opined: I can see it having value if some places are hard to reach though (which I think will be likely).

I think this is exactly why you shouldn't have runes. If a place has been designed to be difficult to get to, then it should remain so, not shortcut by teleportation.

 

Yes a runesystem as the one UO had would be alot of fun. It would also open up a market for runebooks.
There should also be a gatesystem that many players could use to bring friends and pets with them.

 

I agree with the reasons listed by Jonathon.Doran, at least as far as a more open-ended, sandbox-oriented game goes. A more linear, zoned game such as WoW would be unbearable without fast travel (not that I lasted long even with it). I would like to see resources and player communities become a bit more regional, not to mention the dual-map already being a form of faster travel. I recall travel being a large part of the fun of the single player Ultimas. A more elegant solution, for me at least, is simply to remove the need to repeatedly and instantly travel from one end of the world to another.

 

I think the overview map is going to be a type of fast travel system. My view though is for no fast travel for the reasons that others have mentioned.

 

I suggested somewhere else that it should be a skill. At least it would slow down quick travel.

 

I would like a fast travel system, like the overview map would be cool if they could pull that off like in Ultima, would decrease travel time like crazy while still being affected by the world.
.............. wait what?