Why Don't MMOs Allow Easier Transportation?

Rock, Paper, Shotgun is running an opinion piece which asks why the majority of MMOs force users to spend a fair portion of their time traveling around a virtual world. At what point does moving from one location to another become a chore? From the article: "I love big, explorable worlds. They're by far one of my most favourite things about games. Running off in a direction without any idea what I might encounter is a rare pleasure, and one far more likely to result in an exciting discovery in a game's world than the real one. ... Not knowing what's coming up is huge and exciting, and I'd not want to take it away from gaming, not ever. But you know what? Once I've been there, that moment's gone. I've discovered it already. I did the exploring. I don't need to spend half an hour of my time that I've allocated for playing games trudging at whatever stupidly slow speed a game's decided to impose upon me. There is no good reason, whatsoever, to not just let me be there."

Re:Pretty simple

[Xelios]

I don't see why. You pay monthly regardless of how long you spend in the game and what you do in it. If anything long, unnecessary travel times will tend to put people off of subscribing for another month.

Re:Codswallop

[Bieeanda]

Have you actually played the latest expansion? You get to Northrend at level 70. You can't fly there without "Cold Weather Flight Training" or somesuch, which you can't even get until level 77-- which is most of the way through the Northrend content, and costs a serious chunk of change to boot.

The Howling Fjords starting zone is built heavily around sheer drops, switchbacks, irregular terrain and slow lifts. Its very existence is a poke in the eye for people who thought that the nether drake mounts they spent weeks grinding faction for made them the kings of shit mountain.

Re:As the great Bartle said

[thesandtiger]

Ive actually quit WoW over lack of instant movement. Waiting 30 minutes for group to ssemble is not fun, neither well spent time. When you spend more time afking game and reding book while you wait for someone than playing, something is very wrong ...

In WoW there are at least 2 options for getting other players to a dungeon virtually instantly - the meeting stones (requires 2 players be there already) and warlock teleporting (requires 3 players be at the desired location). If you're at a level where you're doing content that doesn't have a meeting stone (raids, pretty much) you are going to have the ability to travel to any location in the world in much less than 30 minutes, at most about 10 minutes, and that would be the most extreme possible case I can think of. The *only* time there is a longer trip involved is when you're first exploring an area with a given character. If you don't have the flight paths connecting one point to another, then prepare for World of Walking - but at the level where you're still getting flight paths it isn't like you're raiding or doing dungeons much, so waiting for people for a raid isn't happening.

People take so long to get to instances and raids not because of travel times, but because they are doing other things before the raid, like selling stuff, repairing, getting potions etc. ready for the raid, chatting, whatever. If travel time were the real determinant of how long it takes to get a raid together, the wait times would be down to 10 minutes, 15 minutes tops.

Further, WoW has done quite a bit to change the way you have to travel:

Original WoW had mounts that you could get at level 40 that would boost your speed by 60% for 100 gold (a decent amount of money back then) and 1000 gold at level 60 (the maximum level) would get you 100% movement speed increase. You could boost that another 2-3% by getting a trinket that would speed you up.

Then they added the Burning Crusade expansion with flying mounts. The level 40 mounts dropped to 60 (I think?) gold, the level 60 mounts dropped to 640 (I think?) gold, and the flying mounts were now 1000 gold for the riding skill (easy to get along the way to level 70) for a 60% speed flying mount and 5000 gold (about as hard to get as the old 1000g mount) for a 280% speed increase - as fast as the flighpaths, but quicker because you could do this point to point kind of travel rather than take the long way with flight paths that swooped around. You could boost those numbers by 10% or so by getting new trinkets.

In addition, they added Shattrath which has portals in it to every major city in the game. You could set your hearthstone to Shattrath and teleport to either continent in the old world (and close to other travel options) instantly.

Then they added Wrath of the Lich King. The level 40 mounts now unlock at level 30. There's a new city - Dalaran - that has a set of portals to all major cities. Cooldowns on hearth stones and other similar abilities were reduced to 30 minutes from an hour. 5000g for the VERY fast flying mounts is now pretty easy to get.

It isn't instant travel, but it's not 30 minutes, either. And if you're really impatient to get around, roll a mage or deathknight. Mages can teleport to many places in the world inside of 10 seconds, and deathknights have special abilities that make their mounted speed quite a bit faster than usual - it feels pretty peppy.

Guild Wars also uses a different model from WoW. They actually make more money if you buy the game and then stop playing because it's a pay once (and pay for expansions) kind of thing. WoW is a pay per month set up. Guild Wars doesn't really require timesinks for their business model in the same way WoW does. I think WoW does a pretty good job of varying the timesinks and even making them a little more entertaining (the people on boats can be fun to talk to; flying under your own control you can find interesting places) all things considered - and certainly the rest of the game is more than fun enough (for people who still play) to compensate for the travel stuff.

Re:As the great Bartle said

[VGPowerlord]

Not only that, but WoW is dropping the mount levels again in 3.2.

According to the WoW Under Development [worldofwarcraft.com] page:

• Apprentice Riding (Skill 75; normal land mount): Can now be learned at level 20 for 4 gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 20 directing them to the riding trainer.
• Journeyman Riding (Skill 150; epic land mount): Can now be learned at level 40 for 50 gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 40 directing them back to the riding trainer.
• Expert Riding (Skill 225; normal flying mount): Can now be learned at level 60 for 600 gold from trainers in Honor Hold or Thrallmar. Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold for Alliance; Thrallmar for Horde). Flight speed at this skill level has been increased to 150% of run speed, up from 60%.
• Artisan Riding (Skill 300; epic flying mount): Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold or Valiance Expedition for Alliance; Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive for Horde).
• Druid Travel Form: Can now be learned at level 16.
• Druid Flight Form: Can now be learned at level 60. Flight speed increased to 150%.

Re:Automated transportation

[TCM]

Where do you get your info from?

Neither running more than one copy nor spreading keypresses via software is forbidden.

There are Several Good Reasons

[ninjamurai]

1. Overcrowding due to easy of access 2. Shrinking of the game world due to perceived lack of any distance 3. Content runs out quickly due to immediacy of transport 4. Travel is a general time sink slowing the progress of characters 5. Travel can also be a money sink to allow a bit of money back into the economy 6. Encourages grouping if used with things FORCING more than one person to summon (e.g. Warlock summon in WoW, Meeting Stones in WoW ) 7. Instant travel removes the sense of achievement at getting somewhere cool and difficult 8. Sometimes travel can further the story line by making it seems a great adventure 9. It causes the players to play longer allowing more revenue generation 10. Travel can also be used to force people to experience certain game content they would otherwise "fly over" (e.g. Northrend in WoW) There are many reasons why instant travel is a bad idea for an MMO. While it sure is convenient and I like it, the idea of having anyplace instantly accessible is just BAD in so many ways. I noticed here that many people are complaining about forming groups etc. Uh, not the games problem that people are slow and not on time. Many of these folks are blaming the "time to get somewhere" for people resource problems. Gamers are notoriously late to places and groups. There are exceptions but...far and few between. Most MMOs have some way to facilitate a groups meeting up. Portals, Summons, Meeting Stones can all be implemented allowing instant travel even from the darnedest places. There are exceptions to the time of travel theory BUT they are far and few between. Now, I do think that WoW especially is slow to add new flight points and the connection of major cities. But I am familiar with the reasoning they are using and while I don't agree with it...I will go with it and not buck to hard. Anyway, time to go. Just know the people designing these games including myself are not trying to drive you nuts, but do have pretty decent reasons to do what we do.

Re:As the great Bartle said

[Ultra64]

hearthstones are a 30 minute cooldown, and the meeting stones allow you to instantly summon people.

Re:Guild Wars - WoW Lite

[geminidomino]

I wouldn't call Guild Wars "Wow-Lite" although that's admittedly what they are planning for the vaporware Guild Wars 2. I left WoW for guild wars because, despite the smaller size, I found it a better game, definitely a more enjoyable one.

The key differences from WoW are big ones.

• Instanced world - Outside the outposts, the area is yours. You want to caravan from Temple of the Ages to Ascalon City, feel free. You don't have to worry about twats trying to gank you, training monsters onto you for giggles, and other griefing. You also don't have to wait behind 32 other people camping Rotscale.
• One race - All player characters are humans, so they all have access to the same primary and secondary classes (with appropriate campaigns). Best of all, no goddamn elves.
• 8 skills on a bar - That's it. Builds and teams actually have to be thought out and crafted for the area (assuming you're not completely overleveled for the area you're in). It's an actual strategy.
• Encourages build tinkering - You can change your build and attribute spread at will in any outpost, without creeping cost increases promoting cookie-cutter play. (NB. I'm referring to the game setup here. There is the subset of players that will insist on bad wiki builds that happen to be popular. +10 points if they suggest said builds in locations where they are completely inappropriate. The game also gives you Heroes/Henchmen for playing without these gimps)
• Map travel - While not perfect (we've been asking Anet for some time to allow us to "turn the page" on the map screen without having to map into the port city), it DOES have map travel. Go to an outpost you've been to. Click on it. You're there.

  If any of those have changed, it is only the last one (I quit WoW with the 1.7 rogue nerf and have never looked back), since the others are part of the core WoW game play.

  You do no service to WoW nor Guild Wars by that sort of unfair statement. GW does a great many things differently than WoW specifically because it wasn't trying to clone it. (I just wish they'd remembered how well that served them before these idiot ideas for GW2).

Re:As the great Bartle said

[WuphonsReach]

No, they use it because it introduces massive downtime that is easy to justify as you can get some players even believe it is for their own good.

I'll state right up front that you're off base, close minded, and completely lacking in aesthetics.

I played EQ back in the days of Velious. Traveling from Faydwer (eastern continent on Norrath) to Erudin (western continent) by foot, was about a 2-3 hour journey. So, if you wanted to travel that way (for free), you expended playing time. The land felt huge, absolutely epic. Or you could pay for a port (spend money, or make friends) by a druid or wizard who would whisk you and 4 others to a far corner of the globe. Or you could simply level up as a wizard/druid and move yourself around. This all had some interesting side effects:

1. You'd typically stay in an area for a few days a time, and your local reputation mattered. Everyone knew who the troublemakers were, who the cheaters were, who the kill-stealers were, etc. Assholes tended to find their life difficult. Druids and Wizards would often refuse to port an asshole, which meant they were stuck running and taking the boat if they wanted to escape their reputation.

2. The population remained spread out. Because travel was difficult, players would not move willy-nilly from hot spot to hot spot. Unless you had strong reason to level elsewhere, most people stayed and leveled up near their home city.

3. Travel became an adventure in its own right. Not everyone's cup of tea, but to a great many of us, we enjoyed the epic crossing of Norrath. It was part of the pleasure of playing.

So things were in good shape, right up until SOE decided to (a) put in the free teleports up to the moon (b) completely trivialize travel between major cities in Planes of Power and (c) create a central, neutral city, with bankers and a place to sell.

- The population immediately flocked to the "best" leveling zone. Which resulted in tremendous lag, kill-stealing, competition for camping spots, and general bad manners all the way around.

- Assholes could now move from zone to zone easily, escaping their local reputation. The game world became much more anonymous, and the Internet Fuckwad Theory became to apply.

- Faction and exploration (two aspects of the game that many people enjoyed) became a joke. Which basically left "killing things" and "getting phat lewt".

- The world immediately shrunk in apparent size. It lost a lot of the epic feel prior to the introduction of free travel.

- The small economy centered around the buying / selling / bartering of ports was destroyed. This impacted quite a few players and could've been averted by not making travel free. (Yes, waiting for a druid/wizard to come by a druid circle or wizard spire was a pain at times. We would've been happy to pay about double the going rate to an NPC who would port us without waiting.)

- Old world cities immediately became ghost towns. Large portions of the world became abandoned.

From what I've seen, Blizzard's World of Warcraft gets it just about right:

- Initial exploration on foot or mounted, unlocks gryphon / bat locations allowing you to return reasonably quickly to those locations in the future. (The exception being the southern half of Kalimdor for Alliance characters due to all the major Alliance cities being situated at the north end of the continent.)

- Travel on the gryphons/bats is not free. Nor is it immediate. Which means that sometimes you'll see people pay mages for portals to distant cities. In addition, the gryphons function as yet another money sink (lowering the rate of inflation).

- There are central travel hubs like Shattrath and Dalaran, where you can easily get to any major city in an instant. If you set your hearthstone there, you are never more then 30 minutes (the cooldown on your hearthstone) from any major city on Azeroth.

- The auction house and class / profession trainer