The travails of traveling
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 30th 2006 at 11:20PM
Seeing as my Horde guild is just getting around to do Onyxia, we're all involved with the Ony key quest line lately. And last night (on my newly built PC-- hawt!), a few guildies and I went through and did the "Test of Skulls" quests. If you've never done them, you're probably Alliance, and just this once you can consider yourself lucky. Not because they're hard (they're not, especially with a full party of 60s in epics like the one we had), but because it is, shall we say, "travel-intensive." You go to Dustwallow, down to Tanaris, up to Winterspring, out to Swamp of Sorrows, back to Dustwallow, Wetlands, Dustwallow again.. well, you get the picture. We traveled around the world for about two and a half hours or so, just to kill four dragons.Traveling has always been one of the big reasons why MMORPGs are such a timesink, and World of Warcraft, while mitigated a little bit with the hearthstone and a few gameplay mechanics (we didn't have a mage in our party last night, which would have helped out a little bit), is no exception. Especially before you get your mount, travel is pretty much a chore that most players /afk away from as much as possible.
And it's not like there aren't better methods out there. Elder Scrolls IV (which I'm also playing on the new PC) lets you click-travel anywhere you've been, and even some places you haven't. And I haven't gotten a chance to try Guild Wars yet, but I believe they also let you visit anywhere you've been in just one click as well. So why hasn't Blizzard followed suit?
I agree there are a few reasons to take things slow. Exploration is just as fun as fighting, and without traveling everywhere, you'd never see the world. And speaking of seeing, there's a certain thrill in flying on the griffon anyway-- the flight from Stormwind to IF is particularly pretty. But after the 156th time or so, it gets a little old. I don't play this game to fly-- I play to fight. And every second in the air is a second spent not earning XP or gold. So why is traveling such a travail?
Filed under: Horde, Analysis / Opinion, Tricks, Blizzard, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
gill Oct 30th 2006 11:59PM
I hate travelling in this game as well. That's one of the main reasons why whenever I try to start a Horde toon and don't get far from it because of the travelling in the Barrens. Yeah, I've played Oblivion and loved the way you can just click onto your destination. I understand that this game wants you to explore (as is evident with the exp you get), but I think discovering an area once is enough.
I say, they should at least do a click-travel for the villages/outposts in the game. I know it may sound lazy but at low lvls, even the walk to Goldshire from SW and back can get boring too sometimes.
Druid dide Oct 31st 2006 12:17AM
We demand additional lumber.
Flashback, sorry.
I have never figured out a valid reason for the travel times, and have always wondered why flights weren't instant. Why take 10 minutes to get from one place to another? We click the flight location, BOOM, we arrive at our destination. That would be awesome!
Taggz Oct 31st 2006 12:23AM
I used to play a MMO called Ultima Online. They had a standard "hearthstone" spell, avalible to anyone with magery with no cool down, but short of that, no way to travel.
When I played UO (back in the day) there were no quests, the fun from the game came from the encounters you... would encounter along your journey from one place to the next. Meeting people, world pvp, wandering monsters, it made each (self set) quest, more epic when you didn't have to /afk for half the journey.
Nurf Flight points.
Aikavari Oct 31st 2006 12:32AM
I don't know... Maybe its more of a balancing issue. If travel time is quick then what's the difference between a newbie with no money legging it from Stormwind to Darnassus with a highbie with loads of cash taking the griffin?
Virtual stuck behind a bus Oct 31st 2006 12:35AM
It's just like in real life where you wait for the bus. Only here you wait for the zep.
It's funny and sad at the same time.
Aaron Oct 31st 2006 2:09AM
Because part of the point of being on a PVP server is having to be on the look out at all times. If you could "warp" past the contested areas then what's the point?
Ratmaggot Oct 31st 2006 2:23AM
I had a great answer all lined up, then I read "6.Aaron" and I'd never thought of that. And it's a fantastic answer.
Which, of course, buggered up my response (which went along the lines of "to give us addicts a chance to get up and eat something for 10 mins flight time").
That said, no.6 is only fantastically great on a PvP server. Not so on the others.
Kinless Oct 31st 2006 2:35AM
You fly because it's a role-playing game. They're trying to model a world.
There are shortcuts. Warlocks have summons, Mages portals, Shamans astral recalls. The Druids can teleport to Moonglade, and the Engineers can transport themselves to Everspring or Gadgetzan. Hearthstones. Everyone has access to at least one shortcut.
To simply jump from battle to battle to store to battle to ore node to battle removes that. Then it would just be a battle game. (Queue up as Horde and you've already got the non-stop string of battles in the battlegrounds.)
If you think travel is a timesink, what about the others? Cool downs are a time sink, and so are resource respawns. To wait for your Zandalarian Hero Charm to refresh itself: lost time. And no more getting beat to the Thorium nodes in the Burning Steppes. Why not just keep them there all the time? Now if you could teleport node to node, you'd save even more time. If bots can do it, why can't we?
Transmutes.
If you remove travel time, you may as well remove other cooldowns that impact xp earned/hour. Make instant respawn rates, and basically let you do anything, have anything, you want at any time.
That way you could earn XP for every second of your on-line existence.
Earning XP is a timesink frankly. Create a pre-made PvPer in Guild Wars and dispense with all those timesinks.
Or E-bay a character and save yourself 20 played days right there. And then rage at the fact that you're stuck on a bat for 9 minutes to get from the Undercity out to Thorium Point. ("They don't have this in Guild Wars. This sucks.")
Seriously, I think the timesinks are built in and on purpose. You're supposed to manage your time, plan your activities. Once the timesinks are done away with they may as well just put unlimited thorium nodes right there at the blacksmiths in Stormwind City. That Imperial Armor quest was a tremendous timesink. Just give the plans away with the ore then. C'mon. Flying place to place is the least of the ways they waste our time.
or
or
At that point, why bother?
Yeah, the flights get long, and repetitious, but I just alt-tab out and browse the internet. I wish my G15 keyboard LCD would report the fact that I've landed like it'll report the fact that my BG has popped.
I agree that travel time is the antithesis of min-maxing. So be it.
Kinless Oct 31st 2006 2:39AM
What got lost from my post above read
-Click here to travel to quest object
-Click here to slay quest object and loot
-Click here to return to quest giver
or
-Click here for quest text, reward, xp, and teleport to next quest giver
or
-Click here to bypass all game content, Game Over, You Win!
Tibbsy Oct 31st 2006 3:24AM
The "real-time traveling" adds a sense of realism for when you and your pvp guildies decide to raid a town of the opposing faction. How fun would it be to raid Southshore or Tarren Mill only to have 50 bored level 60s instantly appear at the flightpath and annihilate your raid?
Yes it can be tedious after you've done it a lot (Darnassus to Ungoro ftl), but that's where my second monitor with a Firefox browser window comes into play - gives me time to catch up with all the goodies on WoWInsider, or play with talent specs using WoWHead or look up loot that I'm thinking of getting for my various alts on Thottbot, etc. Or eat something. LOL. I bet most players could use the breather to get up and stretch, eat something, or whatever.
rec Oct 31st 2006 4:48AM
Am I the only one who doesn't care about flight times ?
I just look at the scenery, or go do other things. Simple, stop complaining about insignificant things.
blubbo Oct 31st 2006 6:46AM
The easy thing blizz could do to remedy the boredom of flying is to simply randomize the flight route. Now it's the same exact flight every time between IF and SW. If it'd only change a little between turns, fly around that tree instead of above it, take a left instead of a right etc. Then at least I would be a happier gnome on the griffons back.
But right now they should only work on getting BC done! ;)
Trout Oct 31st 2006 6:37AM
While I'm flying is the only time I ever sort and re-organize my bags. Without flying time my bags would forever be a disaster.
Trout
Feathermoon Server
Order of the White Tower
Tigraine Oct 31st 2006 8:38AM
Maybe people should take also into account the Atmosphere of the game.
Those flights are really a time sink for players.. but..
There really add very mutch to the atmosphere of the game.
Also .. ever thought about: "Hey fellows.. here are 4 hordies trying to cap our Tower in EPL!!! Help!!" in the guild channel .. wusa.. 10 allys click their "teleport EPL" button and those horde gamers are fucked because they get zerged.
Now.. I don't do PvP, play on a PvE server and hate flying.. But taking away those flights would kinda kill the game imo.. Those travels are something you learn to hate.. but they add that atmosphere.. that .. "if I fly there.. I could then also go there to do something so I don't need to do the whole way again".. You never go somewhere on the sole purpose to do ONLY one thing.. you go there and continue to somewhere nearby..
It's something that has to happen.. You play a Rogue.. ok.. so you can't port yourself without a mage.. that's the way things go.. that's the way the lore always was.. And changing out the flight paths would not only harm the feeling of being in a real "world".. with all that travel azeroth seems a lot more "real" it's that typical computer game "I click and am there" .. it's like real world travel .. traveling is a time sink .. and that's what makes the atmosphere imo
greetings Tigraine
Deafdumbandblind Oct 31st 2006 8:24AM
I made a suggestion on the forums. Instead of removing the time consuming non-value adding actions like flying, running etc make them quicker. Not a lot quicker but maybe 20% - 30% quicker.
This way you still can do all the things you want in flight etc but you get where you're going just a bit quicker.
At the same time I requested that Blizz reduce the amount of rep required for each of the various faction ranks. Again, not by a lot just a little i.e. If 6000 gets you to "Friendly" then lower it to 4000 or 4500.
Either that or increase the amount of rep per kill or per game or per quest or per whatever you get.
It's so frikkin dull grinding rep.
Buruko Oct 31st 2006 8:27AM
Flying and travel are in place the way they are due simply to logistics.
Instantenous travel would be a Server nightmare. Mobs of Alliance and Horde porting round in large waves attacking and griefing and then gone in a flash. Server strain alone would cause a system panic I'm sure.
Oblivion is a single player game, UO had a port spell that simply ported you to a pre-assigned area, sure you have more than one choice to 'hearth' to but not all those points where convient, and rarely were inside a city or town (npc city or town anyway).
Ken Oct 31st 2006 8:27AM
The one-click transportation would be too easy and would lose the "one big world" feeling.
I can imagine on a PvP server if you were getting ganked and you needed help, BAM your friend teleports to the same area as you, mounts up and in 1 min s/he's already there.
Or if you need help with a quest or an elite quest? Sure, it takes your friend 1 minute to get to you and then get back to where s/he was. Too easy.
Aaron Oct 31st 2006 8:26AM
#7. My first realy PVP MMO (I don't count when I tried EQ back 2001) was DAOC.
When you were outside the gates (in contested territory) you were always a target.
I've bascially only played PvP servers in WoW (since release) because I love the idea of never really being safe once you cross over into constested zones.
Like the others I tend to use flight time as a time to catch a breather and strech, or grab food.
and in the end, even though I've been playing this game for over two years now (started in Beta) there are times when the view on a flight gets me charged up and excited about the game again.
Spongey Oct 31st 2006 10:19AM
The reason for time sinks in an MMORPG is so you keep playing the game. Blizzard gets paid per subscription and the longer you subscribe, the more they get paid.
So flight paths take a while, that way people leveling up cant level up in an instant.
Also, its why end game instances have week timers. They could easily make it so after you down the final boss in one of these instnaces, it resets. But then that would be too easy. People would be doing multiple BWL in one night.
There is no security for Blizzard with that. They need you to have a reason to keep paying. So they make things difficult to do, and things take a long time.
Llyliwen Oct 31st 2006 8:53AM
Hear hear! I agree that the travel times can *sometimes* be annoying but overall I think they add important atmosphere and realism to the game. I especially liked #8's post and agree wholeheartedly. They are especially good for that last minute run to get a drink or a snack on your way to AQ. :)