Instant Travel On Azeroth

[-Joker-]

Recently, I got to thinking about the travel system in SWtOR, Diablo, and a handful of other games. Here is my idea:

We open the hearthstone up to be used for every Inn your character has visited. Since achievements are account wide, they could make an achieve based on your existing exploration to unlock all Inns for instant travel. If you've not completed the exploration achievement, you simply have to visit an Inn and interact with the Innkeeper (much the same way we do with Flight Masters). In fact, the Innkeeper could have a red ! over his head until you interact with him/her. Once "Discovered", your hearthstone could now bring you to this Inn from anywhere, as long as your CD is complete.

It would require almost no extra effort in programming except to unlock the hearth to use more locations. No additional artwork, aside from the red ! would even been needed, and I would only even add that to guarantee you know you've unlocked it (the same way we unlock flight paths). This would allow characters to move more freely throughout Azeroth, and with the Account Wide Achievement, your Level 1 character could instantly hearth to the Inn of their choice and begin questing in their favorite hub. Or even better, that level 37 you want to take to EPL but HATE the idea of riding from Ironforge all the way up there.

So, that's the gist of it. What do you think?



I'm adding a poll with 4 answers, not 40. So if your opinion does not fit one of these 4, please explain in the thread.

[Ticj]

No, it's supposed to be a WORLD.

There are already more than plenty methods of fast travel

You can even fly now, there is no need for it.

[Hctaz]

I think there's too many Inns for that to work, especially in the old world. I think in terms of new zones this can work well if they build the number of inns around it. It's basically the Suramar portal system. I mean they could just have a central portal hub in every zone like they did with Suramar and have you unlock them in a similar manner. Would probably work much better than the Hearthstone thing. Then you can set your hearthstone to the portal hub that is most relevant to what you do on a day to day basis and you'd have to fly to the others if you need them.

[Darththeo]

So a hearthstone that would take you to any inn? Why? What's the point?

I could see a stone allowing you to travel to a specific inn in each zone ... but anywhere in the world, no.

Honestly, SWToR makes sense because what you are actually doing is calling in Transportation to take you there. In WoW, you are using Magic to send yourself HOME. You can only have one home.

[Golden Yak]

I wouldn't mind a portal that takes you into the midst of a current active zone, personally. It's a chore having to fly from my HQ to whatever place I'm looking to quest in.

[Dhrizzle]

Nope. I understand the technical necessity of hitting a loading screen when you switch continent/planet, and I appreciate the convenience of a few portal type things (mages, engineers, hearthstones etc.) but overall I prefer the game keeping your character in the world when you use a fast-travel method. I'm not even totally in love with the Flightmaster's Whistle, would much prefer it if the big birdy picked you up and moved you rather than having the screen fade out and magically appearing in a new place.

[Deleted]

Could work if it was something like:

HS to your saved inn: still 15m cooldown
HS to a previously visited inn: 1hr cooldown

[Deleted]

I voted that I hate it but at the point that this game has come, I might actually prefer it.
It's not a world anymore, it's a grind simulator. So I guess it's better to embrace that and go overboard with ridiculous convenience like this.

But if I could have it my way not only would this never make it into the game but every single portal would be removed, flying mounts would be removed and many other conveniences.

[snackfeat]

Go play a different game.

[Sluvs]

I think it would be cool. I like how the waypoints on GW2 are set.
I would add some sort of restriction/cooldown so travelling does not become trivial.

[clevin]

I wouldn't mind a portal that takes you into the midst of a current active zone, personally. It's a chore having to fly from my HQ to whatever place I'm looking to quest in.

... really?

I learned n vanilla what to do. Set hearth in the zone I was leveling in. Have a bank toon in a capital city. Mail things to them if they were to be stored or AHed, vendor the grey crap in the inn that was my home.

[alzoron]

Dunno, we've already got a regular hearthstone we can set anywhere, the Dalaran hearthstone that can get us nearly anywhere a mage can go and a garrison hearthstone that can get us everywhere the Dalaran hearthstone can minus new Dalaran and Pandaria. Add in all the assorted teleportation gizmos and engineering if you've got that and what else do you really need?

[Lightbull]

Breath of the Wild is able to maintain the feeling that you're in a vast world, even though you can fast travel to any shrine you've unlocked. We already have some variation of it with the Flight Master's Whistle, which has been universally liked.

Obviously, veteran players won't feel this, since they have played WoW for many years already and have already discovered all the zones, but it would be good for new expansions and their zones, as well as new players just starting out.

I'm gonna vote for it.

[Varitok]

Sure, I like that idea quite a bit.

Games like GW2 have done it and it really love it in that game.

[Golden Yak]

... really?

I learned n vanilla what to do. Set hearth in the zone I was leveling in. Have a bank toon in a capital city. Mail things to them if they were to be stored or AHed, vendor the grey crap in the inn that was my home.

That's what I did for leveling, but content can happen anywhere now. Mythic dungeons in every zone, world quests in every zone, invasions, world bosses, etc. I've never bothered with alts much.

[Coffeexbean]

what a shitty idea as if this game didnt have enough instant travel are you kidding me? we should remove hearthstones if anything. We already have flying, we have a silly whistle that no one asked for, two hearthstones, portals, legion has like a million flight paths... we sure as hell dont need more instant teleporting to make the world feel even smaller than it is now. You are the part of the playerbase that ruin WoW into a menu/instanced game instead of the open world mmo

[coblade14]

I'm fine with it, as long as there is a high cost to this function, something like 1000g per use, to discourage people from using this as their sole method of travel.

[Mythabay]

I understand why not.. but if may be mages like Khadgar or something came and did something like this.. It would be extremely efficient and would allow for faster level... but it should paid silver or gold for and while not in combat only... Although it kinda ruins the mage's portalling ability... Not so fair on the Mage lovers out there

[Coffeexbean]

I understand why not.. but if may be mages like Khadgar or something came and did something like this.. It would be extremely efficient and would allow for faster level... but it should paid silver or gold for and while not in combat only

efficiency kills this game

[Deleted]

Honestly, SWToR makes sense because what you are actually doing is calling in Transportation to take you there. In WoW, you are using Magic to send yourself HOME. You can only have one home.

Yes having a stone that you can "set" to any inn in the world and teleport to it every thirty minutes from any location in the WoW universe through magic is defendable, but making it so that magic allows you to teleport to any inn in the universe is just nonsense.