Focused Feedback: Travel Updates: Base Teleportation, Long Range Teleporter Accolade, Special TP Powers

[Glacier Peak]

1 hour ago, InfamousBrad said:

Why is Boomtown, already one of the most annoying zones to travel to, missing from Long Range Teleport?

 

Also, I'd really like to ask you, please, not to kill the sg portal access to the Echo zones. Making Ouroboros accessible at level 1 but only if someone else opens a portal for you is going to mean non-stop spamming of requests for portals in all the starting zones, and we really don't need more chat spam.

It doesn't appear on either the live or beta versions of the power. I'm assuming it's due to its status as a hazard zone because other hazard zones are also not included. 

[Player2]

54 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

You're making the assumption that everyone is going to have those, for one thing. 10m a pop isn't cheap for non-farmer/non-marketeer players, so you can't bank on every team having people that bought them. (I *am* a farmer and can still count on one hand the number of my characters here on Homecoming that have the Team Transporter power, for instance.)  The recharge timing on the Supergroup portal and Team Transport are both pretty brutal, too. If only one person on the team has it, it's probably not going to be available for every hop if the gang is at all speedy about completing missions. That's one of the reasons I'm in favor of lowering the recharge time on at the least the Supergroup portal summoning. Making sure it's likely to be back and available after a mission would help a lot, I think. 

 

As for the two base transporter powers... They're freebies, which is good... But you have to know the day job powers exist, and you have to have gotten them. That's not going to be universal. Also, the number of charges can be an issue if you don't routinely remember to park yourself next to a portal when you log the character. 30 charges is better than 10, certainly, but forget to log in the right place a few times and you may still find yourself out of luck on the far end of Crey's Folly. (Ask me how I know that. 😆 ) 

When you're that far out and away from a useful exit, just drop an Ouroboros portal.

There are so many ways to get around now.  Travel powers are getting to be like character flavor.

 

Also the Long Range Teleport accolade...  you don't have to get every zone available for this power to be useful.  Just make sure you have it at a staple travel point... like Atlas Park.  Handful of badges to grab while running around doing some early missions or even just street sweeping.  And then you'll be able to teleport back to Atlas from anywhere, then take either the train or the Tunnel portal or access the SG base or go to RWZ.

 

Plenty of options is all I'm saying.  And people are complaining that they won't have instant access to everything anymore when it was never intended for that access to remain in player hands.

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Player2

[noogens2]

When I pulled up the patch notes today, I was excited to see all the changes until I got to travel changes.  The ease and speed of zone travel on Homecoming is one of the highlights of this server over other servers.  All those legacy TFs with the multitude of timesink zone changes were made much more tolerable and less grindy with the slash command.  Having to rely on a plethora of teleport powers to roughly approximate the current ease of travel makes the game both more complicated and less fun in my opinion.   

 

I would be more ok with losing the slash command if the P2W option had a much lower cooldown like 30s.  

[Moonlighter]

 

Okay, I am trying to figure out why this change feels so bad. Is this a real issue, or an annoyance at changing ingrained habits like moving my travel powers to another hotkey? I wanted to add more feedback.

 

~ The change so that the portal exit comes out at the base portals is so good. It helps alleviate the sheer annoyance of this change. One thing in the past that I really hated is if I used the base portal and then hit, say, Brickstown instead of Steel then not only do I have an annoying load screen, but getting stuck out in the edge of Bricks with my portal on cooldown was just terrible. At least now I zone in at the portal so I can click it and go right back in when I invariably realize I clicked bad or worse, forgot something.

 

It is also good because I can predict where I will come out. Sure some zones I just know where I will come out, but others are just much clearer. Coming out into Atlas near the base portal near the trainer is so much better than lol here you are in the far corner. The only lose is King's Row; maybe the base portal can be brought down to Blue Steel level rather than the top of the building?

 

~ I realize the I really hate the "how do you get there?" mini-game that is pre and post macro. I do not relish having a whole hot bar now of specialized portal buttons, each on their own cooldowns and all with there own set of rules about where they do. Does the Ouros exit go to Bricks? Is Peregrine on the T? Can I get to Steel through the tunnel? Where is the entrance to Faultline again? I wasn't expecting to group with my just now logged on friend and I *just* zoned three times in this arc and now most of the stuff is on cool down.

 

This whole process with its overlapping cooldowns and the requirement of an additional bar of icons, is a terrible experience for me. So everytime someone says "yes but that area can be accessed this way" and yes but I use this side corner of the game for crafting" and "yes but you just have to pay 1 million influence on every alt to solve that problem lol poor noob influence is easy" it just makes the game worse.

 

Anyway some more thoughts.

 

[Coyotedancer]

24 minutes ago, Player2 said:

When you're that far out and away from a useful exit, just drop an Ouroboros portal.

There are so many ways to get around now.  Travel powers are getting to be like character flavor.

 

That's exactly what I did. After facepalming. XD

[Razor Cure]

Ok, it was coming. The Base tp 'fix.'

But now it is here, I really really REALLY hope some of teh more obnoxious TFs will be looked at, in regards to the stupid amount of travel. Citadel, Numi, to a lesser extent some of the Redside SFs, ALL the shard ones. Update mission locations, perhaps all the the same zone (Yin, Tarikoss) etc etc,

Put the 'old' tfs into Oro, so the people who seem to love traversing teh entire city for a TF can still do so.

[Apparition]

As someone who has never used the base macro/slash command, and who stopped joining PUG teams because people began expecting everyone to use it, these are all positive changes to me.  Thank you!

[Gunrunner]

First of all, I am opposed to losing /enterbasefrompasscode.  Ok, it was a dev command, it was never intended to be out in the wild.  But it IS out in the wild, and has been for a year and a half.  It's fast, effective, and above all, convenient for everyone.  Going to such great lengths to remove it seems just a little counterproductive.  I would suggest that the command be modified, so as to be unusable in combat, and/or for a certain interval after combat, similar to Incan swapping.  The rumor is that this command is getting the axe because of PvP abuses; such a minor change would address that problem.

 

That being said...

 

I'm trying to understand why all these "special teleport powers" are not identical to the Oroborus portal.  Cast time, recycle, ect.  There's no reason I can see to have such an array of powers, when a simple retarget of the existing mechanic will solve the issue.  Heading back to one's base should not be a gigantic production, limited by charges, accomplishments, and absurd cast/recycle times, particularly when slipping into a pocket dimension like Oroborus can be achieved with so little effort.

 

I would propose 2 just versions of the "Base TP" power, one that you buy from P2W, and an accolade power.  Again, all the particulars of either power ought to be on line with the Oro portal.  Simple, neat, and best of all, the mechanic is already there.  No need to reinvent the wheel.

[Player2]

Just now, Gunrunner said:

First of all, I am opposed to losing /enterbasefrompasscode.  Ok, it was a dev command, it was never intended to be out in the wild.  But it IS out in the wild, and has been for a year and a half.  It's fast, effective, and above all, convenient for everyone.  Going to such great lengths to remove it seems just a little counterproductive.  I would suggest that the command be modified, so as to be unusable in combat, and/or for a certain interval after combat, similar to Incan swapping.  The rumor is that this command is getting the axe because of PvP abuses; such a minor change would address that problem.

 

That being said...

 

I'm trying to understand why all these "special teleport powers" are not identical to the Oroborus portal.  Cast time, recycle, ect.  There's no reason I can see to have such an array of powers, when a simple retarget of the existing mechanic will solve the issue.  Heading back to one's base should not be a gigantic production, limited by charges, accomplishments, and absurd cast/recycle times, particularly when slipping into a pocket dimension like Oroborus can be achieved with so little effort.

 

I would propose 2 just versions of the "Base TP" power, one that you buy from P2W, and an accolade power.  Again, all the particulars of either power ought to be on line with the Oro portal.  Simple, neat, and best of all, the mechanic is already there.  No need to reinvent the wheel.

The enterbasefrompasscode will STILL be present.  The changes make it so that you can't just use it anywhere.  You need to be near a portal... so all of the special teleport powers are giving you a portal you lay down anywhere and then use the enterbasefrompasscode command.

[Gunrunner]

2 minutes ago, Player2 said:

The enterbasefrompasscode will STILL be present.  The changes make it so that you can't just use it anywhere.  You need to be near a portal... so all of the special teleport powers are giving you a portal you lay down anywhere and then use the enterbasefrompasscode command.

Yeah, but.  The command is essentially gutted; it's no longer a convenient passage back to one's base.  If one was near a portal, why the beans would you bother using the command?  It smells way too much like "Look, we did something about it!" for me to accept without question.

[Vanden]

2 minutes ago, Gunrunner said:

Yeah, but.  The command is essentially gutted; it's no longer a convenient passage back to one's base.  If one was near a portal, why the beans would you bother using the command?  It smells way too much like "Look, we did something about it!" for me to accept without question.

The command lets you "bookmark" bases by making macros and binds, and lets you enter SG bases you're not part of or coalitioned with.

[Player2]

Well, that is your choice.

 

But the abuse of the power was that it could be used as an instant escape from combat (setting it up as a macro for a simple click to avoid dying).  So even if it's out in the wild, that doesn't mean that it has to or should stay out there because it offered convenience outside of that abuse.  It was always going to be fixed, it was just a matter of time before they found a workable way to do so.  Personally, I'm glad that the enterbasefrompasscode still exists at all, allowing people to put a passcode on their base and allow others to come and go.

 

Base teleporters to everywhere is all fine and good, but I like the creative aspect of it.  So I'm fine with the current change since it doesn't take the option away completely.

[Razor Cure]

10 minutes ago, Gunrunner said:

It smells way too much like "Look, we did something about it!" for me to accept without question.

I gotta say I agree after looking back at all the new tp and base powers coming in. After a year and a half, WHY does it matter, honestly?

5 minutes ago, Player2 said:

But the abuse of the power was that it could be used as an instant escape from combat

That really only applies to Pvp or Master tf runs. And could simply be stopped in both instances.

[Moonlighter]

28 minutes ago, Player2 said:

Well, that is your choice.

 

But the abuse of the power was that it could be used as an instant escape from combat (setting it up as a macro for a simple click to avoid dying).  So even if it's out in the wild, that doesn't mean that it has to or should stay out there because it offered convenience outside of that abuse.  It was always going to be fixed, it was just a matter of time before they found a workable way to do so.  Personally, I'm glad that the enterbasefrompasscode still exists at all, allowing people to put a passcode on their base and allow others to come and go.

 

Base teleporters to everywhere is all fine and good, but I like the creative aspect of it.  So I'm fine with the current change since it doesn't take the option away completely.

 

Just disable it in missions and PvP zones.

 

[Gunrunner]

29 minutes ago, Moonlighter said:

 

Just disable it in missions and PvP zones.

 

That would be the simplest solution.  Why this has not been done, after a year and a half, is outside of my understanding.

[Heraclea]

5 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

Since this LRT transport power is one of the more practical bits of replacing the enterbase command where travel is concerned, NOT having it on the bulk of my crew is going to have an impact. It's likely to mean that I just won't play the ones who lack it quite as often, since they may have more trouble keeping up with their team-mates than the ones who do. 

I would also point out that requiring the exploration accolades to use the power benefits stealthies over taunties; they generally can go where they please without spooking the herd.  And getting, say, the Hollows accolade is most useful for a character within level for Hollows content.  Not getting aggro is going to make a big difference here.  To a lesser but still significant effect, it privileges fliers over runners and jumpers.

 

Now, this evening I just got a character to level 47 on an ITF.  Time to get serious about the build.  Time to pop into base to see what's there and what might be needed.  Easily done now.  I need a Steadfast +DEF enhancement.  I do have the merits to get one, but am missing one piece of lowbie salvage.  Time to pop back to Cimerora and invoke the trader, then back to base to craft it.  All of these cooldowns and restrictions are going to make stuff like this much more tedious. 

 

Best thing to have done, IMO, would be to leave well enough alone.  Still seems the best option IMO. 

[Heraclea]

4 hours ago, Vanden said:

You can unlock Ouro at level 1 without talking to anyone by using the TUNNEL to go to Night Ward, grabbing the Midnighter badge, and then going to Cimerora through the Midnight Club and grabbing the exploration badge there.

Cimerora is accessible from level 1 as a result of this?

[Vanden]

1 minute ago, Heraclea said:

Cimerora is accessible from level 1 as a result of this?

Yes.

[CrudeVileTerror]

Buggy issue found with the Supergroup Portal:

 

While the slash command does work, it seems that one can't pull up the usual menu to select where you want to go unless you're part of a Super Group.

Perhaps this is something which could be addressed regardless of any of the more opinionated suggestions?

[macskull]

2 hours ago, Gunrunner said:

That would be the simplest solution.  Why this has not been done, after a year and a half, is outside of my understanding.

Because there are other issues with the command that will be in the patch notes when this goes to live.

[skoryy]

13 hours ago, Player2 said:

Also the Long Range Teleport accolade...  you don't have to get every zone available for this power to be useful.  Just make sure you have it at a staple travel point... like Atlas Park.  Handful of badges to grab while running around doing some early missions or even just street sweeping.  And then you'll be able to teleport back to Atlas from anywhere, then take either the train or the Tunnel portal or access the SG base or go to RWZ.

One thought: Move the portal for Atlas Park closer to City Hall, like at the SE corner of the plaza where you start the Posi 1 mission.  That way the base portal is right there.

 

Might be a good idea to go through all the portals and revise where they're located too, a lot of them don't make sense.  Steel Canyon putting you on the north edge of the map?

 

EDIT: Also Ouro -> Atlas -> Base Portal seems like it'd be quicker and wouldn't require the accolade.

 

EDIT2: D'oh, I forgot that part of the patch notes where they moved the beacons! 🤪 Teach me to go posting ideas when I'm half-awake.

Edited October 25, 2020 by skoryy

[Recovery8]

I don't really know if I can add more to the conversation than has been said but these changes feel really really bad for those of us that have a lot of alts. Having to get the accolad on multiple characters is going to be a massive pain and I can understand *why* they don't want us to have the dev command but it's been there for almost two years and has made it incredibly enjoyable to run some of those TFs that require so much zoning that after testing the changes with some friends on Manticore they feel very very rough, adding on travel time that is going to make folks less willing to run these already kind of sparingly run TFs. Not a fan and hope these changes don't make it to live, this feels like a massive misstep. 

[ShogunGunshow]

I find it difficult to be upset by this considering the Devs gave the heads up about it, like, a year ago. 

 

Also, you have a few more teleport powers that'll fill the gap, even moreso than you do already.

 

Also, if you desperately need the current system (you don't), you can go for the day job that gives the Rapid Response Portal. Slap it down, use your macro - done. 90s recharge, so that'll be up for every mission if you really, really can't stand not having it.

[Avilister]

Talos is a really great transport hub now. The base teleporter drops you down literally right behind Luminary, which of course is right next to the tram and a TUNNEL portal. The Oro arrival location is only slightly further away on top of The Hill, of course. Pretty easy access to most locations right there.

 

Edit: Also a note about Steel Canyon. Someone mentioned it dumping you on the north end of the map. I don't have a base with a Steel Canyon portal on beta right now, but the portal is in the middle next to the giant statue, so you should arrive there now, not over by the north side construction area.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Avilister

[ThothMerkaba]

"Travel is now more normalized." Woo hoo! Way to fix what isn't broken and ruin the only thing I can do well in the game. Last straw for me and I'm off to expand into the other CoX servers.

Seriously, it's a game. What does it matter if some person can level to 50 in 10 minutes or make inf in AE instead of doing missions? If you want to stop exploitation of the game, control the market prices and make inf gain equal for everyone.

Everything I've finally got that I didn't have time to get on live I've gotten by farming and running missions. But that was too good for someone and you nerfed AE. Now someone doesn't think the macro passcode option is fair? Boo Hoo.

Probably next you should remove the character creator too.