Zone Travel Updates in Issue 27

[Jimmy]

Zone Travel Updates in Issue 27

Issue 27 was released today, and it contains numerous changes to Zone Travel. The relevant section of the patch notes can be found in the expand at the bottom of this post.

 

Changes to the /enterbasefrompasscode Command

What is /enterbasefrompasscode, and why was it available to players?

The command is used by the base portal interface to access bases via their passcode (when you type a code into this window, behind the scenes it’s using the command). It was never intended for players to be able to type it in directly, or be used anywhere in the game. Essentially, it's a simple case of poor implementation.

 

Why is it being removed?
Firstly, it’s not being removed. You can still use this command anywhere you would normally be able to access a base (ie: near a base portal or after using a base teleportation power, including Base Transporter and Long Range Teleporter), which is how it should've always behaved. It can also be used if you're already inside a supergroup base.

 

As for why it’s being changed, well that’s simple: You should not be able to teleport to any base, instantly, with no cost, regardless of your character’s level or progress, by using a simple slash command.

 

Additionally, this command and other related commands had numerous other lesser-known exploitable issues.

 

Why wasn’t the command disabled when it was discovered?
Because the command had a beneficial side-effect - it allowed players to easily “bookmark” bases with macros and popmenus. We did not want to remove the ability to easily share and access bases without providing an alternative actually built into the game.

 

It was always our intention (which we communicated a long time ago) to fix the command in a way which preserves the ability to bookmark bases, but removes the other problematic aspects of the command. The changes in this update achieve precisely that.

 

Zone Travel Improvements in Issue 27, Page 1

Issue 27, Page 1 brings numerous improvements to zone travel. For the full details you should read the patch notes, or check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post.

 

New Accolade Power: Long Range Teleporter

A new accolade power which can be used to instantly teleport to another zone, or a supergroup base, once every 10 minutes. You can unlock this power by earning an exploration accolade (which you get for finding all 8 exploration badges) in any zone with a base portal, or by spending an hour in Pocket D. More destinations by collecting a single exploration badge in any zone with a base portal.

 

 

New P2W Power: Supergroup Portal

A new power which summons a portable base portal has been added to the P2W vendor. These summoned portals can even be customised at the tailor!

 

 

Fast Travel Menu

A new Fast Travel macro accolade has been added to provide easy access to the various zone travel powers. This menu is unlocked as soon as you acquire one of the powers available in the menu, and can be found in the Accolades section of the powers window.

 

 

Base Teleportation Network

16 new base portals and 7 new base beacons have been added to the game world, including several in Praetoria and The Shadow Shard. Additionally, using a base teleportation beacon now drops you at the base portal in that zone, and many base portals have been moved to more convenient locations.

 

Base Portals in The Rogue Isles and Praetoria also have a fancy new Red and Gold skins!

 

 

Other Smaller Improvements

Various other special teleportation powers have received smaller improvements:

• Base Transporter's recharge has been reduced from 30 minutes to 10 minutes, and now activates in 2 seconds rather than 17 seconds
• The Ouroboros Portal can now be summoned whilst flying, doesn't despawn when you leave the zone, and can be acquired from level 1

 

Additionally, the Hero and Villain TUNNEL networks have been merged together, and the network can now also be used by Praetorians, and a new Free Fire Zone Helicopter Line has been added, linking together the various PvP zones for easier access.

 

 

Potential Future Developments

Now to talk about what might come next. This isn't something we normally do for a variety of reasons, but primarily because we can never guarantee something is actually going to make it into the game until it's actually finished and released to the live servers. Any number of things could cause an idea or feature to get scrapped, so with that in mind, we'll begin this section with a big read caveat:

 

NOTE: Nothing in the below list is confirmed. It's just some options we're investigating for the future.

 

Exploration Badge Missions

The first thing we're investigating is introducing an in-game, organic way to discover the locations of exploration badges in each zone. The current thought is to have enemies in each zone drop tip missions, which would lead you to an exploration badge (that you haven't yet found) in that zone. If you keep defeating enemies and following the tips, you'll eventually gather all 8 badges and earn the exploration accolade in that zone.

 

The goal here is to make the Long Range Teleporter accolade (and each destination unlock) more accessible without needing to install VidiotMaps or read through the wiki.

 

Heavily work-in-progress

 

Teleporter Batteries

The next thing we're looking into is the idea of Teleporter Batteries. This stemmed from looking at more modern MMOs (such as Guild Wars 2), where fast travel is instant once you unlock a destination (like with Long Range Teleporter), but has a small currency cost.

 

Enter Teleporter Batteries - these would be a special type of Salvage, which would instantly refresh the cooldown of LRT. You'll be able to access them via the Fast Travel menu (or through your own macros, popmenus and keybinds, or from the Salvage window), and then instantly use LRT to zip to another zone.

 

We'll also be looking at integrating batteries into the relevant Day Jobs in order to replace the duplicate powers, but what form that takes (or if it even happens at all) is completely up in the air right now.

 

UI Improvements

Next, two common UI requests - we're looking into adding cooldown timers into the Fast Travel menu and headings into Long Range Teleporter's destination list to make it easier to navigate.

 

Auction House Teleporters

The Auction House Teleportation powers were removed from general availability because they really aren't that useful and are a bit of a "noob trap". These powers were extremely unpopular (less than 500 character per shard owned them), and they also had several bugs (such as consuming all charges with a single use) which were never reported, somewhat reinforcing how little they were used. 

 

However, if there's enough of a desire from the nostalgic ones among you, we may add a vendor which sells these powers in a less in-your-face-way than they previously were if you really want to buy them (they will not however receive any of the improvements to activation or recharge time that LRT has, nor will they appear in the Fast Travel menu).

 

Detailed Patch Notes

The full patch notes for these changes can be found in the expand below.

 

Spoiler

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

A strange energy spike in Galaxy City reached the old Supergroup Portal and caused a cascade overload in the entire Teleport network. Most of the damage has been repaired, but destinations in temporal flux have been lost to the past. DJ Zero was called in to establish the new portal in his Pocket Dimension, and as a courtesy he also set up portals in two other dimensions: Praetoria and The Shadow Shard. Vanguard has requested further restrictions of traffic near Paragon Heights while their investigation is in progress.

 

New Accolade Power: Long Range Teleporter

•  Long Range Teleporter
  • The Pocket D VIP Pass power has been significantly improved and is now the Long Range Teleporter
    • If you previously owned Pocket D VIP Pass, you will now have the Long Range Teleporter with Pocket D unlocked as a destination
  • Long Range Teleporter is unlocked by the Passport Accolade, which can be acquired by earning:
    • An exploration accolade in any zone with a Base Portal (see the "Complete Base Portal List" below for reference), or
    • The Pocket D VIP Gold Club Member badge (for spending 1 hour in Pocket D)
  • Long Range Teleporter can be used once to teleport you to any zone that you have unlocked
    • Collecting any exploration badge in a zone will unlock it as a destination
    • Pocket D can also be unlocked with the Pocket D VIP Gold Club Member badge
    • Only zones with base portals can be unlocked (see the "Complete Base Portal List" below for reference)
  • Long Range Teleporter has a 2s activation time and a 10 minute cooldown
    • Activation time is longer in PvP
  • If you activate Long Range Teleporter and do not use it, the cooldown will begin counting down but the power can still be used again until you zone
    • This is indicated by the red ring around the power
    • Note that even if you zone without using LRT, it will still go on cooldown - it's not possible to determine if you zone with the power or not

    • Examples:

      • You activate the power. Spend 60 seconds looking at the options before clicking one. When you zone, the power will be on cooldown with 9 minutes left.

      • You activate the power. You don't zone. Two minutes later you activate it again and zone. The power will go on cooldown with 10 minutes left (each activation resets the timer).

      • You activate the power, then keep running around the zone for five minutes. Then you use a monorail or whatever to go to a different zone. The power will go on cooldown with 5 minutes left

  • Long Range Teleporter allows you to use /enterbasefrompasscode to enter any base

Fast Travel Menu

• By acquiring Long Range Teleporter or any of the powers in this menu you will unlock the Fast Travel macro accolade (similar to the Architect Commlink)
  • This lists the various unlockable zone teleportation powers so they don't take up space in your power trays
• Clicking the  Fast Travel icon will open up this menu
  • Powers that are on cooldown or that you do not own (or have no charges of) will be greyed out
  • Portal powers (e.g. Ouro) will be automatically summoned at your feet so you don't need to click again
  • Each option has a keyboard shortcut whilst the menu is open (the white letters)
• You can also use /popmenu FastTravel in a keybind, macro, etc to access this menu
  • e.g. /bind t popmenu FastTravel will open this menu when you press T, so pressing "T, O" will quickly open an Ouro portal at your feet

Base Teleportation

• The internal command /enterbasefrompasscode has been fixed, and now requires that you be able to enter a base normally before using it (this was always the intended functionality of the command), which includes any of the following:
  • Being within 45 feet of a base portal (including base portals summoned by the new powers detailed below)
  • Being anywhere inside a Supergroup base
  • Using Long Range Teleporter, Base Transporter (P2W) or Monitor Duty Teleporter (Day Job)
    • The command remains available to use until you move 20 feet from the location you used the power, or until you activate another power
• The base teleportation network now includes many new zones, including zones in Praetoria and The Shadow Shard
  • In total, 16 new base portals have been added, and 7 new base beacons have been added (see the complete list below)
  • The only zones not included are time travel zones (e.g. Cimerora), a few small bases (e.g. The Midnighter Club), Hamidon zones, and layers of other zones (e.g. Underground Imperial City)
  • This same list of zones is also used by Long Range Teleporter
  • New powers which summon portable base portals have also been added (see below for more info)
• Base teleportation is now more streamlined and consistent
  • Every zone with a base beacon now also has a base portal
  • Base beacons now drop you at the base portal instead of at a random location (Long Range Teleporter also uses the base portal locations)
  • Several base portals have been moved to more convenient locations
  • Base portals no longer have collision, so you can't get stuck inside them
  • The Base Transporter P2W power has had its cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 10 minutes, and Long Range Teleporter can also take you to your base
• Base portals in the Rogue Isles are now red, and the new Praetorian base portals are gold

Complete Base Portal List

• Paragon City
  • Atlas Park
  • Kings Row (Base Portal moved down to ground level)
  • The Hollows (Base Portal added)
  • Perez Park (Base Portal added)
  • Skyway City (Base Portal moved up to the small park with Synapse and Mynx, near the Monorail)
  • Steel Canyon
  • Boomtown (Base Portal added)
  • Faultline
  • Talos Island
  • Striga Isle (Base Portal added)
  • Independence Port (Base Portal moved slightly to be right next to the Monorail, allowing easy access to both sides of the zone)
  • Terra Volta (Base Portal added)
  • Croatoa
  • Brickstown
  • Crey's Folly (Base Portal added)
  • Founders' Falls
  • Eden (Base Portal added)
  • Rikti War Zone
  • Kallisti Wharf
  • Peregrine Island (Base Portal moved down to ground level)
  • Dark Astoria
• Extradimensional
  • Pocket D
  • Cascade Archipelago (Base Portal & Beacon added)
  • Firebase Zulu (Base Portal & Beacon added)
  • The Chantry (Base Portal & Beacon added)
  • The Storm Palace (Base Portal & Beacon added)
• The Rogue Isles
  • Mercy Island
  • Port Oakes
  • Cap au Diable
  • Sharkhead Isle
  • Nerva Archipelago (Base Portal moved slightly to be right next to the Black Helicopter line, allowing easy access to both sides of the zone)
  • St. Martial
  • Grandville (Base Portal moved down from the top of the tower to the main square)
• Praetoria
  • Imperial City (Base Portal & Beacon added)
  • Neutropolis (Base Portal & Beacon added)
  • Nova Praetoria (Base Portal & Beacon added)
  • First Ward (Base Portal added)
  • Night Ward (Base Portal added)
• The following zones have had their beacons removed:
  • Echo: Dark Astoria
    • These beacons will now be directed to Dark Astoria
  • Echo: Galaxy City
    • These beacons have been destroyed by an energy spike of unknown origin
  • Note: Both of these zones can still be accessed through Ouroboros

New Supergroup Portal Power

•  Supergroup Portal (New P2W Power)
  • Available from P2W for 10 million influence
  • Summons a base portal on the ground that lasts for 2 minutes (even after you leave the zone)
  • 10 minute cooldown, unaffected by global recharge buffs
  • Cannot be used in Tutorial or PvP Zones
  • Summoning a base portal will remove other summoned portals within a 15ft radius (to avoid blocking contacts, doors, etc)

Other Teleportation Powers

•  Base Transporter (P2W Power)
  • Recharge time reduced from 30 minutes to 10 minutes, and is no longer affected by global recharge buffs
  • Activation time reduced from 17s to 2s in PvE (still longer in PvP)
  • If you activate Base Transporter and do not use it, the cooldown will begin counting down but the power can still be used again until you zone
    • This uses the same behaviour listed above under Long Range Teleporter
•  Ouroboros Portal
  • Can now be summoned and entered from level 1, rather than level 14, and is much simpler to earn (see the badges section for more info)
  • Can now be summoned whilst flying (but must still target the ground)
  • Now lasts 2 minutes instead of 5 minutes, but will remain in place after you leave the zone
  • Can no longer be used inside mission maps while the "No Temporary Powers" flag is enabled (e.g. during Master Of attempts)
  • Summoning an Ouroboros Portal will now remove other summoned Ouroboros Portals within a 15ft radius (to avoid blocking contacts, doors, etc)
  • Can now be used in Ouroboros
    • This was a side-effect of allowing base portals to be summoned in Ouroboros, and any Ouroboros portals summoned within 15ft of the static Ouroboros portals in Ouroboros will be instantly destroyed (Supergroup portals are not affected by this)
•  Team Transporter (P2W Power)
  • Can now be summoned whilst flying (but must still target the ground)
  • This power has a new icon to match the other prestige teleportation powers
•  Mission Transporter (P2W Power)
  • Activation time reduced from 15s to 10s
  • This power has a new icon to match the other prestige teleportation powers
•  Assemble the Team (P2W Power)
  • This power has a new icon to match the other prestige teleportation powers
•  Auction House Teleporters
  • The purchasable Auction House teleporter powers have been removed from the Auction House
  • These powers had numerous bugs, and teleporting directly to the auction house isn't that useful with the /ah command available

Day Job Teleportation Powers

• These Day Job powers have been shuffled around
  • The Monitor Duty Teleporter (teleport self to base) power can now be earned by logging off near a base portal, and no longer requires the Rapid Response Member Accolade
    • The Monitor Duty badge speeds up earning charges of this power, in line with other basic day job powers
  • Rapid Response Portal is a new day job power which summons a base portal, and is now earned by logging off near a base portal with the Rapid Response Member Accolade
    • With the Accolade you will earn charges of Monitor Duty Teleporter and the Rapid Response Portal
  • The old Monitor Duty day job (which a long time ago granted a Prestige buff, but now grants a Brain Storm bonus) was previously awarded for logging off near a base portal, but is now earned by the Day Trader (Wentworth's) and Marketeer (Black Market) day jobs
    • The old Day Trader / Marketeer Teleporter day job powers can no longer be earned
•  Monitor Duty Teleporter
  • This power has been renamed from Base Teleporter to Monitor Duty Teleporter (to match the badge it is connected to)
  • Recharge time reduced from 600s to 30s (this would be 0s, but we wanted to prevent accidental double usage as this power has limited charges
  • Activation time reduced from 17s to 2s in PvE (still longer in PvP)
•  Rapid Response Portal
  • Summons a base portal on the ground that lasts for 2 minutes (even after you leave the zone)
  • 90 second cooldown
  • Cannot be used in Tutorial or PvP Zones
  • Summoning a base portal will remove other summoned portals within a 15ft radius (to avoid blocking contacts, doors, etc)

TUNNEL Network

• The Hero and Villain TUNNEL networks have been merged together
  • Vigilantes and Rogues will now see both Hero and Villain zones in the list
  • Heroes, Villains, Vigilantes, Rogues and Praetorians can now all use the same portals in co-op zones
• TUNNEL can now be used by Praetorians
  • Praetorians will only be able to access zones in Praetoria

Free Fire Zone (PvP) Helicopter Line

• All helicopters to and from PvP zones are now connected (including new helicopters in Siren's Call near the hero hospital and in Peregrine Island near the arena)
• You can also use it to travel between the connected PVE zones, but only those that match your current alignment

 

Please use this thread, not the main announcement thread, to discuss these changes. Thank you!

[Mr. Vee]

So what were the mysterious game-breaking exploits we were going to be told about once the patch was live?

[Jimmy]

10 minutes ago, Veelectric Boogaloo said:

So what were the mysterious game-breaking exploits we were going to be told about once the patch was live?

That'll be posted soon once we're sure there's no need roll back.

[Glacier Peak]

16 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

That'll be posted soon once we're sure there's no need roll back.

Ooh! I would like to know as well. The exploit I reported back in July this year was removed thanks to the new Long Range Teleporter Accolade. Very diligent work!

[Number Six]

31 minutes ago, Veelectric Boogaloo said:

So what were the mysterious game-breaking exploits we were going to be told about once the patch was live?

 

20 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

That'll be posted soon once we're sure there's no need roll back.

 

We'll say some more about it at that point, but aren't going to go into a ton of detail because it's a bug that has existed since the retail days and there are other servers out there that haven't patched it.

 

I know it has been talked about a few places so the information is out there, but we don't want to amplify it unnecessarily.

[Glacier Peak]

The Tour Guide Missions are a great tease! Knowing these are a work in progress, perhaps adding a separate tab for them in the Mission categories (i.e., Active, Inactive, Detective, Tips, Tour Guide Pamphlets) may distinguish them more for players.

[Greycat]

Hmm, tour guide missions sound interesting. Though I go after those explore badges anyway because quick merits. 🙂

 

(Also, I'm glad my WW teleport didn't go away. Biggest use is getting right to the Steel WW to pick up salvage and just hop down the hill to the university to craft. I rather like them.)

[therealtitanman]

My suggestion is change to 1min recharge.

Players has alot of characters will fatigue with the zone unlock.

10min felt very convolution in mmo these days.

Most mmo now has charging either in game currency, or just unlock zone for instant tp.

 

I dont mind having cast time like ff14 instant tp for 5sec.

10mins felt like purgatory.

 

Update:

Just saw it, the local, lfg, boardcast chat, nobody likes, like as below comments, make casual player very unpleasant to move around.

Edited November 25, 2020 by therealtitanman

[Jimmy]

17 minutes ago, Greycat said:

(Also, I'm glad my WW teleport didn't go away. Biggest use is getting right to the Steel WW to pick up salvage and just hop down the hill to the university to craft. I rather like them.)

LRT for Founders, Cap and RWZ (possibly more zones too) drop you very close to crafting benches as well.

[Crowe]

I'm already hearing the griping in SG chat and in game.  I don't think enough players actually use the forums and weighed in on this facet of the changes.  If there were exploits with the original, it should have been removed promptly.  Instead, it was left in place for over a year and during that time became a de facto feature of the game.  And it was enjoyable and made certain activities less burdensome (the Numina multi-zone hunt X mission, for example).  Perhaps if the LRT accolade was account-wide, it wouldn't have been such a bitter pill to swallow.  The re-design of the game encourages alting but the new LRT system penalizes it.  I have 70+ characters... I just looked at several of my 50s and they have NO destinations for LRT.  I'm not a badger but in addition to the penalty of per-character LRT, I'm also now forced to become a badger multiple times over to achieve what was taken. I'm certainly not happy with this change and would be thrilled to roll it back even if that took the all of the other new things with it. 

[SuperPlyx]

So I went use Long Range TP but did not have a beacon for the zone I needed. As such I canceled and used Mission TP instead. This put both powers in CoolDown.

[Gilliam COH]

Loving it and Moving PI teleport base was a nice touch.

[Apparition]

Thank you for these wonderful changes.  Now that the base macro has been largely removed from the game, I look forward to joining PUG teams again.

[amusingsn]

There are no benefits that I can see to these changes.  You've made the game more unpleasant to play for casual players like myself.  I don't like hunting badges, and why did is there a charge at all for the P2W teleport powers (any of them)?  What would be broken in the game if you just gave all the teleportation features free, without badge hunting, influence cost, etc?

Even if I did jump through literally every hoop to get everything, because this game is so team oriented and alt-friendly (or at least it was), now I have to jump through all the hoops on all my toons.  And even if I jump through them all on all my toons -- and this is the worst part --- even if I do EVERYTHING 50 times over, my fun is still diminished because now I have to wait longer for teammates to get into position because you know out of the 8-man team, at least one of them is not going to have whatever teleport abilities they might need at any given time.

 

If you've every tried to do ITF with a pick up group, you know how often a teammate doesn't know how to get there, never mind doesn't have the badges necessary.  Now imagine a version of that over and over again, for every Task Force, where the team has to wait five minutes for someone to figure out how to get where you are, while everyone else just teleports there using their accolade based long distance transporters or whatever other thing they had to "earn."

 

Please, fix this.

[Crowe]

32 minutes ago, Apparition said:

Thank you for these wonderful changes.  Now that the base macro has been largely removed from the game, I look forward to joining PUG teams again.

And this would be the opposite for me -- going with a PUG means that I can't count on everyone having easy access to getting around now.  Instead regularly looking for PUGs, I'll be expecting we'll see more requests for TFs with "TT mandatory" to try and make them less painful.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Crowe

[Bushranger]

13 minutes ago, amusingsn said:

If you've every tried to do ITF with a pick up group, you know how often a teammate doesn't know how to get there, never mind doesn't have the badges necessary.  Now imagine a version of that over and over again, for every Task Force, where the team has to wait five minutes for someone to figure out how to get where you are, while everyone else just teleports there using their accolade based long distance transporters or whatever other thing they had to "earn."

Just now, Crowe said:

And this would be the opposite for me -- going with a PUG means that I can't count on everyone having easy access to getting around now.  Instead regularly looking for PUGs, I'll be expecting we'll see more requests for TFs with "TT mandatory" to try and make them less painful.

If your teammates don't know how to use the tram system, you probably don't want them on your team in the first place.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Bushranger
adding quote

[Zenogi]

At least make this teleportation shite an account bound accolade or whatever like on WoW to make it easier than doing it over and over again on alts cause most of the your playerbase have serious altaholic syndrome, doing this lark over and over again and I'll end up getting PTSD, seriously greatful for bringing this game back to us and giving us a home again but just think about the feedback you're gonna be recieving 

[amusingsn]

13 minutes ago, Bushranger said:

If your teammates don't know how to use the tram system, you probably don't want them on your team in the first place.

Yes, I agree with you.  The Tram system should be changed to take you to every zone.  Or we could add a power that costs 5 influence called "uber" that takes you to the mission door.  Good suggestion.  +1 this!

Edited November 24, 2020 by amusingsn

[Glacier Peak]

1 hour ago, Crowe said:

I'm already hearing the griping in SG chat and in game.  I don't think enough players actually use the forums and weighed in on this facet of the changes.  If there were exploits with the original, it should have been removed promptly.  Instead, it was left in place for over a year and during that time became a de facto feature of the game.  And it was enjoyable and made certain activities less burdensome (the Numina multi-zone hunt X mission, for example).  Perhaps if the LRT accolade was account-wide, it wouldn't have been such a bitter pill to swallow.  The re-design of the game encourages alting but the new LRT system penalizes it.  I have 70+ characters... I just looked at several of my 50s and they have NO destinations for LRT.  I'm not a badger but in addition to the penalty of per-character LRT, I'm also now forced to become a badger multiple times over to achieve what was taken. I'm certainly not happy with this change and would be thrilled to roll it back even if that took the all of the other new things with it. 

You and your SG members feedback could've been provided on Discord or via actually beta testing over the past four weeks. It wasn't just on the forums, a notification window in-game /gmotd tells you these changes were being implemented and sought feedback.

[Zenogi]

4 minutes ago, amusingsn said:

Yes, I agree with you.  The Tram system should be changed to take you to every zone.  Or we could add a power that costs 5 influence called "uber" that takes you to the mission door.  Good suggestion.  +1 this!

Uber a fucking love that dude! 😂 I'd so totally use that but no tip 😛

[Dreamboat]

45 minutes ago, Apparition said:

Thank you for these wonderful changes.  Now that the base macro has been largely removed from the game, I look forward to joining PUG teams again.

The teams that previously expected/demanded you use the macro will now just expect you to use it in conjunction with a 10 million inf portal power. The problem there is the players, not the mechanics.

[Crowe]

1 minute ago, Glacier Peak said:

You and your SG members feedback could've been provided on Discord or via actually beta testing over the past four weeks. It wasn't just on the forums, a notification window in-game /gmotd tells you these changes were being implemented and sought feedback.

I'm well aware of that and did in fact post my feedback pre-changes (within a day that it was posted). I'm not a fan of Discord though (security/date concerns) and don't think it's an adequate replacement for forums so I wouldn't be an advocate for using that for anyone. 

[Jacktar]

So,

will these changes alter my game experience - yes

will these changes improve my game experience - no

 Why,

stupid unecessary cooldowns!

[SuperBear]

Now we HAVE to badge hunt, no longer an option, if we want to travel. Bleh! Badges used to be fun/optional... now they're a chore.

[Jimmy]

23 minutes ago, amusingsn said:

The Tram system should be changed to take you to every zone.

That’s almost exactly how base portals now work. They are located in central, convenient locations in virtually every zone, with consistent entry / exit at the same location.