Zone Travel Updates in Issue 27

[Wavicle]

Market Teleport I think may have been removed. Not certain.

[JAMMan0000]

Megajoules comment regarding the beauty of Paragon City sparked a thought. A few months back, I rolled a new toon and was  so excited to try its new powers I kept skipping the regular travel powers. I was just using sprint, ninja run, and the P2W jump booster. As I leveled, I was expecting to reach a point were I regretted not taking the regular travel powers. But.... it never happened. I went all the way to 50 with none of the regular travel powers. What I thought was a potential mistake, turned out to be a new experience. I found it much more immersive as I leveled and ran around through the zones at ground level. I never realized how much detail you miss when you super speed/jump/fly/teleport around. I mean the amount of detail and creativity in these zones is just amazing. Now I'm not throwing stones. Most of the time I still take travel powers and yes I use the various teleport options. And the truth all of this feedback suggests is that we all like different things and even the things we like change can change too. So to think there is one perfect solution for everybody isn't practical. What is practical is recognizing different people like different things and providing a reasonably balanced approach to offering options for all of us to get what we each individually want. Talk about a tough nut to crack... wow... almost  a no win situation. But, as I have read through all of the feedback during beta and live, it is clear to me that the Homecoming team is sincerely trying to find that balance, provide those options.... crack that nut. They have invested a huge amount of effort and demonstrated an enormous amount of patience and consideration. I don't necessarily agree with all the changes, but I respect their effort and trust that they really are trying to serve the CoX community. 

[Wavicle]

On 11/28/2020 at 12:48 AM, Wavicle said:

TUNNEL to Night Ward, enter Mansion to get Midnighter Badge. Go back to Atlas, take train to Steel Canyon. Go to University, enter Midnight Club. Go to Cimerora. You are then awarded Entrusted with the Secret, at level 1, with no help. And no base necessary.

Or, if you do have access to a Base with teleporters, after you get Midnighter in Night Ward you can use your Base (there is a portal in Night Ward near the mansion) to go directly to the Uni in Croatoa, Founders Falls, or Cap Au Diable.

It is now EASIER to get Oro, AND to get to Cimerora, than ever before.

[Jacke]

48 minutes ago, JAMMan0000 said:

Megajoules comment regarding the beauty of Paragon City sparked a thought. A few months back, I rolled a new toon and was  so excited to try its new powers I kept skipping the regular travel powers. I was just using sprint, ninja run, and the P2W jump booster. As I leveled, I was expecting to reach a point were I regretted not taking the regular travel powers. But.... it never happened. I went all the way to 50 with none of the regular travel powers. What I thought was a potential mistake, turned out to be a new experience.

On some toons, I've done the same, just Sprint, Ninja Run, and Jump Pack, though I'm usually driven by a tight build.  On some melee toons, I run out of power picks or even hit the 4 Power Pools limit, coming down to either going for Leaping's Combat Jumping or another Pool for a travel power and decide to take Combat Jumping.

 

I usually add in a temp flying power, though I limit its use.  I'm really fond of the Holiday Rocket Pack, AKA the Jingle Jet, from happy memories when my AR/Dev Blaster first flew one Holiday Season long ago.

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Holiday_Rocket_Pack

 

But for my zero-outside-investment toons, I now head off to Firebase Zulu or Grandville to get the sweet Day Job Traveler's Jet Pack.  I just wish there was a way for Praetorian toons to get it.

[Luminara]

2 hours ago, JAMMan0000 said:

skipping the regular travel powers. I was just using sprint, ninja run, and the P2W jump booster. As I leveled, I was expecting to reach a point were I regretted not taking the regular travel powers. But.... it never happened. I went all the way to 50 with none of the regular travel powers. What I thought was a potential mistake, turned out to be a new experience. I found it much more immersive as I leveled and ran around through the zones at ground level. I never realized how much detail you miss when you super speed/jump/fly/teleport around. I mean the amount of detail and creativity in these zones is just amazing.

 

I've been tooting this horn since 2005.

[macskull]

6 hours ago, Flitze said:

Looks like the Market teleporter (day job) is missing in the travel popup menu. Or is this intention ?

 

4 hours ago, Wavicle said:

Market Teleport I think may have been removed. Not certain.

Both the purchasable and day job versions of the teleporters have been removed but existing characters with charges can still use them until the charges expire. If one wanted to add the powers to the travel popmenu they'd be able to but they're not included by default since they're essentially going away.

[Jacke]

14 hours ago, Flintlock Burnfur said:

Stalkers are the best for that.  Level 1, head to the tram, hit Talox and then onto Peregrin Island.  Without having to fight a thing.  It's the best!

Getting around without getting thumped by the mobs is why I go for Boss-level stealth on every toon, 55+ft PvE Stealth.  It go real tired real quickly having mission doors deep in The Hollows or when level 7 hit, getting doors in Perez Park when I had to navigate the forest past level 10 mobs.  Later at level 10 and getting doors in north Steel or south Skyway.  That may not be so true anymore, but every time I don't have that stealth on a new toon, I'm soon reminded what happens without it.

 

If not a Stalker or an Illusion Controller, Celerity Stealth proc in Prestige Power Surge by level 12.  If no stealth power in the primary or the secondary powersets, Concealment's Stealth preferably by level 12 too.  Recently, I've had a number of toons I've left idling at levels 3 to 6, so I've been using the Base Buff Grant Invisibility, 2 common, 1 rare salvage,  to aid them running 'round to get Day Jobs.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Jacke

[ninja surprise]

I want to start by saying I appreciate the Homecoming team, the devs and GMs, and the work behind the scenes. I totally love playing CoH again and donate if I see the call.  I appreciate the effort to give a substitute for /ebfp.

 

My opinion on  /ebfp: It was perhaps the single most "super-heroic" feeling power in the game.  Particularly on an RP level, after completing a Task Force or gaming session, or while going through a mission arc, being able to click my base TP and zoom up into my secret lair to craft, level up, sell, chat in global channels, and travel (nearly) anywhere in the world to thwart some evil was just amazingly fun and satisfying.  I've never PvPd and never cheated on a Master run though, so I'm probably in the minority. Being in a base is basically lag-free, and I don't get stuck listening to another player's powers while we both stand around.

 

Now, when I finish an ITF or an Ouro TF I have to sit and think, "OK, how do I get back to a zone where I can enter my base?"  (But now that I've learned @faultline's tip below, that sadness is mitigated)

 

On 11/27/2020 at 5:22 PM, Faultline said:

Posts like these ignore that LRT enables the use of /ebfp. Just use /ebfp as before while the LRT monorail menu is up, it will put you on your selected base as before, which zones you have unlocked doesn't matter.

 

I didn't know about this, and I read *most* of the patch notes and a lot of the discussion threads. Thanks for saying it again, that's really handy.

 

On 11/27/2020 at 6:06 PM, Faultline said:

Use Base Transporter while LRT is on cooldown. Use SG portal while both are on cooldown. Use the day job versions if you need to use it even more often than thrice every 10 minutes. This has been stated many times already; all of those powers enable /ebfp validation.

 

No, those powers can't and will not be combined, they do different things on their own. But they all enable /ebfp for those who just want to ignore those options and use /ebfp three times every 10 minutes. You want a shorter cooldown on /ebfp usage? Either spend time offline by a portal to get Day Job charges, or fork over 1m influence for Base Transporter and/or 10m influence for Supergroup Portal.

 

You have options that you're choosing not to use. If being able to use /ebfp on a shorter cooldown is so important to you, then spend the time (Day Jobs) or inf (P2W) for it.

 

I wish the base TPs could be consolidated and players could purchase / unlock enhancements to the power, instead of buying/unlocking multiple individual powers with unique cooldowns with different ways of buying or earning them.  For instance, instead of getting three base teleporters, buy one, and then buy recharge decreases on it. The existing standard 10-minute recharge for 1 million inf, 5-minute recharge for another 15 mil, 2-minute for another 20+ mil, 36 million total, etc, for example. 

 

I do like the droppable base portal, it'll be handy on teams if lots of people have them, just like rotating through Team Transport and O portals. And it'd be *really* cool if Ouroboros got a base portal since it's an all-levels zone now.

 

LRTP is a super sweet addition to the game that's easy enough to get. 

A lot of my toons already had at least one exploration accolade and got LRTP when the issue went live. Now it's just a sort of hassle not knowing which characters have any given zone unlocked. The proposed pop-menu will be really nice. While running missions I check if my toon has the zone unlocked and if not, look for an exploration badge while traveling.  I'm an alt-o-holic so probably won't pimp out LRTP on most of my toons.

Again, it'd be sweet to add Ouro to the LRTP destinations. O portals are occasionally used to grief by being dropped on doors or on TF contacts and then you accidentally click the diamond and TP to Ouro instead of the intended action.

[Troo]

5 hours ago, macskull said:

Both the purchasable and day job versions of the teleporters have been removed but existing characters with charges can still use them until the charges expire. If one wanted to add the powers to the travel popmenu they'd be able to but they're not included by default since they're essentially going away.

What's going away?

[Jacke]

Just now, Troo said:

What's going away?

The Wentworth's teleporter powers.  The purchasable single use powers (4 versions blueside, redside, and Praetorian Loyal and Resistance) were apparently really buggy.  Don't know if the bugginess applies to the Day Job versions too (but it might if it's all the same plumbing behind the scenes), but @macskull says they're going too.

[Clave Dark 5]

16 hours ago, Flintlock Burnfur said:

Stalkers are the best for that.  Level 1, head to the tram, hit Talox and then onto Peregrin Island.  Without having to fight a thing.  It's the best!

Funny, I did almost exactly that this morning, but with the Illusion controller.  Once I'm done with both of these two, it's going to take some major readjusting to being seen by all the street foes!

[Jacke]

4 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Funny, I did almost exactly that this morning, but with the Illusion controller.  Once I'm done with both of these two, it's going to take some major readjusting to being seen by all the street foes!

Which is why I get 55+ft of PvE stealth on all my toons, as I posted 4 before yours.  I stockpile Celerity: Stealth procs with either a primary/secondary stealth power or Concealment's Stealth.

 

I'm very good at "How Not To Be Seen" 🙂

[Flintlock Burnfur]

Let's talk about grindy for a second, because a lot of people are talking about how "grindy" it is getting exploration badges (which, it really isn't).

 

Yesterday, I went with my stalker into Striga Isle.  Never been there before with her.  My sole intention was to get the Atlas Medallion Accolade power.  All I needed was the Silver Bullet and Slayer badges.  I had everything else already.  Taking out 200 warwolves and 200 vampyre took about two and a half hours.  During that time, I also got every exploration badge and history plaque in Striga.  Did that at the start.  That took me all of five minutes.  Literally, five minutes as opposed to two and a half hours taking out warwolves and vampyre.

 

My character going into Striga was level 23.  Came out of Striga at level 25.  The badges gave me a bit of xp, whereas taking out 400 enemies got me two levels (and, aside from the eight exploration badges, one history badge, an exploration accolade badge and the two needed for the Atlas Medallion, I walked out of Striga with four additional badges for taking damage, dealing damage, getting mez'd and the gladiator Omega Wolf).

 

What I'm getting at is the exploration badges weren't a grind as opposed to taking out 200 warwolves and 200 vampyre.  Fighting those enemies was grind.

[ForeverLaxx]

@Flintlock BurnfurNot that I'm defending the "it's a grind" people (because I'm not), but I find that most of those people are already at the level cap, with accolades, are holding vet levels, and just see that they've lost something they now have to go "out of their way" to get. They aren't picking up those explores or other badges while doing other things because they've already done the other things. Many of those players have multiple characters that applies to, so take 5 minutes per zone per character and it can add up.

 

That said, I don't think it's really a big deal even in that circumstance. It's pretty simple to "ignore" zones you almost never go to and only grab badges for the select zones you frequent often, to save the other less-traveled zones for a later or more convenient date. And frankly, we were told last year that the command was going to be removed/restricted in some way and it's been a long time coming. I think the real lesson here is that players shouldn't rely on something the devs have said is going to change (and the devs probably shouldn't leave in anything they don't have to so players don't get accustomed to it).

[Flintlock Burnfur]

@ForeverLaxx what I was getting at really was the time sink that's involved in getting those exploration badges. By level 50, it shouldn't take any time at all, really.  This morning I took my level 26 stalker through IP to get badges and it only took 12 minutes.  At higher levels, that should take less time.  And even with the base portals in more convenient locations, one can easily slip into a base and move onto some zone they might not have.  And getting access to a base shouldn't be hard, there's tons of bases with base codes listed in the base builder's section.  For example, FISHINGHOLE-13711 or MYSTHAVEN-16373 are two bases I have made which have teleporters to each zone in the game (outside of Praetoria, and Myst Haven doesn't have Shadow Shard portals).

 

Myst Haven also has an ice cream shop, so that's a bonus.

[ForeverLaxx]

1 hour ago, Flintlock Burnfur said:

@ForeverLaxx what I was getting at really was the time sink that's involved in getting those exploration badges. By level 50, it shouldn't take any time at all, really.  This morning I took my level 26 stalker through IP to get badges and it only took 12 minutes.  At higher levels, that should take less time.  And even with the base portals in more convenient locations, one can easily slip into a base and move onto some zone they might not have.  And getting access to a base shouldn't be hard, there's tons of bases with base codes listed in the base builder's section.

Right, and I don't disagree. I can just see it from the angle I believe they're trying to argue from, even if it's inherently a bad faith argument to begin with. The ones that went even further to suggest that not having the command "all the time" would somehow hurt PUGs in TF missions made me laugh, though as I never used the command and was never "late" to a mission during a TF (but then I know how to get around effectively without it). The few times a mission would throw you at the back of a zone to then throw you to the back of some other zone two loading screens away, someone else would toss out a Mission Transporter, which people still do so I'm still not left behind. I've not touched the command even a single time and have never seen the inside of these so-called transport hubs.

 

From reading the entire thread (I did skip a lot, as I was in the feedback thread originally and saw where this one was going), much of the complaining is coming from people that wanted LRT to be exactly what /ebfp was: a restriction-free, take me anywhere I want to go power. It was never intended for that purpose and those people will never stop arguing that it should be, in their opinion. A few select individuals have made it clear that they apparently spammed their macros fast enough for a continuous string of base loading screens for 3 minutes and frankly I have no idea what it is they're doing to need to hop in and out of bases that frequently beyond a simple "because we can" excuse.

 

To the general thread at hand: we have lots of alternative options to LRT for people who like to spam their base macros. Those players don't want to get them, for one reason or another. That's their right, of course, but when they insist LRT just become the new /ebfp and be wholly unrestricted... well, that's just not happening. If you need to hop bases so frequently after leaving a base, then grab one of the other 3 or 4 options that let you use the command in conjunction with LRT's allowance of the command. Each of them cools down in 10 minutes; surely you don't need to jump bases so frequently that all 4-5 of those powers will be on cooldown at once? Heck, even if you do, there's the one with NO cooldown that runs on charges to keep you covered.

 

I just do not understand how people don't understand that this system, while intended to replace the command in spirit, was not intended to replace the command wholly in form. I do understand that some people choose to not understand this because they want /ebfp back in its unrestricted form, but that's just not a very useful stance to take.

[ATalsen]

On 11/26/2020 at 4:13 AM, Jimmy said:

This feedback is really helpful though, and it's starting to become clear what one of the biggest problems is - the perception that the summoned base portal is required to access your base remotely, when in fact you can use either Base Transporter or Long Range Teleporter to do this as well. LRT specifically doesn't communicate that it allows you to use /ebfp at all, so unless you've been told it does that, you'd have no idea. This is definitely something we need to improve.

This definitely. I just explained to a not-so-new, but more casual than myself player, how it all worked and that you can use EBFP with LRT and Enter Base Trans, and they still had some issues - they were expecting it to show on the menu. I expect many people will have the same confusion and frustration.

 

---

 

I think LRT needs its timer reduced - say 5 minutes.

WHY: The time invested in unlocking areas, per character, is not worth it at 10 minutes cooldown.

 

So I get that with the multiple *different* modes of travel you can jump to bases and go everywhere multiple times in 10 minutes, and if ALL that LRT did was take you to a base after you unlock it, that would be fine. However the idea is that you unlock areas for direct teleport, and even at one badge per location it took me an hour to get all the ones listed in Cosmic SG Base.

 

So once every 10 minutes, on that one character I can jump anywhere. Ok, bonus I guess? But any other time I go thru the SG base.

Can you see how since LRT requires time invested in unlocking destinations to teleport directly, and the cooldown is too long to make it the most often used method of transport that it just becomes a second Base Transporter?

 

TLDR: I've been fast to adapt to the change, with grabbing LRT and Base Transport on my characters to facilitate travel, and even checked out unlocking every area I could for LRT, and right now unlocking extra LRT locations is not worth the time invested, to me.

[Wavicle]

3 minutes ago, ATalsen said:

This definitely. I just explained to a not-so-new, but more casual than myself player, how it all worked and that you can use EBFP with LRT and Enter Base Trans, and they still had some issues - they were expecting it to show on the menu. I expect many people will have the same confusion and frustration.

 

---

 

I think LRT needs its timer reduced - say 5 minutes.

WHY: The time invested in unlocking areas, per character, is not worth it at 10 minutes cooldown.

 

So I get that with the multiple *different* modes of travel you can jump to bases and go everywhere multiple times in 10 minutes, and if ALL that LRT did was take you to a base after you unlock it, that would be fine. However the idea is that you unlock areas for direct teleport, and even at one badge per location it took me an hour to get all the ones listed in Cosmic SG Base.

 

So once every 10 minutes, on that one character I can jump anywhere. Ok, bonus I guess? But any other time I go thru the SG base.

Can you see how since LRT requires time invested in unlocking destinations to teleport directly, and the cooldown is too long to make it the most often used method of transport that it just becomes a second Base Transporter?

 

TLDR: I've been fast to adapt to the change, with grabbing LRT and Base Transport on my characters to facilitate travel, and even checked out unlocking every area I could for LRT, and right now unlocking extra LRT locations is not worth the time invested, to me.

And since the LRT takes you to your base without unlocking destinations, you don’t have to! So you have multiple powers to get you to your base. Therefore there is no reason to lower the cooldown on the one.

[ATalsen]

7 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

And since the LRT takes you to your base without unlocking destinations, you don’t have to! So you have multiple powers to get you to your base. Therefore there is no reason to lower the cooldown on the one.

Sorry, I thought I was being clear: I know LRT can take you to your base (or any base), and that's how I use it now.

 

My point was: To make LRT *worth* investing the extra time to you need to get badges for direct teleport, I feel it needs a shorter cooldown.

 

I'm just providing feedback on opportunity cost for the power, based on what I perceive the power is intended to do, and how I'd align it more with its intention and cost.

Edited November 30, 2020 by ATalsen

[Bopper]

1 hour ago, ATalsen said:

Sorry, I thought I was being clear: I know LRT can take you to your base (or any base), and that's how I use it now.

 

My point was: To make LRT *worth* investing the extra time to you need to get badges for direct teleport, I feel it needs a shorter cooldown.

 

I'm just providing feedback on opportunity cost for the power, based on what I perceive the power is intended to do, and how I'd align it more with its intention and cost.

Wouldn't a shorter cooldown make it less of an incentive to pursue exploration badges, as you would have access to your base more often? If they removed the ability to use /ebfp from LRT, I could see your point. But since it acts as another option for a base teleport hub, I think your idea would do the opposite of what you intend.

[ATalsen]

3 minutes ago, Bopper said:

Wouldn't a shorter cooldown make it less of an incentive to pursue exploration badges, as you would have access to your base more often? If they removed the ability to use /ebfp from LRT, I could see your point. But since it acts as another option for a base teleport hub, I think your idea would do the opposite of what you intend.

I can see your point; I'm not sure if it would work that way - I'm not sure it wouldn't though either, its hard to tell what will really incentivize people.

 

Ultimately, if I invest in getting the LRT badges, I want to use the power more often. I do like the suggestion from earlier in the thread where the more badges you get the shorter your cooldown for LRT. I'd vote for that, if its technically feasible.

 

I'm not against putting in time or getting badges, I just have to weigh that time vs the time I get to play in total, and how much getting badges actually speeds up how I play.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, ATalsen said:

Ultimately, if I invest in getting the LRT badges, I want to use the power more often. I do like the suggestion from earlier in the thread where the more badges you get the shorter your cooldown for LRT. I'd vote for that, if its technically feasible.

 

The biggest problem with both approaches, simply lowering the recharge time of LRT or allowing players to incrementally reduce it in various ways, is that it devalues the relevant P2W powers.  The P2W powers are necessary, and having players incentivized to purchase them is also necessary, for the HC team's inflationary control measures to succeed in the long term.  This is vital for the growth and future development of the game.  Without control, inflation will spiral right back up to the way it was on the original servers.

 

Objectively, acquiring a single badge in each zone represents less investment than purchasing the P2W powers which supplement and augment LRT and the Fast Travel macro.  Also objectively, the P2W powers are necessary, and encouraging players to buy and use them is equally necessary, because the benefit they provide, improved economic stability, helps everyone equally, and offers a greater benefit for more people than a reduced recharge time on LRT would.  This is why the HC team decided to set it all up this way.  It may be clunky, it may be annoying, it may be personally egregious for some players, but it helps everyone in the long run and creates a more stable foundation for building the game over time, and still gives players the ability to use the Fast Travel menu in the same way they could a use reduced recharge LRT alone.

 

It's also worth noting that many people have spent inf* to pay for the P2W powers, and while they wouldn't necessarily lose anything if the recharge on LRT were reduced, the value of what they've invested in acquiring those powers, both in time to raise the necessary funds as well as the inf* itself, would be significantly reduced, as would the powers themselves.  It would be rather churlish of the HC team to obviate the obviate both the utility and purpose of those powers for the people who paid for them.  Note that I am not one of those players, I have none of the relevant P2W powers on any of my characters, so that is an objective perspective.

 

Subjectively, I don't think it's much to ask of us, the players, to give a couple of minutes of our daily play time to ensure the long-term health, growth and development of the game.  We're investing in one another when we do this, and that makes the game a better place for all of us, in more ways than most people realize.  We're all here together, we might as well cooperate and try to make the game better and more future-proof, even if we can't all agree on everything.

[Coyotedancer]

3 hours ago, Bopper said:

Wouldn't a shorter cooldown make it less of an incentive to pursue exploration badges, as you would have access to your base more often? If they removed the ability to use /ebfp from LRT, I could see your point. But since it acts as another option for a base teleport hub, I think your idea would do the opposite of what you intend.

Not all of us are using it to get to our base... I use it specifically to AVOID having to wait for my slow-butt base to load. 

[Tahliah]

Over all, super good improvements.  Yes, I'll miss the insta-base access of the /enterbasefrompasscode macro, but we all knew it was going to be pulled, so I'm just thankful we had it as long as we did (and that we can still use it to enter others' bases we have saved for that purpose).  I very much appreciate the shortened cooldown time on the day job base porter, too.  10 mins is much better than 30 (not as good as instant, but hey, I'll take it!--besides, even stealthing mishes takes a few minutes, so by the time you get to the door, stealth through, kill whatever/hit the glowie, and exit mish, you won't have to wait long for the base porter and may have your mish porter back up by then, etc.). 

 

I do get what people are saying about the sg base porter being 10 mill/per toon.  That is steep, esp for casual players and/or for those with altitis who, unlike me, actually play their many many alts.  I tend to make them, be enamored of them for about a minute, and then let them sit for months before I get back to them again, and they rarely make it to the 30s let alone to 50.  But that's just me. 

 

I do, however, have several toons I do play a lot, so I think it would be a good compromise to make the 10mill base porter either account-wide or offer a more expensive version as well that is account-wide:  10mil/per toon OR 25mil/accountwide.  Or 50mill, whatever, just to have that option for those who really don't like badging or care about zone badges/merits on every single alt.

 

I love love love the new fast travel button. That has literally saved me an entire tray of travel powers on my main (and other toons who have all the travel power goodies).  Very many thanks for this!

 

As to the new things being considered, the badger in me loves the idea of the exploration tips for each zone, assuming as I think we all are that we will still get the merits for completing them with or without doing the tip chain (and vert much hoping for a new badge for the completion of each tip chain!).

 

Writing this I've already forgotten the other possible improvements, so they didn't register with me (as either good or bad).   Not sure what that means, probably nothing. :P

 

[cloak3.141]

When I first saw the proposed teleport changes, I was disappointed.  Fast travel was an amazing Quality of Life improvement for the game.  I voiced my displeasure in the beta feedback thread.  (politely I hope.)  When the changes went live, I was disappointed again.  However, now that I have been using them for a while, I think the changes are a net gain.  It does take a small, but not negligible investment of time to unlock the Long Range Teleporter accolade, and with many alts, that investment time adds up.  However, once it is unlocked, a character can travel direct to unlocked zones, without having to go through travel bases, cutting out several seconds of loading screen time.  I have never been an exploring badger, but it seems quit a few of my characters have coincidentally picked up some zone badges.  If I don't have a zone unlocked, then I can still use my enterbasefrompasscode macro to get to a travel hub and travel to my destinations.  Thanks to annoying mission designs, I sometimes have to travel more than once in a 10 minute window, but it is fairly easy to build up a stack of Monitor Duty Teleports.  If I played more often, and wasn't logged out enough to build up Monitor Duty Teleports, then no doubt I would have enough influence to buy the P2W version.

 

To sum up, It takes an initial time investment to unlock Long Range Teleporter, but once unlocked, the time saved on travel, will eventually end up a net win for the player.

 

I want to thank the volunteer Developers for all their hard work.  (Now how do we go about adding more costume options?)