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Okay there are a few things that i will pull out of my *ss right now, which sound pretty legit:
1. I think that if we look at the map, then nearly every square will have at least one node of non descript size.
2. Most quests that you recieve in that node will require you to travel to a location INSIDE that square or neighboring squares.
3. Major worldtravel will only really be comfortably possible between two metropolis scientific nodes (airship) or inside the zone of influence of a metropolis scientific node (teleporters).
4. Mounts will be accessible early on in the game for everyone.
5. We dont know how scaling will really work right now.

Now about epic and legendary quests:
I am pretty shure that they will be the only quests to require you to marsh all over the map. Dont forget, that the nodes are designed to be something like a closed ecosystem depending on the players. You dont HAVE to leave your node to get new quests etc, because it is the goal for a node to generate a veteran player core to defend it against other nodes, clear nearby dungeons/raids and to eventually attack nearby nodes to spread its zone of influence. Nodes are therefore required to give players of different levels acceptable quests.

T Elf

I hope there will be some mass public transit like the carriages in AA, or other games that have horse stations like DAoC or EQ2. I'd like to be able to travel some partial distances and be able to go to the bathroom.

BlackBrony

Well, if they do make possible other ways of travel besides mounts, I'd like them to be behind a skill. It should be a decision the player makes.
Why?
Let's say I learn to rappel, then this would be an advantage I could potentially have in open world against someone who can glide, or even climb. I'm in favor of making it like skill check base, requiring some sort of player input.
For example, Aion had gliding, and there were spot of air current where you could press a key and get a boost to your speed. Not everyone was able to do it, but if you could, you were able to skip content or mobs and get into special zones. This required practice and dedication, making you better at escaping.

I hope they do something like this, because if you travel a lot, then you should be able to have skills that makes you useful in that area, or even if you're an assassin.

It might take time, but it would add a lot of value, and I totally agree, fetch quests that make you go back and forth are the worst.

Noaani

T Elf wrote: »

I hope there will be some mass public transit like the carriages in AA, or other games that have horse stations like DAoC or EQ2. I'd like to be able to travel some partial distances and be able to go to the bathroom.

I'd like the ability for two players to set up a carriage system between their freehold.

Anything else goes against the idea of what Ashes is, imo.

Damokles

T Elf wrote: »

I hope there will be some mass public transit like the carriages in AA, or other games that have horse stations like DAoC or EQ2. I'd like to be able to travel some partial distances and be able to go to the bathroom.

There will be a mass transit system between two Metropolis scientific nodes and inside of a scientific metropols zone of influence.

Corpier

I think travel will be meaningful and (hopefully) won't become endless slogging around the map in Ashes. I think part of what will keep travel meaningful is that long distance travel will be rare and most of what a player does will be within a relatively small area. I say this based on a few things we know about the game: Verra will be huge, there is VERY limited fast travel, and players are encouraged to make a single node their home.

I do agree that travel should be meaningful, and I think the devs intend for it to be meaningful. It would be great if it could also be engaging and fun. It is also certainly true that good game design can keep travel meaningful by not making a 20 minute hike necessary for every other quest or to clean up a full inventory every hour.

I like the idea of opportunities for different forms of traversal that could keep players engaged in navigation. I would even posit that it might be a good idea to incentivize player engagement in travel by making travel dangerous and making secondary traversal methods (climbing, sliding, etc) shortcuts or a faster alternative to encourage players to pay attention and interact with the world when travelling. I would love to see the world populated with shortcuts, hidden treasure, enemy mobs, crafting resources, and random mini-events that break the monotony of travel with fun and rewarding distractions.

*Just throwing it out that there is actually a "40 second rule" theory about what makes a good open world game. The theory is about a game having enough distractions littering the map that, on average, something captures the player's attention every 40 seconds when roaming.*

However, and I know I'm the guy who said travel shouldn't be boring, I think that it is also important make most of such things optional (to clarify, players will likely always have to deal with terrain and any variety of enemy npcs or players on their path when travelling). I am absolutely on board with travel being engaging and there being fun and/or rewarding places to stop to smell the roses, but it should always be a player's choice if they are going to be entertained when traveling.

As an example for why engaging and fun elements should be optional, just picture this: there has come a day when someone has played the game for years. They have seen and done everything that can happen on the road and already explored the land between point A and B. They have the fastest possible mount and at that moment all they want is to just get from their freehold to the upcoming castle siege as quickly as possible and don't care about anything on the way. That person might be choosing a less entertaining and/or less rewarding way to travel but they likely know what they are missing and if they want to slog from point A to B it should be their choice to make.

T Elf

Damokles wrote: »

T Elf wrote: »

I hope there will be some mass public transit like the carriages in AA, or other games that have horse stations like DAoC or EQ2. I'd like to be able to travel some partial distances and be able to go to the bathroom.

There will be a mass transit system between two Metropolis scientific nodes and inside of a scientific metropols zone of influence.

I was hoping for more than just that ^^^^^^ especially as 2 nodes have to be at Metro level AND of the same type.

Jahlon

T Elf wrote: »

Damokles wrote: »

T Elf wrote: »

I hope there will be some mass public transit like the carriages in AA, or other games that have horse stations like DAoC or EQ2. I'd like to be able to travel some partial distances and be able to go to the bathroom.

There will be a mass transit system between two Metropolis scientific nodes and inside of a scientific metropols zone of influence.

I was hoping for more than just that ^^^^^^ especially as 2 nodes have to be at Metro level AND of the same type.

There is going to be some sort of transportation between Nodes (carriages, etc) but its not going to be any faster than you traveling yourself. In fact, it may end up taking longer if it follows a pre-determined road route and you on your mount could have gone in a straighter path.

Of course, everything is subject to change, and this is one of those things Steven mentioned once in passing.

Plateau

Corpier makes a good point, which I want to acknowledge. Travel distractions aren't always helpful and can just get in the way if you are either 1) a veteran who's traveled that road 100s of times before and is no longer interested in whatever distractions it has to offer or 2) in a hurry to get somewhere ASAP (maybe to an inclement siege or big world event) and you don't have time to fight mobs or difficult terrain.

Which is why there definitely should be options: Faster, more capable mounts for veterans who have seen most of the environment already and just want to get from A to B; maybe a carriage system for safe, slow, long-distance travel which let you take an IRL break while waiting; regular roads (clear of mobs) as a safe, cheap kinda default option; shortcuts that require skill to navigate for the people who are in a hurry and will do anything to save a couple minutes; and of course all the side-paths and distractions for people who are just wandering/exploring/adventuring.
________________________________________

Oh and one last note. I don't really like the idea that players will stay within their node most of the time, only venturing out for special quests, trading, or warfare. There's over 100 nodes and it would be a shame if most players never had a reason to see more than 5% of them. I mean, obviously I wouldn't care about Travel if I didn't think Exploration was one of the best aspects of MMOs, so I really hope AoC give players a reason to venture outside their comfort zone (literally) more often than not.

Then again, maybe that should be optional, too. Like, most people can enjoy one node (and it's neighbors) for months, but for everyone else maybe there could be an Explorer's Guild that rewards players for visiting far-out lands and bringing back knowledge and souvenirs.

I mean, pfff, imagine living in one city your entire life and not visiting other states/countries. Who would want that? ... I would. The real world is scary, so I want to explore in fantasy lands instead. Enjoy my hypocrisy.

Plateau

Is it tacky to quote yourself? Eh whatever.

leonerdo wrote: »

shortcuts that require skill to navigate for the people who are in a hurry and will do anything to save a couple minutes

Now I'm imagining competitions for platforming/speed-running in an MMO (outside of raids), and it's pretty funny. I guess, realistically speaking, if we saw anything like that in AoC, it would be a sign that it's no longer an MMO. Like why would the platforming be so good in an MMO. Focus is important, and platforming is FAR from the focus of the MMO genre. So uh, I'm probably going a little too far with some of these ideas.

Noaani

leonerdo wrote: »

Corpier makes a good point, which I want to acknowledge. Travel distractions aren't always helpful and can just get in the way if you are either 1) a veteran who's traveled that road 100s of times before and is no longer interested in whatever distractions it has to offer or 2) in a hurry to get somewhere ASAP (maybe to an inclement siege or big world event) and you don't have time to fight mobs or difficult terrain.

To me, the best answer for this is to make it so that the more interesting path is also the shortest.

IMagine you want to go from an area with one metropolis and it's vassel nodes to another metropolis. There may be a mountain range between then, or maybe a thick jungle.

The game would provide players with a path around the mountain or jungle, amd this is what most players would know and use (and what all caravans would use).

But maybe there is a hidden path over the mountain range that acts almost like a platform game. Maybe the jungle has vines that you are able to use to swing across to the other side.

This gives the player the option for the more boring, but somewhat more passive trip to the metropolis, or the more active, more interesting path.

Undead Canuck

Drunken races in Kelethin!

Oh, wait. Wrong game...

Nagash

Undead Canuck wrote: »

Drunken races in Kelethin!

Oh, wait. Wrong game...

goblin tossing in age of reckoning

vasdrakken

Travel distances are going to be something of an issue due to the amount of space needed for the freeholds, if the world is not large with travel time between areas of influence, then freeholds are going to feel like the suburbs, and the game will break the forth wall.

Travel for the sake of travel unless traveling to a new area because you have done all the quests in an area, is usually not because more quests can not be added to an area but to give new scenary. Considering there are limited amounts of biomes so far travel is likely going to be more of see different types of nodes.

Marzzo

I have no problems going on longer trips if the trip is apprioprietly rewarding. The mission also needs to be important. I would like to have "fast travel" options in the form of either mounts or caravans i can chill in.

The more remote and tedius the way is, and the longer time it takes, I am fine as long as I am properly rewarded.

Undead Canuck

Well, caravans are moving open PVP areas, so I doubt you will be able to chill there. We will have mounts which are fast-ish travel, but only the Scientific Metropoli will have fast travel.

smee86

I think a pretty easy answer to this is a less centralistic way of distributing points of interest.
Add a few independent traveling merchants to clear inventory space.
Add field repair sets. maybe give a tool to communicate with a questgiver, or only make meaningful quests travelheavy.
Sidequests should allways be close to the questgiver, especially if there is a follow up quest in that area.
I like the Idea of a carriage, which autmatically goes at the speed of the slowest equipped mount in the group from (at least) village to village.
But this carriage must be able to be stopped by encounters, and can only "autodrive" with at least 2 or more participants and it will allways follow the road.
It also has to come at a prize(if rented it's gold, if selfbuilt [woodworking skill] it's recources).
The set up should also not be instant, but take time and be animated.

Answers please with an @smee86

Much love!

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