If no one else is willng to say it, I will..

[Yummymango]

Here is my thought on this.

Though having insta travel will be cool (I will love it) but may be it wont fit with the design or lore. Whatever..

But sometimes it is too much specially when if you want to go to a planet you have to go to orbital station first (where there is absolutely nothing to do), walk for 5 minutes to go to the shuttle and then finally land on the planet. I mean this is simply unnecessary, why not just land my spacecraft on the freaking planet. because of the O station, I have to go through multiple loading screens and stuff which adds to the downtime which can be avoided.

 

Possible solution -

Walking down to your ship is fine with me but please remove

- EXTRA steps like orbital stations

- Allow mounts while approaching ships

- Lengthy corridors walks which have no use, just add extra distance and time travel to ships

- Let the droid who sits in our ship bring our ship to the main cities/fly paths etc. This will reduce the number of load screens for example if I want to go to a diff planet, rather than talking the longer path, call your ship at any flypath and board it. It is EXACTLY similar to Flashpoint shuttle but instead of going to Imperial fleet you can just straight go to where ever you want.

Edited January 18, 2012 by Yummymango

[Zoobert]

I fully agree.

 

Fortunately for me i unsubbed and wont have to deal with any of their problems until these are fixed.

 

Mass Effect 3 and real life for me, hopefully by the time I finish ME3, SWTOR will have added all the features it needed, fixed performance issues and ability delay, and remove all the needless filler like orbital stations, etc.

 

Game has potential to be great but is just handled by the wrong company. Blizzard would have made SWTOR possibly the greatest GAME ever made.

 

I don't care about you or your subscription. Go play outside.

[Eldren]

I want Insta-travel between Planets and Fleet.

 

 

To hell with Starports and Profession Hangars and Orbital Stations and Ship.

 

 

It's boring and stupid.

 

There, I said it.

 

If, for some reason you dissagree, thats your right. Personally, I think your nuts.

 

Why are you thinking my nuts?

 

Oh, you meant to say "I think you're nuts."! I get it now.

 

You don't have to like it. But space travel in the Star Wars universe isn't instantaneous; with all the Force powers and high tech (and this universe isn't remotely as high tech as, say, Mass Effect or even Star Trek...), transporters don't exist. You gotta fly there, and there are only established hyperspace routes (though you can always try to blaze new ones...) to do it with.

 

It ain't instant.

[LaurentiusX]

I want to start at lvl 50 with all high end gear, everything else is just a waste of time, i mean I actually have to WALK to quests, this is 2012, I shouldn't even have to do quests, EVERYTHING should be handed to me right at the start, teleporting to a speeder is lame, there should be 0.5 sec cooldown and insta travel to quest locations and my companions should be able to kill everything whilst I relax and drink a beer. I dont want to do ANYTHING myself so BW has failed and sucks now give me my epic speeder with an instat travel to all locations ability so that I can both teleport AND show how ****** I am by rolling slowly through the fleet.

 

And there should be quadro-bladed lightssaber, why? Because I, ME, the center of the goddamn universe DEMANDS it! submit or I will cancel.

Edited January 18, 2012 by LaurentiusX

[DarthKhaos]

Nope, I'm serious. I'm also not a troll, and I understand the rampant misuse/overuse of the word "troll" to anyone who has a different viewpoint.

 

quick travel is every 30 minutes

fleet pass is once per day

the VAST majority of quests have to be manually handed in where the quest began

 

No it's not enough, and I'll correctly use the word TROLL for you who are calling me lazy just to elicit an emotional reaction (congrats, successful troll). I would be lazy if i wanted to be level 50 in 2 days, I actually think leveling should take much longer than it does. I would be lazy if I didn't want to earn commendations to get my gear. I would be lazy if I didn't want to do the quests themselves, etc etc. But calling someone lazy because they don't want to spend 75% of their time in this game running and traveling is just not rational. Running is NOT fun, running does not make sense in a science fiction world of instant teleports and spaceships, not wanting to constantly run does not make one lazy.

 

At the end of the day if you find running to be enjoyable and a necessary part of your MMO experience I'd suggest you feel free to incorporate extra running into your quest routine, say run around the entire planet 2-3 times extra before you hand in that quest.

I understand and respect your point of view even if I disagree. However you must admit compared to other games travel is a LOT faster to get around.

 

Let's take World of Warcraft. Sure there aren't a lot of load screens but you get the loading going on in the background while you're taking that flight or riding that mount. When you instantly go from one end of the continent to the other end of the same continent instantly you have to load. A lot of people keep forgetting that.

 

Your Heartstone is bound to ONE location. Here with the quick travel you can "heartstone" to any of the quick travel locations across the map where only a few of the more remote locations don't have a taxi near it.

 

There is no wait for a boat that you just missed. And even in World of Warcraft when you catch the boat/zeplin you have a load screen to get to the other continent. Don't get me started with Final Fantasy XI. ONE boat, 10min travel each way pluss the wait at the dock.

 

Entering instances/flashpoints got a load screen in all games.

 

Entering a battleground/warzone got a load screen.

 

 

 

Now I made a suggestion for how to help eliminate load screens for a more seamless universe in my thread No more load screens!!! check it out.

[Gankdalf_]

I just want a big red button that when I press it an army of droids do everything for me.

[spinedoc]

I understand and respect your point of view even if I disagree. However you must admit compared to other games travel is a LOT faster to get around.

 

Let's take World of Warcraft. Sure there aren't a lot of load screens but you get the loading going on in the background while you're taking that flight or riding that mount. When you instantly go from one end of the continent to the other end of the same continent instantly you have to load. A lot of people keep forgetting that.

 

Your Heartstone is bound to ONE location. Here with the quick travel you can "heartstone" to any of the quick travel locations across the map where only a few of the more remote locations don't have a taxi near it.

 

There is no wait for a boat that you just missed. And even in World of Warcraft when you catch the boat/zeplin you have a load screen to get to the other continent. Don't get me started with Final Fantasy XI. ONE boat, 10min travel each way pluss the wait at the dock.

 

Entering instances/flashpoints got a load screen in all games.

 

Entering a battleground/warzone got a load screen.

 

 

 

Now I made a suggestion for how to help eliminate load screens for a more seamless universe in my thread No more load screens!!! check it out.

 

Thanks for the civil discussion, it's nice to see in here. I understand where you are coming from, it almost "feels" like you are putting in your blood, sweat and tears into a MMO if you are traveling, maybe this goes back to the whole fantasy trip thing, fellowship of the ring, etc. An epic journey to complete an epic task and kill an epic boss and such.

 

But, and maybe it's just me, I just fail to see any "fun" in traveling in a game on rails such as SWTOR. It's the farthest thing from being lazy, I'm old school and personally I think getting to level 50 should take months or longer for example, that's just me. It's not a matter of the quantity of time spent, ie: running, it's more a matter of the quality of time spent. Let's be serious here, running and traveling are obviously time sinks to slow down the leveling process. I understand that the 10 rats to kill cannot be right next to the quest giver, but I'd rather spend my time on that particular quest doing the quest goals than running to them then running back. It's the same with the OP's topic, all the running and traveling thru space stations, orbital stations, etc. Even the building structures are clearly designed for you to have to run mazes thru them, not designs any architect would ever build, once again clearly time sinks.

 

/shrug. Running around so much is just insanely boring and the absolute opposite of immersion. I'm NOT looking for an easier way to do things, just a more fun constructive way to play the game. I LOVE the idea of more exploration, give us a reason to look forward to that long run to the quest goal, maybe that's one way BW can look at it.

[DarthKhaos]

Thanks for the civil discussion, it's nice to see in here. I understand where you are coming from, it almost "feels" like you are putting in your blood, sweat and tears into a MMO if you are traveling, maybe this goes back to the whole fantasy trip thing, fellowship of the ring, etc. An epic journey to complete an epic task and kill an epic boss and such.

 

But, and maybe it's just me, I just fail to see any "fun" in traveling in a game on rails such as SWTOR. It's the farthest thing from being lazy, I'm old school and personally I think getting to level 50 should take months or longer for example, that's just me. It's not a matter of the quantity of time spent, ie: running, it's more a matter of the quality of time spent. Let's be serious here, running and traveling are obviously time sinks to slow down the leveling process. I understand that the 10 rats to kill cannot be right next to the quest giver, but I'd rather spend my time on that particular quest doing the quest goals than running to them then running back. It's the same with the OP's topic, all the running and traveling thru space stations, orbital stations, etc. Even the building structures are clearly designed for you to have to run mazes thru them, not designs any architect would ever build, once again clearly time sinks.

 

/shrug. Running around so much is just insanely boring and the absolute opposite of immersion. I'm NOT looking for an easier way to do things, just a more fun constructive way to play the game. I LOVE the idea of more exploration, give us a reason to look forward to that long run to the quest goal, maybe that's one way BW can look at it.

But seriously what will be the alternative? Take a quest and instantly teleport to the quest location? You know this was tried with DnD Online? you leave the quest hub or village/city and enter the instance where the quest takes place.

 

Didn't quite work out for them.

 

The geography is more than just for time sinks for running about it is for the environment. What's the point in having Alderaan or Hoth if it's all one big flat square? Some planets are more big flat barren locations others are more urbanized and some are lush mountains and stuff. I for one will be kind of pissed if the planet was a big ole square so you can run in a straight line to the next nearest quest or worse click the instant travel to the next quest location button in my quest log.

Edited January 18, 2012 by DarthKhaos

[teflonbili]

Typical for this generation of WOW KIDDIES to want their entertainment to be entertaining!

 

Back in my day would had to cut a finger off and write a game developer's name on the wall in blood just to be allowed to log in. ONCE. We weren't afraid to earn things back then, and sit around doing nothing for hours on end chatting about how boring it was to sit around and do nothing for hours on end chatting about how boring it was to sit around and do nothing for hours on end chatting about how boring it was to sit around and do nothing for hours on end chatting about how boring it was to sit around and do nothing for hours on end. Not only that but...

 

But...

 

 

What was I saying?

 

It's not that "wow kiddies" want things to be entertaining, it's that Generation Y kiddies want things without having to work for them because they feel for some reason that you owe it to them.

 

Can things be tweaked to make the game more fluid? I think so, but I'm also fine with the way it is. It's an MMO, it's not your standard Xbox/PS3 game that you can finish in a day and go trade in at GameStop for another.

[GalacticKegger]

I understand and respect your point of view even if I disagree. However you must admit compared to other games travel is a LOT faster to get around.

 

Let's take World of Warcraft. Sure there aren't a lot of load screens but you get the loading going on in the background while you're taking that flight or riding that mount. When you instantly go from one end of the continent to the other end of the same continent instantly you have to load. A lot of people keep forgetting that.

Time to plug in the wayback machine ... I remember when WoWworld had to be traversed on foot at base walking speed for the first 2/3s of a character's life span. TOR gives you Sprint at 14 and mounts at 25. I've also noticed some of the maps (Taris and Balmorra mostly) are starting to open up allowing characters shortcuts through areas that were blocked before. Still have to go around cliffs and stuff, but we're seeing incremental steps happening to open the terrain. So it's getting there. The game wont ever be 100% pervasive, but eventually it'll be plenty enough to not feel linear. Edited January 19, 2012 by GalacticKegger

[spinedoc]

But seriously what will be the alternative? Take a quest and instantly teleport to the quest location? You know this was tried with DnD Online? you leave the quest hub or village/city and enter the instance where the quest takes place.

 

Didn't quite work out for them.

 

The geography is more than just for time sinks for running about it is for the environment. What's the point in having Alderaan or Hoth if it's all one big flat square? Some planets are more big flat barren locations others are more urbanized and some are lush mountains and stuff. I for one will be kind of pissed if the planet was a big ole square so you can run in a straight line to the next nearest quest or worse click the instant travel to the next quest location button in my quest log.

 

Well the alternative is something MMO designers need to think up, instead of just following what other MMO's are doing. One alternative is to make the game less on rails and offer more benefit to exploration. BW does this to an infinitely small degree with the datacrons so I know it's crossed their minds. Right now you get a quest, you get your waypoint, you follow the roadway because the road is where the least amount of mobs are so you are already trying to avoid confrontations. It's just that the obvious nature of the contrived time/travel sink is what UNimmerses me from the world. Of course this goes hand in hand with the solo nature of the game, the incredible easiness of the overland mobs to kill, and the insanely inane practice all MMO's have of mobs just aimlessly standing there doing nothing unless you cross into their "aggro circle", so as players we just "thread the needle" avoiding the mobs aggro circles, we are so used to this we don't even realize how incredibly stupid it is.

 

I actually liked how DDO did it, you had all the quest hubs in the city itself and just traveled to the right building. The DDO quests/dungeons had some more surprises in them, mobs called for help, mobs ran away if you were winning, you had certain events which you could trigger, they had traps you had to disarm, mobs who would degrade your weapons, just generally interesting stuff that made the dungeon the focus instead of making the travel to the dungeon the focus. DDO isn't perfect, and hey I'm playing TOR and not DDO today so that means something, but for whatever didn't work otherwise for them I don't think the travel was the issue with that game.

 

These are the things that developers need to address and think outside the box on. I see people (including myself) hopping from MMO to MMO, never really finding true satisfaction, kind of like a druggie never has the same high as the first time. It seems to me a large part of this is the inane grind for dopamine rushes these games provide. You get so used to getting a little tiny reward, a level ding, a new piece of gear, etc., that you are ok with doing insanely repetitive tasks like constantly running across a new zone because like the mouse in a maze you know your piece of cheese is waiting for you at the end.

[angrYdog]

you just lazy ...

[velocity-x]

FFS it actually takes longer to travel planet to planet once you have a ship than before you get it.

 

So sick of running down corridors with no apparent purpose.

[DarthKhaos]

I actually liked how DDO did it, you had all the quest hubs in the city itself and just traveled to the right building. The DDO quests/dungeons had some more surprises in them, mobs called for help, mobs ran away if you were winning, you had certain events which you could trigger, they had traps you had to disarm, mobs who would degrade your weapons, just generally interesting stuff that made the dungeon the focus instead of making the travel to the dungeon the focus. DDO isn't perfect, and hey I'm playing TOR and not DDO today so that means something, but for whatever didn't work otherwise for them I don't think the travel was the issue with that game.

Ahhh but the thing is a lot of people didn't. You mentioned rails but can't get more on rails if you get your quest and hop through this portal. All it does is eliminate the travel doesn't create exploration.

I know for a fact even after going through Hotta on beta and another character live it wasn't till my 3rd time through it I discovered a couple of quests I never knew existed because I was like "You know never went there." Just because the game guides you on a set path doesn't mean you can't go elsewhere on your own.

[thamightyboro]

Until last I wouldnt have agreed but after a night of load screen lockouts in ald causing me to get booted from warzones and back to fleet I'd have to say I'd agree to some degree.

 

 

Have the ability in open spaces to call your ship and head anywhere.

 

Docks etc I still agree with for certain areas though such as fleet.

[GalacticKegger]

I don't believe a Bewitched the MMO has been released yet. Here's a couple of comparisons to consider though for cross-world/cross galaxy PvE-based avatar travel . . . (Based on a pos XP SP3 rig - your mileage may vary. Land-based travel times, guild perks and class-specific bonus abilities not included.)

 

<edit>

 

World of Warcraft

- Take a 1 to 6 minute flight to a cross-continent port town. Wait around for a few minutes for a ship or derigible to show up. Catch a 30 second send off/cut scene/arrival ride across continents, then take another 1 to 6 minute flight to the final destination.

- 3 paths, 1 loading screen, 2 waypoints with a possible 0 to 4 minute wait at a ship/derigible. Total travel time: 2 1/2 to 16 1/2 minutes.

- A hearthstone can be used to instantly travel to a single bound location anywhere in the world. Powered by magic.

- Magical portals exist for instant travel between most expansion zones and each faction's major hub.

 

Star Trek Online

- Watch a 15 second loading screen while beaming up from wherever you are to your ship's bridge. Navigate for 1 to 3 minutes to a sector location or boundary. If the destination is in the same sector and is a quest planet, then use the quest pop-up window once orbit is reached to watch a 15 second loading screen while beaming down. If the destination is in the same sector and is a starport, then watch a 15 second loading screen once orbit is reached while beaming down. If the destination is a sector boundary leading to another sector, then watch a 15 second loading screen while traveling between sectors. Rinse and repeat for each successive sector location or boundary until the final destination is reached.

- 1 to n paths, 2 to n loading screens, 0 to n waypoints with no waiting. Total travel time: 1 1/2 to 20+ minutes.

- Transporter beams you back to your ship exclusively from anywhere in the game. Powered (and limited) by science.

- Magical portals don't exist because magic doesn't exist.

 

Star Wars the Old Republic

- Take a 30 second to 2 minute speeder ride to the starport. Board your ship for a 15 second takeoff cut scene into orbiting space. Walk to the cockpit and select the destination from the galaxy map. Watch a 30 second loading screen en route to the destination planet's orbiting space. Exit the ship and watch a 15 second landing cut scene to the starport. Take a 30 second to 2 minute speeder ride to the final destination.

- 5 paths, 3 loading screens, 3 waypoints with no waiting. Total travel time: approximately 2 to 6 minutes if you go straight to and from the cockpit while aboard your ship.

- Bindpoints can be used for instant travel to any bound location on the current planet. Powered (and limited) by science.

- Magical portals don't exist. For gameplay purposes force power is essentially magic, but teleporting isn't part of its lore so it isn't part of the game.

Edited January 19, 2012 by GalacticKegger

[Atalantia]

Thread sounds like my 5 year old niece

 

"I WANT I WANT I WANT"

 

So you have to struggle with a loading screen.

 

Maybe you could take a 15 minute bird flight from one end of a continent to another in WoW

and then go post on there forums for presto chango "I CAN TRAVEL ANYWHERE THROUGH THE POWER OF MY MIND"

[Graygan]

I don't believe a Bewitched the MMO has been released yet. Here's a couple of comparisons to consider though for cross-world/cross galaxy PvE-based avatar travel . . . (Based on a pos XP SP3 rig - your mileage may vary. Land-based travel times and class-specific abilities not included.)

 

World of Warcraft

- Take a 1 to 6 minute flight to a cross-continent port town. Wait around for a few minutes for a ship or derigible to show up. Catch a 30 second send off/cut scene/arrival ride across continents, then take another 1 to 6 minute flight to the final destination.

- 3 paths, 1 loading screen, 2 waypoints with a possible 0 to 4 minute wait at a ship/derigible. Total travel time: 2 1/2 to 16 1/2 minutes.

- A hearthstone can be used to instantly travel to a single bound location anywhere in the world. Powered by magic.

- Magical portals exist for instant travel between most expansion zones and each faction's major hub.

 

Star Trek Online

- Watch a 15 second loading screen while beaming up from wherever you are to your ship's bridge. Navigate for 1 to 3 minutes to a sector location or boundary. If the destination is in the same sector and is a quest planet, then use the quest pop-up window once orbit is reached to watch a 15 second loading screen while beaming down. If the destination is in the same sector and is a starport, then watch a 15 second loading screen once orbit is reached while beaming down. If the destination is a sector boundary leading to another sector, then watch a 15 second loading screen while traveling between sectors. Rinse and repeat for each successive sector location or boundary until the final destination is reached.

- 1 to n paths, 2 to n loading screens, 0 to n waypoints with no waiting. Total travel time: 1 1/2 to 20+ minutes.

- Transporter beams you back to your ship exclusively from anywhere in the game. Powered (and limited) by science.

- Magical portals don't exist because magic doesn't exist.

 

Star Wars the Old Republic

- Take a 30 second to 2 minute speeder ride to the starport. Board your ship for a 15 second takeoff cut scene into orbiting space, walk to the cockpit and select the destination from the galaxy map, watch a 30 second loading screen en route to the destination planet's orbiting space, exit the ship and watch a 15 second landing cut scene to the starport. Take a 30 second to 2 minute speeder ride to the final destination.

- 3 paths, 2 loading screens, 2 waypoints with no waiting. Total travel time: approximately 2 to 6 minutes if you go straight to and from the cockpit while aboard your ship.

- Bindpoints can be used for instant travel to any bound location on the current planet. Powered (and limited) by science.

- Magical portals don't exist. For gameplay purposes force power is essentially magic, but teleporting isn't part of its lore so it isn't part of the game.

 

Simply pressing the space bar kills the cut scenes in SWTOR and goes straight to the loading scenes. This cuts down travel time quite a bit... I don't know if that works in the other games.

 

As for the loading times... that's different, depending on your machine and its capabilities. I know my sons computer(Not as good as mine) takes longer to load even though we both go in at the same time.

[Certrean]

I fully agree.

 

Fortunately for me i unsubbed and wont have to deal with any of their problems until these are fixed.

 

Mass Effect 3 and real life for me, hopefully by the time I finish ME3, SWTOR will have added all the features it needed, fixed performance issues and ability delay, and remove all the needless filler like orbital stations, etc.

 

Game has potential to be great but is just handled by the wrong company. Blizzard would have made SWTOR possibly the greatest GAME ever made.

 

Completely wrong. Blizzard would have simply made a pure WoW clone and continued milking us for money like they always have. Are you one of those welfare epics raiders?

[GalacticKegger]

Simply pressing the space bar kills the cut scenes in SWTOR and goes straight to the loading scenes. This cuts down travel time quite a bit... I don't know if that works in the other games.

 

As for the loading times... that's different, depending on your machine and its capabilities. I know my sons computer(Not as good as mine) takes longer to load even though we both go in at the same time.

In both WoW and STO you're pretty much stuck with riding it out.

[Yusovich]

To bad the people that complain about having to wait don't get forced into EQ and have to run from Queynos to Freeport without SoW if you couldn't find a druid to port ya or before Luclin and the portals. Now that is some real time consuming travel time and if you died...you are back to square 1 at the city gates of your bind point not some gy in the zone..also your naked and living..not a ghost that can run past hostile mobs without aggro.

 

I swear people today just want everything right now and if they don't get it right now it needs to be fixed to give it right then. Ok so you have to do some running through a spaceport to your ship then travel to a planet and then through a orbital spaceport/spaceport..that little bit of extra time isn't going to kill you and if it does, then good riddance to you and may I have your stuff please?

[KennethHoover]

There should be an Instant Level 50 button, too, because everything should be given to you right off the bat.

[Baaddare]

I want Insta-travel between Planets and Fleet.

 

 

To hell with Starports and Profession Hangars and Orbital Stations and Ship.

 

 

It's boring and stupid.

 

There, I said it.

 

If, for some reason you dissagree, thats your right. Personally, I think your nuts.

 

well i disagree because this is not Star Fleet and we do not have teleporters. It is not stupid to want to add to the flavor of the game by having you travel through space to get from one planet to another.

 

P.S. no spacebar required you can go into options and have it so you auto skipp them

Edited January 19, 2012 by Baaddare

[Ayrciao]

It is monotonous and boring, yes.

 

Bioware are unlikely to change it anytime soon because .. Time = Money.

 

The time wasted doing this means more subscription time in the long run.

[Bazalin]

I want Insta-travel between Planets and Fleet.

 

 

To hell with Starports and Profession Hangars and Orbital Stations and Ship.

 

 

It's boring and stupid.

 

There, I said it.

 

If, for some reason you dissagree, thats your right. Personally, I think your nuts.

 

Why are you even playing an mmorpg? I'm sure you know that mmorpg = Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, so why does it bother you that your character would have to utilize starports and starships? The whole draw of an mmorpg is to "live" vicariously through your avatar and to watch it grow in strength and power. From your post, it would appear that you would prefer the type of game that gives you instant gratification. You will not find that in an mmorpg. They are all designed to be time sinks. You should know that before signing on to play one. I would suggest that you cancel your subcription and find something else to occupy your time. Instead of gaming, pick up a musical instrument and learn to play it. You'll find every moment you play and learn rewarding, and you won't have to rely on a game developer for your enjoyment.