Shuttle? Orbital Station? Airlock? Class Airlock? WHY?!

[DarthKhaos]

I am in the middle of nowhere:

I want to go to fleet.

 

I have several options...

 

My Quick Travel is up and ready to go so I:

1. Click on quick Travel
   
2. Select Quick Travel Location that is near to the Fleet Shuttle (THIS IS NOT A FLEET PASS)
   
3. Walk/Mount to the Fleet Shuttle
   
4. Click on the terminal next to the shuttle
   
5. Select Fleet
   
6. Arrive at fleet after load screen.
   

 

My Quick Travel is not up and ready to go so I:

1. Hop on my mount
   
2. Ride to the nearest Taxi
   
3. Take Taxi to the Taxi Location next to the Fleet Shuttle (See above)
   
4. Walk/Mount to the Fleet Shuttle
   
5. Click on the terminal next to the shuttle
   
6. Select Fleet
   
7. Arrive at fleet after load screen.
   

 

 

In response to the Original Poster and many others the trip to Fleet is SHORT. Both options together still do not make up the 16 steps involved that the OP mentioned.

 

 

As for going to another planet I stand by my choice of preferring to do manual navigation to shorten the time in getting from planet to planet than a longer automated process. You talk about your time being valuable so why would you suggest a process that takes more time?

 

I'd run around my ship 21 times and dance if it gets me to the next planet in 5 mins over spending 10mins riding a shuttle. SW:TOR (even with the load screens) has the fastest point to point travel system I've experienced in games. I would like anyone ANYONE to dispute the 6 OR 7 steps I have outlined at the top to get to fleet from ANYWHERE in the game.

[MrOuija]

Please, widen your angle a bit.

Imagine it were the other way around.

Fleet -> Planet is just as annoying. In this case you have to go through the Orbital Stations, Class Airlocks, Airlocks.

For what? Oh, right - "immersion".

[Sylvan]

I agree. I made a similar thread a while ago, combining it with a thread about how long it takes to get from planet to planet if you want to help a guildie or friend.

 

Pointless travel time with mind numbing micro steps so you have to constantly push the journey along. It doesn't add to immersion in the slightest.

 

I'm surprised they didn't go the whole hog and make you wait 2-10 hours for each hyperspace jump to instill MORE realism in you.

 

Instant planet to planet travel (from a ground based space shuttle on origin planet) needs to happen at some point. Flying up to a station, then to our ship should be an option only.

[jihn]

Really wish they would do something about this, its nothing but an incredibly annoying time sink... immersion my ar**. It looses its immersion value after the second time you use your ship.

[Goretzu]

Now that I think of it, they would have to change a TON of story. After taking two toons to 50, I realize how many cut scenes are in an airlock on belsavis or in a hanger on nar shadaa.

 

Yeah I'm not sure they can change it entirely.

 

They certainly can add in some options to help mitigate it and allow players to avoid it when they want too however.

 

Which is what I hope they'll do.

[MrVal]

I just want to add my name to the list of people who do not like the orbital stations.

 

I would rather have a 2-5 min hyperspace ride stuck on my ship. The distance between planets on the map should have a direct translation to the amount of time needed in hyperspace. THAT should be your time sink!! NOT running through an empty hanger bay then through a empty orbital station.

IMHO this is one of the worst parts of the game. Followed by the droid on my ship that wont shut the hell up!!!

 

ALSO: As your compainions increase so should the cost of going from planet to planet!! The cost of running the ship with more passengers! This would also start making people group up to travel from planet to planet. Not something crazy, but at lvl 50 a 1000 credit ride might make your group all pile in together.

Not that I like money sinks, but that one makes more sense than some of the other sinks i've seen.

Edited February 5, 2012 by MrVal

[flyersfan]

Goal: Get to Republic Fleet.

Steps:

1. Find Shuttle

2. Chose Orbital Station

3. Wait for the loading screen to complete

4. Run through Orbital Station (1~ minute of running)

5. Click Elevator, Chose Airlock

6. Wait for scenery change (10 seconds)

7. Run to Class Airlock Room (1~ minute of running)

8. Enter Space Ship

9. Wait for loading (20~ seconds)

10. Run up to the Galaxy Map inside your ship. (5-10 seconds)

11. Click Fleet

12. Wait for scenery change

13. Run down to ship exit, click door.

14. Wait for loading screen (1-2 minutes depending on performance)

15. Arrive at Fleet

16. Do your business.

 

This is a very awesome list of steps for me, especially with the times listed. Getting onto my ship alone takes me 3 minutes to load and loading the Fleet is usually about 6-7. Loading a planet can take up to ten minutes for ones like Belsavis.

[Zuesy]

Want to hear how i get to the fleet?

 

1. Open my abilities panel and click on Emergency fleet pass.

2. Wait for loading screen.

3. At the fleet.

[Valeena]

This is a very awesome list of steps for me, especially with the times listed. Getting onto my ship alone takes me 3 minutes to load and loading the Fleet is usually about 6-7. Loading a planet can take up to ten minutes for ones like Belsavis.

 

Hahah. I'm in Belsavis now, browsing the forums while waiting for my 10 minute screen to load because my warzone ended. >__<

 

I agree with the OP, I've always felt as though those steps were way too much. Why can't they get rid of Orbital Stations/Airlocks/Shuttles? There's nothing there. If I click on my Ship's map to go to a planet, it should just consist of me getting off my ship and arriving at my destination. I know it's not very RP, but running through the Orbital Station/Airlock and finding a Shuttle to get to the planet is excessive.

 

/EDIT

Also, I agree with the previous poster. I wouldn't mind sitting in my ship for a minute or two to get to a planet, rather than the current system.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Valeena

[Valeena]

Want to hear how i get to the fleet?

 

1. Open my abilities panel and click on Emergency fleet pass.

2. Wait for loading screen.

3. At the fleet.

 

24h CD.

Anyways, I think the complaint is the overall system of travelling. Not just to the fleet.

[flyersfan]

Hahah. I'm in Belsavis now, browsing the forums while waiting for my 10 minute screen to load because my warzone ended. >__<

 

I agree with the OP, I've always felt as though those steps were way too much. Why can't they get rid of Orbital Stations/Airlocks/Shuttles? There's nothing there. If I click on my Ship's map to go to a planet, it should just consist of me getting off my ship and arriving at my destination. I know it's not very RP, but running through the Orbital Station/Airlock and finding a Shuttle to get to the planet is excessive.

 

/EDIT

Also, I agree with the previous poster. I wouldn't mind sitting in my ship for a minute or two to get to a planet, rather than the current system.

 

The best place to queue for Warzones is on your ship because it cuts down on the load time when it ends. Just a little tip.

 

The orbital station/airlock thing was just a silly idea. I would much prefer for them to have proper spaceports on these planets where you land. It'd also be awesome for them to make more than one spaceport that is specific to the planet or zone rather than them all being identical.

[Mikkeos]

One or two classes have quest NPC at the orbital docking station, sending them down to the planet.

 

EAware cannot just go ahead and remove those!

[Goreson]

This is a very awesome list of steps for me, especially with the times listed. Getting onto my ship alone takes me 3 minutes to load and loading the Fleet is usually about 6-7. Loading a planet can take up to ten minutes for ones like Belsavis.

 

Hm... frankly this is a problem on your end!

 

For another thread, at another time I actually timed the trip spaceport airlock/button, push/transition/sprint to ship/up ramp/ship's airlock/loading screen/ship's interior and back again on Alderaan.

 

(You can see the only thing I skipped were the cut scenes.)

 

Time in was 60 secs on the dot, with the ship's loading screen taking about 30 secs; time out was approx 140 secs (138 I think) with 110 secs for loading Alderaan.

 

This was done on a laptop running 8 GB of RAM, a 5400 RPM HDD and a Celeron dual core T3500 @ 2.10 GHz. And yes, an Intel GMA 4500.

 

So, if your system takes 3 min to load your ship (and from my experience all loading times for ships under Rep is about the same, this was done on a smuggler's ship btw) there is really something 'wrong' with your system... or you are playing Imp and BW figured that to make Imp less cool the loading times are extended

[Altyrell]

One or two classes have quest NPC at the orbital docking station, sending them down to the planet.

 

EAware cannot just go ahead and remove those!

 

Plus, there is always the possibility that they could expand upon and add to the Stations

[JabbaCG]

The problem is not the time but it is the stupid design of traveling.

[Vaegaknight]

Plus, there is always the possibility that they could expand upon and add to the Stations

 

BAM. Right there. People just fail to see the potential. Which Bioware has left much room for.

[Zuesy]

24h CD.

Anyways, I think the complaint is the overall system of travelling. Not just to the fleet.

 

18h still it should have a quicker cd

[MGriffith]

Why?

 

Well I have been trying to figure out why in the hell they would even include the space stations causing and extra 5 minutes of travel time. They CLEARLY made a conscious decision to add this to the game.

 

I can only draw one conclusion. Money hungry bastards. More of your time wasted translates to more money in their pocket, and this is not the first time I have seen this in MMO's.

 

I never thought Bioware, the company that is supposed to be FOR gamers, would do this. Shame on you Bioware, you aren't getting my money.

 

 

Do not attribute to malice that which can sufficiently be explained by ignorance.

Or in this case to adherence to lore consistency.

 

 

Only relatively few planets have space stations where your ship is docking:

The four started planets, but why would you return there, after you finished there the first time and then return once to pick up the codex entries that you missed the first time

A few planets that are essentially battlegrounds between empire and republic. Lore wise it makes no sense to plunk a commercial space port in what amounts to a military base.

 

The same is true for empire content on what is a republic occupied planet, or the reverse. It makes no sense, lorewise, to have a full space port when you are sneaking onto a planet of the opposing faction.

 

Of course the developers could have made it anyway, but this IS a roleplaying game and some accomodation has to be made for roleplaying and lore aspects.

 

 

Also, I am guessing you are playing a jedi? They do that whole jumping thing, and you are jumping to conclusions with the best of them ...

[swedgen]

Because people new to MMOs and Role Players think that's needed to ensure the game is "immersive". And it's true. I know whenever I'm running down another pointless empty hallway between my hangar and the spaceport I'm usually thinking, "Wow, this is really boring." It's just like real life! Now that's immersion. I won't play any game that doesn't make me at least as miserable as sitting in a doctor's waiting room 10 times a day.

[J-Sheridan]

Travel in general needs to be seriously looked over with the amount of needless timewasting caused for no reason.

 

Step 1: Allow people to teleport directly to their ship

Step 2: Players only walk through the orbital station once when they first enter the planet or if they choose to do so

Step 3: Those that do not will simply load straight to the planet shuttle drop off point

 

Tada:

 

People that want to waste time going through the station can keep doing so

People that dont want to waste their time can skip it after the first time

Stations are still ingame and will be traveled through for the quests where relevant.

 

All it requires is a pop up dialogue similar to what you get on the starter planets

 

Option 1: Orbital Station - Same old

Option 2: Player Ship - Instant port into your ship

 

Same goes vice versa when your leaving you can either go to the orbital station or go straight to the planet except for the first time you reach that planet.

[Faytte]

By comparison in rift

 

Worst Case:

 

Go to nearest town

click portal guy

click destination

arrived

 

One loading screen which is shorter than any of them in SWTOR, despite the fact the areas you are loading in Rift are much larger than the areas in SWTOR.

[FuzzNasty]

Who doesn't want to pay 15$ a month for a realistic travel simulator? I say BW should add in fuel stations. Every few trips you have to travel to a fueling station and spend 30k credits to fuel up again. If you run out of fuel you can't travel to space/other planets.

 

And then they could add a space-taxi system. That way if your ship runs out of fuel, you can call a space taxi (this requires loading multiple screens as you access your space phone) who could take you to where you need to go, but you'll always have to come back to that fuel station to fuel your ship.

 

Also, in case you want to move your ship, you could travel to a space-tow port. It's just like a space station except it contains an NPC that will "tow" your ship to another fuel station if needed. He's easy to access, you just need to go to the fleet, then a space taxi, then the space station of your choice, then from there you can go to the "tow station" after three airlocks and a load screen. Each tow is 100k credits and gives you just enough fuel to reach the next fuel station.

 

 

That would be really immersive.

Edited February 6, 2012 by FuzzNasty

[Vecke]

Do not attribute to malice that which can sufficiently be explained by ignorance.

Or in this case to adherence to lore consistency.

 

 

Only relatively few planets have space stations where your ship is docking:

The four started planets, but why would you return there, after you finished there the first time and then return once to pick up the codex entries that you missed the first time

A few planets that are essentially battlegrounds between empire and republic. Lore wise it makes no sense to plunk a commercial space port in what amounts to a military base.

 

The same is true for empire content on what is a republic occupied planet, or the reverse. It makes no sense, lorewise, to have a full space port when you are sneaking onto a planet of the opposing faction.

 

Of course the developers could have made it anyway, but this IS a roleplaying game and some accomodation has to be made for roleplaying and lore aspects.

 

 

Also, I am guessing you are playing a jedi? They do that whole jumping thing, and you are jumping to conclusions with the best of them ...

 

To be fair, lore wise, orbital stations make no sense. In no Star Wars movie was there an orbital station. There certainly wasn't one hovering over Hoth.

 

The orbital stations also make no sense from a logistics perspective. So there aren't any space stations. Fine. But you have a ship with a droid that can pilot it. Why is it logical for a shuttle to drop you off from an orbital station, but not logical for your droid to drop you off with your ship? From a gameplay perspective, it would be exactly the same (you load onto the planet in the exact same place) without the pointless time on an orbital station, which has never been shown on a single star wars movie ever..

Edited February 6, 2012 by Vecke

[Mannoth]

I hate the Orbital Stations. I also don't like that there's no fast way to travel through most Spaceports, either. It looks and feels like an obvious time sink, an attempt to pad time, and that's just simply bad design.

 

I've gotten used to just using the Flashpoint Shuttles to go back to Fleet, but getting back down to most planets is an exercise in anger management.

[Zilrota]

Hello everyone!

 

Because a thread about this topic already exists, we'll be closing this thread in order to consolidate discussion. We encourage you to join the existing discussion of travel between planets here:

 

The Travel System Is Severely Hurting The Gameplay!

 

Thanks!