What's with pay for quick travel trips?

[LtBabyLucien]

I'm a little baffled at adding a credit cost for quick travel, even as a subscriber. Using quick travel is a godsend when first starting a character out, so you don't have to keep spending credits you may or may not have to get back to a quick travel point so you can sell gear...to get more credits, do repairs, whatever. It's particularly prohibitive if you're not a subscriber and you're just starting out. Even preferred players don't have access to speeder unlocks for a while. Quick travel is a great way to stay focused on the story and progression so you don't have to waste time running around on foot or driving a speeder around. It's very useful for just quickly getting back to a safe area if you're deep in dangerous territory but need to close the game out...without having to spend credits to do so!

It also used to be a great way to hop around while saving credits for things like gear, repairs, and items on the GTN.

Just...can we have free quick travel back, please?

Edited March 29, 2023 by LtBabyLucien

[AliciaWolfe]

Yeah I also don't understand this, Why did you implement something like this late in the game development when this should of been added in before the game launched? At this point, remove it as there is no need for this as it cuts in people's rewards.

Edited March 29, 2023 by AliciaWolfe

[Malibbu]

I would also add that beside the problem of the cost you put in place now, the QT was a great time saver for people who do not have the time to run a lot. When you can play only 2 hours per day, the QT was adding a lot.
So, honestly, i do not understand why you would suddenly punish the low players with both issues : money and time.

And while you did this, the price on the GTN is still the same, up to roof. Because people who have money, will always have more than the newcomers and will not be bothered at all by that.

Did you really take in consideration that you could push away new players ?

[AliciaWolfe]

6 minutes ago, Malibbu said:

I would also add that beside the problem of the cost you put in place now, the QT was a great time saver for people who do not have the time to run a lot. When you can play only 2 hours per day, the QT was adding a lot.
So, honestly, i do not understand why you would suddenly punish the low players with both issues : money and time.

And while you did this, the price on the GTN is still the same, up to roof. Because people who have money, will always have more than the newcomers and will not be bothered at all by that.

Did you really take in consideration that you could push away new players ?

Don't you know that this is the first step of turning this game into an NFT collection for their secret undercover blockchain technology they forcing in this game? They have to get rid of the poor folks so that the whales can stay! /sarcasm

[LtBabyLucien]

2 hours ago, Malibbu said:

I would also add that beside the problem of the cost you put in place now, the QT was a great time saver for people who do not have the time to run a lot. When you can play only 2 hours per day, the QT was adding a lot.
So, honestly, i do not understand why you would suddenly punish the low players with both issues : money and time.

And while you did this, the price on the GTN is still the same, up to roof. Because people who have money, will always have more than the newcomers and will not be bothered at all by that.

Did you really take in consideration that you could push away new players ?

Agreed: it was a great time-saver. It's great for 1) people with ADHD who get bored of the running around that isn't very stimulating, even with the scenery changes, etc, since it isn't what the brain wants to be doing 2) people who don't have a lot of time to play at once. You want to keep money--real money--coming in for the game? There's a fair number of gamers who are one or both of these categories.

This last time, what would have been a gleefully 6-hour session with me possibly buying stuff on the Cartel Market became a total of about 20 minutes because I was frustrated I couldn't just pop back to safety, sell the junk I'd picked up during combat + get repairs, and go to the next point without having to fight through mobs again. I was even more frustrated that I couldn't just pop back to assured safety at the end of my session by, you guessed it, using QT without it costing credits! Yes: credits are fake money, even more than IRL money is. It's still money that has to be ground for and could be used for other things, like repairs, upgrades, gear, mounts, taxi travel to unlock the next QT point, and just the basic game function of traveling to the next world in the storyline.

One person in my guild went "Oh I just put credits into my legacy bank and withdraw from that for my new characters". That's nice...if you can afford a subscription. Otherwise: the credit cap gets you. And like you said, Malibbu: it can push away new players. I've been coaxing a friend into joining, but this might make her less inclined to play. FTP players already have to wait a while for credits to get transferred via the mail system if a current player sends it to them, since they can't do trades. How are they going to be able to keep up with friends or guild members who have played for a while and who go "oh so we'll just QT back to here", but the new player doesn't have the credits to keep that up?

[Enriquezarmy]

I agree with all of you, we already paid in our legacy to unlock quick travel as a convenience this makes no sense and is dumb on EA/Biowares part. I hope they see the community reaction to this and reverse it. If you wanted to fix the broken economy then reset everyone's credits to 0 and shut down GTN for 24 hours, sucks but fair.

[SteveTheCynic]

1 hour ago, Enriquezarmy said:

If you wanted to fix the broken economy then reset everyone's credits to 0 and shut down GTN for 24 hours, sucks but fair.

This is sarcasm, I hope.  I say this because such an action on the studio's part would fix the economy by killing the game.

[Enriquezarmy]

The game economy is so broken, the only way to fix it is by resetting.

You can't take the rare gear away.

you can't take credits from some and not others.

SWTORISTA has already done a huge video on YT about this subject. I firmly believe, just like in real life, hustlers will hustle and get back on top and those that are not are gonna stay broke.

Edit: Oh and aint nobody leaving this game there are die hards here, games been out 10+ years.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Enriquezarmy

[SteveTheCynic]

It would be the game that stole all its players' money == dead game.

[Jdast]

30 minutes ago, Enriquezarmy said:

Edit: Oh and aint nobody leaving this game there are die hards here, games been out 10+ years.

Try me. I would insta-quit. I like ESO as much as SWTOR. I rejoined SWTOR in December 2016 after a three year break and since then I have only been subbed about 70% of the time due to really bad design decisions and prioritization, specifically after 6.2 and one month after the 7.0 debacle. I rejoined after there was change in personnel and design philosophy.

Unfortunately, I can't prove I'm right because there is ZERO chance even Bioware would implement such a catastrophically bad design decision. But this isn't a threat. It is a promise that I would not only quit, but would never look back.

As to the topic of the OP, many of us agree it was a silly decision. I don't know the impact it will have on new player retention, but I doubt it will help. What I do know is it will do squat to curb inflation.

Dasty

Edited March 29, 2023 by Jdast

[xxSHOONYxx]

I don't understand why some people are bothered so much about a QT price that should have been there since the beginning of the game or think it will make new players quit on the spot when every mmo i have played had way more credit sinks than swtor which leads me to believe they are not interested in the "new players" but themselves. 

I created a new character on a server i never played, so i outside of cosmetics in collections and the friend bundle of 5 1 hour xp boosts it's literally like a new account, no rocket boost, perks or credits. I popped a 1 hour boost when i started, by the time the boost ended i was on the last mission of Dromund Kaas, i didn't even try to go for a quick run, i only did main story missions and didn't even bother picking the loot of mobs that i killed because i never do or sold any gear from missions and still i had enough credits to do what i wanted. And when i didn't have enough credits at the beginning on Korriban I QT to the closest spot to me and then used taxi to where i needed to go. If two of the "hardest" planets when it comes to credits its barely noticeable this should not be an issue to anyone, especially if you actually collect loot from mobs or sell unused gear from rewards. You should even be okay with credits and QT if you just loot the credits from gold mobs that are the ones that drop the most credits.
 

Edited March 29, 2023 by xxSHOONYxx

[caltie]

This was a bad idea. Really bad! I don't post or say anything but charging people for using Quick travel and going home to your stronghold is wrong   if anyone from the SWTOR game teams sees this I hope they realize they have made a mistake. Folks who don't have a lot of money and play the game will be hurt the most by this change you really should think about what you have done. 

[Synnoc]

I'm trying for maybe the 4th or 5th time to get into SWTOR.  I'm finally really starting to enjoy it and now I get kicked in the teeth with this cost.  I used Quick Travel extensively, and I only have maybe 70,000 credits to my name, so I can't afford to use it any more.  It makes me not want to play any more.

[LtBabyLucien]

12 hours ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

I don't understand why some people are bothered so much about a QT price that should have been there since the beginning of the game or think it will make new players quit on the spot when every mmo i have played had way more credit sinks than swtor which leads me to believe they are not interested in the "new players" but themselves. 

I created a new character on a server i never played, so i outside of cosmetics in collections and the friend bundle of 5 1 hour xp boosts it's literally like a new account, no rocket boost, perks or credits. I popped a 1 hour boost when i started, by the time the boost ended i was on the last mission of Dromund Kaas, i didn't even try to go for a quick run, i only did main story missions and didn't even bother picking the loot of mobs that i killed because i never do or sold any gear from missions and still i had enough credits to do what i wanted. And when i didn't have enough credits at the beginning on Korriban I QT to the closest spot to me and then used taxi to where i needed to go. If two of the "hardest" planets when it comes to credits its barely noticeable this should not be an issue to anyone, especially if you actually collect loot from mobs or sell unused gear from rewards. You should even be okay with credits and QT if you just loot the credits from gold mobs that are the ones that drop the most credits.
 

Some of us don't have the attention span and/or time to go farming credits to afford a quality of life feature that already costs credits to reduce the cooldown time. I don't have fun killing mobs just to get loot + credits. I have fun with the storyline, especially since my friends I'd do FPs with are fed up and don't play the game anymore, so I'm playing solo.

The fact that the QT price wasn't there in the beginning is what makes it sting now. It used to be a good way to 1) save money instead of using the taxis all the time 2) get back to safety quickly (again, at no cost) 3) save time instead of running around to save credits. We wouldn't know what we're missing if we'd had the pay to QT from the start. It feels like if they were going to add a price, they should either have a flat cost, or do away with cooldowns without having to purchase the cooldown reductions.

[Traceguy]

19 hours ago, Enriquezarmy said:

SWTORISTA has already done a huge video on YT about this subject. I firmly believe, just like in real life, hustlers will hustle and get back on top and those that are not are gonna stay broke.

I don't know what she said, or what her opinion is, but she isn't an economist. Being an iNfLuEnCeR does not make her opinion more important than others, and does not make her an expert. 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Traceguy

[xxSHOONYxx]

5 hours ago, LtBabyLucien said:

Some of us don't have the attention span and/or time to go farming credits to afford a quality of life feature that already costs credits to reduce the cooldown time. I don't have fun killing mobs just to get loot + credits. I have fun with the storyline, especially since my friends I'd do FPs with are fed up and don't play the game anymore, so I'm playing solo.

The fact that the QT price wasn't there in the beginning is what makes it sting now. It used to be a good way to 1) save money instead of using the taxis all the time 2) get back to safety quickly (again, at no cost) 3) save time instead of running around to save credits. We wouldn't know what we're missing if we'd had the pay to QT from the start. It feels like if they were going to add a price, they should either have a flat cost, or do away with cooldowns without having to purchase the cooldown reductions.

I get that, you had something and now you don't have it anymore. The issue is that is something that should have never had been there from the start.
Leaving exploits and bots aside, Bioware in an effort to cater to casual play and/or encourage people to play more added credits as a reward without a substantial credit sink (whereas as other games you even have to pay weekly to keep your in game houses or guilds, QT like now here, learn skills and every level up of them) that should have never been added because inflation becomes unmanageable. 

Inflation is not only bad but drives some of the fun out the game. I remember when i first started the game and reached level 50, i felt more accomplished when i had bought all the skill upgrades than reaching the max level. Working your way through dailies or whatever to buy your first rocket boost upgrade, or any of the useful upgrades was something fun and to look forward. Buying and fully unlocking your stronghold took time unless you were rich, and as someone that has 0 care for any "Space Barbie" it was something that was fun to do too, a healthy economy gives the game more "content". Now you do 1 or 2 df/dp tech frag runs and you can have everything i said before, you made a sale for 100m credits? Well i would spend it now because tomorrow if you try to buy the same thing it will be 110m, making any sort of credit you have today mean less tomorrow at an increased pace.

Now imagine a new player how it must feel seeing what is happening, or even a returning player that spent religiously the first 5 years of the game playing and amassing a fortune, to return and see that with his/her 20m he/she can barely buy one adrenal that lasts 15 seconds. 
Credits sinks and a healthy economy are great for a game 

Edited March 30, 2023 by xxSHOONYxx

[LtBabyLucien]

2 hours ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

Credits sinks and a healthy economy are great for a game 

I'm not against credit sinks, I'd just prefer they be new credit sinks rather than adding one to something that wasn't a credit sink to begin with. Some people are suggesting having new NPC vendors with desirable merchandise for beaucoup creds, or having it be a credit sink to unlock free QTs. I'd go with those.

I'm also admittedly a little selfish: I don't really use the GTN. I'm looking small picture--convenience for me getting my brain away from screaming, bleeding, dying, in pain patients without having to grind so I can afford all the little things I want for enjoying storyline--instead of worrying about an economy I very minimally participate in. My credits generally just go to NPCs/vendors/the great big power beyond the stars that takes my credits so I can go to different planets.

[xxSHOONYxx]

11 minutes ago, LtBabyLucien said:

I'm not against credit sinks, I'd just prefer they be new credit sinks rather than adding one to something that wasn't a credit sink to begin with. Some people are suggesting having new NPC vendors with desirable merchandise for beaucoup creds, or having it be a credit sink to unlock free QTs. I'd go with those.

I'm also admittedly a little selfish: I don't really use the GTN. I'm looking small picture--convenience for me getting my brain away from screaming, bleeding, dying, in pain patients without having to grind so I can afford all the little things I want for enjoying storyline--instead of worrying about an economy I very minimally participate in. My credits generally just go to NPCs/vendors/the great big power beyond the stars that takes my credits so I can go to different planets.

Best case scenario i can think of a vendor will be a one/very few time purchase by some people, and will be for the "in between" people, new players won't be able to afford it and rich people don't need it. Which in case is not the multi trillionaires that already have everything, as in, even everything/almost everything they can unlocked on collections. But then again it also comes to question, do they want that vendor to help the game economy or help themselves to get the items they want easier? The hard truth is that any desirable cosmetic is, outside of operation nim rewards or galactic/pvp seasons, behind a paywall of cc and is how the game makes money so it won't happen and if it does people will complain that the item they wanted to be in there it is not, because people love to complain. And if they need to make new special cosmetics for it i would personally prefer they put it behind achievements and maybe even find a way for those achievements to help with inflation

While QT credit amount is miniscule, is pretty much used by everyone from lvl 1 to lvl 80 and endgame.

I created a new character on a new server for the first two planets to be as my account was new, qt should not forbid you from doing any of the things you did before. Especially if you do the bare minimum outside of credits from main missions that is selling the junk the story missions mobs drop and sell the gear that you no longer use, and even more especially after DK.

[LtBabyLucien]

14 hours ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

While QT credit amount is miniscule, is pretty much used by everyone from lvl 1 to lvl 80 and endgame.

I created a new character on a new server for the first two planets to be as my account was new, qt should not forbid you from doing any of the things you did before. Especially if you do the bare minimum outside of credits from main missions that is selling the junk the story missions mobs drop and sell the gear that you no longer use, and even more especially after DK.

ADHD brain uses QT a lot even if I'm not very far from the travel point I'm using, or if I'm very far and don't want to first get to a closer, cheaper taxi. Again: I'm using this as an escape from a rewarding but very stressful job (see the part about screaming, bleeding, and dying patients) and want to devote my brain power more towards story and less towards "ok let's kill mobs so I have the funds for my bad habit of QT-hopping".

[xxSHOONYxx]

7 hours ago, LtBabyLucien said:

ADHD brain uses QT a lot even if I'm not very far from the travel point I'm using, or if I'm very far and don't want to first get to a closer, cheaper taxi. Again: I'm using this as an escape from a rewarding but very stressful job (see the part about screaming, bleeding, and dying patients) and want to devote my brain power more towards story and less towards "ok let's kill mobs so I have the funds for my bad habit of QT-hopping".

You will be fine when it comes to credits. I went into balmorra with 20k credits and finished balmorra the third planet QT everywhere with 70k credits and even unlocking a part of the DK stronghold. By the time i finish nar shadda i will probably have 150-200k, and im not even looting dead mobs. People are exaggerating about the impact it will have on new players

[Screaming_Ziva]

On 3/29/2023 at 4:53 AM, AliciaWolfe said:

Yeah I also don't understand this, Why did you implement something like this late in the game development when this should of been added in before the game launched? At this point, remove it as there is no need for this as it cuts in people's rewards.

It was in place at game launch and then removed.  I remember having to run around killing stuff just so I could use a QT or taxi.

[DawnAskham]

Ongoing unavoidable credit sinks are necessary.

Travel costs are not inherently bad, but the implementation of the current one was done poorly as unlike with repair costs, travel costs don't scale with player level, so low-level players get hit disproportionately. And that is on top of some of the idiocy of the current fees where traveling across the galaxy costs far less than traveling a short distance on a planet, or that some QT costs are far more, and some far less, than using a taxi. 

Also, I think some of us (myself included) would have preferred to see a focus first on applying sinks that are balanced with respect to impact and which remove more credits - such as increasing the GTN limit, as well as better thought-out and better-implemented sinks (like travel costs with logically consistent costs that are tiered to account for player level).

[sgranville]

I thought that I had paid for the privilege of QT by being a sub (among many other things). I also went in an paid for unlimited QT's with credits. If you aren't an established legacy, you can't afford to pay the extra credits needed now to pay for this.  I paid for all that, now I'm having to pay for travel each time anyway.  Frustrating!! Are you not wanting people to subscribe? What's the point?

[Darcmoon]

36 minutes ago, Screaming_Ziva said:

It was in place at game launch and then removed.  I remember having to run around killing stuff just so I could use a QT or taxi.

There was no travel fee for QT at launch.  There was a 30 minute cooldown on use however. 

[lightningseven]

oooooooo let the MASSIVE EPIC Reeee Reeeeeeeees BEGIN!!!!

BTW people, in old iterations of this game, there was ALWAYS a credit cost to Quick Travel!

They only took it away (the credits cost for QT) as a MUCH BELOVED QoL fix, around the time of DvL event (pre-KOTFE) because they wanted to make it easier to complete the DvL event and drive people thru all the new content in KOTFE.  And it stuck because people loved the free QT.

Now they're just being assholes about it lolllllllllllll

I agree with most people though, that such changes are NOT going to stop the gold spammer scammers, NOR affect the whale shark GTN billionaires in this game (which i am one of them, now -- but only because i have learned how to play GTN the LEGIT AND smart way).

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by lightningseven