Should Wayshrine Costs Be Removed?

BladedMischief

Yes, remove the costs.

Yes, without a doubt. I mean, we've already discovered them. So why should we have to pay to travel to them again?

Madamova

No, they should have costs.

No because someone has to pay the Wayshrine maintenance fees...

code65536

Yes, remove the costs.

100% in the yes camp.

But it's a gold sink!
It's an ineffective gold sink. First, because most people bypass it. I never pay the gold cost to direct-port to a wayshrine. Why would I? With addons like Easy Travel, I just right-click on the zone that I want and I port to a shrine in that zone for free. And from there, it's a quick nearly-instant port to the wayshrine that I actually want (assuming that my initial port didn't already get me there).

Second, it's a small gold sink, esp. when compared to the size of the gold faucets in this game. Gear repair, luxury vendors, housing, etc., are far larger gold sinks.

But it's not much gold!
It's still a nuisance, and I will not pay that gold out of principle. Plus, it being a small costs is as much an argument for removing it as it is for keeping it--what's the point of keeping it if it's that small?

You should explore, enjoy the scenery, stop and smell the roses!
Don't you dare tell me or anyone how to play. If someone's ridden the path from the Morkul daily quest giver to the wayshrine down the plains a hundred times, I'd imagine that they will tell you where you can shove your suggestion to appreciate the scenery. People will do what they want, for reasons of their own. Sometimes, I'm in a hurry--I might only have a limited time to finish some dailies before I must leave for an appointment. And there are times that I would port to a wayshrine far from my final destination, for the sole purpose of traversing the terrain (harvesting mats, filling soul gems, or just random wandering). If someone wants to stop and smell the roses, they will, regardless of how the wayshrine network works. And if they don't want to, then it is arrogant of you to try to push them to.

There are alternatives, like porting to houses!
There are large swaths of the map with no player housing nearby. Plus, porting to a house incurs two load screens instead of one--a load screen zoning in, and another load screen zoning out as you use the exit. If the load screens in this game were much faster, this would be a non-issue, but, well...

Tandor

No, they should have costs.

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

Would be interested in more of the views on why people don't think it should be removed. Obviously my view on the matter is one sided so if people have thoughts I might not have considered.

I simply don't have a problem with the present system. I'm not in any guilds and don't travel to anyone, and only very rarely need to pay a nominal cost to travel to a wayshrine. For example, if I've completed a delve and want to exit it quickly without catching all the respawns on the way out then I just travel to one of my houses, which are mostly chosen for convenience of location as well as the attraction of the houses themselves. Besides, time is never an issue for me, I don't hop up and down demanding QoL changes if something takes me an extra moment or two (or costs a few pieces of gold) !

I tend to be opposed to most QoL changes each of which can easily be justified but the cumulative effect of which is to dumb the game down. It's fine as it is.

Why is it I tend to find you arguing against damn near everything? If it's dumbing the game down it's rich that you should be the one spearheading that complaint section considering you are a self professed 'casual'.

Eitherway, I dont think this is dumbing the game down bud. That's your paranoia talking.

Eitherway, I will be brutally honest, the fee is so easily circumvented it may as well not -be- there. So why bother having it?

I never said this QoL change was dumbing the game down, I said that each such QOL change proposal can easily be justified, but that cumulatively they dumb the game down.

If I argue against specific changes to the game, it's because I think those aspects are fine as they are. When they are not then I openly support change - as anyone who knows my view on the trading system will testify ! In any event, I'm not spearheading anything, I'm just expressing my opinion on this topic the same as everyone else, and responding to anyone who asks for further explanation of my point of view.

Incidentally, I find it pretty rich that you criticise my posting on account of my being "a self-professed casual" when you have posted in another topic that you only log in socially and don't want to play the game any more.

Rajajshka

Yes, remove the costs.

I'd like it if they removed the wayshrine cost, but i'm fine if they don't. Also porting to your house or a friends house shouldn't cause the wayshrine cost to go up 1k+ after porting.

Motherball

No, they should have costs.

The wayshrine system is very generous, travel in general being much more generous than any online rpgs ive ever played. The costs are in place possibly to prevent/reduce abuse of some sort, I imagine, but even if its just a gold or time sink, its still very generous, in my opinion.

leeux

Other, my thoughts are...

To be completely honest, it doesn't bother me at all... I have no opinion on the matter.

I do think that the people most affected by the cost is the new players... they aren't normally in any big guilds nor have (yet) friends list to use... specially casual ones that just want to reach a place where sell their loot (limited inventory ftw!) so, only for that I'd be for removing the costs.

Experienced players and people with lots of friends or in big guilds, *never* have to use them... you use travel to player and that's it. There's even an addon that lets you do that comfortably from your map.

Another thing I do think, is that porting to dungeons and trials should have NO cost... even if they are considered wayshrines by the game, they should be an exception to the cost system or at least to the *increase the cost after use* system.

I'd love for them to introduce a spell into the Soul Magic line that lets you port from whatever you are in the world to the nearest wayshrine... similar to divine intervention from Morrowind. Make it costs magicka and stamina, and don't allow it to be used while in combat and that would solve ~90% of cost issues, at the price of having to endure two loading screens

KrishakPanettier

Other, my thoughts are...

Put the costs back the way they were. only incurred cost if recently fast traveled without wayshrine but not uf u fast traveled to friend or youe house.

victoriana-blue

No, they should have costs.

lordrichter wrote: »

The whole purpose of fast travel is to make moving large distances more convenient. As with any convenience, there needs to be some sort of check in place that dulls the benefit, otherwise it gets overused. These are basically going to be a combination of gold and inconvenience.

phermitgb wrote: »

[...] I will admit that being *forced* to traverse the terrain is nicer when the terrain varies more widely and has more things to see/do as you travel across it

but regardless of that, my general feeling is that it should be necessary to travel terrain to reach your destination as the "default" - things like wayshrines are more convenient, and that convenience is "paid" for, either by the nominal (and slightly escalating) fee that currently exists, and/or by a "tax" in the form of having to travel at least a little bit

which I find perfectly reasonable

the fact that you can bypass the wayshrine requirements *almost* entirely using friends lists and/or contacting people in-game to give you a *lift* seems perfectly reasonable as well, making sure that the social-side of an MMO also has a minor benefit in effectively allowing free fast-travel

Pretty much these. The cost of the first port is small, and the fee increase on subsequent ports makes me choose between running & porting. (And conveniently, it helps towns look lively because people are running around instead of constantly porting in place.)

My guild lists range from ~30 to 300+ people online at once, depending on the time of day, but even at peak times I frequently pay the price for direct ports because I dislike the extra load screens with housing or guild transport. Ymmv.

Tandor

No, they should have costs.

leeux wrote: »

To be completely honest, it doesn't bother me at all... I have no opinion on the matter.

I do think that the people most affected by the cost is the new players... they aren't normally in any big guilds nor have (yet) friends list to use... specially casual ones that just want to reach a place where sell their loot (limited inventory ftw!) so, only for that I'd be for removing the costs.

Experienced players and people with lots of friends or in big guilds, *never* have to use them... you use travel to player and that's it. There's even an addon that lets you do that comfortably from your map.

Another thing I do think, is that porting to dungeons and trials should have NO cost... even if they are considered wayshrines by the game, they should be an exception to the cost system or at least to the *increase the cost after use* system.

I'd love for them to introduce a spell into the Soul Magic line that lets you port from whatever you are in the world to the nearest wayshrine... similar to divine intervention from Morrowind. Make it costs magicka and stamina, and don't allow it to be used while in combat and that would solve ~90% of cost issues, at the price of having to endure two loading screens

Whilst I don't disagree with your final proposal, I think your point about new players being the most inconvenienced at present is moot, simply because they don't really have any reason to port around in the first place. By the time they've taken the free trip to and from their starter island and completed their first main zone, they've got enough gold to pay a nominal amount to travel elsewhere if they wish to, but only to the initial zone if they're switching alliance content as fast travel to unexplored zones will otherwise be locked to them anyway as they won't have discovered the wayshrines. They certainly don't need to pay to reach a merchant.

leeux

Other, my thoughts are...

Tandor wrote: »

leeux wrote: »

To be completely honest, it doesn't bother me at all... I have no opinion on the matter.

I do think that the people most affected by the cost is the new players... they aren't normally in any big guilds nor have (yet) friends list to use... specially casual ones that just want to reach a place where sell their loot (limited inventory ftw!) so, only for that I'd be for removing the costs.

Experienced players and people with lots of friends or in big guilds, *never* have to use them... you use travel to player and that's it. There's even an addon that lets you do that comfortably from your map.

Another thing I do think, is that porting to dungeons and trials should have NO cost... even if they are considered wayshrines by the game, they should be an exception to the cost system or at least to the *increase the cost after use* system.

I'd love for them to introduce a spell into the Soul Magic line that lets you port from whatever you are in the world to the nearest wayshrine... similar to divine intervention from Morrowind. Make it costs magicka and stamina, and don't allow it to be used while in combat and that would solve ~90% of cost issues, at the price of having to endure two loading screens

Whilst I don't disagree with your final proposal, I think your point about new players being the most inconvenienced at present is moot, simply because they don't really have any reason to port around in the first place. By the time they've taken the free trip to and from their starter island and completed their first main zone, they've got enough gold to pay a nominal amount to travel elsewhere if they wish to, but only to the initial zone if they're switching alliance content as fast travel to unexplored zones will otherwise be locked to them anyway as they won't have discovered the wayshrines. They certainly don't need to pay to reach a merchant.

That's not exactly true... at least in my own experience. I used to watch streamers playing ESO for the first time, and mostly all of the ones I watched, if they were questing and following the quests lines, had to port at least two or three times per play session to dump their bags... unless they were lucky enough to find the travelling merchant while running around.

Most of them, they didn't even knew there were travelling merchants in the roads at first... because they never found them until later, or didn't realized that those NPCs walking the road were merchants ((unless someone in chat told them about them.))

So, at least for those people it was an inconvenience. You could argue that the inconvenience is the small starting inventory though, instead of the cost to travel, and that I'd agree.... but the inconvenience is there.

EDIT: added clarification

Streega

No, they should have costs.

As much as I use "travel to player" feat sometimes (rarely), I think it should be possible only in a group, not to random person. On the other side, I think "on demand" travel fee should be slightly raised and fixed for the max lvl players (200-300g?).

Tandor

No, they should have costs.

leeux wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

leeux wrote: »

To be completely honest, it doesn't bother me at all... I have no opinion on the matter.

I do think that the people most affected by the cost is the new players... they aren't normally in any big guilds nor have (yet) friends list to use... specially casual ones that just want to reach a place where sell their loot (limited inventory ftw!) so, only for that I'd be for removing the costs.

Experienced players and people with lots of friends or in big guilds, *never* have to use them... you use travel to player and that's it. There's even an addon that lets you do that comfortably from your map.

Another thing I do think, is that porting to dungeons and trials should have NO cost... even if they are considered wayshrines by the game, they should be an exception to the cost system or at least to the *increase the cost after use* system.

I'd love for them to introduce a spell into the Soul Magic line that lets you port from whatever you are in the world to the nearest wayshrine... similar to divine intervention from Morrowind. Make it costs magicka and stamina, and don't allow it to be used while in combat and that would solve ~90% of cost issues, at the price of having to endure two loading screens

Whilst I don't disagree with your final proposal, I think your point about new players being the most inconvenienced at present is moot, simply because they don't really have any reason to port around in the first place. By the time they've taken the free trip to and from their starter island and completed their first main zone, they've got enough gold to pay a nominal amount to travel elsewhere if they wish to, but only to the initial zone if they're switching alliance content as fast travel to unexplored zones will otherwise be locked to them anyway as they won't have discovered the wayshrines. They certainly don't need to pay to reach a merchant.

That's not exactly true... at least in my own experience. I used to watch streamers playing ESO for the first time, and mostly all of the ones I watched, if they were questing and following the quests lines, had to port at least two or three times per play session to dump their bags... unless they were lucky enough to find the travelling merchant while running around.

Most of them, they didn't even knew there were travelling merchants in the roads at first... because they never found them until later, or didn't realized that those NPCs walking the road were merchants ((unless someone in chat told them about them.))

So, at least for those people it was an inconvenience. You could argue that the inconvenience is the small starting inventory though, instead of the cost to travel, and that I'd agree.... but the inconvenience is there.

EDIT: added clarification

I wasn't referring to traveling merchants (and wouldn't expect new players to know about them), there are fixed merchants as I recall on the starter islands and in several places in each main starting zone, but I guess it depends in large part on how instantly players want to reach them (as well as how quickly they fill their inventory and whether they are subscribers and benefit from the crafting bag).

Kram8ion

Yes, remove the costs.

Being not confident in using them yes

Zimbugga

No, they should have costs.

It's not big money to pay. I don't have problem with fast traveling tax, but I hope we can travel free out from our home.

NewBlacksmurf

Other, my thoughts are...

I don’t think it should be all or nothing. There are distances where something should apply so for free we take the boat or for a lesser charge but for instant travels there’s a cost.

Assuming it puts a strain on something if everyone were porting around every time they wish, the fee seems to be a logic based performance deterrent. If that’s not the case, then it would seem pointless as the assumption has been it impacts the server and crowded areas or farming routines.

If they are going to change something, how about change teleporting to group, and guild/friends to their location vs a wayshrine.

ankhor8

No, they should have costs.

If we worked to get deep inside, we may need to work to get out. My general perspective.
We pay for convenience. Those of us that travel to player or house instead, have earned these alternate routes. Although many are in guilds absent of any form of earning, to be in one requires some degree of communication, so an earning action of some degree.
Planning ahead will ease any fast travel cost challenges. From my experience, simply zone chatting "help getting to wayshrine," will highly likely result in assistance.
I imagine that removing that cost would lead to some type of usage abuse and/or system complains.
The fact that we currently have means for complimentary travel, is the major factor in my decisions.

If it's working fine, maintain it.

Kodrac

Yes, remove the costs.

Yes, free the shrines! We've already found a way around it so just dump the archaic fine already.

strangeradnd

No, they should have costs.

Since this thread has risen, I shall add that I think the cost should stay. It helps encourage new players to spend more time on the ground instead of just zapping to another locale. This time helps build familiarity with the areas, mats and enemies that is useful throughout the game and pays off in the long haul. Being realistic the cost is only a factor at low levels and not much more than a pittance once a character is established so why remove it.

DaveMoeDee

No, they should have costs.

jabrone77 wrote: »

Wayshrines are dotted around zones and only takes a few minutes at worst to get to. And if it's a new zone, it promotes exploration.
I'm amazed at how many players say they love to explore, but getting to a wayshrine to skip the small fee is too tedious. And no, I don't travel to another guildmate. I didn't even know that was a thing.
If the fee for fast travel is too much of a gold sink for you, just get to another wayshrine. If it's important to just instantly travel from where you are, it should cost you.
In my opinion, it's fine just how it's set up.

Heck, if it takes a few minutes to get to a wayshrine, you must have a slow horse!

I do a lot of travel to player shortcuts, but you never know where you will end up in zone. Usually means 2 loading screens if you didn't want to go to the main town.

wolfie1.0.

Other, my thoughts are...

Gold sinks no matter how small should not be removed without having a replacement on put in place.

Sergykid

No, they should have costs.

who even pays, anyway? from 5 guilds most of the times u can travel to a player in ur target area. Also, you can ask for someone to taxi u there.

PlagueSD

No, they should have costs.

I just port to my house, then take 4 steps outside to the wayshrine.

Oh, and since I play the game on an SSD, I don't worry about loading screens.

Smokewood

No, they should have costs.

They should triple the cost to use them if you are not already at one, and add on a smaller cost if you are.

Gargath

Other, my thoughts are...

Remove wayshrines, instead give us jewellery enchanted for 100 points of Jump .

jedtb16_ESO

No, they should have costs.

it's so hard to travel to a wayshrine?

port to a house near a wayshrine then.

jeeez, some people.

TheCyberDruid

Other, my thoughts are...

Join big guilds and enjoy free fast travel Or just wait a bit and have a fast mount. The 'instant travel to where I want to be' should have a price tag and 146 gold at max level/CP means two to three vendor trash items for each fast travel which is really a good ratio.

VaranisArano

Why is this thread back from November 2017?

I think they should charge wayshrine costs for thread necromancy.

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

Other, my thoughts are...

no i believe Wayshrines and Fast Travel should be removed from the game completely.

MajesticHaruki

No, they should have costs.

Sorry meant to pick the third option. My throught is to remove wayshrines from the game.