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Navigating Tamriel: How We Could Make Navigators Better and Also Worse
opaj
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The Big Idea
Navigators! They help you get to where you need to go, as long as where you need to go is a city with a navigator in it. They're like wayshrines with personality... and significantly reduced functionality. What's not to love?
I imagine most folks don't use navigators at all. Heck, I imagine a few of the folks reading this didn't even know this game had navigators. If you weren't aware, navigators are boatswain and caravaner NPCs who offer transport to other cities.
So, who uses navigators when we have this great wayshrine system? Well, they're useful if you need to go somewhere for the first time and don't have the wayshrine unlocked. But other than that, they're mostly there for immersion-focused players and RPers.
But... there's a problem with that. Navigators, as they currently are in the game, aren't exactly immersive. Let me explain...
Chained to Quest Flow
Most of the navigators in the game were added with One Tamriel, when the whole game was level scaled and players were allowed to freely travel throughout Tamriel for the first time. Perhaps in an attempt to help players who wanted to follow the alliance storylines, navigators were set up so that they could take you to the next and previous zone in their alliance's storyline.
That means that navigator routes are as follows:
Ebonheart Pact: Stonefalls - Deshaan - Shadowfen - Eastmarch - The Rift - Stonefalls
Aldmeri Dominion: Auridon - Grahtwood - Greenshade - Malabal Tor - Reaper's March - Auridon
Daggerfall Covenant: Glenumbra - Stormhaven - Rivenspire - Alik'r - Bangkorai - Glenumbra
Go ahead and open your world map. Look at where each of those zones are. Then look at those routes again.
Ebonheart Pact mostly makes sense, aside from the Shadowfen-Eastmarch connection.
In the Aldmeri Dominion, why does Auridon only connect to the two furthest regions?
The Daggerfall Covenant has some weird criss-crossing, like the Rivenspire-Alik'r link, while missing less obvious links, like Rivenspire-Glenumbra.
On top of this, these navigators will also let you travel directly to zones in the other alliances. The capitals are a simple caravan ride away from each other. Since they're all at war, it's surprising that security isn't a tiny bit tighter!
Finally, new chapters and DLC tend to be connected to either the starting cities or alliance capitals. The ports and caravan drop-offs of these cities are getting a little crowded...
But Why Is It Like This?
We really don't need the navigators to be organized like this!
If you're trying to follow the alliance stories, you're probably not using these navigators. You can usually walk to the next zone in the storyline, and when you can't, the quests provide an extra navigator or portal specifically for that transit.
If you're in a hurry to get to another alliance or DLC zone, there's always at least one wayshrine unlocked that will get you in the right general neighborhood.
The current navigator routes service gameplay that is better served by other systems, and in doing so, they lose their immersive quality.
Less Convenient Navigators!
Since navigators are really only servicing immersion-hounds and RPers, why not change the routes so that they follow an in-universe logic rather than a game logic?
There are two key benefits to this:
1. More immersive for those who care!
2. Some of us actually liked having to plan our travel, like we did in TES3: Morrowind. We may be a small group, but what else is this system for if not to scratch that particular itch?
So what would make this more immersive for me? I'd suggest these changes:
Navigators only connect neighboring zones. For landlocked zones, that means sharing a border. If the navigator is on a port, then they can cross water to nearby coasts and islands.
Navigators only connect to other navigators of the same type. No more riding a cart to Auridon or taking a boat to Vulkwasten.
Navigators don't blithely ignore the borders of alliances at war. You have to transfer at neutral ground in order to travel between alliances. For example, if you need to go from Covenant to Pact territories, you'd need to take a cart from Evermore to Belkarth, and from Belkarth to Nimalten or somesuch. Stros M'kai and Khenarthi's Roost would also make sense as neutral ports connecting the alliances, since they'd be hard to fully police.
Navigators to the new zones don't all cluster in the same city! Honestly, a caravan from Vulkhel Guard to Wrothgar makes little sense, unless echaterre are unexpectedly good swimmers. Travel to Summerset should probably be routed through Auridon, and both Morrowind and Elsweyr should probably require you to travel through other zones in their own alliances/provinces. After all, if you want to jump straight into that content, you're probably taking a wayshrine--leave navigators for the roleplayers.
Note that the above restrictions shouldn't impact navigators/portals that are actually incorporated into the story, like Captain Jimila's ship from Vulkhel Guard to Southpoint, Gabrielle Benele's portal from Sentinel to Evermore, or Muz-Muz's boat from Alten Corimont to Windhelm.
More Convenient Navigators!
As long as we're making changes to navigators for the sake of RP nerds like me, there are a few things we can do to extend their functionality, too.
More local travel. One thing I loved about the Morrowind chapter is that they added silt striders and boats that took you to different settlements within the zone. Some of the routes were a little counterintuitive, but I was saddened that there weren't any local navigators like that in the chapters that came afterwards. I think it'd be cool if every city that's big enough to have its own map also had a navigator that could let you travel to any neighboring settlements. Bonus points if this local navigators were zone agnostic--so you could take a cart from Redfur Trading Post to Marbruk, for instance, and just keep going from nearby town to nearby town.
More "special" navigation options. I'd like to see more special navigation options appear based on what you do. For example, unlocking Eyevea could give you portal access to mages guilds in all three alliances, instead of just your home alliance. Liberating cities like Southpoint or Hallin's Stand should open up new navigator options, as should traveling to zones added by DLC and chapters.
Fix the weird navigators. Currently, the navigators in Orsinium and Belkarth are a single wagon that teleports you to your home alliance, regardless of how you got there. It'd be nice if these wagons could be replaced by options that are more in line with the rules outlined above.
Thank You for Attending My TED Talk
Do most people care about this subject? Probably not.
Is this the best use of developer time? Eh, I doubt it.
But still, if the navigators are going to exist, it would be nice if they more clearly filled a niche, and the niche that makes the most sense to me is "immersive world travel experience."
And Another Thing...
Why isn't there a walkable pass between Alik'r and southern Bangkorai?
Edited by opaj on June 6, 2020 12:40AM Navigators! They help you get to where you need to go, as long as where you need to go is a city with a navigator in it. They're like wayshrines with personality... and significantly reduced functionality. What's not to love?
I imagine most folks don't use navigators at all. Heck, I imagine a few of the folks reading this didn't even know this game had navigators. If you weren't aware, navigators are boatswain and caravaner NPCs who offer transport to other cities.
So, who uses navigators when we have this great wayshrine system? Well, they're useful if you need to go somewhere for the first time and don't have the wayshrine unlocked. But other than that, they're mostly there for immersion-focused players and RPers.
But... there's a problem with that. Navigators, as they currently are in the game, aren't exactly immersive. Let me explain...
Chained to Quest Flow
Most of the navigators in the game were added with One Tamriel, when the whole game was level scaled and players were allowed to freely travel throughout Tamriel for the first time. Perhaps in an attempt to help players who wanted to follow the alliance storylines, navigators were set up so that they could take you to the next and previous zone in their alliance's storyline.
That means that navigator routes are as follows:
Ebonheart Pact: Stonefalls - Deshaan - Shadowfen - Eastmarch - The Rift - Stonefalls
Aldmeri Dominion: Auridon - Grahtwood - Greenshade - Malabal Tor - Reaper's March - Auridon
Daggerfall Covenant: Glenumbra - Stormhaven - Rivenspire - Alik'r - Bangkorai - Glenumbra
Go ahead and open your world map. Look at where each of those zones are. Then look at those routes again.
Ebonheart Pact mostly makes sense, aside from the Shadowfen-Eastmarch connection.
In the Aldmeri Dominion, why does Auridon only connect to the two furthest regions?
The Daggerfall Covenant has some weird criss-crossing, like the Rivenspire-Alik'r link, while missing less obvious links, like Rivenspire-Glenumbra.
On top of this, these navigators will also let you travel directly to zones in the other alliances. The capitals are a simple caravan ride away from each other. Since they're all at war, it's surprising that security isn't a tiny bit tighter!
Finally, new chapters and DLC tend to be connected to either the starting cities or alliance capitals. The ports and caravan drop-offs of these cities are getting a little crowded...
But Why Is It Like This?
We really don't need the navigators to be organized like this!
If you're trying to follow the alliance stories, you're probably not using these navigators. You can usually walk to the next zone in the storyline, and when you can't, the quests provide an extra navigator or portal specifically for that transit.
If you're in a hurry to get to another alliance or DLC zone, there's always at least one wayshrine unlocked that will get you in the right general neighborhood.
The current navigator routes service gameplay that is better served by other systems, and in doing so, they lose their immersive quality.
Less Convenient Navigators!
Since navigators are really only servicing immersion-hounds and RPers, why not change the routes so that they follow an in-universe logic rather than a game logic?
There are two key benefits to this:
1. More immersive for those who care!
2. Some of us actually liked having to plan our travel, like we did in TES3: Morrowind. We may be a small group, but what else is this system for if not to scratch that particular itch?
So what would make this more immersive for me? I'd suggest these changes:
Navigators only connect neighboring zones. For landlocked zones, that means sharing a border. If the navigator is on a port, then they can cross water to nearby coasts and islands.
Navigators only connect to other navigators of the same type. No more riding a cart to Auridon or taking a boat to Vulkwasten.
Navigators don't blithely ignore the borders of alliances at war. You have to transfer at neutral ground in order to travel between alliances. For example, if you need to go from Covenant to Pact territories, you'd need to take a cart from Evermore to Belkarth, and from Belkarth to Nimalten or somesuch. Stros M'kai and Khenarthi's Roost would also make sense as neutral ports connecting the alliances, since they'd be hard to fully police.
Navigators to the new zones don't all cluster in the same city! Honestly, a caravan from Vulkhel Guard to Wrothgar makes little sense, unless echaterre are unexpectedly good swimmers. Travel to Summerset should probably be routed through Auridon, and both Morrowind and Elsweyr should probably require you to travel through other zones in their own alliances/provinces. After all, if you want to jump straight into that content, you're probably taking a wayshrine--leave navigators for the roleplayers.
Note that the above restrictions shouldn't impact navigators/portals that are actually incorporated into the story, like Captain Jimila's ship from Vulkhel Guard to Southpoint, Gabrielle Benele's portal from Sentinel to Evermore, or Muz-Muz's boat from Alten Corimont to Windhelm.
More Convenient Navigators!
As long as we're making changes to navigators for the sake of RP nerds like me, there are a few things we can do to extend their functionality, too.
More local travel. One thing I loved about the Morrowind chapter is that they added silt striders and boats that took you to different settlements within the zone. Some of the routes were a little counterintuitive, but I was saddened that there weren't any local navigators like that in the chapters that came afterwards. I think it'd be cool if every city that's big enough to have its own map also had a navigator that could let you travel to any neighboring settlements. Bonus points if this local navigators were zone agnostic--so you could take a cart from Redfur Trading Post to Marbruk, for instance, and just keep going from nearby town to nearby town.
More "special" navigation options. I'd like to see more special navigation options appear based on what you do. For example, unlocking Eyevea could give you portal access to mages guilds in all three alliances, instead of just your home alliance. Liberating cities like Southpoint or Hallin's Stand should open up new navigator options, as should traveling to zones added by DLC and chapters.
Fix the weird navigators. Currently, the navigators in Orsinium and Belkarth are a single wagon that teleports you to your home alliance, regardless of how you got there. It'd be nice if these wagons could be replaced by options that are more in line with the rules outlined above.
Thank You for Attending My TED Talk
Do most people care about this subject? Probably not.
Is this the best use of developer time? Eh, I doubt it.
But still, if the navigators are going to exist, it would be nice if they more clearly filled a niche, and the niche that makes the most sense to me is "immersive world travel experience."
And Another Thing...
Why isn't there a walkable pass between Alik'r and southern Bangkorai?
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Lysette✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I see no need for public local travel - we all have mounts for just that. Too many "teleport" options are just counter productive to enjoying the game world - and those navigators are as well just teleporters, you don't travel through the world with them. If you want to travel in an immersive way, why not just walk there or use your mount.Edited by Lysette on June 6, 2020 3:48AM1 -
mavfin✭✭✭✭I don't see any needed changes to Navigators. I know why they have the 5 zones in the order they have them.
If you don't like them, don't use them. They're handy as hell for new characters that want to go in a different order, or if they get an undaunted delve quest halfway across the world where they don't have a wayshrine yet, etc.
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opaj✭✭✭✭✭
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That's a fair point. I like having more navigators because they remind me of TES3 Morrowind, and I want to replicate that experience as much as is possible in an MMO. ESO already does a surprisingly good job of this, with the right addons and tweaks to your settings.I see no need for public local travel - we all have mounts for just that. Too many "teleport" options are just counter productive to enjoying the game world - and those navigators are as well just teleporters, you don't travel through the world with them. If you want to travel in an immersive way, why not just walk there or use your mount.
Edit: Besides, walking or using a mount isn't always the most immersive route, depending on the character. I do of course use those options when it's the most sensible.
It's fair that you don't think navigators need to change, but I'm not sure why you think "If you don't like them, don't use them" really applies here. I love navigators. It's a way for my characters to get around the world without using the Vestige-only teleport systems that are the wayshrines. Sure, I can just use a wayshrine and pretend that my character took a boat, but with navigators, I actually wind up directly at the dock after the loading screen, so I don't need to step out of my immersion to accomplish it.I don't see any needed changes to Navigators. I know why they have the 5 zones in the order they have them.
If you don't like them, don't use them. They're handy as hell for new characters that want to go in a different order, or if they get an undaunted delve quest halfway across the world where they don't have a wayshrine yet, etc.
I just wish they made more sense for the world. Let's say I'm taking a boat from Auridon. What are my destinations?
1. Eldenroot in Grahtwood. This is on the far edge of Valenwood from the west coast, and it's inland, so I guess you sailed to a coastal city and took a cart the rest of the way? Possibly all the way from Altin Corimont, since the two other closest port cities are occupied by hostile forces at the start of the game?
2. Rawl'kha in Reaper's March. This is even further inland than Eldenroot.
3. Davon's Watch in Stonefalls. A city on the other side of the continent. In enemy territory. And it's currently under attack by a second enemy.
4. Daggerfall in Glenumbra. This one seems at least plausible to me, since it's a port city on the same ocean as Auridon. It's still a major city in a nation that the Aldmeri Dominion is at war with.
5. Khenarthi's Roost. Again, far away, but at least it's an island that's either neutral or allied with the Dominion.
Let's say I want to sail from Vulkhel Guard to Woodhearth. That should be simple, right? They're closer to each other than any of the other cities listed above. Woodhearth is on the coast closest to Auridon, it's firmly under Dominion control, and it has a massive dock (for this game).
Under the current navigator system, the fastest route would be Vulkhel Guard -> Elden Root -> Woodhearth. So I sail all the way around the southern coast of Valenwood, get off my boat to travel inland by wagon (?), then take a second wagon from Elden Root back in the direction I came from to the coastal port of Woodhearth. I mean, if I'm trying to achieve that seamless immersive feeling I described above, I think I would have been better off using the wayshrines!
If ZOS made my suggested changes, you could still take navigators to any of the locations that are already serviced. It'd be a little less convenient when hopping alliances, but otherwise I think the travel routes would be more intuitive than they currently are--at least, they would be for the Aldmeri Dominion and Daggerfall Covenant. Ebonheart Pact would hardly be affected by this change.
Thanks for that. These ideas almost certainly won't be implemented, but it sure was fun to write up.It’d be great to see some of these ideas implemented!Edited by opaj on June 7, 2020 7:28AM0