Navigate the ESO lands

wabajaa · December 2021

Greeting All,
I hope we can take boat or silt strider to travel back and forth between lands, it can only last 30-60s won't last too long in the wild open area. We can also have some big free "air taxi" like a flying beast will carry lots players to a particular location for every 2-3 mins. Player must have picked up the corresponding flight path by speaking to a flight NPC who works there. Cool idea?

Lady_Galadhiel · December 2021

We don't get flying mounts then I highly doubt we would get some sort of flying taxi.

sionIV · December 2021

While I would personally love boats or stilt striders, I don't see people using them outside of RP. As long as teleporting from shrines is faster (and more efficient), most people will use that option. It's a really neat idea, that I sadly don't see ZOS using resources on.

Danikat · December 2021

In a sense we do have boats and carts that go between different areas, but it works the same as using a wayshrine (you just don't have to have the end destination unlocked already). You talk to the navigator, tell them where you'd like to go and then go through a loading screen and end up at the destination.

(There's also the boat to Morrowind and the cart to Western Skyrim in the chapter introductions, but that's just a cut scene.)

I'm not sure it's possible to have actual moving boats in this game. I can't remember a single example of a boat or other vehicle moving with players or NPCs on it. All the boats we see stay in the same location all the time and although we have several varieties of merchant carts any merchants we see on the roads are walking either on their own or next to a horse. It might be that ZOS hasn't created the necessary programming for it and this would require building entirely new systems.

More likely they'd just add a short cut scene to the existing travel options.

Ippokrates · December 2021

The last great TES game with advanced travel network was Morrowind. Making a trip there was a real endeavour! You had to plan how to get to the point and how to get back with network of boats, silt striders, MG teleports and intervention spells from two organization. That was great.

However, i don't think in MMO such system would work. It would be too complicated on a larger scale, assuming it would in some way replace Wayshrines & player's teleport.

hafgood · December 2021

No thanks, and not something that will be implemented as Zos knows people won't use it. Why would people take a minute to travel between two places when they can just wayshrine it?

Danikat · December 2021

Ippokrates wrote: »

The last great TES game with advanced travel network was Morrowind. Making a trip there was a real endeavour! You had to plan how to get to the point and how to get back with network of boats, silt striders, MG teleports and intervention spells from two organization. That was great.

However, i don't think in MMO such system would work. It would be too complicated on a larger scale, assuming it would in some way replace Wayshrines & player's teleport.

Or if you were me you just walked/ran there. Including going up and down the volcanic ridges in as close to a straight line as possible. The only thing I really went around was the Ghost Fence.

It probably wasn't the quickest way to travel and certainly wasn't the safest, but it was interesting.

wabajaa · December 2021

That idea was actually from World of warcraft. I had quite good experience while see lots of players waiting for a flying taxi. But since there were lots of portals added in the game (WOW), these flying taxi are kind of redundant. It was actually pretty fun. But now these great stuffs all gone!

The_Boggart · December 2021

There isn't a tutorial on using the existing system of boats or are pple to lazy to ride to the nearest harbour. During the newlife
period I expect to see many requests from pple to be teleported to quest areas instead of using boats and horses.

Maitsukas · December 2021

Vvardenfell has Silt Striders, although each location has their own specific stops.

phaneub17_ESO · December 2021

We already have Boatswains in the game, they can take you to all the 15 base game zones in about 10 minutes, other ones nearby take you to chapter zones, and Stargazer Herald goes straight to Craglorn. They all start you right in the towns so you have instant access to the city wayshrine. Going to everywhere in the game is already available, they're instant, and don't require another player to port around if you want to unlock almost everything right away.

Mayrael · December 2021

In Aion, travel between shrines was more or less like having a large magical bird carry us between them. This way there were no loading screens and you could admire the scenery while traveling. In my opinion it added an amazing flavor.

I think the OP's idea is really worth considering.

Ippokrates · December 2021

Danikat wrote: »

Ippokrates wrote: »

The last great TES game with advanced travel network was Morrowind. Making a trip there was a real endeavour! You had to plan how to get to the point and how to get back with network of boats, silt striders, MG teleports and intervention spells from two organization. That was great.

However, i don't think in MMO such system would work. It would be too complicated on a larger scale, assuming it would in some way replace Wayshrines & player's teleport.

Or if you were me you just walked/ran there. Including going up and down the volcanic ridges in as close to a straight line as possible. The only thing I really went around was the Ghost Fence.

It probably wasn't the quickest way to travel and certainly wasn't the safest, but it was interesting.

Yup, i love to travelling through Vvardenfell and discovering shrines, bandit hideouts or having random encounters. Well, everything except those cursed Cliff Racers ^^

But when it comes to quests, always prefer planned route

SeaGtGruff · December 2021

Ippokrates wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

Ippokrates wrote: »

The last great TES game with advanced travel network was Morrowind. Making a trip there was a real endeavour! You had to plan how to get to the point and how to get back with network of boats, silt striders, MG teleports and intervention spells from two organization. That was great.

However, i don't think in MMO such system would work. It would be too complicated on a larger scale, assuming it would in some way replace Wayshrines & player's teleport.

Or if you were me you just walked/ran there. Including going up and down the volcanic ridges in as close to a straight line as possible. The only thing I really went around was the Ghost Fence.

It probably wasn't the quickest way to travel and certainly wasn't the safest, but it was interesting.

Yup, i love to travelling through Vvardenfell and discovering shrines, bandit hideouts or having random encounters. Well, everything except those cursed Cliff Racers ^^

But when it comes to quests, always prefer planned route

If you develop your Hand-to-hand fighting, Cliff Racers make great punching bags-- as long as you don't let too many of them gang up on you at once!

AlnilamE · December 2021

I use the navigators a lot when I start a new character. It's fun.

zaria · December 2021

Danikat wrote: »

In a sense we do have boats and carts that go between different areas, but it works the same as using a wayshrine (you just don't have to have the end destination unlocked already). You talk to the navigator, tell them where you'd like to go and then go through a loading screen and end up at the destination.

(There's also the boat to Morrowind and the cart to Western Skyrim in the chapter introductions, but that's just a cut scene.)

I'm not sure it's possible to have actual moving boats in this game. I can't remember a single example of a boat or other vehicle moving with players or NPCs on it. All the boats we see stay in the same location all the time and although we have several varieties of merchant carts any merchants we see on the roads are walking either on their own or next to a horse. It might be that ZOS hasn't created the necessary programming for it and this would require building entirely new systems.

More likely they'd just add a short cut scene to the existing travel options.

Agree, now WOW has much of the same for their boats and airships, they just had an short leaving port animation, teleport and arriving. For a week in WOW I thought the boats was just scenery as I was unable to reach them

I also thought the subway to the dwarf city was an group dungeon

But you could stowaway on enemy transports in WOW who was very cool.
On the other hand WOW had less instant fast travel then I played it. Getting around an zone you had to fly yourself or use an service flying you real time but you could be afk during transport.

SilverBride · December 2021

wabajaa wrote: »

That idea was actually from World of warcraft. I had quite good experience while see lots of players waiting for a flying taxi. But since there were lots of portals added in the game (WOW), these flying taxi are kind of redundant. It was actually pretty fun. But now these great stuffs all gone!

When I played WoW no one was standing around waiting for a flying taxi. All you had to do was click and pick your destination.

Some of these flight paths were very long, and most just want to get from here to there, not spend 5 minutes or more in the air. The wayshrine system we have in ESO is much better.

amapola76 · December 2021

SilverBride wrote: »

wabajaa wrote: »

That idea was actually from World of warcraft. I had quite good experience while see lots of players waiting for a flying taxi. But since there were lots of portals added in the game (WOW), these flying taxi are kind of redundant. It was actually pretty fun. But now these great stuffs all gone!

When I played WoW no one was standing around waiting for a flying taxi. All you had to do was click and pick your destination.

Some of these flight paths were very long, and most just want to get from here to there, not spend 5 minutes or more in the air. The wayshrine system we have in ESO is much better.

I wouldn't say "no one." Some people did and some people didn't.

I don't think we'll ever see it in ESO, but I get where OP is coming from. There were times in WoW when I really enjoyed the scenic tour. Sure, most people most of the time will choose the fastest option, but having options is nice.

hafgood · December 2021

But why spend the time programming something which has a very niche market? I'd rather the time be spent on something with broader appeal

opaj · December 2021

I love the navigators that exist in-game and make pretty extensive use of them. I only wish the routes made more geographic sense--there are direct boats from Vulkel Guard to Elden Root and Rawl'kha, both of which are practically land-locked, and yet no direct service to Woodhearth, which is the port city closest to Auridon.

Oh well. In a way, I'm grateful that they exist at all, since wayshrines and port to friends/guildmates are almost always more convenient.

Ermiq · December 2021

I really LOVED the flying taxi in WoW. And even though it has teleports as well, they are carefuly implemented in the game just like such a thing could have been in an actual world instead of just being a gameplay instrument.
But modern gamers are all lazy butts and they are all too busy and have no time for traveling. We're living in the era of quick session MMOs.
I personally hate it when games turn their worlds into a theme park terrain pieces with players teleporting back and forth with close to zero value of world exploration. That's exactly what ZOS have decided to do, sadly.
Imho, ESO has too much of teleportation, it is absolutely everywhere. And even all the wayshrines wasn't enough, we also get them unlocked right from the start for all the DLCs so the lazy butts don't even need to ask how to get to that region (in a multiplayer game), just open the map and jump right to the place! And also, teleporting to the guild members and group mates.
I wonder why we still don't have teleports from the quest giver right to the quest objective and then back to the quest giver?

SilverBride · December 2021

amapola76 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

When I played WoW no one was standing around waiting for a flying taxi. All you had to do was click and pick your destination.

I wouldn't say "no one." Some people did and some people didn't.

I was thinking about the gryphon flight paths. I had forgotten about the flying airships. It's been a few years since I've played WoW.

So yes, some players would be waiting for these to arrive but most of the time there wasn't any interaction between the players who were waiting. I'd rather not have to stand around and wait to get to where I'm going.

ArchangelIsraphel · December 2021

I prefer the wayshrines we have now, although I can see the appeal of this from a roleplaying perspective.

I used to really love the flight teleporters we had in Aion. You'd teleport directly with no wait time, but you'd see your characters sprout aetheric wings and fly to their next destination over the land itself instead of sitting through a loading screen. (since the characters in Aion were "Daeva" with angel wings, this was appropriate) It was gorgeous. I wouldn't mind a direct teleport system in ESO where you could see your surroundings on a boat or a silt strider instead of sitting through a loading screen, but I doubt this would be beneficial to performance.

Vevvev · December 2021

We already have boats and caravans to navigate the world in. They just fade to black though and I doubt the devs will take it beyond that unless we got some kind of naval expansion. And to make the boats introduced in such a thing not worthless they'd have to cut down heavily on the number of wayshrines in these ocean zones, which might be annoying if the world isn't engaging enough with things to do.