Comments on: What is so bad about running in online games?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:32:12 +0000

I’ll have to look into these reflecting pools. I’ve seen one in Bree, but I never seem to have the drive to go explore it.

One unintended (or maybe it was intended) consequence of long quest runs that I always seem to forget about is that, like you said, it introduces you to new areas and locales which are sometimes better than what you were doing. Finding these really puts a sort of spark back into the game and instils hope within a party. Thanks for pointing that out!

By: brackishwater

brackishwater — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:42:12 +0000

One of the things that really disappointed me about when Vanguard released was the change in the Map. They never had the fog of war in beta, but showing the entire world on this really bad “new” map made it even worse. I’ve always been a fan of the undiscovered map, but even LotRO and WoW made it easier with showing the boundaries. Simply no need.

In regards to run speed and travel, I wouldn’t pay to have some unseen hand run me to the place I need to go (IE instance entrance, group) at normal speed. LotRO tried to solve this issue with Reflecting Pools, but more often then not players have no idea how these work and what the restrictions are.

I simply find myself perturbed about travel when I “need” to be somewhere within a certain time-frame. In Vanguard (Before the port-stones), I would spend half the night traveling on some nights. This wasn’t an issue to me as it encouraged our group to find locales that we would stay in for days on end. Very much like the old days.
-brackish

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:12:43 +0000

Control is the difference. Corpse-runs and such are forced onto you. Quiet journeys may not feel tedious when they’re the result of choice or whim.

Devs may perceive some of that tedium as unavoidable, but it may also be a pacing mechanism. Even the most gung-ho action junkie needs event to slow down a bit in between adrenalin rushes.

In SWG, I noticed that having some small areas completely devoid of NPCs helped to create a feeling of wilderness. The problem was that there was often too much empty wilderness. There were also ruins and similar content waiting for explorers to discover in distant, untamed regions. But there was no lore or purpose tied to the objects, so they had little value.

My ideal game would have no quick travel readily available. That allows for a lot of gameplay opportunities (like caravans and regional markets). But it would only be fun if content was less fixed and there were no safe paths. When the road you’re travelling is empty or its possible encounters are entirely predictable, there’s no adventure to it… you’re just going through a tedious motion. But if every crossing comes with the possibility of a fresh adventure, then slow travelling systems can be fun.