D4 Town Portal? Like D2 or D3? Or will it be more of a hearthstone like WoW?

General Discussion
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So I notice that there is one topic similar to this, but it’s from November 2019 and the person wants different color portals. I don’t.

Maybe this was already covered in a blue post or some update, somewhere, but I find it easier to go the the community forum. Plus it would be nice to read all the different takes / thoughts / opinions / etc.

Will the D4 Town Portal be more like D2 (with or without scrolls) or more like D3? Or will D4 even have a Town Portal since it will be more open like WoW? If not, will the ‘portal’ (for lack of a better word) be more like a hearthstone like WoW?

If anyone knows what form of ‘porting’ will be available in D4, what’s your take on it?

Personally, I would like a D2(ish) Town Portal. I like the fact that it’s instant and it stays where you put it. This could be done for many different reasons, both tactical and just for convenience. But… to be honest… I wouldn’t be too wild on keeping scrolls or a book of scrolls, like D2, but a magic (or rare or mythic or legendary, whatever) Scroll or Book would be nice.

I really don’t like the D3 Town Portal at all. I guess it’s easier to manage (for everyone, dev and player alike), but it’s not as useful as it was in D2. I think the channeling portion of the Town Portal for D3 is the most annoying.

How many times have I been interrupted because I got attacked close to finishing the channel? Especially from range monsters, most annoying of all. Next would be any monster that can speed across the screen before you can Town Portal to town.

Yes, the Homing Pads will remedy this very minor situation. But I don’t want to rely on an item, ether in cube or equipped, just so I can go back to town without an interruption.

Too bad CDR doesn’t help lessen the channel time of Town Portal also. I would be okay with that, now that I think about it, in either D3 or D4. It may never bet instant, but with enough CDR, it could come close enough.

I know there are enough things to think about in D4, I just posted one about a character’s death. However, this one just popped in my head as I was portaling to town thinking about playing the Barbarian in D4.

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I don’t mind D2/PoE style portals, as long as they can’t be used in boss rooms. Otherwise you get that D2 problem of being able to cheese away boss fights by running back to town.

Hearthstone would be absolutely awful in an ARPG. Nobody wants to wait an hour for their TP to recharge in a game like Diablo.

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I prefer the D3 portal, though a D2 portal you cant use against bosses (and honestly, not in any type of combat) could be fine too. It should be hard to escape combat, unless the enemy is dead.

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Yeah, I think I am aiming more for the insacast Town Portal. I would be fine if I can’t use it in combat, providing there is no such thing as a ‘stuck in combat bug’ in D4.

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D3 style is fine. And if you’re “stuck in combat”, just waypoint out.

D2 portal is abused big time. Should never be that way again.

POE portal is the worst. Stupid thing despawns if you linger in town for too long AND requires scrolls.

ID/TP scrolls in a 202# game is stupid and redundant. You’re supposed to evolve, not degenerate.

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I think a mixture of Diablo 2 and 3 would suffice for me.

Such as having scrolls that can create portals, but being unusable while in a boss fight and having a casting time before actually summoning said portal. Looking at the newest quarterly update, it does look like portal scrolls are returning which would be nice imo.

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First of all, interesting how this topic has returned quite a several times, it’s like an underrated topic tbh

My take is to make the TP a resource, doesn’t matter how/why but make it a resource. In the open world D3 style is completely fine, but in dungeons or any kind of challenge run make it a resource. Could be in either fashion, doesn’t matter rly

1 - limited TP amounts before dungeon is reset
2 - unlimited TP for dungeon but very expensive to buy each piece
3 - a “powerable” TP which gets powered by kills (up to 2-3 charges for ex.)
4 -perhaps a TP device inside the dungeon, each taking long time to power
5 - TP a vendor of your choosing to the dungeon itself but not being able to get out of it until beaten…

e.t.c., e.t.c.

Basically, don’t think there should be a “set” rule, it’s just another mechanic/piece that offers creative solutions… That’s why I like the idea to think of TPs as a resource :slight_smile:

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My vision for this game is, the game gets harder and harder for each “replay”. First its pretty normal Diablo, then keys and timers are added, then more difficult terrain and portals. Etc. You guys get the idea.

I wouldnt throw it all at once, because game can become too confusing and overwhelming so easily.

First run, easy Portals. Second run, harder Portals. Third run, Difficult Portals. Thats what Im thinking. Game just keep challening and challengin you.

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The ‘stuck in combat bug’ was referred to WoW, not D3, since D4 is going to be more of an ‘open world’ game. I never knew D3 had a ‘combat bug’ since I never encountered it. Yeah, I should have mentioned WoW in my previous post/response and you could have been ‘witty’ about something else. Doubtful, but…

Anyway, as long as D4 doesn’t have a ‘combat bug’ like WoW or any other game, then an instacast Town Portal that can be used ‘when not in combat’ would be fine with me.

I wouldn’t mind clicking or key binding ‘t’ to an item that allowed me to Town Portal. Honestly, I think scrolls should be apart of the game. I also think that a permanent item with the Town Portal ability should be added to the game too.

Heck, it could even be called “Cain’s Legendary Scroll of Town Portal.” There could even be flavor text of ‘Stay a while and… hey where are you going?’

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I really hope the whole portal scrolls thing doesn’t make it into the final game. I’m fine with the five second TP D3 uses, and if it’s locked during a boss fight that’s also perfectly fine. I’m just really sick of having to deal with consumables for the mainstay QoL features. Like ammo for hunters in vanilla World of Warcraft or any of PoE’s Many Things That Require Yet Another Freaking Consumable™.

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I mean D3s isn’t instant and it stays where you put it too. Only difference is you don’t read a scroll.

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Maybe we should talk about the way back…I know this is a hard topic but it could solve some problems and make the game more challenging and less of an item salvage and pot buying simulator

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Or soul shards. Nothing like farming for hours before a raid just to be able to function.

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I guess the scrolls are there not just for nostalgia but to encourage to use the mount so the players are not constantly “dungeon-town” skipping the open world. I understand the distaste but it’s just a small resource management, it was not an issue in D2.
For the same reason, the 5 second delay should stay. It works fine in D3 and D4 will have the mount to get out of combat instead.

Oh yes. No soul shards for gambling please, that was a painful design that didn’t make sense.

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I meant in WoW for warlocks. But yes, blood shards were awful. No need for multiple currencies, just make everything gold. If Kadala required gold, gold may not have gotten out of hand.

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I realise now you wrote “soul” and not “blood” shards ^^ I don’t know about that in WoW.
Anyway, fully agree with you, gold is much more logical and satisfying. I rediscovered the fun of gambling in TL3, even though it is inferior to D3 in every other way.

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It’s inferior to TL1 in almost every way. So disappointed by that game.

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so should it be good or should it be trash?

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TP scroll system is stupid. It is just a minor annoyance for fresh Lv1 character and it takes no time to see the whole scroll concept became obsolete when your character can easily restock 20 TP scrolls at town with little cost to the point, you would want the TP to be free instead of permanently hogging 2 slots of your inventory.

D3 TP is the best here for balance purpose. Can’t be abused in boss fight, or grant an instant bail out from any bad situation.

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Depending on how rare or expensive town portals are, I can see them being there as a way to promote mount usage. For example you just cleared a quest and had to return to town; however you only have 3 town portal scrolls left; do you call forth a portal or trek some distance in order to reach the nearest waypoint on horseback. If town portal scrolls were hard to come by, I’d imagine myself mostly using the mount to travel back home.

That said, even if they change their minds regarding town portal scrolls, I’d be fine with that as well. I just think they’d be neat.