Rearranging and Removing Portals

[Taienna-aerie-peak (Taienna)]

I mean, there certainly has been plenty of drama in this thread (and others) but that doesn’t invalidate the complaints. You seem to think that since this issue doesn’t bother you, it shouldn’t bother anyone–and that it won’t affect you either way.

Well said. It’s actually unbelievable how people think these days. The portal change doesn’t affect me much but I am still here to help because I can recognize people have an issue with it. I am literally fighting for everyone else here. Not even for me.

It’s almost like other people play this game or something.

Apathy is one of the most disturbing human characteristics that exists.
“I dont care about anyone elses problems but my own”
Hopefully they dont procreate.

[Taienna-aerie-peak (Taienna)]

In ESO – a game which has instant travel to pretty much anywhere on the map via the wayshrine system, including dungeons and trials (raids) – I spend almost all of my time walking or mounted, and rarely use fast travel except to return to one of my houses.

In WoW – a game in which fast or convenient travel is, quite simply, a pain – I find the lack of portals and the difficulty of travel to be quite frustrating and annoying, and it seems like journeying to most places that I need to get to is unnecessarily time-consuming unless I sacrifice one Hearthstone or another.

ESO is so much easier to travel around in, and feels huge because of that fact.
MY world is bigger when I can MOVE AROUND and see the world.
Not when my horse and buggy turns a 20 minute trip into 2 hours.
A persons ‘world’ is much bigger today with cars and planes than someone 300 years ago with a horse.

[Lillyann-llane (Lillyann)]

A persons ‘world’ is much bigger today with cars and planes than someone 300 years ago with a horse.

Actually, compromise. They can keep the portals removed but give us a flying mount (IN ALL ZONES) with a throttlable flight speed from 310% to 4000%.

I’d totally forget about portals traveling faster than sound.

[Sabine-dawnbringer (Sabine)]

https://www.wowhead.com/news=290485/new-portal-rooms-in-patch-8-1-5-removed-portals-will-show-up-while-in-specific-q

I just read an interview with Ion where he basically rehashed the same thing as the Q&A, but in the article there was the link above. I found this interesting because it has yet to happen.

[Taienna-aerie-peak (Taienna)]

A persons ‘world’ is much bigger today with cars and planes than someone 300 years ago with a horse.

Actually, compromise. They can keep the portals removed but give us a flying mount (IN ALL ZONES) with a throttlable flight speed from 310% to 4000%.

I’d totally forget about portals traveling faster than sound.

well, yeah, that would be a compromise. I guess they could offer other options if they wanted to.
I dont see it happening.
This aint ESO or FF14 where the game makers seem to WANT players seeing the whole world.

[Brahmina-khadgar (Brahmina)]

of course you did your research before regurgitating that… right?

woops, it seems you didn’t.

Blizzard reports MAU’s, which is “monthly active users”, so you’re correct that they don’t include the actual “time played” in stockholder reports (which I actually do read). However, I have seen/heard Blizzard talk about time played, player time engagement, etc., in a number of different settings. I just accidentally conflated the two things.

So, yes, they do track and care about “time played” to some extent. No, it’s not part of the stockholder reports–that’s MAU’s–and I misspoke (mistyped?). But yes, they do care if you log in–which was the point I was trying to make in the post you quoted.

As far as your comment goes, I wasn’t “regurgitating” anything. As I said, I read the stockholder reports, so I didn’t feel a need to “research” something I’d read. However, it was a mistake to say “time played”, when what I really just wanted to convey to the poster I was replying to was the fact that Blizzard cares if you log in, and they’re not just happy to have your sub money. They do report to shareholders how many monthly active users each game has.

[Brahmina-khadgar (Brahmina)]

So, I just read an article on pcgamer where Ion was talking about the portal controversy. https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-there-are-things-to-learn-from-the-mistakes-of-battle-for-azeroth/

Here’s what he said specifically about the portals:
"On the portals… We wanted to consolidate that into something that was more intuitive and made more sense and also showcased some more of our city art better. On the other hand, we also didn’t want to be in a long term world where three years from now, players picking up WoW were learning that the best place to set your hearthstone is Legion Dalaran because that’s actually the place that has portals to all these different places in the world including these current capital cities. That’s a very strange place for the game to be in in the long term, which is why we’ve been doing this progressively.

The overall intent wasn’t to reduce inconvenience in some massive way, we added new portals in certain locations, consolidated them, removed the old portals, and then of course heard a round of feedback that led to us reintroducing a Caverns of Time portal because that seemed like the main outlier pain point in this new world we had set up."

Now what struck me was his fixation on people setting their Hearths in Legion Dalaran three years from now. I thought, “If they just left the portals alone in all the places, people could set their Hearths wherever.” I mean, he is so set on not having folks put hearths in Legion Dalaran that he can’t see how better it would be to leave the portal hubs alone and let people set their hearths wherever they want.

Ashran, Pandaria, New Dal, Old Dal, heck, even Shattrath would be a good place for additional portal hubs. I don’t think all those places should have all the portals, but they could have portals to all the major cities that came before them. (Meaning Shatt would have Classic and BC cities, Northrend Dal would have Shatt BC and Classic, Pandaria would have Northrend Dal, Shatt, BC, Classic, etc.) The main hubs in Org and SW could have extra portals to CoT, Hellfire Penninsula (and/or Blasted Lands), etc.

Giving players multiple places to choose from is far better than giving them no choices. If given choices, my alts would have hearths set in a variety of places depending on what worked best for each character. But it seems that giving us choices is against Blizzard’s design philosophy.

[Hardwire-velen (Hardwire)]

I mean, he is so set on not having folks put hearths in Legion Dalaran that he can’t see how better it would be to leave the portal hubs alone and let people set their hearths wherever they want.

And he’s ignoring the fact that nobody set their hearth in Legion Dalaran. Because Legion Dalaran has it’s own separate hearthstone. So his scary bogeyman of “oh, players will feel forced to set their hearthstones in old content” is, frankly, a load of elekk poodoo.

Of course, the dev terror at anyone ever feeling the least motivation to be in old content has been an ongoing issue for as long as I can remember. It really is like they think the game is just the latest expansion, and really wish the players would stop acknowledging the rest of the world.

[Rankin-shandris (Rankin)]

Now what struck me was his fixation on people setting their Hearths in Legion Dalaran three years from now. I thought, “If they just left the portals alone in all the places, people could set their Hearths wherever.” I mean, he is so set on not having folks put hearths in Legion Dalaran that he can’t see how better it would be to leave the portal hubs alone and let people set their hearths wherever they want.

Meanwhile my hearth is pretty much permanently set to the Shrine in Pandaria, especially after removing the Shrine portal in Legion Dalaran.

I wonder how long before they just get rid of that option and force our Hearthstones to SW/Org since we can’t be trusted to choose our own locations.

[Taienna-aerie-peak (Taienna)]

It really is like they think the game is just the latest expansion, and really wish the players would stop acknowledging the rest of the world.

I guess I did just that, so they won.
Except Im ignoring the entire world and playing another game instead.

[Taienna-aerie-peak (Taienna)]

“On the other hand, we also didn’t want to be in a long term world where three years from now, players picking up WoW were learning that the best place to set your hearthstone is Legion Dalaran because that’s actually the place that has portals to all these different places in the world including these current capital cities.”

uh…did they take the legion dalaran hearthstone away?
What is this guy even talking about?

[Brahmina-khadgar (Brahmina)]

uh…did they take the legion dalaran hearthstone away?
What is this guy even talking about?

I honestly think he’s talking about low level characters setting their hearths in wherever the portal hub is. And of course we can’t be having that, no, no no! Which is why, even if a lowbie goes to Boralus or Dazar’alor (or whatever that dang pyramid is called) they can’t access the portals.

[Ralanbék-frostmourne (Ralanbék)]

it’s been quite well established that the only relevant statistic is mau’s.

Would require time played.

[Valestia-wyrmrest-accord (Valestia)]

Now what struck me was his fixation on people setting their Hearths in Legion Dalaran three years from now. I thought, “If they just left the portals alone in all the places, people could set their Hearths wherever.” I mean, he is so set on not having folks put hearths in Legion Dalaran that he can’t see how better it would be to leave the portal hubs alone and let people set their hearths wherever they want.

Meanwhile my hearth is pretty much permanently set to the Shrine in Pandaria, especially after removing the Shrine portal in Legion Dalaran.

I wonder how long before they just get rid of that option and force our Hearthstones to SW/Org since we can’t be trusted to choose our own locations.

This legitimately terrifies me. I want ALL the cities in the world to be FULLY functional with ALL services and utilities so I can CHOOSE the one I WANT spend time in and access these features from- NOT the exact OPPOSITE of that.

[Spanko-kiljaeden (Spanko)]

Hold on. Don’t be saying that. Blizzard might get upset that you want to play the game how you’d like to play. At least it seems like they care how we play with this ridiculous portal change.

[Valestia-wyrmrest-accord (Valestia)]

So, I just read an article on pcgamer where Ion was talking about the portal controversy. https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-there-are-things-to-learn-from-the-mistakes-of-battle-for-azeroth/

Here’s what he said specifically about the portals:
"On the portals… We wanted to consolidate that into something that was more intuitive and made more sense and also showcased some more of our city art better. On the other hand, we also didn’t want to be in a long term world where three years from now, players picking up WoW were learning that the best place to set your hearthstone is Legion Dalaran because that’s actually the place that has portals to all these different places in the world including these current capital cities. That’s a very strange place for the game to be in in the long term, which is why we’ve been doing this progressively.

The overall intent wasn’t to reduce inconvenience in some massive way, we added new portals in certain locations, consolidated them, removed the old portals, and then of course heard a round of feedback that led to us reintroducing a Caverns of Time portal because that seemed like the main outlier pain point in this new world we had set up."

Now what struck me was his fixation on people setting their Hearths in Legion Dalaran three years from now. I thought, “If they just left the portals alone in all the places, people could set their Hearths wherever.” I mean, he is so set on not having folks put hearths in Legion Dalaran that he can’t see how better it would be to leave the portal hubs alone and let people set their hearths wherever they want.

Ashran, Pandaria, New Dal, Old Dal, heck, even Shattrath would be a good place for additional portal hubs. I don’t think all those places should have all the portals, but they could have portals to all the major cities that came before them. (Meaning Shatt would have Classic and BC cities, Northrend Dal would have Shatt BC and Classic, Pandaria would have Northrend Dal, Shatt, BC, Classic, etc.) The main hubs in Org and SW could have extra portals to CoT, Hellfire Penninsula (and/or Blasted Lands), etc.

Giving players multiple places to choose from is far better than giving them no choices. If given choices, my alts would have hearths set in a variety of places depending on what worked best for each character. But it seems that giving us choices is against Blizzard’s design philosophy.

If they DON’T want new players to “skip” the initial travel experience before getting to a hub like new Dal, perhaps they should MAKE ALL THAT OLD CONTENT CURRENT AND ENGAGING AGAIN. At this point the cataclysm update is ancient. Quests should be taken out of lowbie zones and retooled for the new story with every expansion, IMO, but the elite 1% would lose a raid tier appearance if we did that. 9.9

[Valestia-wyrmrest-accord (Valestia)]

So, I just read an article on pcgamer where Ion was talking about the portal controversy. https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-there-are-things-to-learn-from-the-mistakes-of-battle-for-azeroth/

Here’s what he said specifically about the portals:
"On the portals… We wanted to consolidate that into something that was more intuitive and made more sense and also showcased some more of our city art better. On the other hand, we also didn’t want to be in a long term world where three years from now, players picking up WoW were learning that the best place to set your hearthstone is Legion Dalaran because that’s actually the place that has portals to all these different places in the world including these current capital cities. That’s a very strange place for the game to be in in the long term, which is why we’ve been doing this progressively.

The overall intent wasn’t to reduce inconvenience in some massive way, we added new portals in certain locations, consolidated them, removed the old portals, and then of course heard a round of feedback that led to us reintroducing a Caverns of Time portal because that seemed like the main outlier pain point in this new world we had set up."

Now what struck me was his fixation on people setting their Hearths in Legion Dalaran three years from now. I thought, “If they just left the portals alone in all the places, people could set their Hearths wherever.” I mean, he is so set on not having folks put hearths in Legion Dalaran that he can’t see how better it would be to leave the portal hubs alone and let people set their hearths wherever they want.

Ashran, Pandaria, New Dal, Old Dal, heck, even Shattrath would be a good place for additional portal hubs. I don’t think all those places should have all the portals, but they could have portals to all the major cities that came before them. (Meaning Shatt would have Classic and BC cities, Northrend Dal would have Shatt BC and Classic, Pandaria would have Northrend Dal, Shatt, BC, Classic, etc.) The main hubs in Org and SW could have extra portals to CoT, Hellfire Penninsula (and/or Blasted Lands), etc.

Giving players multiple places to choose from is far better than giving them no choices. If given choices, my alts would have hearths set in a variety of places depending on what worked best for each character. But it seems that giving us choices is against Blizzard’s design philosophy.

If they DON’T want new players to “skip” the initial travel experience before getting to a hub like new Dal, perhaps they should MAKE ALL THAT OLD CONTENT CURRENT AND ENGAGING AGAIN. At this point the cataclysm update is ancient. Quests should be taken out of lowbie zones and retooled for the new story with every expansion, IMO, but the elite 1% would lose a raid tier appearance if we did that. 9.9

To be clear- I don’t think they SHOULD make efforts to restrict new players from easy access to multiple massive regions of a massive world. Low speed ground mounts restrict them just fine on a practical level-and that’s assuming they don’t have an experienced friend escorting them around negating the entire debate.

[Kiwì-dentarg (Kiwì)]

You should step back and take a good hard look at what’s really going on here. Because most people here aren’t being negative just for the heck of it.

I would say the majority of the people complaining love this game and are concerned about the direction it is going. I know that is my case. I am amazed that what the WoW team has developed over the years and I am hopeful that at some point those who have been given guardianship of this game will recognize that changes on their end need to take place.

[Kiwì-dentarg (Kiwì)]

On the other hand, we also didn’t want to be in a long term world where three years from now, players picking up WoW were learning that the best place to set your hearthstone is Legion Dalaran because that’s actually the place that has portals to all these different places in the world including these current capital cities.

This doesn’t make sense since we all (and future people would have) a new Dalaran hearthstone. They wouldn’t need to set their personal hearthstone there. Also, this is in direct conflict with what the Blue wrote at the beginning of the thread.

Perhaps they should all get together and come up with one believable narrative.

As Judge Judy says, " “If you tell the truth, then you don’t have to have a good memory”

[Valestia-wyrmrest-accord (Valestia)]

On the other hand, we also didn’t want to be in a long term world where three years from now, players picking up WoW were learning that the best place to set your hearthstone is Legion Dalaran because that’s actually the place that has portals to all these different places in the world including these current capital cities.

This doesn’t make sense since we all (and future people would have) a new Dalaran hearthstone. They wouldn’t need to set their personal hearthstone there. Also, this is in direct conflict with what the Blue wrote at the beginning of the thread.

Perhaps they should all get together and come up with one believable narrative.

As Judge Judy says, " “If you tell the truth, then you don’t have to have a good memory”

What they MEAN is LOWBIES being portaled to these locations and setting their hearths there before they’re meant to access the content. And as someone pointed out, they can’t even USE the portals in the new expansion cities to prevent this, further evidencing that this is what he’s talking about.

Which I mean, I GET that, BUT-- the content is old and buggy (sometimes to the point chains are unable to be completed) and stale and often COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the current story. Chances are these new players are going to level via dungeon quest runs on a tank or healer or with a an experienced friend tanking or healing for them to shorten their queues, anyway.