Stop removing portals

[Rydanis-moon-guard (Rydanis)]

That being said, I know I can be a bit strange and I’m often not bothered by things that bother others - that’s why I ask a lot of questions. I want to understand the different play styles and opinions of others so I can better discuss them both with you and internally. Getting to the fundamental impact is important for me as the solution sometimes requires a different approach. Hopefully I can avoid the feeling that I’m just talking at you and want to be talking with you.

I appreciate the honesty here. From the rest of your post it seems like you have a passion for the game, which is great! But you also have to realize that your passion may not lie in the same things as others at a given moment. Some of us are passionate about collecting mounts and mogs more than scenery on a given day.

You talked about taking longer routes by choice, but does it hurt you at all if others take shorter routes to their destinations? I RP walk around the world with my UI hidden pretty often when I find a pleasant spot. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be super annoyed at having to take much longer to get to Dragon Soul. When I want to farm a mount, I just want to farm a mount.

People can enjoy both aspects of the game! Please understand that it’s unpleasant to have options taken away that make life more convenient. It doesn’t mean people aren’t appreciating the world.

[Hnetu-norgannon (Hnetu)]

For how I personally play and enjoy games, I like when I feel like I need to travel for a few minutes to get somewhere.

Not all of us have this luxury. Stop removing things just to inconvenience players. You’re not making me feel “more immersed” you’re making me stop playing and go to your competition.

Y’know the ones that don’t treat paying customers with snide derision.

There’s no reward in me taking to take five minutes to AFK on a flight path when I could have just been done with it instantly before it was taken away from me. Do you think any of us sit, watching in awe, at the ground below the ten thousandth time we’re taking the same flight? Do you think anyone honestly stares longingly at the loading screen when taking the boat from continent A to continent B, sighing with happy nostalgia at WASTING THEIR TIME!?

[Sparx-wyrmrest-accord (Sparx)]

I would love to hear EVEN ONE reason from them why we should want to repeatedly go to the middle of Azsuna.

So would I.
I can’t even fathom why a leveling zone took priority over the floating city in the sky. Having the Dalaran Hearthstone clearly did not matter as we had two copies of the NewDal Portal in Orgrimmar for years.

To further the conversation: no. It does not make the world feel larger. As an example, say I’m wanting to go to Dragon Soul. Caverns of Time? Badabingbadaboom, the Bronze have brought me there.

Now? I have to hope that character doesn’t experience bugged-out Cataclysm portals due to missing autoflags, then take the Uldum portal, look at slightly better textured sand and a slightly better skybox for one minute, then nothing but trypophobia-inducing Silithid hives and poorly rendered sand/sky for the next 3-4 over Tanaris.

I like Tanaris, but that’s because I like Gadgetzan. The now-fastest way requires me to completely avoid seeing it until I’m actually at my destination.

And on that mini mention: my partner has trypophobia. The CoT portal was the ONLY reason he ever did Dragon Soul, because that half of Tanaris is littered with stuff that literally makes his skin crawl.
Now I’m just gonna have to carry his poor toons from Uldum so he doesn’t have to look.

That doesn’t make the world feel bigger. That just makes me feel like everything is taking longer to get to than it was.

[Weetzie-malganis (Weetzie)]

This is the most tone deaf change to the game yet.

Like someone said on reddit, “BFA will go down as the expansion that’ll have taken more from everyone than it’s actually given to anyone.”

[Brewmist-turalyon]

Aye, I get what you’re saying. You’re right, and it’s especially true for content that has been out for 3-15 years. Maybe some people are in a different position, but I’ve played every expansion since BC while current and covered every zone many many times. Making it take longer to get from point A to point B isn’t going to make the world any different than it is.

Once again the Dev’s just took the simple route (and tried to cheaply make the world “bigger”). They could have put in quest chains to help build out the portal room. Have 3-4 basic portals to capitol cities and then you get quests to help construct 3-4 more of your choosing out of 8-10 options. Some player choice and playable content, but instead it’s just a passive aggressive “here’s a new portal room (but we’ve removed half of your portal options)”.

[Cysrel-nemesis]

How the current developers graduated with such stupidity, the game has nothing fun at that time I had so much fun doing loremaster that the whole BFA.

[Moonslayer-lightnings-blade]

No one in this thread will be playing Classic me thinks.

But neither did Classic have the same spectrum of endgame with the same quantity of locations that is available to players now. Accessibility to content plays a bigger role than is acknowledged, it’s why Ironforge was the Alliance hotspot back in the day, even for a while after linked Auction Houses were introduced: close to the Menethil Harbor (boat to Theramore for Ony raid) and close to Thorium Point for the ride down to Blackrock Mountain (2.5 dungeons, and 2 raid instances). For what it’s worth, Classic is at least launching with 1.12, after linked flight points and linked auction houses were introduced.

[Gunny-earthen-ring (Gunny)]

Sometimes I have even just used the port to Timeless Isle and taken the flight path to Shrine (instead of going straight there) as I can enjoy the view and relax.

Does anyone feel like Blizzard employees are simply obliged to make statements like this? Is that their way of “managing” the community? To try and paint rainbows, flowers, and unicorns on bad decisions?

Removing choices isn’t going to make the game better. Limiting play styles and options isn’t going to make the game better. Playing games with transportation (portals, flight) isn’t going to make the game better. Stop focusing on time played metrics and using flight as a subscription knob to lure players back to the game.

[anon44207803]

Adding this onto the one year gate for flight in BFA: God I wont miss WOW.

This morning I was questing in a city area outside Limsa. Aetheryte crystal - one click - back to the Lower Decks.

[Enkki-eonar (Enkki)]

I vaguely recall Blizz even touting the portal rooms as expandable for when more portals need to be added, so they cant even pretend like lack of space is the reason.

I remember when some touted the use of portals as a compromise for giving up personal flight.

[Nc-eonar (Nc)]

Thanks for the response

For me personally … If I have already taken the time to travel to those places and the game made it feel like I was rewarded with something (a portal) for doing that. It feels bad to have it taken away. It’s something I got used to.

I think portals were placed for a reason: Quality of Life … portals improve the quality of life playing the game. I don’t understand the reasoning behind diminishing the QOL for players … or making people less happy on purpose?

[Tekkect-moon-guard]

Part of me is worried this funneling of everyone into this one portal room in Orgrimar is going to make the need to shard Orgrimar. Which would suck for RPers since that is still a major gathering place for such. Not to mention the lag that I am betting is going to be in this room during peak play times (Legion Dalaran all over again).

I am also with the group opposed to removing these additional portals in other places. I would love it if Blizzard made every city have the same amenities as Orgrimar, let people choose where they want to hang out!

P.S. Blizzard please make SMC part of the world or at least in one piece again instead of a wreck in an instance.

[anon1268335]

For those of you who have mentioned the Caverns of Time or Dalaran Crater portals, is this specifically about the Legion-Dalaran portals to these areas?

IMHO - yes. No other portals currently service those locations. They are needed for legion quest lines, but also, as they are unique, are more useful than the portals in, say shrine… I hate to see any of them go, but the Legion sub-basement ones had a specific purpose and for the most part were direct to places not easily linked to otherwise.

[Enkki-eonar (Enkki)]

Sometimes I have even just used the port to Timeless Isle and taken the flight path to Shrine (instead of going straight there) as I can enjoy the view and relax.

So you’re only HALF against using portals? Otherwise, why would you port to Timeless Isle instead of taking the flight path both there and back? Consistency would go a long way towards credibility …

[Bonnieblade-barthilas]

Yeah but the mage can do it from anywhere. That’s still great flavour, honestly this removal is just annoying, it’s not like the only reason to go to the old world is transmog runs, there is no current content there, you’re just making life harder for no reason.

[Atalanta-trollbane (Atalanta)]

Sometimes I have even just used the port to Timeless Isle and taken the flight path to Shrine (instead of going straight there) as I can enjoy the view and relax.

Does anyone feel like Blizzard employees are simply obliged to make statements like this? Is that their way of “managing” the community? To try and paint rainbows, flowers, and unicorns on bad decisions?

Removing choices isn’t going to make the game better. Limiting play styles and options isn’t going to make the game better. Playing games with transportation (portals, flight) isn’t going to make the game better. Stop focusing on time played metrics and using flight as a subscription knob to lure players back to the game.

I think that we should be fair to developers, though.

I sincerely doubt that the developers themselves think that time played metrics are indicative of enjoyment.

They know full well that time played metrics indicated engagement in terms of what we’re doing and how long we’re doing it. That doesn’t say we’re liking it, and they know it. If we’re doing it a lot, though, it supports the idea that we’re “hooked”. They can take that to their investors and show that the system is working.

For a game developer, on their own level, I’m sure they’d rather completely ignore “time played” in favor of “enjoyment”. They’d rather make something fun, enjoyable, and immersive. It’s just that you can’t measure “fun”, and even if you could “fun” isn’t necessarily a monetary measurement. The people who pay the bills (investors) want assurances that money will come in, or they won’t pay.

That leaves the devs in a tricky spot. How do you balance proving to investors that the game will be profitable, while also ensuring that the players are having fun?

Here’s a hint: You can’t take two years to try to reinvent the game in a way that makes it fun for the players, but offers no monetary gains for investors in the interim, in the hopes that they start genuinely having fun and coming back because investors won’t wait that long or necessarily take that long range risk. Particularly if you have to lose a lot of money (development/research), reduce your stocks a bit, and put money making on “slow”.

[Kymaeaa-wyrmrest-accord]

I object to the removal of portals. It’s all very well to add a central portal hub to the faction capitals—I’m very much in favor of that—but there is no reason I can think of why portals need to be removed from former expansion hubs. Indeed, if you ask me, portals should be restored to places like Shattrath and Old Dalaran so that players can more easily access places where they may be leveling alts or farming resources. I can think of no reason why these portals ever needed to be removed in the first place.

Basically this.

[Gunny-earthen-ring (Gunny)]

Here’s a hint: You can’t take two years to try to reinvent the game in a way that makes it fun for the players, but offers no monetary gains for investors in the interim, in the hopes that they start genuinely having fun and coming back because investors won’t wait that long or necessarily take that long range risk. Particularly if you have to lose a lot of money (development/research), reduce your stocks a bit, and put money making on “slow”.

Their solution is to bait unpopular content with items players feel are necessary. The recent addition of rings and trinkets as rewards for the Tortollan quests is a good indication of their approach. The content is there, it’s not overly popular, but bait the trap and BAM! Suddenly the metric rises. Are the Tortollan quests fun? That’s pretty subjective, but the trend seems to be that many players don’t enjoy them. I bet there’s a PowerPoint slide at Blizzard now that illustrates how much more “fun” these quests are now with the right reward.

[Nobully-blackrock (Nobully)]

No other portals currently service those locations. They are needed for legion quest lines

it has already been stated many times, that they will still be available for the quest lines.

[Sparx-wyrmrest-accord (Sparx)]

it has already been stated many times, that they will still be available for the quest lines.

Sauce please.

No seriously I can’t find a scrap of this being mentioned amid the commentary.

And if true - then why not just keep the portals there for everyone?