Transportation in MMO's

[ipodbud]

I was thinking about how they said they we're going to take out railroads of the TL lore and it got me thinking about the means of transportation for the MMO. I know portals are pretty established lore-wise so obviously those will be used for warping back and forth to dungeons to towns/cities. But what else do you think would be good, or bad for the TL MMO transportation-wise or in MMO's i n general?

Personally, I'd like them to minimize the super fast transportation and what they do with mounts. But keep the two-way portal definatelty. Although im always a BIG fan of those flying boat ships. those are sick.

[jamesL]

warhammer online has somewhat recently introduced flying mounts

they are VERY limited in use but the idea is one that I think should be expanded
currently you get get a flying mount (a small winged dragon) for free at your castle and fly it to the enemy's castle and drop medium damage bombs on enemy players along the way

and when you get to the enemy's castle you jump off the mount and join your teammates in attacking the castle and the enemy players in a more traditional way
you don't have directional control of your flying mount, it just goes from castle to castle (well, you have a tiny bit of control in that you can sort of steer it to a place to drop you off once you reach the enemy castle)

ranged players on the ground can shoot your mount and kill it causing you to fall to the ground and lose health and be stunned

I hear that Aion had flying PvP but I never tried it

I think it might be interesting if you could find a normal river boat, board it, fight and kill the defenders on it, capture the boat and the treasure on it and then sail the boat to a new location

[amb2010]

I like a medium-slow travel option in an MMO. I'll take the risk of bringing it up but the flight-paths in WoW is a good idea IMO. It makes the world seem larger because you don't just sit on a loading screen but actually fly through the area. Of course that gets boring after awhile so fast travel options (IE: Mage portals) are also a good alternative. The tram in Stormwind to Ironforge is also a good method of it. Also I don't recall Runic saying they were taking railroads out of the lore. They said they were planning to change the Railman because currently he doesn't fit into the world with that name. In the MMO I can see a travel option of a steam-powered railway to transport and a "railman" class would make more sense then, just not now.

[txfirefighter]

I like a medium-slow travel option in an MMO. I'll take the risk of bringing it up but the flight-paths in WoW is a good idea IMO. It makes the world seem larger because you don't just sit on a loading screen but actually fly through the area. Of course that gets boring after awhile so fast travel options (IE: Mage portals) are also a good alternative. The tram in Stormwind to Ironforge is also a good method of it. Also I don't recall Runic saying they were taking railroads out of the lore. They said they were planning to change the Railman because currently he doesn't fit into the world with that name. In the MMO I can see a travel option of a steam-powered railway to transport and a "railman" class would make more sense then, just not now.

i agree with the flightpaths from WoW. on the long flights you can get up and leave the computer for a while.

[ipodbud]

Yeah i don't see a problem with something like flight-paths. I, however, don't like flying mounts. I feel like they are a real connivence and MMO devolopers feel pressure to include them because WoW did them, but i feel like they really ruin the game.

[Sekkurel]

Actually the flying mounts were the only reason i even tried WoW in the first place. Nothing beats a flying cowman on a cross bread between a cheetah and a hawk.

[amb2010]

Yeah i don't see a problem with something like flight-paths. I, however, don't like flying mounts. I feel like they are a real connivence and MMO devolopers feel pressure to include them because WoW did them, but i feel like they really ruin the game.

I have no issue with flying mounts but I do dislike games *forcing* you to get them in order to continue along the story/path. They should purely be a convenience item to get you from point a to b faster, and safer than a ground mount.

[ipodbud]

Maybe it's just me then. I just feel like "the world" means less then. Like with flying mounts you wont stumble upon a secret cave dungeon, for example. Or choose to join into a passing PvP battle that you would have seen on your non-flying (admittedly not as cool) Shark-cheetah mount.

[txfirefighter]

Mounts were very cool and convenient. Sure beats running. Wow had quests that took you all over the place. But you couldn't get them until a certain level, which was nice...

[amb2010]

Maybe it's just me then. I just feel like "the world" means less then. Like with flying mounts you wont stumble upon a secret cave dungeon, for example. Or choose to join into a passing PvP battle that you would have seen on your non-flying (admittedly not as cool) Shark-cheetah mount.

Then..that's your fault for constantly flying? If the game doesn't force you to use the flying mount then it would be purely convenience for you to use when you want to avoid those things or get someplace faster. If you enjoy running into people on the ground, then you would just simply not use the flying mount..?

[Seer]

Flight paths are good, but I'm not sure if the camera and the engine will allow for such a thing to be done correctly. I think I have heard from the devs that there will be mounts in the MMO though.

[treetops422]

I completely hate none portal games. That's one reason I don't play any mmorpgs. Wow=world of walking. We have had portals in games since diablo 1, waypoints in diablo 2, forcing people to walk is a huge step backward. Now having cool mounts is fun, flying around n such. But they should be just that for fun. Not really a essential part of transportation. Making people waste time walking around is only for games with bad combat. I want to get in the action asap. Hack and slashes should be fast paced nonstop push forward action oriented bulldozer awesomeness. Don't let the MMOrPG element of slowness infest this title.

[amb2010]

But you seem to be missing the point. Its an ARPG, yes, but it's an MMO. I would really dislike an MMO that's world seems insanely small. Sure you don't get into the action as fast, but that isn't all an MMO is about.

[Sekkurel]

I completely hate none portal games. That's one reason I don't play any mmorpgs. Wow=world of walking. We have had portals in games since diablo 1, waypoints in diablo 2, forcing people to walk is a huge step backward. Now having cool mounts is fun, flying around n such. But they should be just that for fun. Not really a essential part of transportation. Making people waste time walking around is only for games with bad combat. I want to get in the action asap. Hack and slashes should be fast paced nonstop push forward action oriented bulldozer awesomeness. Don't let the MMOrPG element of slowness infest this title.

Maybe you should stop take a deep breath and reeeeeeaaaallllllyyyyy think about what you like and then decide to post or not about hating on the whole MMO concept ON A MMO DISCUSSION TOPIC !