Traveling and Mark/Recall Suggestion
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:28 pm
I was thinking about mark and recall and the dynamic it had on the entire game and just wanted to post my thoughts before i forget them. (In case the spells does come back in a similar form)
Mark/Recall provide incredible freedom in the games. So much freedom that you could teleport into the middle of dungeons and even freely move in and out of expansions lol.
As much as i like the freedom it gives, I think its too convenient and breaks immersion later when you have many mark spots and can just teleport everywhere without bothering with the world. Some brainstorm ideas on solutions.
1. Mana cost for spell increases as the distance increases
-so that non-mages won't be able to experience near the same freedom of teleportation and also gives a purpose to potions that increase max mana
2. Recall is not 100% accurate
-aka it won't teleport you to the exact position most of the time especially if your enviro magic (or the determining stat/skill) is too low. just give some negative consequences to trying to mark spots in dungeons and teleport around to avoid puzzles and whatnot.
3. Recall cost material or ingredients to perform
-possibly to add more limiting agents beyond just mana. or have it so teleporting around the world is still possible for non-mages but just very expensive.
4. Recall anchors in the world
-make some places like major city gates and houses as places where recalling to them is much safer and easier. i feel as if its would be a great opportunity for lore and would make sense for mages. players could see npc mages teleporting near the city and some npc's could even offer services to teleport you to a city location for gold.
I specifically say at the city gate or near a city and not inside a city since it would be a joke to city security if anyone could teleport inside the city and avoid all the guards. If anything I think that teleporting or doing any kind of teleportation magic inside the city is forbidden and is a major crime since its a huge security breach.
4. Recall accidents
-have a risk of taking significant damage or having your items scattered around the area if you attempt a dangerous teleport into a dungeon or a wilderness far away from a major city.
I am not too sure on this idea since i could imagine players just saving before teleport and reloading the game if it happens. Maybe just make this a surefire thing if teleporting into dungeons or world regions where there are alot of monsters.
This degree of movement in the world should still be possible but like my other ideas, if you specialize and build a character around it. I think this would open up a completly new branch of mage specs and have builds focused around teleportation and getting around the world quickly in exchange for less emphasis on combat stats. There could even be combat teleportation spells where you could teleport forward or backwards or teleport away monsters during combat.
The next topic i was brainstorming was traveling and how to get around the world. If mark/recall will have more limitations, there must be alternative methods of traveling for non-mages or else everyone will be forced to invest in mage related skills which is not what i want. I want many types of character builds and specializations to be equally viable.
First and foremost, i am a strong advocate against unrestricted fast travel similar to that of Skyrim I feel as if it completely destroys immersion in the world and makes the world so much smaller. There should be ways to get around places without walking everywhere but not fast travel. Some ideas i been thinking about.
Elaborate Carriage/Ship routes
there was some ship travel in TQ1 but i feel as if it was too expensive and pretty pointless with mark/recall. here is what i have in mind
1. dedicated carriages
there are carriages that specialize in travel to major cities. their sole purpose is traveling to different places and having many passengers. kinda like a private bus. they would be cheap but only avalible during the morning/early afternoon and they always drop you off at your destination at night. In addition, they can only take you to major cities since it wouldn't be profitable or reasonable for them to carry you off to isolated villages or wildernesses.
you could find them at the city gate where they are gathering other passengers and whatnot. also they would have armed guards to guard the carriage so raids or bandit attacks would be nonexistant.
2. peripheral carriages
these would be villagers or city folk that are about to leave and you could just pay extra to hitch-hike. An example would be a trader or farmer about to head back to their village after spending a few nights in the city. Would be more expensive and they would only take you to 1 destination but they would allow you to travel to villages and farmlands instead of just major cities. You could find them at the inn in the morning when they are about to leave and can arrive at your destination in the afternoon.
They are just one of many villagers and you will find multiple villagers or people in the inn taking you to the same location. Would be immersion breaking if the same guy is there all the time like an omnipotent machine. The npc's there would constantly change just like a normal inn and the inn would be a dynamic place where you would always find new people there.
Point being, this form of travel is reliable since you will usually find at least one person in the inn willing to take you to your destination. Bandits could attack rarely which would cause some combat in the middle of the road and stop the carriage forcing you to walk the rest of the way.
3. ship systems
taking a ship to port places would be the cheapest, fastest, and most reliable way to travel around the world. the harbor will always have ships avalible for travel and they would get to your destination rather quickly since ships are much faster than carriages. the only catch of course is that they would only take you to major cities near the ocean. later in the game, you could buy a ship for a very high cost as an endgame item (costing in the hundreds of thousands of gold) and you could travel to whatever location near the shore that has a beach. bigger ships would require a paid crew while smaller ships would be self-manned with larger ships having their own advantages like acting as a house and allow you to do mass trade and whatnot. or you could rent the ship to people and take a share of their profits. a bit ambitious but still ideas out there.
I still feel as if the carriage/ship system is much weaker than the mark/recall system but i suppose i could think more about how to change that. I just want to encourage exploring the world and walking through the wilderness while still having options of more immersive fast travel that isn't too convenient/easy or too annoying.
hopefully some of these ideas are new and are useful
Mark/Recall provide incredible freedom in the games. So much freedom that you could teleport into the middle of dungeons and even freely move in and out of expansions lol.
As much as i like the freedom it gives, I think its too convenient and breaks immersion later when you have many mark spots and can just teleport everywhere without bothering with the world. Some brainstorm ideas on solutions.
1. Mana cost for spell increases as the distance increases
-so that non-mages won't be able to experience near the same freedom of teleportation and also gives a purpose to potions that increase max mana
2. Recall is not 100% accurate
-aka it won't teleport you to the exact position most of the time especially if your enviro magic (or the determining stat/skill) is too low. just give some negative consequences to trying to mark spots in dungeons and teleport around to avoid puzzles and whatnot.
3. Recall cost material or ingredients to perform
-possibly to add more limiting agents beyond just mana. or have it so teleporting around the world is still possible for non-mages but just very expensive.
4. Recall anchors in the world
-make some places like major city gates and houses as places where recalling to them is much safer and easier. i feel as if its would be a great opportunity for lore and would make sense for mages. players could see npc mages teleporting near the city and some npc's could even offer services to teleport you to a city location for gold.
I specifically say at the city gate or near a city and not inside a city since it would be a joke to city security if anyone could teleport inside the city and avoid all the guards. If anything I think that teleporting or doing any kind of teleportation magic inside the city is forbidden and is a major crime since its a huge security breach.
4. Recall accidents
-have a risk of taking significant damage or having your items scattered around the area if you attempt a dangerous teleport into a dungeon or a wilderness far away from a major city.
I am not too sure on this idea since i could imagine players just saving before teleport and reloading the game if it happens. Maybe just make this a surefire thing if teleporting into dungeons or world regions where there are alot of monsters.
This degree of movement in the world should still be possible but like my other ideas, if you specialize and build a character around it. I think this would open up a completly new branch of mage specs and have builds focused around teleportation and getting around the world quickly in exchange for less emphasis on combat stats. There could even be combat teleportation spells where you could teleport forward or backwards or teleport away monsters during combat.
The next topic i was brainstorming was traveling and how to get around the world. If mark/recall will have more limitations, there must be alternative methods of traveling for non-mages or else everyone will be forced to invest in mage related skills which is not what i want. I want many types of character builds and specializations to be equally viable.
First and foremost, i am a strong advocate against unrestricted fast travel similar to that of Skyrim I feel as if it completely destroys immersion in the world and makes the world so much smaller. There should be ways to get around places without walking everywhere but not fast travel. Some ideas i been thinking about.
Elaborate Carriage/Ship routes
there was some ship travel in TQ1 but i feel as if it was too expensive and pretty pointless with mark/recall. here is what i have in mind
1. dedicated carriages
there are carriages that specialize in travel to major cities. their sole purpose is traveling to different places and having many passengers. kinda like a private bus. they would be cheap but only avalible during the morning/early afternoon and they always drop you off at your destination at night. In addition, they can only take you to major cities since it wouldn't be profitable or reasonable for them to carry you off to isolated villages or wildernesses.
you could find them at the city gate where they are gathering other passengers and whatnot. also they would have armed guards to guard the carriage so raids or bandit attacks would be nonexistant.
2. peripheral carriages
these would be villagers or city folk that are about to leave and you could just pay extra to hitch-hike. An example would be a trader or farmer about to head back to their village after spending a few nights in the city. Would be more expensive and they would only take you to 1 destination but they would allow you to travel to villages and farmlands instead of just major cities. You could find them at the inn in the morning when they are about to leave and can arrive at your destination in the afternoon.
They are just one of many villagers and you will find multiple villagers or people in the inn taking you to the same location. Would be immersion breaking if the same guy is there all the time like an omnipotent machine. The npc's there would constantly change just like a normal inn and the inn would be a dynamic place where you would always find new people there.
Point being, this form of travel is reliable since you will usually find at least one person in the inn willing to take you to your destination. Bandits could attack rarely which would cause some combat in the middle of the road and stop the carriage forcing you to walk the rest of the way.
3. ship systems
taking a ship to port places would be the cheapest, fastest, and most reliable way to travel around the world. the harbor will always have ships avalible for travel and they would get to your destination rather quickly since ships are much faster than carriages. the only catch of course is that they would only take you to major cities near the ocean. later in the game, you could buy a ship for a very high cost as an endgame item (costing in the hundreds of thousands of gold) and you could travel to whatever location near the shore that has a beach. bigger ships would require a paid crew while smaller ships would be self-manned with larger ships having their own advantages like acting as a house and allow you to do mass trade and whatnot. or you could rent the ship to people and take a share of their profits. a bit ambitious but still ideas out there.
I still feel as if the carriage/ship system is much weaker than the mark/recall system but i suppose i could think more about how to change that. I just want to encourage exploring the world and walking through the wilderness while still having options of more immersive fast travel that isn't too convenient/easy or too annoying.
hopefully some of these ideas are new and are useful