Well, if I have to alt-tab out of the game for 3-5 minutes every 10-15 minutes to find something to do while the game takes me to my destination then something is damn wrong with the game.
And I’m not exxagerating, try farming WotLK raids and dungeons.
Exactly. That’s why they’re making the portal rooms. They’re an effort to try and fix a problem that had spiraled out of control.
Each and every expansion have added more portals and teleportation items to the game, to the point where they have effectively eroded the sense of space and travel integral to an MMORPG.
Blizzard recognizes the problem, and they’re taking steps to reign the volume of portals back in, so the sense of space and travel in the game world is preserved.
WoW is an MMORPG. This is not what the future of WoW should look like: https://imgur.com/a/8EBfgx9
That would have been “dealing with it” if they had added ALL the existant portals into the portal room. But instead they take advantage of the change to remove existing portals. It is a very bad move, and show that Blizzard developers do noting but current content or they would understand the burden for those among us who are doing other things in game with a different agenda.
No, because then the game becomes Crash Bandicoot with a Warp Room where you just choose the stage you want to play.
That’s not what an MMORPG is. And that’s not what an MMORPG should be.
Some portals are warranted, to reduce the long travel distances. But having portals that put you right in front of your destination (Caverns of Time) is excessive and has no place in an MMORPG.
Acquaint yourself with the game you’re actually playing (notice all the gryphons!):
To some degree I don’t. And when Blizzard implemented those features (as well as summoning stones outside the instance entrances – not to mention the guild summoning spell!) lots of players expressed criticism about that too – because it takes away from what an MMORPG is. Sitting around in a major city and getting teleported to various dungeons and raids as you spam the LFR/LFD button is arguably not healthy for the game as far as it being an MMORPG is concerned.
But it is inevitably easier to remove a few portals than removing LFR and LFD. Those system have become somewhat rooted in the game as of now.
Just as portals we been using for years. The CoT portal in old Dalaran existed since WotLK, and the Legion portal have been implemented just an extension back.
The first one is rooted into the game and too old to be removed, the ones in Legion I could understand more as they remove some portals after and expansion, although, can’t they think an expansion in advance? They just move forward blindly and don’t see forward what next is going to happen? Things are done so randomly that they have to be removed next expansion after being implemented? I guess so, and it’s sad.
The Caverns of Time portal is an issue because it takes you directly to The Caverns of Time.
It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, the time it takes to get to Caverns of Time is always Hearthstone + Portal.
Whether you are on the top of a mountain in Storm Peaks or at the bottom of the ocean in Vashj’ir, the path to Caverns of Time is the same – Hearthstone + Portal.
That means that the place of Caverns of Time in the game world is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it’s located in Tanaris. It could be located in Deepholm, The Netherstorm, or on the GM Island! The way of getting there would be the same – Hearthstone + Portal.
It’s important to preserve a sense of location in the game world. And that sense of location comes through the process of traveling there.
If I want to do Karazhan, then the journey of traveling there exists to instill a sense of unease and trouble. This is a haunted, desolate place. That’s the eerie feeling that Deadwind Pass instills in you with its dark colors and moody music and spooky ambience.
Likewise when you travel to the Caverns of Time. The sand desert of Tanaris resonates with the Bronze Dragonflight. The random objects from different ages stewn about outside add to the mystery of time traveling. And the music instills a sense of the great cosmic space and a space much bigger than it appears.
The journey is important. That’s what MMORPGs are about!
When you can take a portal to the doorstep of where you want to be, then the journey disappears.
Ironically, they removed portals that were useful (CoT, Dragonblight for Chromie etc.) but with each xpac they also add portals while there’s zero need to.
For example: how many players are aware that a boat, in Boralus, travels you to Stormwind? And how many use it instead of taking the instant-portal?
Yeah that’s probably why they added a portal to Silithus too, to feel “the journey of traveling there exists to instill a sense of unease and trouble” LOL.
They had a choice to make or not the portals again this expansion and they did, for convenience . So only current content worth the effort? Too bad for those who still want to go around the world, they will have to do it the hard way.
The portal in Boralus to Silithus is there so players can easily get their emissary chests and complete their quests and so on.
It’s a quality of life portal.
But there absolutely is something to be said for that portal being excessive too. It doesn’t have to be there. But Blizzard seem to want to keep players tied to the relevant parts of the expansion, and not have to traverse through old content. Hence why they have portals to Silithus, Darkshore, and Arathi Highlands. It keeps players confined to “BfA space”.
I understand why Blizzard put those portal rooms in Boralus and Zuldazar – because they want to contain players to the current expansion content.
But just because I understand why those portals are there doesn’t mean I agree with it.
Every flight path I take I spend on my second monitor. But there is lots of travel in the game that I do that on, until I can fly myself. I don’t have to control and direct my character so why should I watch me taking the equivalent of a bus.