I'm not against Fast Travel . . . ALL Morrowind's travel other than walking or swimming was Fast Travel. I'm against a TES RPG including free-fast-travel-from-anywhere (Oblivion's clickable map) . . . because it will likely mean that will will not end up with a FULL travel network (like what existed in Morrowind).

Oblivion was the ONLY TES game that included free-fast-travel-from-anywhere. Free-fast-travel-from-anywhere weakens the game, but removing any consequence from traveling. It removes the main reason to purchase a horse. It makes it way too easy to clean out a dungeon (and pretty much negates having a carrying capacity, when you can just beam back and forth). It makes the size of the map inconsequential (why have an open game world if you just want to beam across the map?). It ruins the economy (why pay for carriage transport when you can just click on a map for free? Along with being able to easily clean out dungeons and cash in on all the loot.)

If Free-fast-travel-from-anywhere is in Skyrim, people will use it and expect it to be in the next TES RPG (just like the it-was-in-Oblivion argument . . . and even though it is a cheat), because "it wouldn't be in the game if we weren't suppose to use it."

It's not like you have to explore the area before you can fast-travel there... :rolleyes:
Walking trough the same path we did hundreds of times before,after killing all the enemies, never changing. Exciting!!!

If you really want limitations, there could be one that you cannot fast-travel outside the government area you're in, or add in a cooldown timer...

So I start the game in a town . . . which is initially marked on the map as my first free beam to point . . . which means I just beam back to that point from anywhere.
And then every location that I find in the game world from that point on, becomes yet another free beam to point.
It doesn't take much imagination to come to the conclusion that you'll soon have the map covered with free beam to points.

If Free-fast-travel-from-anywhere was not an option, it would take you a LOT longer to explore the entire map (which is sort of the purpose of having a large game world).


I guess you've never heard of respawing. And you're assuming that all the NPCs and Creatures will never travel any distance.

Why don't we just have Fast Combat? That way you won't have to "waste" all your game time killing all the enemies.


What don't we just not include Free-fast-travel-from-anywhere? That would be the best solution.

This isn't Oblivion. There is a good chance that there will actually be an interesting map. I know I sure as hell wasn't bored walking around Vvardenfell. I would often uncover a hidden ruin/cave I never before noticed on a route I've taken before. Things like this amazed me, and an instant teleportation from anywhere to anywhere system ruins it completely.

Arwen I hope you don't actually think these boards are a good sampling of what people think. Even in polls here the option that favors both options tends to win as well with the Morrowind option being popular but not a landslide victory. There aren't even a clear majority of posters that answer polls here that want to outright restrict fast travel, much less fans of the series in general, most of which don't even frequent message boards about the game. The polls are fun to be sure, but they are not accurate samples of TES series fan opinion. You'd think most TES fans play the PC version from the polls here but it's by far more successful on consoles.

By towing a line that seeks no compromise and just an implementation of a Morrowind-like system you are in fact a minority position. You seek to restrict the options of others, even if you wouldn't use it yourself.

The polls more show a desire for them to have alternative means of travel much like Morrowind. It says nothing about your crusade to outright exclude fast travel.

I think these boards are the best sampling we have, but it is difficult to say how accurate any poll here is, as only a very small segment of the user base are actively involved in these forums . . . and even fewer respond to the polls here. But I do feel that Beth responds to some of what is posted here.

Current poll results: Limited fast travelling (TES3-style) (76 votes [60.80%]) vs. Full fast travelling (TES4-style) (32 votes [25.60%]). One of my majors was Political Science, and if a candidate beat their opponent 61% to 26%, it would most definitely be called a landslide victory. My impression is that people who actually played Morrowind generally LIKED Morrowind's Fast Travel Network. People who played Morrowind before they played Oblivion generally HATED Oblivion's free-fast-travel-from-anywhere (the clickable map). If I was going to play Skyrim on a console, I would be even more concerned that the game included a FULL Fast Travel Network . . . because I would be stuck with what was in the default game. PC users have the option of fixing many of the things they don't like with mods.


I'm a modder, so I know how difficult it can be to add things that don't exist in the default game, and I know how extremely difficult it is to balance out the gameplay when you make any major changes to the default game play. If Skyrim does not include a FULL Fast Travel Network, it will likely be several months until a mod will be available for it. When I release a game play changing mod for Skyrim, I'll have to make sure that it works with BOTH types of Fast Travel . . . which is much more difficult (and multiplies the chances of bugs), and won't be able to balance my mod for both types, so I'm going to have to deal with a lot of users whining that my mod is "broken" because it doesn't work very well with free-fast-travel-from-anywhere.

It just isn't good game design (in my opinion) to include a mishmash of two vastly different Fast Traveling systems when, separately, they each alter the balance of several other components of the game very differently. The two systems are NOT compatible.

Here's an example: Before carriages were added, you could only travel to the cities you had previously visited. With carriages, you'll now get to add all the cites to your beam-to free travel by just taking a carriage to each of them once. And, if carriages are all we get for fee based travel, most users will also use the beam-to free travel to fill in all the gaps . . . and most will just stop using the carriages (because it is easier, and much cheaper to just open your map and click on your destination). The MW/OB hybrid Fast Travel is going to result in a Skyrim system that GREATLY favors Oblivion's free-fast-travel-from-anywhere.

I'm totally willing to compromise. If Beth feels like they have to include Oblivion's free-fast-travel-from-anywhere, make using it an exclusive option . . . you can either use free-fast-travel-from-anywhere OR you can use the fee based carriages to Fast Travel . . . you don't get the option to use both. This would also greatly increase the need to add a FULL fee based Travel Network, with enough types of travel (such as by ship) and enough locations to make it a viable alternative. Everyone wins.

That is not a compromise, that is a switch. A compromise is used as best of both worlds.

I'm going to repeat my last statement about limitations, because you just disregarded it for some reason.
To make both of them useful, free-fast travel should be limited to only a smaller area, like the 8 counties the map has been segregated. If you want to go outside of those, you have to use a carriage or other payed fast travel service between cities.
Or if you just don't like instantly traveling anywhere, you still have the choice of not using either...

I just barely explained in my previous post (that parts you are ignoring) that the two are NOT compatible . . . and provided details on why I feel they are not. Combining two incompatible types of Fast Travel does not give you the "best of both worlds" . . . it results in the "worse of both worlds."


I did respond to it . . . perhaps not in the way you had hoped, but I did respond. And that would not really solve the main problems, in my opinion. You're the one who keeps ignoring most of my counter arguments . . . that you cannot effectively counter . . . such as 90% of my previous post.