Everyone is arguing like crazy about fast travel, and if it should be in the game or not, so I have something that I think might work.
You can only fast-travel along roads, as other areas are too dangerous but travelling along the road is as tedious as moving the anologue stick up or pressing the W key for 10 minuets. This means it is faster to travel between cities and will get you part of the way to wilderness destinations, but after that you need to go off-road with the chance of facing dangerous enemies.

Edit: Since I am nice, I added a poll.

nah it should be that you can fast travel to most of the places but to get to some special one you need to take some mode of transportation

Dont like fast travel? Dont use it!

While I agree it should stay in because it isn't hard not to use it if you have even a modicum of willpower, this idea would actually be kind of interesting. You wouldn't be able to just fast travel to cave X and back but if you knew a location on a road nearby you can go to there if you are in a city or by a main road.

Keep fast travel as it is but introduce more travel options such as:

-Mage guild/Magical society teleports between themselves like Morrowind
-Upgrade horses
-Boats along the coast
-Dog sleds for the mountains? Especially across the tundra areas
-Mammoth riding (Similar capacity to Silt Striders maybe?)

This is what I'd like to see:

1. You can only fast travel after actually visiting a place (means you must walk everywhere at least once).

2. When Fast traveling there is a random chance that you will get "ambushed". You will come out of fast-travel mid-way to your destination with some enemy attacking you.

3. When fast traveling there is a random chance you will "drop" something. Set some parameter so only items less than X gold can be dropped so no valuable item is lost.

4. If a feather spell would end before you reach your destination, you shouldn't be allowed to fast travel (or should be kicked out of fast traveling prematurely).

And of course the return of teleportation, mark/recall, and taxi services.

AAArghhhhhhhhhh. Yes that's the solution. Don't like something that the game is designed around don't use it. Nevermind what's lost.

Copypasta time:

I think for a lot of people (myself included) it's the poor implementation into the gameworld and what has been lost as a result of it.

First off it's literally a teleport button taking you to almost anywhere immediately and at no cost. Which makes it seem a bit cheap and simple to use. There's no attempt to give the appearance that travelling is taking place it's just a load screen then *pop* you're there. Sure it's nice to have when you can't be bothered but there's no thought required and no cost which is a loss to the game.

What has been lost is mark and recall spells etc. and most importantly fixed transport points like stiltriders, small boats. With their occlusion the world lost some of its flavour and integrity. Travelling from A to B used to be its own mini-game of sorts and required thought planning and the depletion of resources. I don't want to claim immersion but it did pull you more into the game world. I imagine very few people walked everywhere in MW (they sure as hell didn't in Daggerfall) but now what you're saying is "use fast travel or walk/ride". I bemoan the lack of the third option.

The other problem is quests. When a quest is designed the variables of how someone gets to the quest location and back should be considered. If the designer knows that the person can click button and be there, then click button and be back... Well i think that's going to lead to lazier quest design as fetch quests become less tiresome so why not stick a few in and not worry about making it seem really important to do it because hey it's easy.

This argument again? First off, that argument is flawed considering that the game was built around it, and secondly, it's not that we hate fast travel, it's just that we want it implemented in immersive ways, such as travel services, mages guild (or college of whisperers) teleportation, mark and recall, etc.

You should just post your youtube video.

Indeed. I really like fast travel, but I wish there was a little more immersion to it.

And please, bring back Mark/Recall. The best kinds of houses are the ones in the middle of nowhere.

you can mod that, and don't say what about console players, it has been 9 years since Morrowind, they are the main ones that want it. I think people would have wanted to try mods by now

Perhaps replace the loading screen with a map of Skyrim and it shows your journey from A-B either by a line or mini-footsteps, preferably by using the roads.

Also linking to what Defron said there could be a chance of an exclamation mark appear at some point on your journey which represents an encounter with some foe (Bandits, monster or fauna) and you have to defeat them before you're able to continue fast travelling.

Although there could only be a chance of perhaps 1/10 of this happening.

I think it would be cool if when you fast traveled then you can see your footsteps on the map like in Dragon Age or some D&D games. And then one should be able to be attacked and then fast travel stop

Damn you! :toughninja:
:)

Teehee, great minds think alike.

The problem is that fast travel makes all of those redundant, you can only really have one or the other but not both. I would prefer that there was no fast travel and that if you wanted to travel from town to town you would have pay a coach fair or hitch a ride on a giant flea but I think the fast travel system is here to stay.

Unless Bethesda were to implement a hardcoe mode similar to NV except better implemented and have it remove fast travel and introduce coaches and boats and whatnot to get quickly from town to town. Of course if bethesda were to implement a hardcoe mode it would have to be better implemented than what was in NV, fast travel and hardcoe mode just dont mix.

I think there needs to be some sort of sticky (or giant stick) that can be used against people who peddle this ignorant and arrogant "don't like it, don't use it argument". It's so frustrating to see it endlessly recycled in a usually terse and smug post as if it's the trump card and the argument is over.

People need to understand that no-one (sane) is calling for the removal of instantaneous (or near instantaneous if the excellent map and interrupt system was introduced) travel to be removed in favour of just walking and riding everywhere. It's not about forcing other people to play by our rules eitther just because we think we're hard core. It's about increasing options and making a more interesting and better gae for everyone.

Introduce real alternatives then it becomes optional.

Meh if I had to choose I would choose the transport option, it just feels more in tune to TES than fast travel.

Since I am nice I added a poll

someone make a list of all the people that keep saying "dont like it, dont use it" as soon as they complain about how ugly their argonian looks or they dont like changes to the magic system then just copy paste their quote right back at them.

ive said this before, people that liked oblivions instant and no cost, no risk travel are not the gamers we should be designing games around. they probably also dont like it that they can no longer wield a sword and shield and cast magic at the same time anymore in skyrim. they dont want any challenge whatsoever. the only way that way of fast travel works is if you do it like daggerfall did with cost and risk involved.

the knights of the nine quest to find the altars is a perfect example of how oblivion fast travel just ruins a game. if you played it after you had already visited the altars previously, then all you had to do was just instant teleport back to them and you could complete the quest in 2 minutes. it reduced what was supposed to be a long involved quest of penance into a "go fetch" quest of mere annoyance. i did that after my second play through .............why, cause it was their to use. its supposed to be a quest of penance to show remorse.......it should be a bit tedious.

not having the ingame options also severely reduces the appearance of the size of the game world. we are supposed to be playing in a vast area with lots of cities and topographies, but when there is no transportation you have to wonder how average day to day citizens get from town to town. if everyone including the children and beggars can walk the the entire width or length of the country then that makes the world seem tiny. i dont want a small world i want a huge world.

fast travel is also not next gen, that is just [censored]. two worlds 2 which is looking like one of the best rpgs in recent history has a system similar to morrowinds supposedly archaic and outdate method. you have teleports at certain points but you have to walk away to get to any of the locations. and as i mentioned all they did was copy daggerfalls fast travel but dumb it down to remove risk and cost. thats not progress thats just lazy.

I voted for the Morrowind style, but there isn't really s point, lazy-man's fast travel confirmed.

Alright, so here's what I'm thinking, and I could be and probably am) dead wrong. :dead:

I haven't been able to decipher the article, but the "look and go" dragon ability looks like a great possibility for fast travel.

1) It's loreish in that it's not an artificial mechanic, but it's something that is part of the story: an ability

2) I don't know how early one gets it, therefore is there a period of walking or other transport available

3) IF I can look at a spot, and go there, I can be off target and still need to hoof it. Going long distance could be hazardous. Or, I might impale myself, target a cliff side and slide to my doom, etc.

4) OK, now my imagination's really going here....I'm picutring some sort of "warp speed" blurred ground effect as you "fly". Now, do all dragons have this? While at warp speed, can I get knocked out of the sky by a dragon or something else? There could be a risk to using that mode of travel where one could get injured, lost (by missing the destination or knocked down), or ...eaten? :blink:

Sure, the ability might only be short distances, but if it's LOS, in a mountainous region, one will need to make various stops to get to the back side of a mountain or hill...and be exposed instaid of just popping up at the marker sight.

But surly, why not put in random encounters in fast travel at the minimum?

You call me lazy for preferring that? Why is not wanting to walk along the same paths in a tedious fashion over and over again lazy of me? Of course, Talos forbid I want to get my home at Indarys Manor quickly and without having to waste my one mark, which alone means I have to be a spellcaster of some sort. When my containers become full, Talos forbid I want to be able to get that dungeon I found in the wilderness more quickly. May Talos absolutely forbid me from getting to an ashlander village without having the walk along the same path over and over again. No, I must just be lazy.

:) Okay, I could live with that. That would be one way to create a way of fast travel that isn't artificial, that has limitations and risks.

I was just generalizing, man. No need to take it personally.