Guild Wars 2

The costs of traveling to WP really have to be looked into, it severly affects variety in the game. When you have to ponder if you really want to join someone on an older map, check traders there, farm some specific material, or rather continue running between Orr events for a few more hours, something seems to be wrong. While I understand gold sinks are needed, the teleport price is really off the mark. They should be lowered or the fine people of Rata-Sum have to place a few Asura Gates strategically across the maps.

To be honest, I don’t see the problem with waypoints costing what they cost now, at all. I mean, at most it’s 4 and a half silver (teleporting from one side of the map to another), and usually it’s around 2-3 silver for porting from Orr to LA, which is what I use the most. And well, you get that from what? Two events in Orr? Not counting the items/crafting material you get, of course. I mean, I don’t really do anything special to counter the WP costs, and I always, without exception, end up on the plus side. The only thing I think should be reduced, is the WP cost when you die. It’s not a problem money-wise, but I can’t see why we should be punished TWICE for dying (WP costs + repair). Other than that, I think WP costs are fine as they are.
Just my 2 copper, though.

I would personally like to see bigger impact of distance on price. Right now, I avoid using waypoints when moving around single area, since the price feels too high. I don’t mind paying say 5 or more silver for going from Orr to Lion’s Arch, but paying up to 2 silver for moving around single area just puts me off and I rather run a little. Lower cost would make me use the option more and I would probably end up spending more in the long run (micro-transactions, anyone? ).

TLDR: Long distance travel price feels OK (I can handle worse), short distance feels discouraging.

paying 1-2 silver to get to a waypoint when your death + armour cost is a lot in the beginning. When you play more, its just chance

way points are fine. wait for the games inflation to kick in a little and more money is circulating in the market. when you make a future alt character and it sells stuff on the TP, you’ll get more gold for it while the way points will still cost the same amount as from the game’s release date.

My suggestion is to link the travel cost to specific zones not what level you are.
imagine taking the bus and being charged more the older you are
that is insane isn’t it ? well it’s the same thing.

Travel costs are not exactly broken but it is a bit strange that it is directly linked to ones level, i mean if it costs me 1s to travel around in a lv50-60 map that’s fine but it’s not ok to if I try to travel around in shaemoor and it charges me the same 1s…..!

This is another road block for higher levels to come back to lower level zones it may not seem that high a cost but think about this, it’s easy to make 1s or more in higher lv zones but not so much in lower level zones I wouldn’t waste my time porting there.

Latinkuro.9420:

My suggestion is to link the travel cost to specific zones not what level you are.

I think what ArenaNet was going for was to subtly push you toward higher level zones where you’re able to make more money to cover your increasing costs.

How about we can buy a daily pass? We can travel to waypoint in the same area by using this pass. This pass is one day only and can be used in a single area only, such as ‘Snowden Drifts Pass’, ‘Kessex Hills Pass’ etc.

I also feel as if waypoint costs need to be cut. Maybe something like 15% or 20% wouldn’t be too bad.

Melesie.5723:

I would personally like to see bigger impact of distance on price. Right now, I avoid using waypoints when moving around single area, since the price feels too high. I don’t mind paying say 5 or more silver for going from Orr to Lion’s Arch, but paying up to 2 silver for moving around single area just puts me off and I rather run a little. Lower cost would make me use the option more and I would probably end up spending more in the long run (micro-transactions, anyone? ).

TLDR: Long distance travel price feels OK (I can handle worse), short distance feels discouraging.

Working as intended then it seams. Letting you zone travel easily, but also encouraging you to travel round zones on foot.

I do think cost should be related to zone not level though, i pay a lot to travel to say kessex hills, but the rewarsd there are low. Whereas in orr the rewardss are high, it discourages going back to old zones.

You know those ads that say “one weird little trick”? Guess what? Open Hero dialog, click on the PvP tab, click on “Go to the Heart of the Mists”, walk through the portal to LA, you are now at the hub of the game for FREE! Yes, Virginia, you do have a hearth stone, to LA, so stop paying to jump back to LA.

Afaik it is now free to move about inside of a main town even at 80, so there’s that problem solved. Here’s my suggestion on how to reduce WP costs. Continue to vary it according to level, but cut it 50% if your character is standing within the range that originally opened the WP you are near, maybe change some existing WPs to special WPs in each zone that act this way. For example, if you are at a range of 600 or whatever it is from a WP any other WP you jump to costs you 50% less than jumping while not near another WP, or just do this for the special ones like the WP nearest Claypool or Mabon Market, the places that have the crafting stations would be ideal for this. Expanding on the auto-hearth stone idea, just make it free for each race to jump back to their respective home city from anywhere on the map.

Btw, death penalty is death penalty, get used to it or stop dying, it appears as if it’s nothing like what WoW has (had) with massive costs for armor repair if it’s heavy armor and a pitance if it’s cloth, but I haven’t played WoW in years so they may have changed that.

The problem is not the cost, is how it’s scaled.

If you are in a level 80 area, fighting level 80 enemies, and you are level 80, all you have to do is sell 2 or 3 drops and you can travel. Not a problem.

But if you chose to stay around lower level areas and explore, you won’t earn enough to pay for the waypoint bills. You will feel forced to go to the areas of your own level, earn and then save what you earned for teleportings.

To fix that, teleporting should be based not just on your level, but also capped by the maximum level of the area you have been around lately. So you won’t need to earn 3 silver by killing countless level 5 monters, in order to travel to a level 70 area, to be able to earn enough silver to teleport again to where you wanted to go, and come back.
Or at least be capped to the maximum level of the area within that area.

Oh, and since it’s already free through the mists, to prevent people from traveling to places they don’t really need to go, increasing the load and chances of overflow, just make traveling to any city free, and the cost of traveling consider also the closest city in the calculation.

Skekzyz.1458:

You know those ads that say “one weird little trick”? Guess what? Open Hero dialog, click on the PvP tab, click on “Go to the Heart of the Mists”, walk through the portal to LA, you are now at the hub of the game for FREE! Yes, Virginia, you do have a hearth stone, to LA, so stop paying to jump back to LA.

Afaik it is now free to move about inside of a main town even at 80, so there’s that problem solved. Here’s my suggestion on how to reduce WP costs. Continue to vary it according to level, but cut it 50% if your character is standing within the range that originally opened the WP you are near, maybe change some existing WPs to special WPs in each zone that act this way. For example, if you are at a range of 600 or whatever it is from a WP any other WP you jump to costs you 50% less than jumping while not near another WP, or just do this for the special ones like the WP nearest Claypool or Mabon Market, the places that have the crafting stations would be ideal for this. Expanding on the auto-hearth stone idea, just make it free for each race to jump back to their respective home city from anywhere on the map.

Btw, death penalty is death penalty, get used to it or stop dying, it appears as if it’s nothing like what WoW has (had) with massive costs for armor repair if it’s heavy armor and a pitance if it’s cloth, but I haven’t played WoW in years so they may have changed that.

wow, didn´t know that as I was only interested in WvW pvp for now and didn´t even check the mists – thanks a ton!

My main problem with waypoint costs is that there’s an absurdly high bottom limit to them. At level 80, using a WP right next to me costs only marginally less than one all the way across the zone. I assume this is so the cost of dying isn’t completely insignificant when you’re close to a WP, but it overly penalizes short distance travel. Keeping the minimum cost when you’re dead is fine, but it should scale much lower while you’re alive.

Being defeated already has a cost in repair. But if they still want to keep a cost in waypoints, they could just have an extra cost for waypoints when used while defeated.

They could even make it so the cost is different when defeated by fall damage, or defeated by enemies, to reduce frustration in jumping puzzles.

It does cost a bit for short ranges, but in the long range i’m okay with the price.
It just costs a bit too much in the short run.

I believe the issue is only with the prices in the 60-70 range. As soon as I hit 70 I was making enough from events again that I didn’t feel starved anymore.

If the curve wasn’t quite as steep around the 60s I don’t think we’d see these threads where folks line up on each side saying that it’s fine or needs a fix.

For several friends and myself, 60ish was where the prices felt out of line. It was quite worrisome for a while, because I play with family and going between 60 zones and 20 zones wasn’t really an option. Outside of that one bracket, I’ve never had cash problems.

Like it has been said, the cost shouldn’t be ‘level’ based but area based. Which mean if I go back to a level 1-15 area, I wouldn’t need to farm events for hour only to teleport from one point of the map to the next at the cost of 2 silvers.

Early areas don’t give enough in events/exp/rewards to pay our repair cost/waypoint cost if we go there. I don’t mind paying two silvers in Orr, but in Metrica province and else, since we’re downscaled, Waypoint cost should be too.

In other word: base the WP cost on the area (or the level within an area), not the character’s overall level.

I had to run some alts to places where meta bosses spawn just so I don’t have to pay 4 silver if I want to go look if they are there.

Each time I go to lion’s arch I have to watch 3 loading screens instead of one, otherwise I have to pay 4 silver.

This is getting ridiculous. It has to stop lol.

I agree with it being area based. It simply doesn’t add up having to pay double the amount u earn from quests. Maybe also like take into account the frequency the WP’s are used. So if u travel between 2 points they become cheaper. Also jumping to capitals should be free or just cheap.

Totally agree that the waypoint costs should be area-based & not level based. You just don’t earn enough in rewards from heart quests / dynamic events in low-level areas to justify the cost of waypoint travel & armor repair in those areas. I think both the waypoint costs & armor repair costs should be scaled by area; if our level is effectively downscaled, the rest should be as well.

I would also love to have free travel to your racial city or to the closest city to the map you are in (if you are defeated, I am OK with having a set fee to travel to a waypoint, but if you are alive, this should be free).

I think the price for completed zones should be reduced by a percentage, after all, you’ve completed them, the reasons to go back there are mostly to go where your friends are.

Also, going to LA should cost zero, people go to the mist then LA instead right now, which makes us waste time in load screens. It is not fun.

This is a huge problem for me. I want to go back to lower level areas and see it all. Only at level 60 the cost of porting around and cost of death to repair is not scaled to the money I am making. So I spend a few days in that area and I go broke.

If the waypoint cost does not go down I would like the standard MMO system of a mount pls. This cost is getting way out of hand. My friends that are level 80 are reporting 5-6 silver a port and because of this are not going to low level areas to hang with friends. This is in conflict with GW2 social system you designed. HELP!!!!!!!!!

How are you guys having so much trouble with this? Every time I finish a map of lower level than me, I always sell all the stuff I get, and considering monsters are dropping same-level gear, I always leave with more money than I had when I started.

I salvage all whites & blues (especially the light & medium armor) so I get crafting materials (since you can’t gather the jute, leather, wool, cotton, etc.) & I save most of my greens & above (that I can’t use on that character) for the mystic forge or for alts if I really like the skin.

Also, in order to max your monthly achievements, you need to either play a lot to get enough salvage item drops or salvage some of your more common gear.

This is something that irks the living kitten out of me along with repair costs. Over the years everyone has been conditioned to accept that there is a mandatory toll you must pay to teleport from a to b in agame. Same with armor, if you die a few times you need to spend to fix your gear. The original guild wars didn`t have any of this, those were two things added on top of many that made the game so fun. You could go anywhere and do anything without having to worry about currency. It was fun. What happened to that Arenanet?

Making games revolve around economies and currencies always sucked. You want a goldsink? go look at the prices of the gear on the cultual merchants, there is a reason they made the best looking gear in the game so expensive and lvl 80. There was so many things they could have done to eliminate the currency problems the plague other games. But they choose to follow suit and copy what everyone else does in that department.

I am not level 80 yet (level 50 at the time of writing) and the costs for waypoint travel are increasing as I go. I’m an explorer and am pushing for 100% map completion, and I am trying to do the lower level zones as much as I can between working on the main story line quest and all the other things I get up to (dungeons, crafting, PvP, etc).

I’m just starting to hit that point where the amount I earn from exploring is getting close to even or costing money to actually travel. It certainly is getting frustrating, and I do feel that I may need to grind a bit to make things even. Certainly, I could sell stuff that was found in zone, but I prefer to salvage and make use to the materials in a meaningful crafting way.

I do like the two main ideas that have come through here though. To repeat:

Make zones that you have 100% completed cost significantly less to travel to.
– Yes, this could mean that people could jump from a completed zone to another area cheaply, but you can already travel for free in peaceful cities, use asura gates and use the heart of the mists to cut down costs. Reducing completed zones would encourage people to explore more as well as encourage people to return to join friends. I don’t see those as being bad things.

The second main suggestion is to cap travel costs in zones like they cap levels in zones.
– Again this could lead to travel abuse, but it makes a whole lot of sense. The income we get is lowered, so it makes sense to reduce the costs of travel as well. Something like in a 1-15 zone it is set to the cost of a level 17, and in a 15-30 zone it is set to a level 32. Again this would help encourage exploration for people and get them moving about faster without having to pinch copper costs as much as they can.

In short, I would like to see the costs reduced, and two great ideas have been suggested in this thread already.

DusK.3849:

How are you guys having so much trouble with this? Every time I finish a map of lower level than me, I always sell all the stuff I get, and considering monsters are dropping same-level gear, I always leave with more money than I had when I started.

Monsters sometimes drop same-level gear. Most drops are level appropriate to the monster, not me. I will take my 80 guardian and go questing with my family in Metrica province. I sell / salvage over 100 items and only 1-2 are in the “level appropriate for an 80” range. Cost for my son to head to a waypoint: 6c. Cost for me: 1s59c (approx.) A few quick jumps around a zone and I am in the red.

Coin rewards for DEs do scale, but not enough to offset costs entirely (a low level player makes 4-10x the cost of a teleport, while i make 80% of the cost).

If my goal is only to clear a map, coin is irrelevant. But when I’m waypoint hopping to help guildmates, it is not uncommon to find myself down 30s. It is at the point where they take a waypoint and I run across the zone to meet them.

Traveling in GW 2 is extremely pricey. It’s not just your own travels that can cost you and drain your funds. It’s also when guild members try to assist other guild members with their personal stories or other help, because we are often flying all over the maps at great cost sometimes. The worst part is help often comes from higher level members, therefore they pay the highest prices in assisting other members I believe the high costs of map travel discourages other members from helping one another. Period. That alone should make Anet take another look at the way they have set map travel up.

Misty Red Rose.9320:

Traveling in GW 2 is extremely pricey. It’s not just your own travels that can cost you and drain your funds. It’s also when guild members try to assist other guild members with their personal stories or other help, because we are often flying all over the maps at great cost sometimes. The worst part is help often comes from higher level members, therefore they pay the highest prices in assisting other members I believe the high costs of map travel discourages other members from helping one another. Period. That alone should make Anet take another look at the way they have set map travel up.

Not to mention the the death penalty for travel to nearest and most of the time very close way points is also costly I think it should be free to teleport to the closest way point if you die since your already going to be paying for damage to gear fees. More so if less than a certain number of people are around you to save you it should be free.

The cost of traveling to cultural capitals should be the same as traveling to Lions Arch. Since we can take a free asura gate from LA, at least let us skip that lengthy LA loading screen and go directly to our city of choice for the same price.

Come to think of it if you want cities to be social hubs you should make travel to cities free, period. Spread that cost to other waypoints, the price increase should be negligible.

Satakal.6971:

The cost of traveling to cultural capitals should be the same as traveling to Lions Arch. Since we can take a free asura gate from LA, at least let us skip that lengthy LA loading screen and go directly to our city of choice for the same price.

Come to think of it if you want cities to be social hubs you should make travel to cities free, period. Spread that cost to other waypoints, the price increase should be negligible.

I agree and disagree. I think travel to cities need to be the cheapest travel, even free. But what do you think it does to game performance having people loading 3 x as many maps to get somewhere cheaper? So along with making city WP cheaper or free. They also need to scale the cost of WP by the level of content. No way is it fair I pay a level 80 rate in a level 5-15 area and when I die it costs as much as it would in a level 80 area. This needs to be fixed very fast!!!

Perhaps the problem isn’t as evident at 80 – but certainly from the 50s through the 70s it’s an issue – particularly when playing with friends.

Discount all WP prices.

Allow an additional discount for fully explored zones.

Allow an additional discount to WP to a location where a party member is located.

Allow usage of the closest WP for free (or reduce the amount) upon death.

I agree completely with the OP. I had to pay 1 silver and 73 bronze to travel from Rata Sum to Lion’s Arch. I don’t consider this a “small sum” to travel.

The problem isn’t going from LA to Orr. The problem is in the lowest level area.

It doesn’t generate enough copper to make the stay worthwhile. 16 copper rewarded for one dynamic event completed is not enough for 1 silver 70 copper to pay up.

Ah I see. I agree with you on that as well.

MacDaddy.3127:

I agree completely with the OP. I had to pay 1 silver and 73 bronze to travel from Rata Sum to Lion’s Arch. I don’t consider this a “small sum” to travel.

And thats not even taking into consideration the death cost in low level areas.

Nanfoodle.2439:

MacDaddy.3127:

I agree completely with the OP. I had to pay 1 silver and 73 bronze to travel from Rata Sum to Lion’s Arch. I don’t consider this a “small sum” to travel.

And thats not even taking into consideration the death cost in low level areas.

Valid point. Maybe slightly scale the cost as you level up and complete the story?

MacDaddy.3127:

Nanfoodle.2439:

MacDaddy.3127:

I agree completely with the OP. I had to pay 1 silver and 73 bronze to travel from Rata Sum to Lion’s Arch. I don’t consider this a “small sum” to travel.

And thats not even taking into consideration the death cost in low level areas.

Valid point. Maybe slightly scale the cost as you level up and complete the story?

I think death cost and WP cost should scale to the zone you are in. So at level 10 going to a WP or dieing would cost me a small handful of copper and that was balance with the fast that I would earn 20 copper every other kill and 40-50 copper for an event. I am making back money. So one of 2 things needs to happen to balance this.

1. Make WP and Death penalty in a level 10 area the same cost as if I was level 10.

2. Or make the money you make scale with your level not the area you are playing. So at level 60 I earn 2.5 silver for an event in a level 50, 60 or level 10 area. Now the cost of WP and Death is balanced.

Nanfoodle.2439:

And that’s not even taking into consideration the death cost in low level areas.

Yes, I forgot to add the high price of repairing armor adds to the cost of assisting fellow guild-mates when you do more difficult areas. Another cost that can discourage members helping out other members.

There will be a point where a player who liked to help others will begin to wonder, “Just how much is this going to cost me?”

The cost of waypoints has completely changed the way I play. When I hit level 80 and was trying to PvE on Orr it was costing far too much to travel between different areas, so I tried to run through them on foot instead. While this is possible in lower level areas, in Orr I ended up dying too much and had massive gear repair bills instead.

As a result I now run everywhere, and when I’m travelling through Orr I slowly fight my way to where I’m going one mob at a time. If I want to travel across the map I go to the nearest asura gate, or hop into the Heart of the Mists and use the asura gate to Lion’s Arch.

When I log in I now spend about half the evening making my through Orr, and then usually hop back to Lion’s Arch to do crafting.

I’ve actually been enjoying the challenge of trying to complete the content I want to without spending all my money travelling or dying too much along the way. I like the fact I’ve hit an obstacle that requires me to think about how I play and adapt to it to get stuff done. I’ve also seen a lot more of the game world than I would have otherwise.

If this is the playstyle the devs intended, then great.

Misty Red Rose.9320:

Nanfoodle.2439:

And that’s not even taking into consideration the death cost in low level areas.

Yes, I forgot to add the high price of repairing armor adds to the cost of assisting fellow guild-mates when you do more difficult areas. Another cost that can discourage members helping out other members.

There will be a point where a player who liked to help others will begin to wonder, “Just how much is this going to cost me?”

This. I’m only level 55 and I’m already asking myself that question when my lower-level friends want to group up. Rewards need to scale better and/or travel needs to be cheaper…something needs to happen.

OR, you could give us the option to pay the asurans, lets say 2g and then being able to port for free for one month, or something like that. I know that the fees are required, but like this we end up rather running across a whole area than spending 3silver or more

Were’s the bulk travel options? Frequent flyer rewards?

+1 vote for area based rather than level based costs. Makes more sense.
+1 vote for discounts in areas that character has already fully explored. Nice little continuing bonus for exploration.

I am in total agreement with OP’s sentiment.

Yeh waypoints are a major gold sink at lvl 80. Even when I die in a zone I have to pay almost 2 silver to get to a waypoint that is literally only a few yards away.

It cost to much and needs to change.

MacDaddy.3127:

I agree completely with the OP. I had to pay 1 silver and 73 bronze to travel from Rata Sum to Lion’s Arch. I don’t consider this a “small sum” to travel.

Why in the world are you using waypoints to travel from RS to LA?

I think a combination of level/distance could work. If you are in a low level zone teleporting within that zone, use zone level rates. If you are teleporting to a different zone use level based rates. This could be exploited slightly by running into a zone, teleporting accross it, then running to the next one, but it would be lots of zoning. Also, even in the 70+ areas the closest waypoint should be about half what it is now.

Waypoint costs are too high