Guild Wars 2

Waypoints cost a lot at level 80, but in most cases they are a necessary luxury to afford. Travelling to a dungeon with a party is an effortless task for a small cost, but the only alternative to the punitive requirements is to make yourself and party mates wait for you to run (a non-option).

However when travelling to Lions Arch we are faced with a more difficult choice. 3 silver for the quick option, or wade through loading screens through the mists to clear the distance for free.

I propose that we bypass this cumbersome madness; players CAN travel to lions arch for free, but the cost of loading screens is one of patience and processing power. Eliminate the digression and your playerbase will love you for it.

Additionally if travel to Divinity’s Reach and other capitals is free, people will gravitate to the city they love most, rather than everyone crowding LA at all times of non-play.

Why sign for this change? Remove needless time-sink load screens, give the players what they want and allow players the genuine option of their favoured capital city.

Why not? Please tell me below

But… press B, enter any battleground, use portal to lion’s arch = free waypoint.

I suspect a nerf coming for that.

It’s an exploit which causes a slight inflation of the economy.

plasmacutter.2709:

I suspect a nerf coming for that.

It’s an exploit which causes a slight inflation of the economy.

Given the way ArenaNet has been doing things lately, I would agree.

It would also mark another distinct drop in players in anything but the Fractals (does anyone actually go to Orr any more?).
Which, conveniently seems to be where ArenaNet wants to shuffle players into.

In a few months, I’d be surprised if anyone can actually finish the game due to lack of people wanting to do Arah’s story mode. (It’s not very fun… and not very rewarding unless it’s your first time.)

I’ve always thought City Waypoints should be free, since that’s how it was in GW1 (and because of the exploit that’s been mentioned.)

At the first least each map should have 1 location where you can teleport to the nearest major city for free.

It should, it’s just a bother loading each zone and probably causes them extra server load using LA as a hub.

Clark Skinner.4902:

It should, it’s just a bother loading each zone and probably causes them extra server load using LA as a hub.

Especially with so many people camping out in LA for Fractal groups anyway.

Florgknight.1589:

But… press B, enter any battleground, use portal to lion’s arch = free waypoint.

Brilliant!

plasmacutter.2709:

I suspect a nerf coming for that.

It’s an exploit which causes a slight inflation of the economy.

So? Moderate inflation is a good thing.

Florgknight.1589:

But… press B, enter any battleground, use portal to lion’s arch = free waypoint.

Great job not reading the OP. Please continue contributing your valuable input.

On topic: There is literally no reason as to why waypoints to Lion’s Arch (and the other capitals) shouldn’t be free.

It should happen and until it does I’m using the Mists.

Dee Jay.2460:

On topic: There is literally no reason as to why waypoints to Lion’s Arch (and the other capitals) shouldn’t be free.

I concur.

This is especially problematic during the level 20-39 story questlines, in which each individual quest takes place in a zone at least two load screens and one entire zone outside of the player’s racial city, but each quest completion requires that the player return to the racial city. The result is that the entire monetary reward for the quest is lost on the fast travel to and from the turn-in point – and that’s just if you run the quest at the level of the quest. If you’ve outleveled your storyline, you actually lose money running those quests (not counting loot drops).

I realize that ANet is very, very concerned about economic inflation and accordingly have copious money sinks, but in this particular case, this is a huge slap in the face.

YES!!! I’ve been saying this since like a week after release. There is no reason there should be a penalty (cost) to travel to a city while you’re out questing. I can see there being a fee to use waypoints out in the world map because that is a convenience feature.

Being able to travel to a city is not a convenience it is a necessity.

Minos.5168:

In a few months, I’d be surprised if anyone can actually finish the game due to lack of people wanting to do Arah’s story mode. (It’s not very fun… and not very rewarding unless it’s your first time.)

I stopped the personal story on my main the moment i noticed it was pointing me towards a dungeon. I had previously glanced inside the catacombs story on solo to see if it was possible to grind that and found that even a common mob was a real pain. And while i enjoy the milling about in LA i am not much of a people person in small groups.

Edit: I would not mind going to Orr more often if i could actually borrow the gates from other factions (tho i suppose that would make non-whisper gates pointless). Being with the order means a trek thru 3 load screens and a fair bit of overland to reach fort Trinity. Given it’s location, i am surprised the order didn’t arrange for a back door into LA…

Renegade.6325:

Should City Waypoints be free from anywhere?

No. Because the cost is not high at all. I jump all over the map on all my characters including my 80s, I don’t do anything that resembles farming and I make profit every day, I do not think anything needs to change with waypoint costs.

It’s not an exploit to go to mists lobby and portal to LA, from which you can enter any city for free. I wouldn’t see them taking that away as players make alts to PvP on, and shouldn’t be required to play PvE to enjoy the aspect of the game they like.

Or at the very least make the travel to your race’s capital city be free. But why do I have the feeling this is not gonna happen since it’s the “normal” thing that most MMO do?

Vicariuz.1605:

It’s not an exploit to go to mists lobby and portal to LA, from which you can enter any city for free. I wouldn’t see them taking that away as players make alts to PvP on, and shouldn’t be required to play PvE to enjoy the aspect of the game they like.

Agree with this, I don’t think this has ever been viewed as an “exploit” – certainly hope they don’t change it now! I’ve played since the betas, and many newcomer guides listed this as one of the things to “know” when you first start playing GW2. So most people have been aware of this option, and I’ve always assumed I am using it with Anet’s blessing. As to the OP, I agree it would be nice to be able to directly WP to main cities free of cost, since we are able to do it anyway via the Mists.

The cost is minimal, and there needs to be something for players to have to make a choice.

They could (and should) add mounts to make traveling on foot a viable alternative.

Well basically they are free through the Heart of the Mist, so they could just spare us the hassle of using a portal more.

But i’d actually like if instead of having a a free port to LA we had a free port to our home Capitol city, that would create more immersion, by naturally making each race capital city mostly populated by characters of that specific race and properly making visitors from other races looking more exotic.

Also would help each race capital city from being desolate deserts.

plasmacutter.2709:

I suspect a nerf coming for that.

It’s an exploit which causes a slight inflation of the economy.

Inflation = things becoming more expensive, your gold being worth LESS

That’s exactly what’s happened since release. Everything became more expensive. Dyes for example. You can do less with 1 gold than you could 3 months ago.

Already suggested on reddit. My contribution to that suggestion that hero panel should have a button “Get me home” and will teleport player to their’s toon racial capital.

Anyway, most people use entering into SPvP (Heart of the Mists) and from there to LA. I never personally used WvW for the same thing but it is possible and I guess a lot of people use this too.

Having this would reduce Overflow on LA zone and really think it is good free port to racial capital – they made these cities so pretty and so detail, why wasting so much effort when everybody are in LA only?

I think that waypoints (all of them) should be free as a reward for 100 percent map completion. If you have 100 percent map completion you get your bus ticket.

I really like the idea of “Get me home”. +1
I would like to add that it would be nice to scale waypoint and repair costs to the the level of the map you’re on. Since you have the ‘chance’ to get loot for the appropriate level you are playing then so should you pay a scaled down cost for being there. I am not saying to pay the minimum cost that actual low level char’s pay but one that is scaled down only.
With inflation as it is I think my $.02 isn’t worth a fraction of that

Nalora.7964:

I think that waypoints (all of them) should be free as a reward for 100 percent map completion. If you have 100 percent map completion you get your bus ticket.

Nice idea yet it would ruin this nice money sink and as such people might get more money to spend on gems and thus ruin the value of gemstore. That is my opinion at least. Also, in almost all other MMOs, there is some fee for fast travel and that is OK. But also, most of other MMOs have one mechanism of getting you free to one point. And I don’t take this go to SPvP/WvW and back to LA as free port. It is rather a nuisance.

I too love the “Get me home” idea. That’s brilliant.

I’m not too fussed about having to pay for teleports, because the actual live game area is smaller than GW1. I went back to play some GW1 today and holy carp, I would ragequit if that game didn’t have free teleporting. The amount of time it takes to walk from one place to another is significantly more than in GW2.

Having said that… I am warming to the idea that waypointing to the main towns should be free. I want to see the other cities with more life, not just LA.

I’m against free waypoints. It’s not hard to cover the fees and if you’re having trouble, plan your trips better. Honestly, port fees are so minimal as it is. What are people doing? Porting across map (4s ish), just standing there, then porting back?

At the very most I’d be okay with a bind point option – Where you pay a one time fee (larger than the mere 4s it takes to jump across world) and you can bind to any waypoint, then you have a skill/interface option to return to the bind for free (standard CD options applied). This is common in so many other games, I was actually surprised to not see it here.

I always go to the PvP lobby, then Lion’s Arc, then the city. It takes like a minute and saves you money.

So if you can do it for free, I think it would be very nice from them to make city waypoints always free so you don’t spend that extra minute in the process.

Pennry.9215:

I’m against free waypoints. It’s not hard to cover the fees and if you’re having trouble, plan your trips better. Honestly, port fees are so minimal as it is. What are people doing? Porting across map (4s ish), just standing there, then porting back?

Well maybe… what if people want to see what’s going on in other zones? Why do I need to go to a third party website to track what major events are going on in other zones? Why am I basically being tolled based on my earnings potential rather than the actual distance (if you wanna keep wp fees in general)? The fact of the matter is transportation and gold earning play a big part of how people interact in the world. Remove the transportation fee barrier and you might be surprised at the level of activity throughout the world….

I don’t personally think the travel costs are that bad since when I go to a zone I stay until I make my money back, and its only about 4 silver to travel from one end of the map to the other. I do however agree with others that travel to your home city should be free (but not free to go to LA) just because they are ghost towns most of the time, it seems such a waste so see all those empty places.

I am just wondering why I have to pay to travel to a waypoint when I die.

JMadFour.9730:

I am just wondering why I have to pay to travel to a waypoint when I die.

This confused me as well, but I just accepted that it is a death tax.

Back on topic: I like the “take me home” Idea. Also I agree that there should be a single way point in every major city that is free to travel to from anywhere in the world.

As for the loading screen times, usually the length of the loading screen is effected directly by your computer specs.

I don’t have a problem with waypoint costs. Just by playing the game, you’ll make more than enough coin to travel and still have enough to pocket a substantial %

I agree completely. I think waypoint costs are way too high in general.

If they actually get rid of the free route via the mists, I’ll be very kitten We should have a way to get to one of the major cities or LA for free without having to sit through loading screens unnecessarily.

JMadFour.9730:

I am just wondering why I have to pay to travel to a waypoint when I die.

That’s part of the death penalty. Don’t die!

Florgknight.1589:

But… press B, enter any battleground, use portal to lion’s arch = free waypoint.

Indeed. That’s what I do especially for all these story quests to go out into the world to do something, then talk to someone back in your home city. Best way to get there.

Cheers.

Raf.1078:

I don’t have a problem with waypoint costs. Just by playing the game, you’ll make more than enough coin to travel and still have enough to pocket a substantial %

The presumes alot about players…. specifically that they are playing the game in such a way that every minute playing is being directed towards gaining money. What if I’m ping-ponging around to see what events are up in certain maps? What if I’m trying to help a lower level buddy out? Why is my desire to move about and experience the open world as I wish overlayed with a cost/profit decision (and isn’t there a death tax already in the fact you have to repair when you die from not falling to your death)?

I was worried about travel costs during leveling.

But now at 80 you just sit at LA anyways. Travelling to some dungeon once or twice per day won’t kill your wallet.

I’d prefer to see mounts more.

Isslair.4908:

But now at 80 you just sit at LA anyways.

that is a bad symptom indeed, and it is quite generalized, it means people have no will to leave LA, like a lobby game, and anything, even travel cost is something not helping this situation.

And when i read that making travel free would derail into economy inflation i just start to laugh, are you talking about bots? karma exploits passed unpunished? because those DID caused economy inflation.

I also laugh when i read that it should be right that i have to pay to spawn at a way point after my toon die as a punishment…….. w8 m8 i’m not dead, i just want to travel, and when i die i’ll have already to pay for gear repairs as punishment…. so why do i have to pay to respawn? (ackowledging it should be locked to the closest one available)
What then would make travelling differ from a punishment if i have to pay for both the same way?

Why not make Teleports cost a small amount of Karma instead of Coin?

even at level 22, I have way, way, way more Karma than I know what to do with, but I’m hurting for coin.

With the cost of teleporting on defeat, I’ve always been curious what happens if you’re defeated with insufficient silver to travel. You can’t even mail yourself funds from other toons.

Has anyone had this happen or know what the resolution would be if it did?

Bruno Sardine.2907:

Raf.1078:

I don’t have a problem with waypoint costs. Just by playing the game, you’ll make more than enough coin to travel and still have enough to pocket a substantial %

The presumes alot about players…. specifically that they are playing the game in such a way that every minute playing is being directed towards gaining money. What if I’m ping-ponging around to see what events are up in certain maps? What if I’m trying to help a lower level buddy out? Why is my desire to move about and experience the open world as I wish overlayed with a cost/profit decision (and isn’t there a death tax already in the fact you have to repair when you die from not falling to your death)?

Then I’d suggest that player may need to learn to manage their money and/or gameplay better. Travel costs and budget mgmt are a reality in life. Why should it be such a stretch to expect that those costs wouldn’t be associated with an immersive MMO?

In any case, there are ways around the costs…just a couple of extra clicks away. Why is that so hard?

voyager.4982:

With the cost of teleporting on defeat, I’ve always been curious what happens if you’re defeated with insufficient silver to travel. You can’t even mail yourself funds from other toons.

Has anyone had this happen or know what the resolution would be if it did?

If you don’t have enough funds in your characters inventory, they will deduct the additional amount from your bank. If you also are broke at your bank, the missing amount is waived. I do not know if the system will deduct from money on other characters or money waiting to be picked up in trading post.

I’d like it if you could set one point, maybe once per day, as your ‘home’, and make it free to jump there. One of the few things that WoW (and AION, etc) did all right IMO is to let you hearth somewhere for free.

I am level 80, not rolling in monies, and the load time between towns is pretty slow as my machine is a laptop that’s a few years old. So while I have used the mists > portal > wherever thing, since my main hub is NOT LA, that three-jump process takes long enough that it’s tedious, especially if I’m doing this with a group of people. They’re there at least five minutes before I am. _

Energy Surge.8620:

If you don’t have enough funds in your characters inventory, they will deduct the additional amount from your bank. If you also are broke at your bank, the missing amount is waived. I do not know if the system will deduct from money on other characters or money waiting to be picked up in trading post.

Interesting, thanks.

Some good discussion here.