Feedback talk:User/Blue Totoro/Make Droknar's Forge a port town

This is one of the reasons why Embark Beach was made. It was created not only for a player hub, but to allow inter-continental travel without breaking up parties (and in some cases (Realm of Torment zscouts) to reduce loading time - as unlike moving from spawning point to NPC, loading time is unpredictable and is dependent on internet speed). A better solution would rather be to create a relatively easily accessible sweet item that gives an in-town speed boost and to widen the range of outposts available to the travel NPCs.
I'd also like to add that Kodash Bazaar is landlocked and making it a port town makes 100% no sense. There are better solutions (also, technically Port Sledge is a port, not Droknar's Forge). -- Konig/talk 10:48, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

I explained this. No, it's not. It has ocean access through the Elon. Look, the blue and brown city bits touch the riverside. I only suggested it because the other places like the Consolate Docks, Dajkah Inlet, and Nundu Bay didn't make more sense than this. Sure, they are technically more exposed to the sea, but they're not major places of travel and are mission outposts. Embark Beach may be fine and all, but it would take little to no effort to implement this, and it would do nothing but good. Embark Beach is too big, and it is just another unnecessary stop on your way. Blue Totoro 01:17, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

Also, Droknar's Forge has a ship in its harbor, so it's not an issue about technical portiness for it lore-wise. As a bazaar, Kodash is apparently a major crossroads with docks reaching into it as well. Blue Totoro 01:27, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

By your logic, why not make any outpost near a river a port town? Its really doesn't work for the Kodash, because the Elon is dammed. What you seen near Droks are not sea worthy ships, but giant sleds with sails. And who would go back to Shing Jea, the spawning grounds of trolls? As far as I see, this would be unnecessary work for the Live Team (and thus delay real content like WoC) simply because you don't want to walk to the travel guy in Embark.--Will Greyhawk 18:08, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

I don't think every outpost should be made a port town because it's unnecessary. I'm not saying every outpost on the ocean should be a port, just ones that would help with getting around. I honestly forgot about the dam, so the Kodash doesn't really work that well, unless the giant ships banzai up the waterfall. I guess I didn't look that closely at Droknar's Forge either, but it still has access to the ocean. Perhaps Port Sledge would work better after all. I only thought about Shing Jea because it's the only other town on the ocean in Cantha. And it doesn't seem like it would be much of an effort at all for the Live Team. It shouldn't take very much time to add a few entries to a list. Blue Totoro 19:47, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Kodash Bazaar is landlocked because the Elon is, as said, dammed. Also, the image even furthers that it is landlocked - the Kodash is near the Elon, not on it, unlike LA and the actual port towns. But that just gets into nitpicking.

Droknar's Forge is on a cliff. That's not a port. As said, the actual port of Droknar's Forge is Port Sledge - this is based on the lore of the outpost description of Port Sledge.

I also fail to see why you disagree with Port Sledge and Dajkah Inlet, as they would still fit your desire. They just wouldn't be towns.

To further what TEF said below: A better suggestion, and likewise an easier to fulfill one, would be to expand the list of the travel NPCs. A few seconds in Embark Beach, when you're capable of grabbing quests, selling things, and then going to a far larger variety of places (even places in the Realm of Torment which would otherwise require going to somewhere in Elona, then to Gate of Torment, to where ever) is a far better option than adding 2 new outposts to the list and having to go to one end of the town for one NPC, then the other end for the other (Embark Beach is big, true, and there's time between the travel NPCs, but only for those NPCs, whereas other places is so for most if not all NPCs). Konig/talk 22:33, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Because there are no enemies between the portal and the Elon, and the entire path is paved and built on, it makes no difference at all that the Kodash doesn't immediately border the river. Either way, because of the waterfall that the ships refuse to banzai up, it's out of the argument anyway.

As you can see, I did see that there was not much of a problem with Port Sledge. Dajkah Inlet is an issue because it's a mission outpost instead of merely an outpost. If it were a normal outpost, I would support it much more. Blue Totoro 02:41, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

EB without the perks

As far as I can tell, the main reason you want new ports in the game is to avoid going through Kam or LA, which is a pain for parties of 8. Embark Beach already serves the same purpose: you can go from there to virtually anywhere. There's little advantage in being able to go from KC directly to Drok's instead of via EB: you still have to travel from Drok's to whereever you really want to go, since Drok's is only a destination port for its armor; it's not convenient to that many frequently visited areas.

If ANet does add new destinations to the world map, there's no particular reason to limit the choice to what's close to water: instantaneous travel is still instantaneous. I don't think it's that hard for ANet to hack together an alternative lore to explain how you can get from Koddash Bazaar to Mineral Springs (suddenly discovered asura gate? mysterious trade route? magic portal?). In fact, why not allow insta-travel between the towns with gates to the Mists? Like the Chantry of Secrets, ToA and Zin Ku Corridor could have a walled off area that allows transit to the other two. (Arguably, if you're Ascended, you should be able to use all three.)

If your goal is to eliminate the clunkiness of EB, you might be better off focusing your attention on what would make EB more convenient to use. — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 00:43, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

That's a very well thought out comment, and I agree with almost everything you said, especially about Chantry of Secrets, ToA, and Zin Ku Corridor. The only thing about it, though, is that I don't want the team to make unnecessary effort if the same but diminished result could be achieved through minimal effort. I agree with Will Greyhawk's point about distracting the team, but not so much that I think that they shouldn't refine some areas that would really benefit from it. Blue Totoro 18:31, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

EDIT: I've reflected your comment in the feedback article, if that's okay. Blue Totoro 18:41, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Absolutely okay.

When making suggestions to dev teams, I consider first the issue I want to address, then the idea. All things being equal, "cheap" implementations are better, but rarely are all things equal. And, mostly, we don't (usually) know the team considers easy/not (or whether they are already working on something...that would make the +1 idea is really cheap...or horribly expensive). They won't consider an implementation that's too costly, but they might still get something from the idea behind it.

In this case, your point is that you still find map travel inconvenient. And that's something that they can address and for which they can't have too many options. — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 20:42, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll keep this in mind. Blue Totoro 09:59, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Just want to add a comment for "I don't think it's that hard for ANet to hack together an alternative lore to explain" - people suspect that originally the idea was to have the "rose compasses" (fan-dubbed term) as a teleporter of sorts - mainly due to the end of the Ruins of Surmia mission, where Rurik summons the gate portal thingie - the portal is on top of one of those "rose compasses" and another is found in Nolani Academy (outpost). They're seen at just about every Kryta resurrection shrine, two are within LA (one of which being a spawn point for there), and various other places (most Prophecies guild halls, for instance). Konig/talk 22:33, 13 June 2011 (UTC)