I'm a long-term vet, recently returned to the game after a break of a few months. I find the new portal system to be counter-intuitive, illogical, and difficult to explain to new players.

There are a few things I don't understand. The first of which is why I have to pay to travel to some settlements but travelling to others is free.

Case in point. If I travel from Bristugo to Desert's edge, I have to pay to do so, same for Dryart, Frostwatch and Last Stand. I can go to Harro, Mithril's Anvil and Selen from Bristugo for free though? Why?

I can go elsewhere in the world and port from A to B and the rules are totally different.

I don't understand it, and as a long-time resident of the new player assistance channel on Chaos server, I don't like having to tell new folks that the mechanism by which they move around the world requires a PhD in Chaos Theory to understand (forgive the pun).

Secondly, the new portal lists that show regions seem to limit the player to only being able to port to another destination in the same part of the world, resulting in multiple jumps to get where they want to be. Why? Surely the whole point of the portal system is to move someone in time and space instantaneously to anywhere else in the world. Every portal should lead to everywhere (quest completion dependant). There is a money sink opportunity here, which could be counter-balanced by a player driven economy with regard to travel scrolls or the like.

Thirdly, there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to who can travel where. I don't understand why I have to attune to some destinations but automatically know where others are from birth. I'd suggest the game would be more fun if everyone, at the beginning, had to attune to everywhere. Example. I have to attune to Parsinia, (just down the road from Kion) in one of the early quests by running there. I remember this as being an exciting and dangerous quest back in the day, yet nowadays I can roll a new character and port much further than that without seeing the game.

I would like to suggest a simplified portal solution.

1. Give every destination 1 pad and 1 portal only. Do away with the concept of Hubs / guild portals / settlement portals etc..etc.

2. Make every portal in the game lead to everywhere. Employ drop down menus' and sub menus' so as to avoid huge lists.

3. Charge a portal fee based on distance travelled x level of character travelling x number of resources they are hauling. If the character doesn't like the fee, they can walk (or fly/glide/hop) until they reach a portal that is closer to the destination they want, thus incurring a lower fee. For me it makes sense that I should pay more for porting all the way across the world as opposed to just down the road.

5. Make it so everyone has to attune to everywhere. (May well increase the market in travel scrolls)

Thoughts?