Quite a few months ago now, a proposal for a completely revamped portal system was presented and discussed on these forums. That revamp was just that, a complete overhaul of the current portal system. It proved both confusing and convoluted, and was determined after a few weeks of discussion to not be a good change, so any changes to the portal system were shelved for a time.
During the ensuing months as we’ve talked to and played Istaria, though, the inconsistencies and oddities of the portal system have continued to be a thorn in our side and a frequent topic of conversation. And while a complete revamp of the system is still not a project we are looking to undertake, we have considered some focused changes and modifications to the existing structure that would bring more consistency and logic to the portal system.
One of the questions from that other thread was that many players asked, “Why now?” for this, and before I present the proposal, I want to let you know the reason “why now”. Some of it is because as we’re playing, the strange things like “I can port from Bristugo to some settlements, but I can’t get back?” really annoy us as players. The other, is that as a development team, we try to focus on one aspect of the game as a whole at a time. For the Spring Update, we’re at new additions to plots and ways to improve the plot/lair building system overall. One of the greatest ways to change/impact plot building time is to make changes to transporting of materials, and as such, looking at the portal system and making some simple changes that could have a large impact fit well with the Spring Update.
The changes we are considering presently are as follows:
- Divide existing teleport pads into 9 primary groups (there would be more than just 8 for unique locations such as the Pool of Teeth and The Rift, these pads and gates would not change)
Bristugo
Racial Cities
Genevia
Guild Towns
Saritova
Scorpion Island
Shepherd's Home
Settlements
Trandalar
- Related to this grouping would be to add New Rachival to “Racial Cities”. (Tazoon would remain it’s own special entity). Blizzard’s Reach, Dikaina, Grayling, Harro, Last Stand, Lerena, Lower Bridgeview, Morathaven, Morning Light, Parsinia, Selen and Winter’s Peak would all officially be classified as Settlements.
- Guild communities which are not already part of the “guild” group would be added to the appropriate group.
In addition to the changes to teleport pads, we would change how some gates work in order to bring greater consistency.
- Bristugo would have gates to
Scorpion Island
Genevia
Shepherd’s Home
Guild Towns
Saritova
Settlements
Racial Cities
(all the various miscellaneous locations it presently goes to)
- Gates would take you to other locations within their “set”, Bristugo and Racial Cities (for example, settlements would take you to other settlements, Bristugo and Racial Cities).
- Racial Cities would continue to take you to Trandalar, but you would also be able to port from Trandalar back to Bristugo and the Racial Cities group
- Guild gates, which sometimes presently take you to Settlements, would no longer do so. Likewise Settlements would not take you to Guild Towns. Scorpion Island and Genevia also would no longer connect directly to Guild Towns.
We realize that this will impact some existing gates more than others and so are looking for feedback on how players feel this would change their normal gameplay. This is a bit more of an open ended discussion than we usually have for “Talk to the Team” threads, but we would ask that you do keep your posts on topic.