Does instant transportation effect game immersion?

[IveraIvalice]

SE needs to play to their strengths and to what makes Final Fantasy games successful
And that isn't grinding and instancing.
Its immersion, story, and "RPing"

i completely agree, what i always liked about final fantasy games, rpgs and FFXI is that it has a good story and a world that you can get lost in. and i do feel like the instant teleporting takes away from that immersive feeling. and im speaking as a student 3D artist for games, gonna graduate in about 3 months. so going into the industry that makes games, i know about immersion. it feels alittle too much like "ok i got business to do so let me do it quickly" where, FFXI is alittle bit structured better to give you the feeling of being in a fantasy world.

and i know alot of people have been saying, you have the option to take the long route or just teleport quickly but in reality, if your trying to meet with people and your taking too long to get there because you want to enjoy the game, the party is going to say, "well we can just get someone else, this person is taking too long"

you cant please everyone, they have tried to do so, and with some success, but i feel its kinda off with the feeling that i think they were going for because they added a feature that revolved more around playing for short periods of time and because of that they lost some of the immersion along the way

[Azurymber]

lmfao u must be a politician, you might as well call him a nazi and a terrorist too on top of that. how do u go from instant boat rides to botting and instant level ups. holy cow. u people know how to jump a gun seriously. it's a boat ride, i can't say it enough times. think of it as extra content. u dont' have to do it. just like u don't have to do pvp if they add it. or you don't have to go and waist time doing stupid season events that are USELESS after the first time doing them for sure. if u do it every year for years then well that is your choice ...but not making u do it. boats are the same, there might be content on them, other then that we don't need to be on them. how would u feel if the boat ride had agro mobs all over the boat and u had to fight the hole 10mins on boat instead of sit there? does u'r opinion change on the matter for long boat rides? it doesn't kill anything in game, i played enough ffxi, 700days of gameplay, 8, 75's ... same as this game i play all day all max and i can't possiblly see this changing anything bout making game harder or more time consuming outside of forcing people to afk for 2-10mins multiple times a day, everrrrrrry day, for years. but either way u'r complaint doesn't take presidence to what the future of game will be like cause even in ffxi the boats were dead after a year. they just did it right from start this time.

selbina > mharua ferry was never dead. Always ppl ranking up fishing on it or hunting NMs
Yeah the airships were done wrong. Here you have a game where... THE EMPIRE ATTACKS AIRSHIPS.
that little story factoid alone should suggest to a competent dev that if you're going to implement airships into the game maybe you could create an imperial attack on them on occasion?

Again, why even call them airships if its just and insta-port. We have anima for that. Just make an anima-recharge npc or get an npc to insta port you.

If you think insta airships are good, do you also think insta chocobos should be implemented? Instead of riding one you just open your map and click the spot you want to go to?

Honestly im wondering if the only reason we are getting insta airships is so the dev team can appease ppl and give them airships without doing any work at all.

[AlexNiculaie]

Honestly im wondering if the only reason we are getting insta airships is so the dev team can appease ppl and give them airships without doing any work at all.

Or, more rationally, it's a temp fix just like they have already stated, and they will later (after the map redesign) be made a full instance with content included. It's just a placeholder.

[Azurymber]

Or, more rationally, it's a temp fix just like they have already stated, and they will later (after the map redesign) be made a full instance with content included. It's just a placeholder.

where did they state that?
What they stated was that its instanced now, we will let you choose to "ride" it and pick how long it takes in the future (meaning there couldn't be content or if there was it would be like a private instance since you/your party can only ride yourselves)

i realize they say there will be airship related content but if your choosing your time then airship rides cant be public, so its another private instance... right?

[Jynx]

Or, more rationally, it's a temp fix just like they have already stated, and they will later (after the map redesign) be made a full instance with content included. It's just a placeholder.

I wonder why they bothered with spending the time making the airship cutscenes and everything though. A far more rational aproach would have just to set anima costs for City-City warps to 0 for the time being.

[Gennosuke]

selbina > mharua ferry was never dead. Always ppl ranking up fishing on it or hunting NMs
Yeah the airships were done wrong. Here you have a game where... THE EMPIRE ATTACKS AIRSHIPS.
that little story factoid alone should suggest to a competent dev that if you're going to implement airships into the game maybe you could create an imperial attack on them on occasion?

Again, why even call them airships if its just and insta-port. We have anima for that. Just make an anima-recharge npc or get an npc to insta port you.

If you think insta airships are good, do you also think insta chocobos should be implemented? Instead of riding one you just open your map and click the spot you want to go to?

Honestly im wondering if the only reason we are getting insta airships is so the dev team can appease ppl and give them airships without doing any work at all.

Some credit to my post would be good :P Just kiddin.
I support your thread.
Again, i think the poor design and dead world we live in is a major cuplrit here, it's not surprising people want the easy way out, there is little to explore sadly.

[AlphaDragoon]

If you think insta airships are good, do you also think insta chocobos should be implemented? Instead of riding one you just open your map and click the spot you want to go to?

Okay, the slippery slope arguments in here are getting ridiculous. The entire game doesn't become "easy mode" just because they put in fast travel options. To highlight just how ludicrous this is, let's go in the opposite direction for all you "immersion only, no convenience" people:

- Your characters now get tired when fighting, and get debuffs based on their fatigue. You also have to eat and drink every few hours to survive.
- If you ignore these things, your character will die and be deleted from the server, and you will have to start over.
- The same goes for your Chocobo, if it isn't fed and watered constantly it will die.
- Time is based on real world days and minutes, store, markets and guilds close during the night and if you can't play during the day, you should re-prioritize the game over your real life.
- Airships and ferries now take 30 minutes to travel from one point to another, and land in port every real world hour.
- No teleportation of any kind ever.
- Walking speed is now the standard speed, as most people can't run everywhere without getting winded. Running can only be done in short bursts and your character will have to sit and rest if they are overexerted.
- Armor weighs your character down and makes you move slower.
- No linkpearls or LS chat, you all have to group up in one area to talk to each other.
- When monsters die they die permanently. If a team completes a dungeon run, those bosses will never come back.

It sounds ridiculous, because it is ridiculous. It's a game. Not a fantasy world you're magically transported into, a game. There have to be things made for convenience's sake.

[Jynx]

Again, i think the poor design and dead world we live in is a major cuplrit here, it's not surprising people want the easy way out, there is little to explore sadly.

I'd rather the developers focus on the real issue rather than find ways around it. They are treating the overworld like a problem that needs to be jumped around and covered up instead of something they should fix.

[Rhomagus]

In general, an MMO's success thrives from sustaining players in the game.

A game containing challenging obstacles that impede in-game goals, be it the time to accomplish agendas; depth of difficulty, a time-sink in its own right; or a plethora of content to complete, not only compliment the chances of success but requires that a player pertains diligence, separating the hardcore from the casual, and grants a feeling of accomplishment & enjoyment once those impediments are perished.

So IMO, instant transportation does [not] warrant less immersion.

Games with easily accessible shortcuts diminishes it's difficulty and staying power.

I now agree with this statement.

You even state it in your post:

depth of difficulty, a time-sink in its own right;

We don't need to waste time for wasting time's sake. We are already utilizing time in order to accomplish difficult objectives. Non-instant transportation does not add difficulty unless there is actual content to accompany it.

This fails to take into account being given the freedom to "take the road less traveled", and that makes, "all the difference".

[haseo0730]

Instant airships really destroys the sense of immersion for me because it essentially lets you travel to wherever you wanna go instantly for a fee.

I wont bother reading through all 22 pages of text and ask you personally, who told you that you can use airships in FFXIV to travel to anywhere ?