Apart from it being useful, did you even pay attention to the story? We are supposed to be able to ride the Aether (SPOILER: Thancred lost this ability when he managed to get out of the lifestream, which is why he was running around naked in nowhere), which means we can use this ability to "teleport" to places with an anchor - also known as AETHERITE.

Therefore, being able to teleport is part of the story and NOT having it would ruin immersion.