Transportation - Everything is Instant

[Jinrya-Geki]

Remember how it was said that the in-game ride would return and you could skip it if you wanted too, along with being able to summon the primals in a Free Company?

[lackofwords]

If you've got a game mechanic idea that creates a synchronous passage of time for all characters without simultaneously removing aspects of the game that make it more convenient for them as players or your developers as storytellers, thus eliminating the need to diffuse the responsibility of explanation to the suspension of disbelief, MMO developers the world over are stoked to hear it.

Exactly, it's why I start this thread.
The solution could be either game mechanics or lore. Though, I'm leaning more towards lore.

First, let's look at time itself.
When there's a persistent or passage of a game time, it could be tied into time management task.
Meaning, there's only so much you could do in the day before the day is over. Though, I haven't playing any mmorpg that made me truly feel that I had to management my game time.

As for the passage of time, you could perceived it in two ways, unless if it can be extrapolated from the lore in reference to Earth time.
Time could either be literally moving at the same pace to the perspective of the player, or at a different pace.
This means, if you were able to throw an Earth watch into Eorzea's realm, it could either tick at the same pace, or a different pace.
If it is the same pace as time on Earth then it'll be easier to accept how adventurers aren't getting fatigued from long battles, because the passage of time is the same.

The day night cycle on the other hand deals with something else, or at least as we assume it is still planetary rotation and not something else entirely different.
Day night cycle inherently is used to measure time, but in no sense is it time itself.
All we know is that they measure time by looking at the sun and moon with the book of the Five Ages.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the passage from Astral Era to Umbral Era does not seem like it's based on any fixed amount of time like a century or millennia would, but instead is an era that is distinguished by an event.
One of those event being what occurs during the main story line.

As I've mentioned before, to keep passage of time consistent in single player games, the game can adjust the time to appear correctly to the time progressed.
If this was applied to mmorpgs, which it isn't, there could be a multitude of other issues to deal with.
-game events scheduled to the game time
-players perceiving the world in different lens
-time consistency throughout the world

Obviously, the other game mechanic being more natural means of transportation is not player friendly. Since no one wants to wait idly while something mundane occurs.
While those idle moments can be filled in with other activities in between, it doesn't have the same appeal as instant/faster transportation.

With each addition of faster transportation, it should make the world feel smaller. Lore could play a role in explaining new means of transportation technology.
Weren't Biggs and Wedge also trying to build better airships as well? Couldn't they somehow weave it in anywhere without it being too convoluted?

It's easy to laugh it off as just another small blemish, but would be more impressive if they've acknowledged it.

[Catapult]

This message from Fernehalwes may offer you some insight.

[Grayve]

This message from Fernehalwes may offer you some insight.

I know this is off topic, but is there a compilation thread somewhere of all these lore posts from the developers? I'd love to be able to read through all the information that has been posted since before 1.0 came out.

[Catapult]

I know this is off topic, but is there a compilation thread somewhere of all these lore posts from the developers? I'd love to be able to read through all the information that has been posted since before 1.0 came out.

Sort of. By running searches for posts by specific forum users, you can pull up all of Ferne's posts.

[lackofwords]

This message from Fernehalwes may offer you some insight.

I'm assuming you're referring to this;

Before I move onto question two, allow me to veer off onto a little tangent: there have been several threads about Hydaelyn’s timeline not matching up with Earth’s. If it has been two years since the release of the game, why is it still 1572 in Eorzea at the time of patch 1.23? This is a dilemma faced by a lot of MMOs. To allow everyone that joins the game, regardless of when they do, to experience the full story, there simply has to be a stoppage of time. Okay, not really a stoppage, but more of a time bubble in which a span of about a year is contained. This is why that for the duration of 1.0, Eorzea was in a perpetual 1572. Think of it as the same thing that’s happening in the Simpsons. 23 seasons gone and Lisa’s still 8, Maggie’s still a baby, and the gummy Venus still tastes oh, so sacrelicious. Pushing time along would also mean changing 1000s of lines of NPC dialogue, updating quests, webpages, etc. with every patch. Meaning it would take more than double the time to release updates, and I’m sure most people wouldn’t want to wait. In a book, movie, offline game, a strict timeline can be set without too many complications. In an online title, there are just too many variables, so we ask that you bear with our bending of space-time. It’s for the greater good!

You could apply the time bubble anywhere, but when it is on a smaller scale, it becomes rather noticeable.

The time bubble mentioned is covering a large span of time, in fact most people probably wouldn't have thought about any inconsistency until they've dropped numbers and figures down.
In the same way, when watching Simpsons you don't really think about how much time has really past over the entire seasons of the every episode. But instead, you innately give into the story they are telling.
That I don't really have much trouble with. It's when the time bubble begins to apply to smaller scales. It becomes a bit more intrusive.

I've just realized there could be another way to apply an illusion of traveling long distances, by fixing different time zones between Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah, by shifting them by about 3~ hours apart (it was 10 minute ferry ride I think).
Although, it still doesn't fix the issue with the game time not changing. Also, causes an issue when teleporting to Limsa, since it is already established that Eorzea is within one time zone.

But, the fantastic thing about writing an explanation into it, is that they don't even have to make really work into any existing notation of Eorzea's universe. It could be anything they desire it to be. Be it comical or not.
And it's a one time script. Like how they've explained away the anima cost of teleport is replaced with gil, even though in essences you're still using anima but not as a game mechanic.

[Lusavari]

I think another item that discourages the whole trip mechanic like in XI... It's a bloody bugger to sync everything. For YEARS, the Bastok Airship and drawbridge were in sync. Then ToAU came out and buggered it up, and after 5 attempts to fix it, they just gave up at trying to sync it. Which was funny the first few times the ship flew through the bridge, but then it just was silly. Also, there's nothing players hate more than missing a transport or ferry only to have to wait 5-7 minutes for the next one.

I like the idea of the trip, but I think if they want to do the whole experience, they'd end up putting it on a schedule which is a time sink. Another thing is that they actually did consider having a trip where you ride the airship, but the resources required to make an aerial Eorzea were considered to be too much. There was also a problem with the 1.0 ferries where it too a long time to fix the water in them.

[wannabesuperman]

Devs should hire you guys to write this stuff down. It's gold.