Why is there a CD on quicktravel?

You are speaking to my heart.

Have you been playing since beta? I have so that really gives you no right to say this isn't my type of game... and who brainwashed you to think GW2 isn't an MMO? It's actually a pretty great one.

Maybe you should read my post again because nowhere did I say travel was bad. It's the way ToR does it that is bad. In fact, as far as world design goes, I've never seen an MMO that was so linear (like the post below mine pointed out) so I think that makes it less of an MMO than GW2. When you're not sitting in loading screens it's fly to where you want to go, fight mobs of enemies through corridor after corridor, then it's back to running to your ship, rinse and repeat. If this is your first MMO I can tell you very few are that repetitive.

And then to make things worse the mission objectives in this game is so blatantly similar and predictable.

I agree with some of what you're saying, but (GW2 excepting as I've not played it yet) aren't all games exactly like that? Do you not have to do the same quests over and over again in each MMORPG? This idea that SWTOR should have somehow been different baffles me.

Fanboy, why are you still paying and posting here?

/agreed

Downtime for travel wasn't just a timesink. It was an intentionally inserted game mechanic that served multiple purposes:

1 - It makes the game world seem much bigger when you can't insta-zip from one end to the other.
2 - It created actual, and not completely arbitrary "hubs" for player interaction.
3 - It provided actual reasons for social interaction among players (travel buffs, binding).
4 - It made it feel like you were actually a character in a living world and not a toon in a video game.

In summary, modern MMORPG developers have removed an (allegedly) annoying aspect of a game without doing a single thing to replicate the game mechanics that were the intended result of that annoyance. The exact same things can be said for "forced" grouping, tough levelling, death penalties, and a whole host of other things that made MMORPG's seem like living, breathing worlds where characters were not just running around in their own little realities.

Yeah, I agree.

Now days, it seems so much of the player base simpy wants a lobby with instance doors to everywhere, and an insta port to the lobby with no cooldowns. They don't really want to see the game world, they want to play world of instant gratification (being mostly log in, port, fight, port, fight, port, fight, rinse and repeat)

I still remember the old days in DAoC when a class with speed skills was loved and essential to group movement in the game. That was before porting and before mounts. It was annoying if you were bound at the south side of the realm and died in the middle of nowhere on the frontier.... but you sucked it up, got on a horse at the nearest stable and made the 10 minute ride back to the frontier post, and got on with game play. We are so far from that in today's games, AND people still complain.

I have to admit that I miss the old days. The old mechanics seemed to foster community development. Everyone couldn't do everything and had to form alliances. Also the sense of exploration and immersion was brighter.

Todays MMORPGs are very soloable. While this is my prefer play style now a days, I did group quite often under the old mechanics. I did so not only because one had to ... to advance but, the community was more cohesive and groups were easier to find even without today's current grouping tools.

In their quest to please the masses and make gaming easier and more soloable, the current crop of developers have sucked all life from MMO's. They've drastically shrunk the lifespan of their games in the process. Their current game template is unsustainable and will either die out completely, or go back to the future and re-learn what they forgot. There is no other alternative, other than some miraculous new concept in MMO gaming that manages to combine the soul of the old games and the convenience of the new ones. Judging by the absolute lack of inovation in MMO design nowadays, I'm not holding my breath for a new magic pill.

I agree there shouldn't be a CD on quicktravel. Actually they should even ADD more quicktravel points that drop me off right in front of instances, or better yet, right to my objective and then I can QT out again. All that space in between can probably then be removed from the game to make the loading screens shorter. I also think that if you're skipping through content with QT, you should get Experience Points whenever you QT since you're not having to fight stuff anymore. Man it would be nice to QT right to the bosses on FPs and OPs. The bosses would still be hard, so it really wouldn't affect the game to QT right to them.

This is an MMO. You have to run around and take time to get places. I think even hyperspace travel should take more time depending on how far the system is, or at least have you make hyperspace calculations. It makes the Star Wars Universe feel as big and as important as it's supposed to be. Traveling from one planet to another should feel like just moving from one zone to the next one over.

In FFXI you had to run everywhere until you get to a certain level where you completed a quest to be able to fly airships across the continent, and even they took several minutes to travel. On boats you would be attacked by sea monsters (if you were lucky) while taking the 5-10 minute ride. Stuff like that adds to the feel of the immensity of the world. And it's actually cool when you're huffing it to some far off area when you run into someone you know, who's killing something and needs help.

No, there should be a CD on QT.

I'd be ok with an hour cooldown and a credit cost on the fleet QT, and then add another quick travel device to my ship with the same setup.

Otherwise I think I'm ok with the current setup....EXCEPT to say that we need a group summon BADLY. When you join a group you should be able to QT to the group leaders location, on an obvious cooldown.