ast travel should remain optional but must be implemented as a baseline feature. Even meticulously crafted open-world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 include map teleportation—though some players never use it.
A well-executed open world naturally discourages fast travel through organic discovery. When environmental storytelling, dynamic events, and meaningful traversal mechanics are prioritized - like Elden Ring’s hidden caves or Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s physics-driven exploration - players will voluntarily abandon waypoints because the journey itself becomes rewarding.
Fast travel is absolutely essential
I propose a tiered waypoint system:
Minor Waypoints: Restricted to inter-city travel (e.g., capital hubs)
Major Waypoints: Unrestricted fast travel
If the developers address this through player-centric design, it would significantly boost positive reception."
Interesting take—and I agree, fast travel should be there as an option, even if the world design encourages exploration. Games like Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild nailed that balance. A tiered waypoint system actually sounds like a smart compromise, especially for players with limited time.
Design choices like these really shape how we experience a game’s world. We’ve touched on similar user-focused features in other areas over at RA CARS if you’re into practical design thinking.
I think the most ideal solution would be Mounts and Fast Travel in very well thought out areas. Those close to the main city, for example, I don’t feel uncomfortable going to them. However, the discomfort comes when I need to go to the edge of the map to do daily quests. So I believe that a solution would not necessarily be to put Fast Travel to all locations, but rather to implement mounts to move faster and put a well thought out fast travel system in specific points.
I somewhat agree, i think that fast travel to some specific whispers would be enough, the world really isnt that big that you need fast travel to every single whisper. Providing fast travel anywhere would basicslly remove a lot of the charm and feeling of being in the world in my opinion.
Mounts would be useful for traversing the map, but not for doing heavy work. I imagine the character automatically dismounting when arriving in an area with enemies and places where the balancing system has been installed, for example.
Those elks would be interesting to be domesticated. The other animals in the flora could be domesticated to carry items for our chest. The possibilities in a fictional world are endless.