Teleporter cooldown

[S'rrt]

My proposal is simple. Either:

A) disable the use of a teleporter for X amount of time after teleporting to it from another teleporter
or
B) disable the use of a teleporter for X amount of time if teleportation has been performed Y times in Z seconds

I'm making this proposal to address the issue of characters hopping between teleporters for several minutes straight during fights/chases. It's to force players to deal with situations either through RP or in-game mechanics (besides teleporting), rather than prolonging and over-complicating already time-consuming and stressful encounters. There just have to be better ways than the teleporter dance.

This change wouldn't affect teleportation books.

[Bidukan]

This could have negative effects too, such as teleporters traps.

[S'rrt]

This could have negative effects too, such as teleporters traps.

What do you mean?

[Bidukan]

If you make a cooldown, people could get trapped in teleporters areas either by monsters or chars. If you go to Cadomyr teleporter (a cage) and see 4 golems inside, you would take your way back by the teleporter. If you make a cooldown, you could not flee. Same applies for chars instead of golems.

[Jupiter]

If you make a cooldown, people could get trapped in teleporters areas either by monsters or chars. If you go to Cadomyr teleporter (a cage) and see 4 golems inside, you would take your way back by the teleporter. If you make a cooldown, you could not flee. Same applies for chars instead of golems.

Sounds like a job for towns to ensure that teleporters are safe places to travel to.


On the proposal:
I don't like the idea of cooldowns. They are always somewhat unimmersive, and usually it's quite clear that they are just in place for balancing reasons. I see the problem Srrt describes, though.
A more fancy way to achieve the same result is to make teleports require some charging time. When using a teleport, it doesn't warp you away right away. Instead it needs some time. I even would remove that automatic warping. Instead, the telporters should create portals you than have to step in. Does this mean that some nasty dude might walk by and jump in to the portal you just opend? Yes. Go and beat him up.
Teleporters could be turned in looking quite nice while "loading" the portal, e.g. put a pillar in each corner of the area and have a flame spawn on them one after the other ton indicate the process of creating the portal.

[CJK]

I don't know if the added step of opening a portal to walk over to adds much, but I do really like the description of pillars around the teleporter "charging up" both aesthetically and with regards to the really annoying behavior S'rrt discussed.

Edit: I suppose a question becomes what happens when multiple people try to use the teleporter. Do they have to wait sequentially while it is charging for the person before? Not a big deal per se because if you're traveling in a group it would be more efficient to just use portal books (or even the docks).

[Drathe]

Are people in their masses hopping between portals during a fight really such a prevailing problem that every one has to suffer a negative? 'They' could just use portal books instead, would we then have to have a wait time while they read the book to stop them hoping about using those?

IF we get elevator music playing while we wait for the portal to charge as I stand in queue with ALL the fighters hoping between portals then I say yes. If not, then more enforced penalties for the masses for a small non issues is not for me. Lets not make travel for a small player base spread out more difficult.

On a side note, I think portals should be free rather then a token money sink.

[Jupiter]

IF we get elevator music playing while we wait for the portal to charge as I stand in queue with ALL the fighters hoping between portals then I say yes.

We can add some sound effects while the portal is being created. Those swishing sounds. Not sure that qualifies as elevator music, though.

[Karrock]

Only reason for this idea is to make playing a badass harder.

[Kugar]

We can add some sound effects while the portal is being created. Those swishing sounds. Not sure that qualifies as elevator music, though.

This is actually a pretty neat idea. Like waiting for the Stargate to open... Chevron six encoded! It annoys people when chars hop around like crazy so this seems like a step in the right direction.

[Estralis Seborian]

Sounds like an interesting exercise for anyone who wants to start scripting. ltstate should suffice. While I do not really see the big need for such a delay, I agree it would look neat if character would not simply "jump" away but some lightshow is played first.

[S'rrt]

Only reason for this idea is to make playing a badass harder.

I didn't realize badasses have to rely on rapid teleportation to isolate and kill weaker characters before engaging the stronger ones.

I recognize Drathe's concern and I'm really liking the discussion for a flashier teleportation it sparked. The teleportation "light show" wouldn't even have to be long, maybe just 4-5 seconds. Didn't something like this happen on pre-VBU Gobaith?

Regardless, it doesn't address the issue that I've brought up. In fact, it would allow characters even more ample time to flee and scatter, since their pursuers would also have to wait for the teleportation to finish. I stand by my suggestion B) wherein if a character teleports, say, 3 times in the span of 15 seconds, they'll have to wait another 15 seconds before the cycle resets (I'm just throwing these numbers off the top of my head). Or: maybe further teleportation could induce penalties such as health loss, loss of action points, lowered attributes, forced walking speed, i.e. the magic sickness?

I also agree with Drathe that teleporters should be free.