As the title says, the idea - I am sure that same/similar ideas already are present - is:
Allow to define a portal with (up to 9) destinations added via an appropriate number of tokens,
Select one specific destination by pointing to the portal and instead of “E”, press digits key “1” … “9”. Entering the portal will bring you to the selected destination. The last selected destination will stay selected, so you can directly use the portal without previous selection.
If “multiple destinations” are allowed on both ends of a portal path, a simple elevator for several planes can be built. It would also allow to reduce the number of portals in kinds of “hubs”.
As I am greedy, I would like to have no increased costs for such portals! All portals should have same size (the largest needed).
First problem. PS4 doesn’t have digit keys. Second possible problem. Seems like this would require a complete rehaul on how portals work. Which means time taken away from working on things that still need to be added to the game to improve retaining players and giving more things to do (ie Titans, Warp Wraith)
Ah yes to your first answer. I am a guy of the punched card generation and often forget these new machines Why no use a UI option (when doing the “E” display) to allow the selection of destination there. Or perhaps some popping up “favorites” to scroll through. I am quite sure there are so many nice looking options!
For your 2nd seen problem: I only want to give an idea to enhance the game and open new uses of features. The question of “takes so many ressources to implement and/or time” is really beyond my knowledge and may block any suggestion in this category! Lets leave the ressources assignment to the devs and we here in the forum stay with the feature ideas discussions themselves. I also do not know if those “Titans” are on the to-do-list of active development (lost my magical spectacles somewhere on one of my sovereign planets). But sure, that list of things to implement is longer than the lines of code of the whole game
For the matter of hubs, being able to see where the destinations lead without interacting with the portal is more convenient. So a hub design will still be better as separate portals with large legible signs for each portal.
For the matter of an elevator, which I believe from your post is your main goal, consider the ease of grappling to the desired floor. Aside from portals that go to 255 altitude, I have yet to see many elevators that provide a large advantage over grappling 50m at a time.
I have seen portal elevator systems which are just a number of portals in a line, labelled floor 1-N. Honestly they look and work fine. But again why bother with portals which take time to load etc. when you can just grapple (it is honestly faster and easier, at least in my experience, just to grapple, if the tower has been well designed for it).
You’d lose the ability to see through the portal which would be a big disappointment to me. Or you’d have to have a waiting period after selecting your destination which would also be a bummer.
Why not allow some sort of a Stargate style system, where you can dial your destination if you know it? So you can warp from Maryx to Alcyon if there is a portal chain connecting them? You could chain portals together with spark links. You then craft and place a DHD to select a destination.
That’s the price you would pay for an upkeep free portal. Sounds fair to me. Allow us to build short range portals you can’t see through. Less server load, less prestigious but cheaper/free.
I think it’s about time to add another convenient form of travel (sanctum warp is annoying to use) that’s cheaper. Portals shouldn’t be the only option, they should be a prestigious project.
Why no use a UI option (when doing the “E” display) to allow the selection of destination there. Or perhaps some popping up “favorites” to scroll through. I am quite sure there are so many nice looking options!
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