at first i tought portals where dumb. but on the other hand when i noticed they have restrictions on certain stuff it made more sense. and after i notice how large the gameworld is they made more sense to me.

and then when i found black marble in the mistlands i was glad portals existed. why? marble can currently ONLY be found in the mistlands. thus building with it anywhere but the mistlands just wouldnt be PRACTICAL without portals.

i think that you have to establish a fast travel system yourself is actually a really great idea or rather compromise for a fast travel method. all bigger open world games had fast travel in some form. it just wasnt braindead like bethetics became after oblivion. map fast travel is trash. its just trash. its nothing but easier to use cheatcodes.

meanwhile a portal only goes ONE way and you need to bring it there first aswell.

what i am not a fan off is POCKET PORTALS. its simply too easy to make one material wise. they should cost way more resources and also require resources you cannot teleport. that would make it more balanced imo without actually removeing them. the devs have atleast rejected any kind of metal teleporting suggestions adamantly and gave as a reason that they dont want the game to become portalheim entirely basically.

i think they have a good base balance already in regards to fast travel. way better than other games of this type (aside the forest where fast travel isnt even needed as the map simply isnt big enough to justify it in the first place and it would ruin the setting and mood of the game on top)

i like tcs idea. if i ever do a new character i might try that. useing my existing one for it makes little sense as he is too strong already for it to be a challenge.