User blog comment:Smurfgar/LOTR Minecraft Ultra-Hardcore Server/@comment-26065062-20151107092205/@comment-27172148-20151107093216

Ok sure. In a nutshell, the built-in Fast-Track system is disabled. (well sometimes I turn it on temporarily, but yeah). Why: it's too overpowering. People have virtually no reason to go to the way points once they have been unlocked.

However, having NO type of teleporting system would also be a bit too cumbersome. That would be the opposite extreme.

So, at each waypoint on the built-in default map there will be a town. If not a huge pre-built epic city, at least a small cluster of ships. A bank, vault access, a merchant or two. There will also be a teleport gate to some other two or three waypoints. Nothing on the other side of the world... just something in close physical proximity. There will be either a $$$ cost to use it, and/or a cool-down timer to access it.

For example, in the old days of the vanilla LOTR mod the cooldown timer was 2-hours. Not this 25-min business we have these days. That was much more balanced... though it still allows you to go anywhere in the world you have unlocked.

Having a $$$ cost, and/or a cooltime time, at all of the teleport gates located at each waypoint (that only takes you to nearby waypoints) I believe strikes a balance between having a good expansive world, and convenience.

Teleport gates are very, very easy to implement. So there's no technical challenge there. It's just a matter of designing the right balance.

IF the mod allowed easy modifcation of the built-in FT timer, I'd honestly just use that for now, and implementing a replacement teleport-gate system would be a much lower priority. But since I strongly believe the system as I described it would be better for what we're going for, it will definitely happen fairly soon.