Wasn't this just a one off thing cause you went LD? not sure its wise to stop all the positives from not having fast travel because of this. Also its theses moments that give fear to the world. yeah it sucked but it wasnt what happened every day.
If you were a melee during certain eras of EQ, it was something that came into play every day. If we want to enable, encourage and reward grouping, there are smarter ways to go about it than creating so may barriers grouping becomes a hindrance. It's about compromises, which is why these discussions are so hard for the general forum public who sees the world in black and white.
If a group can't run a dungeon because they don't have the potential hour it would take to get the group TO the dungeon before they start clearing, that's bad. If a group can't run a dungeon because they don't have the right class to port everyone out of the dungeon afterward, that's bad. If a group can't run a dungeon because there's a high likelihood it will split up every time someone has to leave, because the porting class has to port everyone out for that person to leave, or they'll have to restart from the entrance of the dungeon, that's bad.
There were just as many times in EQ where we DIDN'T group because of easily solved situations, than when we did. The problem with modern game design is it eliminated ALL the barriers. That's not the goal. The goal is finding compromises to remove some of the less meaningful barriers. And not forming a group because the non-casters will get stuck is, in my opinion, a pretty unnecessary barrier to grouping, and not at all on the same level as instant-ports to dungeons. Because with instant dungeon ports, you give up a lot. What do you really give up by having mechanics so meleers don't get stuck in dungeons or groups don't get formed because they don't have someone to port out the meleers?
Having an open world that requires travel is good. Having challenging dungeons that require effort and planning is good. But there are surely ways to get those things that don't also have a mechanic where melees have no way to get out of a dungeon or group. Relying on other players is great, until it's such a dependance it tips to scale to utterly frustrating and poor game design. We should rely on other players because it's preferred, not because it's absolutely the only way to do things.
So, no, enabling one form of fast travel, in this case a mechanism for non-casters to gate out of a dungeon, doesn't mean we have to eliminate ALL of anything. One compromise never means ALL. And the extreme example that highlights a flawed mechanic doesn't mean it's invalidated because the example was rare. In the end, that flawed mechanic needs to be eliminated if it's not adding more than it's taking away, and in this case I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually try to make a case for melee not having any means or tools of escape from a dungeon, or gating in general, being a good thing that added more than it took away.
