i know fast travel has been a constant in rpg's for a while now but i'd like to hear what people think about this feature in the game. imo, for the size of the map, it's not really needed in W3, i've always wondered why developers would create a beautiful world then give people the option of teleporting all over it and missing out on all their hard work. i personally use it as little as possible but i'd be interested to hear what other people do.

I probably wouldn't play the game if it didn't have fast travel. There is a ton of back tracking in this game, since quests aren't really arranged geographically by level. It's fun to explore the countryside occasionally, but on a second playthough or late into a first you'll find yourself teleporting all over the place, particularly if you're encumbered and need to go merchant hopping. Skellige would be a nightmare if you had to boat yourself all over the place.

ye selling stuff to merchants is when i use it most but even then if you jump on your horse you can still travel pretty quickly tbh.

Personally I've used fast travel much less than I have in other games, but it is an absolute necessity. There are times where you feel like exploring, taking in the sights etc. or where it isn't really that far and it'll take time to get to a signpost anyway so you just wing it on Roach going full gallop, or you're at sea doing smuggler's cacheathon etc. But then there are times where you need to go to several locations that are spread out quite far and you've already done everything in between point A and B and don't feel like roaming on foot or horseback for 5/10/15 minutes of wall clock time.

I've pretty much seen 95% of all their is to see on all of the maps now and I'm nearing the end of the game. I'm roaming around completing quests I didn't complete previously, getting all the witcher treasure hunt gear, smuggler's caches etc. but the majority of sidequests are done and I'm able to soon go for the big end battle I believe and have recruited all my allies. The last thing I want to do is re-run over entire continents for 15 minutes to pick up a sword diagram, then run for another 5 minutes to find a boat to then command on the high seas for 30 minutes to get to a distant island to pick up another armor diagram, to go do that again 8 more times. That gets really tedious fast. That is why fast travel exists in any game ever made that includes fast travel - because people value their time and get bored to death when they are forced to do repetitive tedious things in video games. It becomes non-fun after a while even if it is fun at the start.

But every game player is an individual too, and if someone finds it amazingly fun to play through the entire game without ever using fast travel, they have that option available to them to enjoy it however they wish to enjoy it. If someone wants to play the game and use fast travel as much as possible, they have that option too.

Fast travel is essential in huge open world games, if the company making them wants to be in the big leagues and sell their game to the masses instead of just selling it to a small group of hardcore enthusiasts that make up a small fraction of the market. When you put this much time, effort and money into the development of a video game, you want _everyone_ to buy it and enjoy it, not just 200 nerds. :)