What exactly am I missing? What happens out there? I just get the feeling that it's going to be the same repetative events, like wolf attacks, or be eaten by a bear.

There are so many places you can discover and so many creatures and people to fight if you fast travel everywhere you miss out on all of this

All I can say is to try it yourself. Just stop fast traveling. If you find you enjoy it, keep not doing it. If you don't, then start fast traveling. I'm not sure there's really any point in trying to sell you on it.

I did this for the first 130 hours I played skyrim. Basically you see some random stuff, get some quests you may not have otherwise gotten, discover places you probably would not have otherwise discovered, gain a lot of XP you would not have otherwise gained.

IMO there is more to it than that. Its another thing that affects how you play. You would notice your not going to travel to an area without first looking in your log and seeing what you could do in an area and complete as much as possible before leaving the area ya spent a bunch of time traveling to.

Its fun to do for a while with a new character. But after 130 hours one one character and being lvl 50 there is little reason to keep doing it. So I have stoped pretty much all together. I may not fast travel again with a new character, yet to be seen though.

Give it a try, its fun and you see the game from a different perspective.

I only use Fast Travel if i've spent ages doing a Quest clearing out some dungeon to retrieve something. After that i can't be bothered going all the way back across the map to drop off said item, i just want to finish the Quest.

Appart from that i always go exploring, beautiful scenery, new places to discover and no doubt more quests present themself to you.

Fast travel is great when you don't have hours to spare and want to complete a few objectives.

I hear what people are saying about the benefits of not using it, but it's silly to NEVER use it. It would be like opting to take the bus everywhere when you have a Mclaren F1.

It's your game, play it the way you want to.

But, if you want to have more fun, don't fast travel.



Note, Fast Traveling from one side of the map to the other is not what we are referring to. Exploring the area around your destination is what we are talking about. Getting out and exploring what is between here and there is how you can discover more things in the game without sticking your nose in a Wiki.

Thanks guys, the reason I asked is because I'm just now trying to get into the game after 2 false starts and I'm really enjoying it. I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to make it better, I had been fast travelling a lot and it's been slightly bothering me, mainly because I've just started the dark brotherhood combined and I want to get quests done + I'm lazy.

Meh check out this http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Random_encounters .

Yeah; if you add the occasional thief and assassin to that, then you're pretty much right. Hicking through the gameworld isn't that eventfull.
Personally I don't use fast travel because I honestly enjoy myself with just looking at the scenery as I walk along from city to city.

A huge amount of detail was included in Skyrim to make it feel like a living, breathing world.

Fast-travel negates your opportunities to witness these moments to their full extent. At that point, it really DOES seem like a fetch-and-quest game, which as a previous TES player, is awful. BGS was nice enough to give those guys an option to do so though; however, the game was definitely not intended to be played in this manner.

The world as you experience it IS the game, the quests are nice additions to point you in a direction, not towards an objective.

I stopped fast travelling on my second play through, I now tend to use the carriage to get me into the vicinity then trek to and from them instead.
You miss a lot of details, either scenery, quests or just some good encounters along the way.
It is so much better to take in the Skyrim world.

If like me and you loot the crap out of places, just get yourself a horse to get around when over encumbered because those jobs-worth carriage driver wont let you on.

For me it's like this: The area of the game isn't big enough for point & click fast travel like i.e. Daggerfall - try going from north to south there by horse in real time And even that had an option box on how you wanted to fast travel. So I avoid using it. I do use carriages though, as it feels more "explained". Morrowind had it right, except you were never "shown" the routes graphically. On a real map, you can draw, so...

But still, I can live with carriages.

OP, why do you want to be sold on how to play the game? Just play it how you like it.

Beautiful night sky, nearly NO dragon attacks, many places to discover, guilds take longer to finish, more loot, cool encounters...

No Fast Traveling is best because,you run across plenty of wild animals to soul trap and slowly train you're skills on, you use virtually every spell/skill while you explore, muffle, clairvoyance, one/two handed, block, destruction, conjuration, illusion, etc it leaves much greater room for skill increases by not fast traveling. PLUS there are so many little things not on your map you end up discovering that make you just stop and admire the creation of such things. it also opens up easier routes to fast travel LATER in the game with the more locations you discover, making it easier to travel to new locations from previously found ones.

It's fun not to fast travel because you get to adventure. That is what the game is about after all. Adventuring in a medieval world full of mythological animals that will never get to experience any other way. Play the game how you like, even if it means you use fast travel. Don't think to much about it. IMO the thing that kills the fun of a TES game is worrying that you are playing it wrong and restarting over and over hoping that eventually you get it right (I am an example of that. I re-started oblivion at least 500 times because I always OCD'ed about my stats) Just enjoy the experience of the game

Honestly I have a friend who finds it to be a life-saver where as I find it diminishes the game so it's pretty subjective

However, know that by not fast travelling you will be able to:

Practice your skills more naturally

Stumble upon new places

Find more random encounters

Take in the scenery


The downside is basically time taken, so if you want to get something done fast then by all means use it, if not, take your time and have fun.

Do you miss anything? That is for you to decide. I only fast travel when I need to sell items, and then return to my dungeon to continue looting and exploring.

But that's just me. I enjoy running through the environments because I find them well crafted. I love how the music score changes depending on the scenery, and I love the typical Elder Scrolls-y feeling of always having something that could distract you from your goal. There's always something popping up somewhere.

If all of that bores you, then by all means use the fast travel option to return to cities and the like. There's no good or bad way to play this game.

Never fast traveled and never looked back.

I recommend the Faster Horses & Wars in Skyrim mods to make the trips even better.

Fast-travel as often as you can, but you can get bored with it just the same. So it is a good choice and better than not having a choice. I do both and sometimes fast-travel just half the way and walk the rest.

I'm about 50/50 with both. Today I had a good non-fast travel and found a lot of loot on a rowing boat. It's probably specified on a treasure map, but i have yet to find the map, though I have done 6 of the maps so far.

My new characters tend to only use carriages now, I really would like to know why I started to shy away from fast traveling. Except for Markarth. If I have to go into the Silver-Blood inn for anything, I will fast travel to the stables after exiting, canceling that guy's dialog and opening the menu fast enough so that I don't get that not in my inventory, or the misc. objective to read said note. I want to cut down on the clutter. Luckily that guy doesn't stray too far from the Silver-Blood inn so the majority of Markarth is ok, just need to sprint from to and from the entrance to avoid him.

This.

The only perk I've found is the occasional random interaction or areas I may have missed otherwise.It's totally worth it for new areas imo but with the amount of "fetch doggy" quests in this game I fast travel anywhere I've explored before, personally the idea of having my finger on "W" or my anologue controller pushed forward for an hour doesn't really increase immersion.

Each to their own and as said above trying it for a few hours is the only way you'll know it's for you or not.

Too have some immersion within fast traveling, try locating a boat that could technically be used (So not the shipwrecks around Winterhold, but the ships with seamen at Dawnstar and te like) and open your map. Follow the river and bodies of water the boat could sail, and fast travel to a location along the shore. You can put 500 gold in a ship's container for their service.

It's actually a pretty good idea IMO.