For a variety of reasons, but primarily because it enhances what is the main character of Bethesda's games: the world.

We all have wildly disparate opinions about Bethesda games - but there is actually one universal fact. The fundamental appeal of a Bethesda game is exploring a world. No other video game company is quite so skilled at injecting as much detail into an explorable realm as Bethesda, and this becomes the essential value to their games. After all, we don't go "wow" when we see a Bethesda character model, or animation, or script (being only so-so)... we go "wow" when we see the beautiful vistas, wonderful architecture and distant terrain, knowing it is chock full of things to discover and explore.

Which is why playing without fast travel is great. It really injects a sense of scale, depth and atmosphere into the world, dramatically enhancing the fundamental appeal.

Naturally, not everyone would agree with my appraisal, and for them, convenience is more important than atmosphere. That's fine - we all play differently, but I thought I would articulate why fast travel is detrimental to Bethesda's design ethos.

So for all you folks out there who haven't tried it - please do. Actually walk/ride from Whiterun to Solitude..... and you will discover all the wonderful experiences (both scripted and unscripted) that will occur.

yeah i decided today to give up fast travel, and i did like it, killed some stormcloaks, and watched a fight between stormcloaks and imperials, very intertaining all on the way to my objective point.

I decided to go no fast travel on my mage save and over all I really enjoy it. You see so much more, not to mention it really helps with alchemy ingredients.

There's a whole bunch of random encounters that occur, yup - but they are just the beginning. The unscripted moments are the true magic of the game....

I do have these periods of just going without fast travel and really grounding myself in whatever quests the region wants me to do, then move to another region, or enjoy the scenery. But if I'm focusing on a questline at the moment that has me going to the ends of Oblivion and back, I'll say eff it, fast travel, and then roll my eyes at the loading screen.

Yup, most definitely! I am currently playing as an archer and I make journeys to collect all the right ingredients for the right poisons and potions to complement it...... Good fun, and as you said - you see so much.

My philosophy of fast travel in all Beth games is "as little as possible" simply because I don't want to miss all those crazy unscripted moments that just happen when you're travelling on foot.

I will fast travel when I really want to be somewhere and I have limited time or w/e but for me getting sidetracked by some random sight/event on the way to an objective is part of the fun.
No journey ever goes as planned, heh.

I agree ...

I haven't fast-traveled since late December and i haven't missed it once.

Yeah playing without it is definitely fun, but I am still glad that the current style is in for when I want to use it.

it is awesome...until you start doing radiant quests...then you will suffer

I fast travel a lot to avoid resetting the respawn timer or breaking respawn. If you keep going back and forth using the same road the flowers don't grow back, for example.

It's good to have fast travel to fall back on.
For instance: My main base is the Riften home. But there's no smelter. So I load myself and my follower up with ore and go to windhelm, then back, using fast travel. It's a convenient tool to have for such things.

However, when the map is unknown, it is 'de riguer' to walk the distances. You have to learn the lay of the land, explore, investigate and adventure. Otherwise you lose all the advantages of these open world games like fallout and TES.

I think I used fast travel twice when I first got the game for Christmas. Then I asked myself, "What the hell are you doing? The whole appeal of TES games is exploration... fast travel basically negates it". That was it for me.

I've been not using fast travel lately and I like it. Everything just happens.... slower. In a game like this it's best not to rush some times.


Try restoring the Thieves Guild without fast travel. lol

I only use fast travel for missions, like when I'm in Riften and I have to go to solitude, I'm not walking that!
The mountains alone take ages to climb up lol.

I try only to use it when I'm overloaded and unwilling to crawl to the nearest city. Otherwise, I love not using fast travel.

I try not to use it, but after hundreds and hundreds of hours, I'm through walking for every little job - say deliver X to Y..... But walking gets better experiences to be sure.

Playing without fast travel is thoroughly worth it. The journey is an adventure in itself with new things to discover, people to talk to and monsters to fight. The alternative is clicking a button and reading about how 'trolls regenerate health, but have a weakness to fire' for the millionth time before popping up at your destination.

I use fast travel sparingly, but when I'm asked to go from winterhold to the rift (again) and there is no carriage available I'm tempted to fast travel. Especially if pressed for time because I just know its going to take me an hour to get there (what with the random battles and encounters)

I'd actually love them to implement more highway traffic. Could maybe hitch hike a lift or pick up a cab on the main roads. I know there is war going on but ppl still got to travel... Plus imperial / storm cloak road blocks could be awesomeness!!!

I think it depends on the character.. on my battlemage I use it a lot, and it fits the character. I still explore a lot as well, but when I'm completing quests, I zoom all over the map.

My thief/assassin doesn't ever fast travel. He *might* use a horse-and-cart if he's really in a hurry. And he recently acquired a horse (not by paying for it though, obviously...), but he doesn't like riding much to be honest.

I carriage travel to initially get to each hold, and I fast travel when doing the Vex/Delvin TG jobs just to get them out of the way. However, within a hold I tend to wander/explore the area, setting up a base camp (use the simple Camping Lite mod) - my current character is a Khajit who does not own houses and refuses to sleep within the walls of a city. I will still fast travel to dump loot, then fast travel back to the campsite and begin exploring again.

As I see it, using the carriage is fast travel. It works the same, only you can't choose the destination from the map.

It bugs me that the major cities show on the map before you've discovered them by trudging there the hard way. But once I've seen everything on foot, I have no problem with fast traveling. Some tasks/quests would be ridiculously time-consuming without it. When I want to go explore the world, I run around the map from end to end. It's great fun. But I see no purpose in restricting my options.

= tedium

It's been said hundreds of times before, but people who use fast-travel constantly really are experiencing an inferior game. They don't just miss out on a lot of exploration, they get a very rushed sense of progression.

No, playing with fast travel is great.

That being said I would do it if the world was more alive, but there aren't nearly enough monsters, especially away from roads its completely devoid of life. Thank god for dragons though, they can make really boring but pretty areas into epic battlegrounds