Why is it different ? It's exactly the same to me.
A convenient magical runes that allow you to go where you want and when you want even if there are no pathes (or if you haven't found one yet).
If they can teleport through the Netherese waypoint to the forge, why couldn't they to the surface or anywhere else ?
Don't get me wrong, I agree that we probably shouldn't be able to teleport so easily to the surface when we're in the underdark. But in my opinion it doesn't make more sense that we teleport to cross walls / lava / obstacles.
So the way I understand it is that you have to actually walk through one portal to come out of another portal. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I think it works.
If you're in the underdark after jumping down a hole, and you don't have another portal in front of you yet (meaning you haven't found an underdark waypoint yet), you can still portal back up to the surface via fast travel. That shouldn't technically be possible if you don't have a way to get to a waypoint to walk through it to come out at another waypoint.
That's why I think it's a mistake.
But aren't the netherese portals just a "video game conceit", actually? Right now, only the PCs (including companions) even notice these portals, let alone use them. Why don't the tieflings use them to travel? Why don't the druids use them to aid in bringing back forage? Why doesn't Minthara (a True Soul, if you want to claim that only those with tadpoles can use these portals) use them for hit-and-run tactics? They seem to exist just for player convenience, and thus are closer to an out-of-game-world mechanic than a true part of the world.
You make a good point. Personally, I appreciate that the player convenience is at least wrapped up in a bow and presented as flavor in the setting.
But yes, I would prefer it if I knew others were using the portals also. I could imagine quests along those lines, things like bartering the location of the Grymforge Waypoint. I imagine that would be valuable to the right people.
Or points in the future where forts have been built around strategic waypoints, guarding against anything that might come out, like an old Netherese assassin on the hunt.
