Currently opening a portal feels a bit underwhelming. It would be really cool if we got a building animation, for example the golden magick that currently is just at the border of the mist slowly converging to the middle of the portal. This way, opening a portal would both feel more like actually creating a gateway, plus it would have the added bonus of knowing how long the portal still needs until it is open.
Something happened with the update. Portals stop you dead in your tracks now, so unimmersive! Hopefully it gets fixed next time.