Instancing

[SirRobin]

What are your thoughts on instancing in TOR?

 

What I saw in the twenty minute developer walkthrough caught me off guard with how it implies that TOR uses instances a lot more than I expected. I understand that Flashpoints and a Toon's personal story are instanced. A certain amount of instancing is a good thing. However, when I entered the Age of Conan Beta I was stunned with how widely and heavily it used instancing. Even the zones were instanced.

 

Past a certain point, instancing can make an MMO feel like an SP game instead. At best maybe a Console Coop, like Modern Warfare 2.

 

Naturally its early so I could be getting the wrong impression but I'm curious about your opinions. Would you prefer TOR use as much instancing as AoC or only as much as WoW?

[darthfergie]

Dunno about Connan, but I like how WoW is starting to use it in terms of phasing.

I kinda like instancing to a point though. I mean fighting my way through a mini-dungeon to wait for the boss to respawn because someone just took him down is more than slightly depressing. It takes away from my epicness if I'm on a quest that means a lot to me and then all of the sudden my guy gets overtaken by a group of 5 all on the same quest who want to get to the boss first.

 

I like that immersiveness that instancing leads to. As long as I can take a group of people with me, I'm happy. When I want to really interface with people is in the quest hubs of zones or cities. Otherwise it just detracts from the experience a bit.

 

So sure, bring on the instances. Especially for some of the more epic quest chains or dungeons. However for the everyday quests and such it's not such a big deal.

[Jeff]

I'd prefer to see TOR use similar instancing as WoW. I didn't really get the impression from the developer walkthrough that it was heavily instanced; the only instanced area was the flashpoint. The starting areas we saw were open world and had other players in them. I am thinking TOR could possibly also use a phasing system like WoW does, where depending on what point of a quest you are on, the area around you changes.

[SirRobin]

I was surprised to see as much instancing as that. Or at least what I thought could be instancing. Granted there should be instancing but I guess it is more a question of how much instanced content there will be compared to non-instanced content.

 

I've heard people elsewhere claim that you get more immersion with more instancing. I just thought that was odd because I actually felt less immersion with AoC, a heavily instanced game, than I did with early WoW.

 

Of course its mostly a time will tell sort of thing and a lot depends on how "well" Bioware makes it but I am curious.

[TheRogueForums]

I'm a huge fan of instancing. Granted, there are certain aspects of the game I would like to see open, but for the most part, I would prefer if TOR was almost entirely instanced.

[Tommycat]

I like instancing for final bosses or some story elements. Lets face it It can be a pain to fight your way down to the bottom levels of a dungeon(or cave or bunker), only to find that another group is already camping the spawn. How much does it break the immersion to have to wait in line to kill the same guy that the other group just killed.

[playloud]

I like instancing for final bosses or some story elements. Lets face it It can be a pain to fight your way down to the bottom levels of a dungeon(or cave or bunker), only to find that another group is already camping the spawn. How much does it break the immersion to have to wait in line to kill the same guy that the other group just killed.

+1

.

.

.

.

.

[Web Rider]

I'm a huge fan of instancing. Granted, there are certain aspects of the game I would like to see open, but for the most part, I would prefer if TOR was almost entirely instanced.

 

Being primarily a fan of single-player games, I agree. It makes a game so much better if you don't have to wonder if IpwnJeedi21 is gonna start bouncing around you while you level.

 

I would much more prefer to have an entirely instanced world with "battleground" style zones that were open to all.

 

The only thing I hope for is that whichever way they choose to go, zones are large, open, and non-linear. KOTOR was a great game in terms of storyline progression, but I would have loved it a million times more if I didn't have to "loading zone" every 5 minutes. I'm considerably surprised at the minimal number of MMOs that have achieved open worlds like WoW has.