This games instanced and zoned like Age of Conan?

Varny

I want a seamless world like WoW where there's no loading screens between zones. Just wondering if it'll be a proper world or will I bump into loading screens every 30 seconds like Age of Conan, cause that ruins mmorpgs for me.

Proson

Its using the same Engine as AoC i think. So im pretty sure it will be zoned and instanced like AoC. But the zones might be abit bigger and not so much instanced.

 

Im not 100% sure though, i dont follow this game. I just read awhile ago while playing aoc that this was using the same engine.

Fact

I'm not certain that a fully open world would be the best solution for this particular game what with it set in cities and what not. How would you get from London to Tokyo? Walk? Drive?

 

If they make the transitions nice it will work, loading screens such as;

 

Entering an airport and boarding a flight

Going in an elevator

Driving a car down the freeway

 

Just a few examples and viable reasons to have a pause in the game, I'm sure there are hundreds of reasons to have a little cut scene while the next area loads up.

gotha

Instancing is not by itself a bad thing.  City of Heroes used it extremely well.  Champions online less so.

 

With a game like TSW i think you need instancing.  I think it is the best way to get a good nice creepy atmosphere.    An open world like wow would just ruin that.

IAmMMO

Same old outdated engine that's  can't even support multi cores, so yes, it will be instaced, that's the only MMO dev method Funcom know how to do! 

Proson

Originally posted by IAmMMO

Same old outdated engine that's  can't even support multi cores, so yes, it will be instaced, that's the only MMO dev method Funcom know how to do! 

Im sure funcom could develop a engine that was a open uninstanced world. But that would greatly reduced the quality of the graphics, details and animations. Thats one of the biggest reason it is zoned and instanced because of the extremly good graphics and details. And thats how they wanted it to be. They designed the game like that.

 

I think they even said they tested AoC in a openworld build. But the framerate dropped alot and they would have to reduced the quality and details as i explained above, so it would be easier to just make a new engine with openworld in mind. But funcom likes the shiny graphics so well just have to live with it.

 

Even though i prefer open world alot more, instanced and zoned is crappy, and its one of biggest reasons i quit AoC.

 

Maybe in some years we will se game with graphics and animation like in AoC with a open and uninstanced world. Cant wait for that

Daffid011

The game is set in locations spread all over the planet, so I think it is safe to assume that the game will have zones of some sort. 

Looking at some of the available videos I get the impression that there will be instances as well.

TSWBETAROGS

Originally posted by Proson

Originally posted by IAmMMO

Same old outdated engine that's  can't even support multi cores, so yes, it will be instaced, that's the only MMO dev method Funcom know how to do! 

Im sure funcom could develop a engine that was a open uninstanced world. But that would greatly reduced the quality of the graphics, details and animations. Thats one of the biggest reason it is zoned and instanced because of the extremly good graphics and details. And thats how they wanted it to be. They designed the game like that.

 

I think they even said they tested AoC in a openworld build. But the framerate dropped alot and they would have to reduced the quality and details as i explained above, so it would be easier to just make a new engine with openworld in mind. But funcom likes the shiny graphics so well just have to live with it.

 

Even though i prefer open world alot more, instanced and zoned is crappy, and its one of biggest reasons i quit AoC.

 

Maybe in some years we will se game with graphics and animation like in AoC with a open and uninstanced world. Cant wait for that

I am 100% behind you on this. You cant have a sandbox MMORPG/with no instances with the graphic that Funcom delivers.

A lot of use just dont have the PC to run it. I think alot of people will have problems with TSW when it is comming, due to the high Graphics and hardwear requirements. Both not as bad as with AoC.  I think atleast 50-60% of all that have bought AoC had problems running it at all ore on full graphics.  Some say it is Funcoms fault, but i think they just dont have the PC to run as they whant.  It is allmost impossible to run it full out with a normal laptopp(if it issent werry expensive) ore an office  comp. You need a quite new gameing PC.

Back to topic

If you se the new expantion( showed live in xfire desmber) they show how they make one large playfield into giant once( with some loading). There will be som instances where you kill bossen, but the game will not be filled with loading like in Tortage(realy a killer for alot of people).

Saryk

You can have the open world graphics like Vanguard now, not the old Vanguard. But when you have a story driven mission, it could be done instance. Or created like Turbine done in Lord of the Rings.

TSWBETAROGS

Originally posted by Gkarn

You can have the open world graphics like Vanguard now, not the old Vanguard. But when you have a story driven mission, it could be done instance. Or created like Turbine done in Lord of the Rings.

Yu can realy compair Vanguard grafic with with TSW ore AoC.

fyerwall

I have no problem with having large zones in an MMO (AO for Example).

Zones dont really bother me as long as the zone is fairly large and can support a lot of people. If they can make the zoning issue feel almost seemless, even better.

Instances are fine in small doses and when used sparingly. Once instances become the center of gameplay, it kills the 'worldly' feeling of the game, making it feel smaller and smaller.

skeaser

WoW's seemless world was fake, though, it just tunnelled you to specific areas that you had to pass from zone to zone. I'd much rather have an open open world.

Cripnoah

I can take instanced, but heres hoping its not like Guild Wars, where just because is instanced I can't see other players unless they are in my party outside of the hubs. I haven't tried AoC so  i can't say for certain how funcoms' made their games

Destiny2010

Originally posted by Cripnoah

I can take instanced, but heres hoping its not like Guild Wars, where just because is instanced I can't see other players unless they are in my party outside of the hubs. I haven't tried AoC so  i can't say for certain how funcoms' made their games

Try the free trial of AoC and get a little sneak peek, might end up a little different in the end, but its a way to look.

JoeShmo2

Instancing ruined AoC.  end of story.

 

I guess funcom just refuses to learn from their mistakes

skeaser

Originally posted by JoeShmo2

Instancing ruined AoC.  end of story.

 

I guess funcom just refuses to learn from their mistakes

Are we talking about instances or zones?

Zoning is going away for the new AoC X-pac zones.

Instancing will always be there, but WoW uses instancing, so does EQ2, LoTRO etc.

GrubbsGrady

I actually enjoy the zones in AoC, gladly willing to trade off instanced areas for better graphics. The loading times take less than a minute, so it really doesn't take away too much time from playing.

I also don't feel that there is too much zoning in AoC, when compared to EQ2 which made me want to pull my hair out just trying to navigate through a city. Being able to set my view distance to max with full quality graphics that actually look good, and be able to see across the zone with all sorts of villages,trees,rivers, lakes, and such vs playing a game with WoWs graphics but an open world is more of what I would prefer. I can see far in WoW, and don't have to load- but at the same time there is nothing nice to look at.

Maybe they could make it a bit more open, but still keep the nice looking visuals That would be alright in my book.

neilh73

Of course it will be instanced.  How do you think you will get from London to New York or Seoul?  Swim?  I don't think so!

 

A lot of the instancing in AoC is needed too.  Have you ever seen a map of Robert E Howard's Hyboria?  Going from Conarch Village in Cimmeria to Khemi in Stygia is not just like popping down to the shops for some milk and a newspaper...

 

Granted, I do think that AoC relies a bit too heavily on instancing.  I don't think that you should get a loading screen when changing location within a location, eg the 5 or 6 instances that make up Tortage (daytime), is a bit overkill. 

However, the example above still stands.  There is no way for a character to travel between Cimmeria and Stygia without a loading screen.  If you wanted to travel all that distance there are 5 or 6 countries in your way, countries that are not in the game - yet.  They may well come in future expansions, maybe not.  Khitai is coming in the expansion, who knows where Funcom will go next.  There is all of REH's imaginary world to choose from after all.

 

Back to The Secret World though.  Yes, it will be instanced.  Will it be as instanced as AoC?  Probably not.  It seems that FunCom has learned from the instancing backlash with AoC.  Rise of the Godslayer is supposedly a hell of a lot more open than vanilla AoC, I think that TSW will follow suit.

 

 

 

skeaser

Since it's obvious people STILL don't get it.

Instancing is another INSTANCE of the same area (zone).

Zones are the big open areas that you load from and two.

GrubbsGrady

I'm talking about the zoning. As for the instancing, I don't really know what the big deal is with that- so there are multiple shards of the same area. Play in the more populated one if you want to be crowded, or if you are feeling anti-social go to a more empty one. Doesn't hurt anyone at all, so no reason to make a big fuss over it... but I would guess by "instancing" they are actually talking about zoning.

xenorace

I think half the people in this thread have confused Instances and Zones as well. An instance is another name for a dungeon. You usually get a group and go into an INSTANCE. I zone is the entire playmap your on. A zone can be divided off and trival requires an NPC or gate you click on that takes you to another zone to adventure in. Zone/Instance not the same thing.

Back to topic. Truth is nobody really knows how the game is going to be set up. We can assume yes on instancing, and more then likely yes on seperated zones.

I have got used to the zoning in AoC. Maxed up DX10 settings and smooth framerate on a budget made PC and I think the game looks beautiful!! I can even run in 24 man raids with my settings maxed no problems. Try that with a seamless open world with AoC graphics....can't be done. At least not with current hardware. I don't think servers could keep up.

AlexanderTD

People complained about instancing, but not zones - a good  game without zoning is not possible, even with mediocre graphics - at very least it will require a lot of RAM. And it's the only possible solution gameplay wise - no way you can have 1 large zone with different terrain types without having to walk 100s miles and no way they make world this large - it would require lifetume to model.

Instancing is needed when your server become overpopulated - people who complain about instances in AOC have never probably been in Kheshata when there's 100s people bashing each other at the entrance in every of 5 instances

Fdzzaigl

While a seamless world is certainly important for me, what would be more important in this game, is capturing that 'scary' feeling.

If I'm pursueing dark secrets, occult rituals and horrific abominations, I want to feel 'scared' of these things, or at least have a certain tension about them.

That's kind of hard when hundreds of other players are running besides me.

They should also avoid turning the game into the typical hack&slash fest imo, that takes away a lot of the individuality, scaryness and originality of a single monster: killing one horrific vampire is scary, killing a million weak vampires who respawn in packs is not. This was where Hellgate: London tanked imo, even if it was marketed as a hack&slash in the first place.

 

So if they need to make use of instancing and load times to achieve those goals, so be it, the game has to capture the setting they're aiming for, that's most important imo; but here's hoping for intelligent phasing

dreamscaper

Zones are fine, so long as it's done seamlessly. And yes, WoW's continental zones ARE seamless - I've traved halfway across Kalimdor and the Eastern  Kingdom via wall-running along the zone divisions.

 

LotRO takes the tunneling approach that another poster mentioned, and I'm completely fine with that as well. As long it gives at least the illusion of an open world, that's what matters.

 

Setups like EQII and Aion are something I hope games like TSW avoid.

Fayrede

All I know is if its anything like AOC is, your going to be running into an instance screen every 5-10 minutes. I can't stand that, it loses the whole purpose for me. Unfortunately, I won't be looking forward to any Funcom game because it ruined it for me. While AOC might have those breathtaking graphics, unless they come up with it with a seamless type world (which shit if they did come up with something that amazing do you imagine what MONEY you could really make? It would be worth the billions put into it). Graphics are nice but what are you sacrificing?

Gameplay and interaction with characters. I wanna run up to you, and be able to have a conversation without getting the "wait loading..." sign once you run into that forest. No thank you!!!

MMO.Maverick

Originally posted by Fayrede

All I know is if its anything like AOC is, your going to be running into an instance screen every 5-10 minutes. I can't stand that, it loses the whole purpose for me. Unfortunately, I won't be looking forward to any Funcom game because it ruined it for me. While AOC might have those breathtaking graphics, unless they come up with it with a seamless type world (which shit if they did come up with something that amazing do you imagine what MONEY you could really make? It would be worth the billions put into it). Graphics are nice but what are you sacrificing?

This is what was being said in one of the interviews:

 

Does the game feature one large playing field with smaller instances tacked on like WoW, or is it more like Guild Wars with small communal areas where players can meet up, but the majority of the world is instanced?

 

The majority of the world is not instanced, so in that sense it's more like WoW, with large open outdoor locations, smaller instances tied to missions, and, of course, dungeons. We want players to feel that they're in a big world together with thousands of other players, not playing a single-player game.

 

 

I don't know if the whole world in TSW will be fully seamless, but if the Khitai zones in AoC's Rise of the Godslayer expansion are any indictation then the zones will be huge. The comments in the interviews seem to point out to a WoW-like kind of world openness.