Sharding reduces queue time and is also better option than opening new servers to distribute population which are most likely to end up empty and your characters stuck waiting for server transfers. Sharding is long time solution.
Perhaps BW can clarify on how they have it set up. Having a few shard's in the starting zone is quite understandible, They should tapper off the higher level you go and pvp areas should have none.
I'll have to dig up the quote on this but from the way they make it sound, this is only when planets have very large amount of people (more then a server can hold for that planet) that one is created, doesn't really sound like theres going to be 7 or 8 instances of the same world. Just 2 or max 3 at the start until everyone kinda spreads out.
PvP worlds like illum probably will have a lot of people, i think it's just a equation of
Does X exceed Y
If yes
Create new shard
If no return to start
(yes i'm not a programmer)
It keeps asking itself this question every once in a while to see if X has fallen back under Y, in which case if it does it starts putting people back into the original version then finally unloads the duplicate once everyone is out of it. Usually this happens when you change planets or go into an instance and back.
The way they worded it though is that they expect this to happen near launch but be a very rare occurance later.
Edit: by instance i mean things like black talon and such, not the green barrier things that you walk through.
In the video I saw. The number at the top left of the screen went as far as 287.
Then again, it is beta.
That number represents how many player are currently in your area (as in planet) not shards - its for grouping purposes
Seriously? How can this be anything but a GOOD thing?
Intuitive sharding is some of the best new technology in MMOs because you can actually play the game rather than rub elbows with 200 people all trying to do the same thing as you. Looks like BW is just being sensible and designing their game so people will enjoy themselves and not get frustrated. I'm sure it will be done properly with the ability to swap shards, automatically join the same shard as your group etc. etc.
Yet another argument for the people that aren't exactly fond of ToR to complain? As it has been stated here before sharding/instancing might not be the ultimate solution but the currently best available to handle with bigger masses of players trying to squeeze themselves through the same content at the same time. While AoC overdid it (I do hope the ToR servers will be A LOT better!) the sharding itself for me actually improves PVP. As fun as mass PVP can be it shall never be some sort of UT death match when you die every minute not even knowing why or from where. Those that tend to say "the more people in open PVP on one spot the better" often tend to be those that then end up complaining about mindless zerging that doesn't involve any skill.
So yeah, wait and see how they manage to balance the max amounts of people in one shard out and voice constructive feedback once that will be finished.
Originally posted by majin690 Originally posted by AzurePrower
Originally posted by whilan
Originally posted by stayontarget Perhaps BW can clarify on how they have it set up. Having a few shard's in the starting zone is quite understandible, They should tapper off the higher level you go and pvp areas should have none.
I'll have to dig up the quote on this but from the way they make it sound, this is only when planets have very large amount of people (more then a server can hold for that planet) that one is created, doesn't really sound like theres going to be 7 or 8 instances of the same world. Just 2 or max 3 at the start until everyone kinda spreads out. PvP worlds like illum probably will have a lot of people, i think it's just a equation of Does X exceed Y If yes Create new shard If no return to start (yes i'm not a programmer) It keeps asking itself this question every once in a while to see if X has fallen back under Y, in which case if it does it starts putting people back into the original version then finally unloads the duplicate once everyone is out of it. Usually this happens when you change planets or go into an instance and back. The way they worded it though is that they expect this to happen near launch but be a very rare occurance later. Edit: by instance i mean things like black talon and such, not the green barrier things that you walk through.
In the video I saw. The number at the top left of the screen went as far as 287. Then again, it is beta. That number represents how many player are currently in your area (as in planet) not shards - its for grouping purposes
Would you rather have this or 4000+ queue when trying to log in? during the last beta weekend if you were on one of the popular servers you had to wait on a 3 hour queue to get in.
The multiple instances of the same zone was the biggest complaint people had about AOC, but with the amount of players expected to play at launch for swtor i see no other solution.
In beta - on a full server - there were at one point 3 instances of Coruscant (which is the 3rd zone after the starter). Take that as you will.
overall, i found the instancing in TOR to be very well done. similar to the way instancing was used in LoTRO, but with invisible loading a lot of the time.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
In the video I saw. The number at the top left of the screen went as far as 287.
Then again, it is beta.
Originally posted by ActionMMORPG
At this point is there one server (like WoW realm) or more?
Has anyone experience grouping where group members were not on the same channel (aka shard)? I'm wondering if a player would have to select the correct channel or if possibly joining a group pulls them to the same channel as the group leader.
that number in the video actually has to do with the number of players, not the number of instantances(if you were to click on the number it would open the social window to let you know who is there). how they have done the instances is, you open the map and if there are instance shards, a pull down will be on the right side. you can see how many instances and select one to move to. and if you end up partying with someone, you would get a message asking if you would like to switch to their shard.
I'm familer with what this person is saying. Basically what happens a zone can hold X amount of people. Once it exceeds that amount it makes a second version of it. considering these planets aren't set up in zones, some of them have to hold a lot of people.
Bioware did extend that these would only be used if it exceeded the amount which they ususally only see in one of two occasions, either when the game releases (as we know it will be high at the start), and when the game is going through stress testing as they tend to have less servers thus sharding happens more often.
You can switch to another shard but theres a 30 min cool down (most likely to prevent people just flipping areas if they don't like the current situation of mobs or whatnot). They also stated this is only likely to happen on the starter planets where everyone is together at once and thus on the same planets, as it goes on the masses spread out and the limit is harder to reach.
The limit appears to be pretty high though, but not unreachable. Even still while i was there i saw them open up a new server while i was playing.
Yes they do have sharding, but you get 3 outcomes when you get a lot of people in an area.
You either get
A. You shard the server until it dies down then remerge it.
B. You create a new server, which is dangerous if your doing this for hi pop moments as you may have to close them later and that usually results in bad publicity (omg your closing servers, game is in trouble type of thing)
C. You lag everyone to heck and back, which just annoys everyone.
As for how it works, it's not phasing as in city of heroes where your going to see people suddenly vanish (unless they switch shards, in which case you can follow them if you want), just that a new world is created until the first one falls back under max pop. Once it does and you revist the world i'm pretty sure that you get dropped back in the main one.
Sharded is just the new PR/tech word for instanced. I wont state my opinion on instancing one way or the other but what it boils down to is the game is instanced. The words where just changed to shard because instanced is such an evil word these days. Oh hell I will give my opinion. I have NO problem with games doing this. People seem to forget now you may have 500 people in the same area instead of 100 in the old days where there was no instancing like this. And like you said doing this allows them to keep there server count lower which in the end is a positive thing.
When I first started beta, there was no sharding, and node-based/open world boss mission objectives were a nightmare. At one point I was fighting the surrounding mobs for a node when some A-hole started making for it. I killed the last mob and grabbed the node before he got to it. "FU" was his response.
In short, a lack of sharding has a detrimental effect on the community. Next-gen ninja looting should NOT be a considered strategy.
Since sharding, I haven't had any such experiences.
From what I've experienced, the shard limit seems based on world size; smaller in the starting areas, but much larger on the open planets.
The people that are appalled by the sharding seem to share the lack of reality sense that the "pro-collision" people are. Yes, I understand that they'd like everybody to all be in one "reality", and yes, to not float through each other like ghosts; both seem like a reasonable request. But even with a server cluster that could handle it, there is NO freakin' way that this WOULDN'T kill the game at launch, and again when the game becomes top-heavy. And it would be a node nightmare the whole time in between.
They stated that they would shard starter zones if the population got high enough to hinder playability and that it was something they would avoid if not absolutely necessary.
Say what you will, but other games have proven that this makes for a smoother launch. I don't expect to see it used much beyond that.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
When I first started beta, there was no sharding, and node-based/open world boss mission objectives were a nightmare. At one point I was fighting the surrounding mobs for a node when some A-hole started making for it. I killed the last mob and grabbed the node before he got to it. "FU" was his response.
In short, a lack of sharding has a detrimental effect on the community. Next-gen ninja looting should NOT be a considered strategy.
Since sharding, I haven't had any such experiences.
From what I've experienced, the shard limit seems based on world size; smaller in the starting areas, but much larger on the open planets.
The people that are appalled by the sharding seem to share the lack of reality sense that the "pro-collision" people are. Yes, I understand that they'd like everybody to all be in one "reality", and yes, to not float through each other like ghosts; both seem like a reasonable request. But even with a server cluster that could handle it, there is NO freakin' way that this WOULDN'T kill the game at launch, and again when the game becomes top-heavy. And it would be a node nightmare the whole time in between.
It only takes one other player interested in that node for for the node issue to arise. I often bring up nodes in discussing the many forms of PvE Griefing available in those griefing threads, and I agree that it is very annoying. If I see somebody is fighting their way to a node - I'm not going to try to get the jump on them. Many do not have that problem.
However, I find it interesting that you bring it up in this regard. You're saying that with sharding, you've experienced less of an issue with this. Basically to paraphrase in a sense, you're saying it is less of an issue with fewer people. Yet, the very reason that some people are playing Massively Multiplayer games - is because of that massively multiplayer aspect. Otherwise, they would be playing single player or co-op games.
No doubt though, those same people would also likely complain about the lagfests that can arise from massively populated areas. It does become a little unrealistic to think that every area should be built to handle those possible bottlenecks...kind of.
Personally, I'm not a fan of phasing - it can lead to problems for groups, roleplaying, immersion - etc. However, to a great extent - I have to agree with what they have said about their options as detailed in another post in this thread.
Still though - my preference is toward not designing a game around a limited number of hubs (whether we're talking starting points, end points, or the points between) and also for what some companies do with the dynamic allocation of resources to particular areas. I think both of those, would be a better solution than phasing.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Well I played in the last beta weekene, and let me put it like this. You really won't notice it not unless you are actively looking, everything goes on as normal. You can hear, talk to, join, or invite other players to groups even if they are on a different shard. The thing with grouping is that when you join someone on another shard, you will get a popup asking if you want to switch shards. Other than that you will never really notice it.
People really have to stop crying about the sharding thing!REAL mowers (MMOers)Know that the better the game the more necessary sharding is for performance
If having to change an instance to join a group is going to kill your immersion then you really need to develope an imagination for yourself and stop letting technology do it for you.
People really have to stop crying about the sharding thing!REAL mowers (MMOers)Know that the better the game the more necessary sharding is for performance
If having to change an instance to join a group is going to kill your immersion then you really need to develope an imagination for yourself and stop letting technology do it for you.
Can you give us an example of how one would use their imagination to deal with a pop up asking if you want to change instances to be with your group?
Can you give us an example of how one would use their imagination to deal with talking to somebody that should be right in front of you but they are not there?
Can you give us examples of using imagination to deal with the various issues that arise with phasing so you do not realize that phasing is taking place and that you're just playing a game?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Yes there is sharding... Rarely in open-world tho mostly in main cities ( big low level city had only 2 shard. and trust me... its good they do that i was already pissed of everyone killing my mobs )
The max population per shard is really high trust me
Yes it is easy to change .. just open map. change the combo box and there you are... takes 3 seconds....
SWTOR creates multiple instances of one open-world area if the population on that area gets too high. If that's what you mean by "sharded".
that sounds like the way DCUO is set up.... you can party up with a person and if ur in a different phase of the world just hit "phase with group member" and u teleport to ur friends "phase" world....
thats not a big problem but if this is true then...... i thought Bioware was capable of handling their servers better.... many other mmos have tons of ppl in 1 server with no phase system and dont have server issues.... even F2P mmos
This is really much ado about nothing for people that are getting upset about this. It's a feature simply designed to reduced lag and queue times and will most likely only ever be used right after launch in the starter zones or big cities. Once the population spreads out, no more shards will be needed.
If they didn't use this feature, the queue times on launch day would be riciculous and people would lose their minds. It's a temporary necessary evil to ensure more people get to play.
For real. All is fine. It seems that the OP just wanted to make a post to start up some TOR hate. I for one am happy with what they're doing. I want good performance and don't necessarily need 2K people in the area to have it feel like an MMO...lol
Well, hopefully it's seemless. Nothing worse than waiting around for a friend only to find out they are standing where you are but in another instance waiting for you. Or you can't join your group because there are already too many people in the instance. Personally I don't like sharding. I like to see all the people and get used to who is in my server. But I guess we'll see how it plays out. I haven't even played the game yet.
many other mmos have tons of ppl in 1 server with no phase system and dont have server issues.... even F2P mmos
Most modern MMOs that I am aware of have some sort of sharding / phasing / instancing. I know there are exceptions to this, but from what I have seen, it is the way it is.
The reason for the existence of this is current software / hardware limitations. I'm sure it can be overcome.
This is really much ado about nothing for people that are getting upset about this. It's a feature simply designed to reduced lag and queue times and will most likely only ever be used right after launch in the starter zones or big cities. Once the population spreads out, no more shards will be needed.
If they didn't use this feature, the queue times on launch day would be riciculous and people would lose their minds. It's a temporary necessary evil to ensure more people get to play.
People are likely going off of their experience in other games.
Crowded Start area at launch that becomes desolate over time.
People spread out.
Crowded "endgame" area that persists.
For some, that third part is where they might get hung up on thinking about it - from their experience in other games where that has happened....even without knowing how that plays out in SWTOR.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
This is really much ado about nothing for people that are getting upset about this. It's a feature simply designed to reduced lag and queue times and will most likely only ever be used right after launch in the starter zones or big cities. Once the population spreads out, no more shards will be needed.
If they didn't use this feature, the queue times on launch day would be riciculous and people would lose their minds. It's a temporary necessary evil to ensure more people get to play.
As a a matter of comparison, in the regular beta, we NEVER had multiple shards open, even if it was available. On the beta weekends, with servers on HIGH capacity (maxing out populations) we could have 3 - 4 shards total, across the homeworlds, which is still a lot of people in a single area, and of course you could always choose to be in a more populated area if you wanted. Cross shard chat also helped to find groups with others you couldn't see initially.
Can you give us an example of how one would use their imagination to deal with a pop up asking if you want to change instances to be with your group?
Can you give us an example of how one would use their imagination to deal with talking to somebody that should be right in front of you but they are not there?
Can you give us examples of using imagination to deal with the various issues that arise with phasing so you do not realize that phasing is taking place and that you're just playing a game?
Can YOU give us an example of how - in the absense of any kind of population control - you use your imagination to deal with the fact that there are 1 million players on your screen, completely blocking any and all geography while the NPC says "it's been a long while since I have seen a jedi around here"?
(I mean, technology to allow it aside, can you even IMAGINE 1 million players all together in one place? What about 10 million?)
There may be a ton of problems with SWTOR, but instancing is certainly the least of them.
Also, in order to actually keep your immersion and follow the storyline, SWTOR's "suspension of disbelief" requires you to imagine that you're the only player in the world - otherwise the story makes no sense. So if you're doing the whole "suspension of disbelief" correctly, then instancing is not an issue - since you're ignoring the existence of all the other people anyway. I don't for a second believe that this is the right way to design an MMO storyline, but alas, that is how SWTOR and the majority of story-based MMOs are currently made.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
Comments
Sharding reduces queue time and is also better option than opening new servers to distribute population which are most likely to end up empty and your characters stuck waiting for server transfers. Sharding is long time solution.
That number represents how many player are currently in your area (as in planet) not shards - its for grouping purposes
Seriously? How can this be anything but a GOOD thing?
Intuitive sharding is some of the best new technology in MMOs because you can actually play the game rather than rub elbows with 200 people all trying to do the same thing as you. Looks like BW is just being sensible and designing their game so people will enjoy themselves and not get frustrated. I'm sure it will be done properly with the ability to swap shards, automatically join the same shard as your group etc. etc.
Yet another argument for the people that aren't exactly fond of ToR to complain? As it has been stated here before sharding/instancing might not be the ultimate solution but the currently best available to handle with bigger masses of players trying to squeeze themselves through the same content at the same time. While AoC overdid it (I do hope the ToR servers will be A LOT better!) the sharding itself for me actually improves PVP. As fun as mass PVP can be it shall never be some sort of UT death match when you die every minute not even knowing why or from where. Those that tend to say "the more people in open PVP on one spot the better" often tend to be those that then end up complaining about mindless zerging that doesn't involve any skill.
So yeah, wait and see how they manage to balance the max amounts of people in one shard out and voice constructive feedback once that will be finished.
I'll have to dig up the quote on this but from the way they make it sound, this is only when planets have very large amount of people (more then a server can hold for that planet) that one is created, doesn't really sound like theres going to be 7 or 8 instances of the same world. Just 2 or max 3 at the start until everyone kinda spreads out.
PvP worlds like illum probably will have a lot of people, i think it's just a equation of
Does X exceed Y
If yes
Create new shard
If no return to start
(yes i'm not a programmer)
It keeps asking itself this question every once in a while to see if X has fallen back under Y, in which case if it does it starts putting people back into the original version then finally unloads the duplicate once everyone is out of it. Usually this happens when you change planets or go into an instance and back.
The way they worded it though is that they expect this to happen near launch but be a very rare occurance later.
Edit: by instance i mean things like black talon and such, not the green barrier things that you walk through.
In the video I saw. The number at the top left of the screen went as far as 287.
Then again, it is beta.
That number represents how many player are currently in your area (as in planet) not shards - its for grouping purposes
Glad that's cleared up then.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
Would you rather have this or 4000+ queue when trying to log in? during the last beta weekend if you were on one of the popular servers you had to wait on a 3 hour queue to get in.
Currently Playing: SSFIV AE, SFxTekken, SWTOR, WoW. Waiting for: GW2, Resident Evil 6.
The multiple instances of the same zone was the biggest complaint people had about AOC, but with the amount of players expected to play at launch for swtor i see no other solution.
In beta - on a full server - there were at one point 3 instances of Coruscant (which is the 3rd zone after the starter). Take that as you will.
overall, i found the instancing in TOR to be very well done. similar to the way instancing was used in LoTRO, but with invisible loading a lot of the time.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
that number in the video actually has to do with the number of players, not the number of instantances(if you were to click on the number it would open the social window to let you know who is there). how they have done the instances is, you open the map and if there are instance shards, a pull down will be on the right side. you can see how many instances and select one to move to. and if you end up partying with someone, you would get a message asking if you would like to switch to their shard.
Sharded is just the new PR/tech word for instanced. I wont state my opinion on instancing one way or the other but what it boils down to is the game is instanced. The words where just changed to shard because instanced is such an evil word these days. Oh hell I will give my opinion. I have NO problem with games doing this. People seem to forget now you may have 500 people in the same area instead of 100 in the old days where there was no instancing like this. And like you said doing this allows them to keep there server count lower which in the end is a positive thing.
When I first started beta, there was no sharding, and node-based/open world boss mission objectives were a nightmare. At one point I was fighting the surrounding mobs for a node when some A-hole started making for it. I killed the last mob and grabbed the node before he got to it. "FU" was his response.
In short, a lack of sharding has a detrimental effect on the community. Next-gen ninja looting should NOT be a considered strategy.
Since sharding, I haven't had any such experiences.
From what I've experienced, the shard limit seems based on world size; smaller in the starting areas, but much larger on the open planets.
The people that are appalled by the sharding seem to share the lack of reality sense that the "pro-collision" people are. Yes, I understand that they'd like everybody to all be in one "reality", and yes, to not float through each other like ghosts; both seem like a reasonable request. But even with a server cluster that could handle it, there is NO freakin' way that this WOULDN'T kill the game at launch, and again when the game becomes top-heavy. And it would be a node nightmare the whole time in between.
They stated that they would shard starter zones if the population got high enough to hinder playability and that it was something they would avoid if not absolutely necessary.
Say what you will, but other games have proven that this makes for a smoother launch. I don't expect to see it used much beyond that.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
It only takes one other player interested in that node for for the node issue to arise. I often bring up nodes in discussing the many forms of PvE Griefing available in those griefing threads, and I agree that it is very annoying. If I see somebody is fighting their way to a node - I'm not going to try to get the jump on them. Many do not have that problem.
However, I find it interesting that you bring it up in this regard. You're saying that with sharding, you've experienced less of an issue with this. Basically to paraphrase in a sense, you're saying it is less of an issue with fewer people. Yet, the very reason that some people are playing Massively Multiplayer games - is because of that massively multiplayer aspect. Otherwise, they would be playing single player or co-op games.
No doubt though, those same people would also likely complain about the lagfests that can arise from massively populated areas. It does become a little unrealistic to think that every area should be built to handle those possible bottlenecks...kind of.
Personally, I'm not a fan of phasing - it can lead to problems for groups, roleplaying, immersion - etc. However, to a great extent - I have to agree with what they have said about their options as detailed in another post in this thread.
Still though - my preference is toward not designing a game around a limited number of hubs (whether we're talking starting points, end points, or the points between) and also for what some companies do with the dynamic allocation of resources to particular areas. I think both of those, would be a better solution than phasing.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Well I played in the last beta weekene, and let me put it like this. You really won't notice it not unless you are actively looking, everything goes on as normal. You can hear, talk to, join, or invite other players to groups even if they are on a different shard. The thing with grouping is that when you join someone on another shard, you will get a popup asking if you want to switch shards. Other than that you will never really notice it.
People really have to stop crying about the sharding thing!REAL mowers (MMOers)Know that the better the game the more necessary sharding is for performance
If having to change an instance to join a group is going to kill your immersion then you really need to develope an imagination for yourself and stop letting technology do it for you.
Can you give us an example of how one would use their imagination to deal with a pop up asking if you want to change instances to be with your group?
Can you give us an example of how one would use their imagination to deal with talking to somebody that should be right in front of you but they are not there?
Can you give us examples of using imagination to deal with the various issues that arise with phasing so you do not realize that phasing is taking place and that you're just playing a game?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
I was in beta and I can say a few things
Yes there is sharding... Rarely in open-world tho mostly in main cities ( big low level city had only 2 shard. and trust me... its good they do that i was already pissed of everyone killing my mobs )
The max population per shard is really high trust me
Yes it is easy to change .. just open map. change the combo box and there you are... takes 3 seconds....
that sounds like the way DCUO is set up.... you can party up with a person and if ur in a different phase of the world just hit "phase with group member" and u teleport to ur friends "phase" world....
thats not a big problem but if this is true then...... i thought Bioware was capable of handling their servers better.... many other mmos have tons of ppl in 1 server with no phase system and dont have server issues.... even F2P mmos
This is really much ado about nothing for people that are getting upset about this. It's a feature simply designed to reduced lag and queue times and will most likely only ever be used right after launch in the starter zones or big cities. Once the population spreads out, no more shards will be needed.
If they didn't use this feature, the queue times on launch day would be riciculous and people would lose their minds. It's a temporary necessary evil to ensure more people get to play.
For real. All is fine. It seems that the OP just wanted to make a post to start up some TOR hate. I for one am happy with what they're doing. I want good performance and don't necessarily need 2K people in the area to have it feel like an MMO...lol
Well, hopefully it's seemless. Nothing worse than waiting around for a friend only to find out they are standing where you are but in another instance waiting for you. Or you can't join your group because there are already too many people in the instance. Personally I don't like sharding. I like to see all the people and get used to who is in my server. But I guess we'll see how it plays out. I haven't even played the game yet.
Most modern MMOs that I am aware of have some sort of sharding / phasing / instancing. I know there are exceptions to this, but from what I have seen, it is the way it is.
The reason for the existence of this is current software / hardware limitations. I'm sure it can be overcome.
People are likely going off of their experience in other games.
Crowded Start area at launch that becomes desolate over time.
People spread out.
Crowded "endgame" area that persists.
For some, that third part is where they might get hung up on thinking about it - from their experience in other games where that has happened....even without knowing how that plays out in SWTOR.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
As a a matter of comparison, in the regular beta, we NEVER had multiple shards open, even if it was available. On the beta weekends, with servers on HIGH capacity (maxing out populations) we could have 3 - 4 shards total, across the homeworlds, which is still a lot of people in a single area, and of course you could always choose to be in a more populated area if you wanted. Cross shard chat also helped to find groups with others you couldn't see initially.
Can YOU give us an example of how - in the absense of any kind of population control - you use your imagination to deal with the fact that there are 1 million players on your screen, completely blocking any and all geography while the NPC says "it's been a long while since I have seen a jedi around here"?
(I mean, technology to allow it aside, can you even IMAGINE 1 million players all together in one place? What about 10 million?)
There may be a ton of problems with SWTOR, but instancing is certainly the least of them.
Also, in order to actually keep your immersion and follow the storyline, SWTOR's "suspension of disbelief" requires you to imagine that you're the only player in the world - otherwise the story makes no sense. So if you're doing the whole "suspension of disbelief" correctly, then instancing is not an issue - since you're ignoring the existence of all the other people anyway. I don't for a second believe that this is the right way to design an MMO storyline, but alas, that is how SWTOR and the majority of story-based MMOs are currently made.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO