Those who've had hands on, just how instanced is it? I can handle something like warhammer or aion level of instancing but if its like swtor I'd rather boil my head
Zones are very large. An average zone takes 15 minutes of running, avoiding mobs, to go from one side to the other.
Anyway, from what I've experienced the loading is not bad at all. You only run into them when teleporting to another zone, while teleporting within a zone is more like "Hearthstone Lag". I'd rather have a few loading screens in exchange for increased zone caps and stability.
I thiink the reason that they are not making a seamless world is because it takes extra servers to load the transition areas between zones and they are already running the game without a subscription cost, in addition to providing the benefits mentioned above.
Those who've had hands on, just how instanced is it? I can handle something like warhammer or aion level of instancing but if its like swtor I'd rather boil my head
Zones are very large. An average zone takes 15 minutes of running, avoiding mobs, to go from one side to the other.
Anyway, from what I've experienced the loading is not bad at all. You only run into them when teleporting to another zone, while teleporting within a zone is more like "Hearthstone Lag". I'd rather have a few loading screens in exchange for increased zone caps and stability.
I thiink the reason that they are not making a seamless world is because it takes extra servers to load the transition areas between zones and they are already running the game without a subscription cost, in addition to providing the benefits mentioned above.
Man... I haven't played an MMO where I have to load between zones since EverQuest in 1999, wow...
BUt he asked how instanced it was, not how zoned.
And if its as bad as WAR with zones I think I'll boil my head too, because WAR didn't even feel like a game world.
Those who've had hands on, just how instanced is it? I can handle something like warhammer or aion level of instancing but if its like swtor I'd rather boil my head
Zones are very large. An average zone takes 15 minutes of running, avoiding mobs, to go from one side to the other.
Anyway, from what I've experienced the loading is not bad at all. You only run into them when teleporting to another zone, while teleporting within a zone is more like "Hearthstone Lag". I'd rather have a few loading screens in exchange for increased zone caps and stability.
I thiink the reason that they are not making a seamless world is because it takes extra servers to load the transition areas between zones and they are already running the game without a subscription cost, in addition to providing the benefits mentioned above.
Man... I haven't played an MMO where I have to load between zones since EverQuest in 1999, wow...
BUt he asked how instanced it was, not how zoned.
And if its as bad as WAR with zones I think I'll boil my head too, because WAR didn't even feel like a game world.
So you haven't played an mmo where you've had to load zones since 1999.... but you've played WAR. Please go fail at logic in some other thread.
P.S. He clearly was clearly talking about the amount loading screens
ANet are without a doubt skilled coders & designers, so it puzzle me that they kinda choose to have loading screen between zones: why not a seamless world like WoW, Terra etc. ?
Is it because of some kind of limitations with the dynamic events or something ?
This is misconception
Neither WOW (or TERA) has seamles world.
For example when you going from zone to zone - lets take quite obvious Dun Morogh to Loch Modan
You are passing trough a lenghty tunnel.
Now what happens while you pass trough it, is that the game actually loads next zone.
It cleverly hides the loading screen, by putting you in not-interactive area ( tunnel in this case).
Other games that really do not have loading screens between zones - like Vanguard for example.
Still load zone when you pass certain boundaries - and if server latency is bad. You sometimes freeze while loading is happening.
In any case - let say that you are standing on one side of border - you will not see mob, or players on other , until server loads it.
So you see. Its just a case of
1. How big is the zone - before server has to load next map ( and GW2 zones are huge , just as WoW)
2. Do they hide loading or not
Yes but vanguard is not zoning,it's chunking which is not the same.Depending on your PC specs it can take 2 seconds,sometimes i don't even notice it.
Vanguards chunking is not the same as zoning,let's use GW2 as an example.
Lets say me and you are out killing mobs in GW2 and we come to another zone,as soon as you enter that zone you will vanish in front of my eyes,i won't be able to see you anymore.
In Vanguard when someone crosses a chunk they do not vanish and you can see them,they can also still see you.Have you notice that in Vanguard mobs will chase you across a chunk line?
Vanguard is not zoned,it's pretty much seamless and it has no zoning unless you decide to use a riftway but then you can still get the the same destination if you decide not to use the riftway.
On to of that Vanguard has no instances.
Don't get me wrong,i have no problem with GW2 and zoning,hell EQ1 was zoned and i loved that game.
This does not make sense in my world. I can see, that it is a problem having too many different assets loaded at the same time (=filling up memory), but with unloading terrain behind you, only a limited amount of terrain is in memory at any one time. I cannot see how that will max out a computer with the amounts of memory they have nowadays, both on the machine and on the graphicscard.
As you can see from the second paragraph you quoted, it does not seem like it was really a limit of the engine (otherwise they would have had to re-code the terrain-part of the engine), but more an artist limit.
Don't forget games have to be designed to be playable on a range of specs, i.e. GeForce 9600 512MB with 2GB of RAM.
ANet are without a doubt skilled coders & designers, so it puzzle me that they kinda choose to have loading screen between zones: why not a seamless world like WoW, Terra etc. ?
Is it because of some kind of limitations with the dynamic events or something ?
This is misconception
Neither WOW (or TERA) has seamles world.
You don't even know what seamless means. It means without a loading screen to interrupt your travel, nothing more. Yes you can go through a tunnel, but what about when you are flying and can see both zones at the same time by turning your camera? What were you even thinking posting this?
Those who've had hands on, just how instanced is it? I can handle something like warhammer or aion level of instancing but if its like swtor I'd rather boil my head
Zones are very large. An average zone takes 15 minutes of running, avoiding mobs, to go from one side to the other.
Anyway, from what I've experienced the loading is not bad at all. You only run into them when teleporting to another zone, while teleporting within a zone is more like "Hearthstone Lag". I'd rather have a few loading screens in exchange for increased zone caps and stability.
I thiink the reason that they are not making a seamless world is because it takes extra servers to load the transition areas between zones and they are already running the game without a subscription cost, in addition to providing the benefits mentioned above.
Man... I haven't played an MMO where I have to load between zones since EverQuest in 1999, wow...
BUt he asked how instanced it was, not how zoned.
And if its as bad as WAR with zones I think I'll boil my head too, because WAR didn't even feel like a game world.
So you haven't played an mmo where you've had to load zones since 1999.... but you've played WAR. Please go fail at logic in some other thread.
P.S. He clearly was clearly talking about the amount loading screens
Loading screens are not instancing so no, I wouldn't say he's "clearly" talking about loading screens.
And I wouldn't call trying WAR's beta for 3 hours to be "playing" it. Nice assumptions though.
ANet are without a doubt skilled coders & designers, so it puzzle me that they kinda choose to have loading screen between zones: why not a seamless world like WoW, Terra etc. ?
Is it because of some kind of limitations with the dynamic events or something ?
This is misconception
Neither WOW (or TERA) has seamles world.
You don't even know what seamless means. It means without a loading screen to interrupt your travel, nothing more. Yes you can go through a tunnel, but what about when you are flying and can see both zones at the same time by turning your camera? What were you even thinking posting this?
you do realize you can travel across most of tyria without a loading screen? So when wow has fast travel between Islands on the boats, that blackout part is really just my old drinking problem?
ANet are without a doubt skilled coders & designers, so it puzzle me that they kinda choose to have loading screen between zones: why not a seamless world like WoW, Terra etc. ?
Is it because of some kind of limitations with the dynamic events or something ?
This is misconception
Neither WOW (or TERA) has seamles world.
You don't even know what seamless means. It means without a loading screen to interrupt your travel, nothing more. Yes you can go through a tunnel, but what about when you are flying and can see both zones at the same time by turning your camera? What were you even thinking posting this?
You don't even know what seamless means. It means without a loading screen to interrupt your travel, nothing more. Yes you can go through a tunnel, but what about when you are flying and can see both zones at the same time by turning your camera? What were you even thinking posting this?
It also means no instancing.
Kinda, but you could get past that with the use of phasing as long as there is no loading time,
It is a nice feature but I think I and my SSDs can get past GW2s loading screens. the right hardware helps to get loading less annoying even if it would be nice to not have it at all.
I am not sure exactly why they choosed to make the game like this but they probably had some good technical reason because Iknow that Strain were looking on making it seamless when he started, he said so himself. Things however doesn´t always turn out the way you thought it would when you start.
Wow is instanced, its just there's only 4 instances (each continent)
You don't know what you are talking about lol.
An instance is not the same as a zone,some people really need to be quiet unless they know what they are talking about.WOW has zones and it also has instanced dungeon that are nothing to do with ZONES.
Wow is instanced, its just there's only 4 instances (each continent)
instances and zones are two very different things.
Yes but WoW is both heavily instanced and has some zones. Phasing remember? And all the battlegrounds? And all the dungeons are instanced too, because WoW is poorly designed.
It seems this whole question of "seamlessness" is heavily dependent on the game engine. I played Lineage 2 (based on Unreal), and that had very little "loading" (only when you Teleported, or SoE'd). Tera's also based on Unreal 3 iirc, so that would explain why they'd have an easier time if it's running on an evolved engine.
Is ArcheAge seamless? It sure seems to be, and that's based on Crytek engine. GW2 runs on the GW engine, which incorporates Havok -- maybe that plays a part? Honestly though, from watching some of the GW2 videos it doesn't seem like a game-breaking thing - this game will have an immense amount of content that will satisfy many. I'm just not sure if it's my cup of tea, and I'll be trying out both TERA and GW2 betas before making my decision (and ultimately probably deciding to play both).
Wow is instanced, its just there's only 4 instances (each continent)
instances and zones are two very different things.
Yes but WoW is both heavily instanced and has some zones. Phasing remember? And all the battlegrounds? And all the dungeons are instanced too, because WoW is poorly designed.
True, with the new additions of phasing WoW has become pretty instanced, but the post I quoted seemed to mix up zones with instances, and seemed to think that only the different landmasses were zones (forgetting deepholm as well). Wow is pretty zoned, but hides it so it feels like a seemless world outside of a few forced loading screens (what the post was speaking of).
But people on this site can get pretty rowdy when people start mixing up zones and instances, more so in a thread like this where it is somewhat related to the subject matter and misinformation tends to snowball out of control.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
I dont see a big problem with load times. Skyrim had quite a few and that didnt bother me. this is my personal opinion of course. as long as the game plays well and the combat is fun I dont mind load timers
I dont see a big problem with load times. Skyrim had quite a few and that didnt bother me. this is my personal opinion of course. as long as the game plays well and the combat is fun I dont mind load timers
It bothers most fans of oldschool games because it seems as time goes on games are less and less seamless. MMOs have a lot more instances now than before.
ANet are without a doubt skilled coders & designers, so it puzzle me that they kinda choose to have loading screen between zones: why not a seamless world like WoW, Terra etc. ?
Is it because of some kind of limitations with the dynamic events or something ?
Comments
Zones are very large. An average zone takes 15 minutes of running, avoiding mobs, to go from one side to the other.
Anyway, from what I've experienced the loading is not bad at all. You only run into them when teleporting to another zone, while teleporting within a zone is more like "Hearthstone Lag". I'd rather have a few loading screens in exchange for increased zone caps and stability.
I thiink the reason that they are not making a seamless world is because it takes extra servers to load the transition areas between zones and they are already running the game without a subscription cost, in addition to providing the benefits mentioned above.
Man... I haven't played an MMO where I have to load between zones since EverQuest in 1999, wow...
BUt he asked how instanced it was, not how zoned.
And if its as bad as WAR with zones I think I'll boil my head too, because WAR didn't even feel like a game world.
So you haven't played an mmo where you've had to load zones since 1999.... but you've played WAR. Please go fail at logic in some other thread.
P.S. He clearly was clearly talking about the amount loading screens
Yes but vanguard is not zoning,it's chunking which is not the same.Depending on your PC specs it can take 2 seconds,sometimes i don't even notice it.
Vanguards chunking is not the same as zoning,let's use GW2 as an example.
Lets say me and you are out killing mobs in GW2 and we come to another zone,as soon as you enter that zone you will vanish in front of my eyes,i won't be able to see you anymore.
In Vanguard when someone crosses a chunk they do not vanish and you can see them,they can also still see you.Have you notice that in Vanguard mobs will chase you across a chunk line?
Vanguard is not zoned,it's pretty much seamless and it has no zoning unless you decide to use a riftway but then you can still get the the same destination if you decide not to use the riftway.
On to of that Vanguard has no instances.
Don't get me wrong,i have no problem with GW2 and zoning,hell EQ1 was zoned and i loved that game.
Don't forget games have to be designed to be playable on a range of specs, i.e. GeForce 9600 512MB with 2GB of RAM.
You don't even know what seamless means. It means without a loading screen to interrupt your travel, nothing more. Yes you can go through a tunnel, but what about when you are flying and can see both zones at the same time by turning your camera? What were you even thinking posting this?
Loading screens are not instancing so no, I wouldn't say he's "clearly" talking about loading screens.
And I wouldn't call trying WAR's beta for 3 hours to be "playing" it. Nice assumptions though.
you do realize you can travel across most of tyria without a loading screen? So when wow has fast travel between Islands on the boats, that blackout part is really just my old drinking problem?
It also means no instancing.
instances and zones are two very different things.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
Or will I be zoning every 10 bloody minutes like swtor?
Kinda, but you could get past that with the use of phasing as long as there is no loading time,
It is a nice feature but I think I and my SSDs can get past GW2s loading screens. the right hardware helps to get loading less annoying even if it would be nice to not have it at all.
I am not sure exactly why they choosed to make the game like this but they probably had some good technical reason because Iknow that Strain were looking on making it seamless when he started, he said so himself. Things however doesn´t always turn out the way you thought it would when you start.
You don't know what you are talking about lol.
An instance is not the same as a zone,some people really need to be quiet unless they know what they are talking about.WOW has zones and it also has instanced dungeon that are nothing to do with ZONES.
Yes but WoW is both heavily instanced and has some zones. Phasing remember? And all the battlegrounds? And all the dungeons are instanced too, because WoW is poorly designed.
Say what you mean then,instead of saying something completely different.
It seems this whole question of "seamlessness" is heavily dependent on the game engine. I played Lineage 2 (based on Unreal), and that had very little "loading" (only when you Teleported, or SoE'd). Tera's also based on Unreal 3 iirc, so that would explain why they'd have an easier time if it's running on an evolved engine.
Is ArcheAge seamless? It sure seems to be, and that's based on Crytek engine. GW2 runs on the GW engine, which incorporates Havok -- maybe that plays a part? Honestly though, from watching some of the GW2 videos it doesn't seem like a game-breaking thing - this game will have an immense amount of content that will satisfy many. I'm just not sure if it's my cup of tea, and I'll be trying out both TERA and GW2 betas before making my decision (and ultimately probably deciding to play both).
Meh just my 2¢
Past [MMO] Games: Lineage 2 (quit c5), Aion, RIFT, SWTOR
Current[MMO] Game(s): TERA
Future [MMO] Game(s): ArcheAge, Blade/Soul
True, with the new additions of phasing WoW has become pretty instanced, but the post I quoted seemed to mix up zones with instances, and seemed to think that only the different landmasses were zones (forgetting deepholm as well). Wow is pretty zoned, but hides it so it feels like a seemless world outside of a few forced loading screens (what the post was speaking of).
But people on this site can get pretty rowdy when people start mixing up zones and instances, more so in a thread like this where it is somewhat related to the subject matter and misinformation tends to snowball out of control.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
I dont see a big problem with load times. Skyrim had quite a few and that didnt bother me. this is my personal opinion of course. as long as the game plays well and the combat is fun I dont mind load timers
It bothers most fans of oldschool games because it seems as time goes on games are less and less seamless. MMOs have a lot more instances now than before.
Those seemingly seamless games have more seams than it seems.
But far fewer seams than it seems there are in GW2.
I approve of this post, because it is clever and true. but mostly clever.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
GW2 has loading screens - "well its necessary because of the graphics and emphasis on PvP, and you can teleport so of course theres load screens!"
People see what they want to see, not a hater/fanboy of anything just call it like I see it.
who cares if its loading between zones or not? i care if the game really rolls, and im sure everyone wants that.
Game engine.