Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Poll: Do you mind loading zones?
gillvane1
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,503
Do you really mind loading between zones in an MMORPG? Does it break your immersion, or just annoy you because it pauses the game? How important is it to you that a game is "seamless"? Would it make any game that much better? For example if DAoC was seamless, would it be a much, much better game?
Have you tried Vanguard? Instead of "zones" it has "chunks". You don't load in between zones, but when you hit the wall of a "chunk" there's a brief pause, your character is frozen for a bit (don't know exactly how long) and then you continue on. It's kinda nice because there aren't zone wall, in other words you aren't in a square zone with only a few entrances and exits, but can move into the next region from wherever you are. I think.
Absinte Loverswww.absinthelovers.com
Comments
Of course, in my case, I don't really care for immersion nor do I need it in order to have fun. People who look for this in their games will differ. Fortunately there's games for everyone!
Loading times never bothered me. This seamless word doesn't do much for me.
Not at all =]
depends how often you got to zone. Everquest, and zoning is a little tooo frequent.
prefer them to "seamless"
- CaesarsGhost
Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title.
"When people tell me designing a game is easy, I try to get them to design a board game. Most people don't last 5 minutes, the rest rarely last more then a day. The final few realize it's neither fun nor easy."
i enjoy seamless much more
but if it is a really good game then i can put up with loading screens
im not going to be quite that rediculous
Absinthe Lovers
There should be a minimal amount of zoning required in todays titles.
I've seen programmers utilize 5 streams from the original X-Box ( 2002) with my own eyes so I know the technolgy exists.
If we're to expect polished releases, innovative game play & graphics the foundation of these titles must be solid and keep pace..
There's no doubt It all starts with the foundation, IE: programming (code).
Dutchess Zarraa Voltayre
Reborn/Zero Sum/Ancient Legacy/Jagged Legion/Feared/Nuke & Pave.
Well made zoning is okay, but if i have to sit an watch the thin air every 5mins, i'm uninstalling that game again
The zoning in CoX is welldone imo, but in everquest2 it's slightly annoying
preferably an MMO-world should be seamless if possible.
------------------------------
I prefer well placed zones to a seamless game that isn't seamless. I'll use vanguard and LOTRO as examples. LOTRO has a few different zones that have to load, they are far apart and you don't cross one very often. Playing the game, I'll go days or weeks without having to change zones. They never bother me. In vanguard the chunks are pretty small, and the content is laid out with blatant disregard to the chunk lines. I guess they ignored the chunk lines when placing towns and POIs because they thought the game would be a little more seamless. Unfortunately you spend a lot of time running back and forth between chunks because of this.. and the chunks are not only noticeable, but annoying for most of us.
I guess it all depends on how they are im-plimented... and whether or not the game is actually seamless... or just without load screens as you cross a seam.
-----Zero Punctuation Eve Online Review-----
Zoning, while it has its issues, allows for a much more dynamic world than seamless ever will, simply because a number of gameplay mechanics are not possible without a seperate region to work with.
That said, I don't mind zoning so long as A.) I don't run into them too often and B.) The wait times don't encourage me to grab a book and relax.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Hemingway
I actually prefer loading inbetween zones now after Vanguard and Dark and Light. Big Seamless worlds just aren't technically possible for mmos.
Making seamless worlds really limits your hardware setup since you cannot have multi-block servers. You can see this in WoW as they have 2 large landmasses but each one seperate. Because you need the entire landmass on 1 server to support loading it dynamically. What has happened in rescent years is Zones have gotten much larger. In Ragnarok Online 2, a zone is as large or larger then the barrens, so you notice the transition between zones less and less. Your also capable of getting much more detail and larger player base for any server block.
It depends on how it is done. In WOW the zones are there but do not have a load time in between (except of course the instanced zones).
In COH, it was necessary and help to break up the feel of the city into districts. I didn't mind the load times at all (except the constant missions that required you to jump 3 districts just to get there).
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
This is exactly why I prefer zoning. It is one way to seperate one environment to another. It's like stepping from a normal zone to the twlight "zone". Also, a zoneline is a logical meeting place for people to get groups together (both in WoW and EverQuest).
Also you have a good excuse to use a creepy portal, like the Plane of Fear in EQ. Once you stepped inside it was truly a different world. It was raining blood and you were usually attacked immediately from any given direction.
The only thing that bothers me about zoning is using them to run. This was very very annoying in EQ2 in pvp when someone could just zone and if they had a faster system they could either zone BACK while you were zoning once or get away from you. Also this led to the "train" issue at zone lines for EQ1. I think you shouldnt be allowed to "zone" if something or someone is attacking you.
Now planetside and DDO have it done pretty well. You zone when you change areas and it is not used as a defensive move. Planetside actually does a good job mixing seamless and zoning IMO.
I don't mind zones, but I don't like artwork splash screens between zones. It was very annoying to me when they added them to EQ1, and I immediately turned them off. A loading message and a pause work best for me, even if the scene on one side of the zone doesn't quite match what I left. To me, art loading screens break up the experience too much, kind of kill the feeling that you were traveling from one place to another, and hurt the immersion factor.
I thought the starting cities in EQ2 involved WAY too much zoning. That is, in fact, what drove my husband away from EQ2 the first time we gave it a try. I have to admit that I didn't care for it much either, but once I got out of the city, there was some relief. Greater Fay/Kelethin in EoF was sooo much better that we were both able to better enjoy the beginning of the game when we took it out for a second run. If it feels like you are zoning at least once every 5 minutes, it can be a dealbreaker.
I really liked being able to look at the horizon and just run there in Asheron's Call, and I do a great deal of running even when shortcuts are available to me in Lineage 2 as well. A seamless world is nice, but zones are a minor factor in whether or not I will ultimately enjoy the game.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
I feel extremely fine seeing the whole world all gathered itself, without these 'stops'. The freedom of loading gives the scenario the idea of bigger and wise, nothing particulary tiny and peculiar.
Of course, this may apply on 3d engine games, because the 2d ones need the teleports somehow (most). Besides, even 2d get messed with teleports (not plataform games, but overall).
FF-Fan
(The brand-new soul whom slept his thoughts inside.)