WiccanCircle no offense but I don't think you have a damn clue what the hell people are talking about when they say instance. If your playing aoc no matter what zone your in, you are in an instance. Each zone spawns a copy of itself after it reaches a player limit, so saying you havn't instanced since whenever is false, no matter where you are at you are instance, Instance does not = load screen. For example if your in totrtage you can click the triangle and click select instance a list would pop up w/ tortage 1 2 3 4 alpha, blah blah list. Most people don't mind zones, the fact every zone spawns tons of copies of itself and you can port tortage 1 to tortage 30 is ridiculous, its like this for every zone, and breaks immersion for people. If I'm getting ganked and harassed by someone on pvp server, np I will just port to the alternate dimension #15 and prob never see that player again, problem solved. Jesus christ how can people not understand this.
Its no wonder i never believe the hype-meter on this forum and in many cases it was just wrong, if even customer/player are not honest about a game review - what a shame. Not only advertiser, companies manipulate ratings now also part of the own player community, what the hell.
Some people consider to upgrade their pc and invest lots of money to play this game, its a shame that some fo you guys give out wrong information and shows you dont take any responsibility for others. This is really not funny. Thx for the thread starter to give a honest review whats going on after lvl 20, since lots of people will decide to buy this game based on exactly these informations.
It's funny...the OP is giving an "honest" review and those who say differently than him are suddenly wrong. You honestly don't know how the system works but decide to take the side of the OP because it is negative? That truly makes no sense. So you're basically saying to all those who experienced the game (far further levels than the OP stated he did) were wrong and they are disillusioned? But the OP is automatically correct based on what actually? Do you know him? Do you know those that stated the opposite of him?
Point is you can take most of these "reviews" with a grain of salt. Some you can tell are objective and others you will see all types from those who see nothing but positive and those who seek nothing but the negative. But you probably shouldn't just suddenly discredit a handful of others because of a post with a different view. Heh in any case enjoy whatever game that you do then.
2 days ago some people said there is no instance after lvl 20 and its like a traditional mmorpg with a persistant world. Now after player got to lvl 20, it seems it is not correct. Is it so difficult to tell if there are instances or not ? Dont worry i did enjoy games since the 80ies and i know what i want in a game and what i like or dislike. Of course i will wait some days to get more infos about this, since it seems people dont know the difference between zones and instances. And instances in a game is just a no go for a big part of real mmorpgers.
I am a bit confused about what i am reading, the game is instanced, or is it zones,
zones mean that the part of the world you go into can hold your group and others not i n your group usually up to where theres a server load in which case they will make another mirror of that zone for the ones that dont fit to go into
INSTANCE means you, your group, your raid can only enter, and there is a copy for this for everyone to do
are people getting these two things confused, because i am reading many conflicting posts about after lvl 20.
I am a bit confused about what i am reading, the game is instanced, or is it zones, zones mean that the part of the world you go into can hold your group and others not i n your group usually up to where theres a server load in which case they will make another mirror of that zone for the ones that dont fit to go into INSTANCE means you, your group, your raid can only enter, and there is a copy for this for everyone to do are people getting these two things confused, because i am reading many conflicting posts about after lvl 20.
No no no.
Its liek this. Zone can hold MAX 100 player, so for example you and your group with 9 players and other 90 players, that will make 100 players. so once that limit riched there is anothe zone for other 100 players and so on but you want see them since they are in other instance.
If I were Conan I'd order this game destroyed. 5 years they took to build this... it's Vanguard 2.0... only instead of anything resembling progress, gone is the seamless world, replaced with arbitrary instances and piss-poor game design. Failed.
I'm gald to see that atleast a few other people feel the same way I do about this game.
I played in the closed beta and saw even then that the basic premise behind this game was flawed. The highly vaunted combat system seemed boring to me, leveling was tedious and the supposedly great storyline and NPC interaction didn't impress me either.
I tried to warn people about the game but everyone just accused me of being an AoC hater and quoted stuff off the AoC website about how awsome the game was going to be. Pffft. Morons. I hope they enjoy their crappy Vanguard clone.
I am a bit confused about what i am reading, the game is instanced, or is it zones, zones mean that the part of the world you go into can hold your group and others not i n your group usually up to where theres a server load in which case they will make another mirror of that zone for the ones that dont fit to go into INSTANCE means you, your group, your raid can only enter, and there is a copy for this for everyone to do are people getting these two things confused, because i am reading many conflicting posts about after lvl 20.
/facepalm. Every single zone in AoC has a player limit, when that limit is reached, the zone makes a copy of itself. So if your in Zone A, and you friend is in Zone A, and you tell him to meet you somewhere, you could both be in the same zone and same spot, but not see each other, because he is in Zone A #10 and your in Zone A # 18. click the triangle top right of screen next time your in game, and hit select instance, you can port from instance to instance of the same zone. Its hardly even an mmorpg built like this. So much fun next gen, good graphics don't make a game, gameplay does and this is a huge step back. I had huge hopes for this game and waited years for this epic linear instanced dissapointment.
To be like Guild Wars, every outdoor zone would be accessible only by you and your group. Only towns would be "public", and you'd have to group up before you leave.
AoC has one facet of GW's zone instancing -- but to say the entire game is instanced like Guild Wars is a horrible spin that I'm getting tired of people passing off as valid.
NOTE: This fact doesn't mean it's better or worse than GW, or better or worse than you expected -- but the terminology needs to match up.
I am a bit confused about what i am reading, the game is instanced, or is it zones, zones mean that the part of the world you go into can hold your group and others not i n your group usually up to where theres a server load in which case they will make another mirror of that zone for the ones that dont fit to go into INSTANCE means you, your group, your raid can only enter, and there is a copy for this for everyone to do are people getting these two things confused, because i am reading many conflicting posts about after lvl 20.
No no no.
Its liek this. Zone can hold MAX 100 player, so for example you and your group with 9 players and other 90 players, that will make 100 players. so once that limit riched there is anothe zone for other 100 players and so on but you want see them since they are in other instance.
No. No No.
What's commonly meant by zones and instances in MMORPG parlance is this:
ZONE - a discrete part of a game world. You might get a loading screen while entering (EVE online) or you can do it smoothly (Like WoW). All MMOS have this. You can't create a world holding 1000s of players without separating it into zones.
INSTANCING - multiple copies of the same zone can exist at the same time - Guild Wars, Hellgate and EQ2 are all instanced because multiple copies of the same zone can exist at the same time.
ZONING - an act of moving from one zone to another. Used derogatory for the immersion breaking moment this happens, although some games mask it really well - WOW with preloading and EvE with a valid justification in lore ("you're not loading the new zone, you're warp jumping" - yeah right)
So:
EVE - Zoned
WOW - Mostly zoned with selective instancing (bgs and dungeons)
Guild Wars - instanced
Age of Conan - INSTANCED - because multiple copies of the same zone exist, and not only when they fill up. They are always on for the vast majority of the world. (I heard that there are is no auto-instancing for capital cities but this is not yet confirmed).
A bit of confusion comes from the fact that in AoC random people can end up in the same instance. However this doesn't change the fact that it is INSTANCED. We can make a new term for it, like.. "dynamically instanced" or even better "randomly instanced" to differentiate from GW-style group instancing. Nevertheless, it is an instanced game.
Personally I have no problem whatsoever with zoning and loading screens are just a minor annoyance to me. However excessive instancing without any lore justification is a total party breaker. All the players are dimensional phase-hoppers without any reason or sense about it. WTF?
I couldn't stomach it in GW which seems awesomely well designed game otherwise and I sure as hell won't put up with it in a half-job like AoC.
I am a bit confused about what i am reading, the game is instanced, or is it zones, zones mean that the part of the world you go into can hold your group and others not i n your group usually up to where theres a server load in which case they will make another mirror of that zone for the ones that dont fit to go into INSTANCE means you, your group, your raid can only enter, and there is a copy for this for everyone to do are people getting these two things confused, because i am reading many conflicting posts about after lvl 20.
No no no.
Its liek this. Zone can hold MAX 100 player, so for example you and your group with 9 players and other 90 players, that will make 100 players. so once that limit riched there is anothe zone for other 100 players and so on but you want see them since they are in other instance.
A zone can hold unlimited players ( as much as the server and engine allows), there is no max 100 players . its just a boarder, in most cases you dont have a loading screen, between parts of a persistant world.
i.e. world of warcraft, Eve Online,
An instance is just a copy of the same area, in each copy only a handfull people can spawn and see each other and lots of copies exist, similar to a cluster server but u cant see the people which dont belong to the instance. every instance has a loading screen and every instance is a part of the existing world which is not persistant.
i.e. GuildWars, EQ2
A persistant world without zones and instances which can hold 1000s of players, well you can imagine it
Well, after reading the OP's post... I have to say I'm more than a little amused at the various attempts at misconstruing or spinning what they said completely out of context, just to be able to bash them for posting it.
Like any other MMO, AoC has its population of fanboys who will tolerate no crticism of the game without going apes**t at the person posting it.
The canned retorts, like "go back to WoW" - seriously... give it a rest. It's such a lame, over-used and absurd rebuttal that says only "I have no good rebuttal, but I don't like you criticizing my game, so I'm going to insult you instead".
For one, the example he gives - of someone being able to avoid PvP by instance hopping is pretty messed up for a PvP game. What one thinks of PvP, or the PvP servers, or those who play on them is irrelevant. Being able to run up and gank someone, then avoid all retaliation by simply clicking yourself into another instance is pretty lame.
In a PvE game... can maybe be abused, but no harm no foul as I'm sure the mobs aren't sentient enough to get ticked. In a PvP game where both sides are player controlled, though? That would definitely be abuse IMO. Frankly, it sounds like a gank squad's dream come true and, unless Funcom makes a change to it, I'd bet money it's going to be abused heavily to that end.
Here's an example of a situation that happens in any PvP MMO I've played...
Someone attacks another player thinking they're going to gank them easily. The person they're attacking ends up being a better or more powerful player and quickly turns the tables... The would-be ganker realizes they're going to die and so quickly hops to another instance to run away from a fight that they started.
That, to me, is abuse of a system that I'm sure isn't intended for that kind of use. IMO, a fix for it could be that you can't switch instances while in combat or for a brief period of time once you're out.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I'm standing in Instance "Thor" of the Wildands right now, alongside instance "Nu" and "Balder", there were a dozen last night, but it's early morning now. Open world in AoC is a lie. It's like a counterstrike lobby. The world is devoid of any consistency, double click on a boat and zone into another random instance. I was spurred on by the promises that everything gets better past the first few levels, I find that these are simpy lies. The game is a mangled, buggy mess of instances and zones, but I won't go into the myriad of bugs - I'm quite tolerant of such things in a new MMO. My issue is with how the game is designed from the ground up. The really disappointing thing is how this affects PvP, you really don't have to worry at all about pissing someone off because you can easily change instances at any moment. This also allows insta-travel back to the zone in, among other things. Do not believe what people are telling you, the game doesn't suddenly become "open" at higher levels. I will finish by relating my experience with PvP. A guy was being a moron over [OOC], announcing whenever he was ganking someone. Several people started to get irked and threaten him. This is a PvP server, you act like an asshole, expect to get ganked. Some of us decided to go find him and chop off his head or whatever. We searched and searched, but in the end it was fruitless, he was in another instance. He taunted us, and said that if we ganged up on him and found him, he would simply swap instances as soon as we approached, and he could continue spamming crap in OOC for all of us to see. If I were Conan I'd order this game destroyed. 5 years they took to build this... it's Vanguard 2.0... only instead of anything resembling progress, gone is the seamless world, replaced with arbitrary instances and piss-poor game design. Failed.
You sir, are an idiot.
The zones are far larger than any MMO I've ever played. Which include DAoC, WoW and LoTR. I won't throw UO in there because the design was something completely different than todays MMO's. And when I say larger, I mean.. WAYYY larger. The only real difference in the seemless world is that you have to load between zones. It isn't random, if you are going to Stygia, it takes you to a small zone outside the gigantic quest/play zones, then you run out of the city through a gate and you load into them. Yes, instances kind of suck. However, stopping players from changing instances while in combat would be an easy fix. Stopping players from changing instances multiple times in a certain period of time is something else that can fix the issue. Having people load in to the closest resurrection spot while changing instances could help stop jumping from one end of the zone to the other. You are complaining about things that have easy fixes, and these things are definitely going to be addressed. If you want to make a point about core mechanics of the game, then mention some core mechanics. Don't spout BS about minor details that are going to be fixed in the near future. It's pointless, and you're only making yourself look stupid.
The game, itself, has very VERY little bugs and/or glitches. The zones are far larger than the Tortage zones, and those aren't that small to begin with. The quests actually have story to them.. so far (I'm level 44), jut no voice overs. The areas are very detailed and each one is vastly different from the next. Very well designed dungeon areas.. what game are you playing? If your only complaint is instancing.. I don't believe that's nearly enough to label a game a failure and that it should be subjected to a bonfire burning.
How long did we play everquest? That game was exactly the same. Maybe a few less instances, but the world was very similar in design. By the way, is there another MMO with better graphics. Combat is awesome in the open world as well. You are just another damn trolling naysayer that didn't get enough love and attention from their parents and think that they will get more respect by bashing something that they don't like.
ZONE - a discrete part of a game world. You might get a loading screen while entering (EVE online) or you can do it smoothly (Like WoW). All MMOS have this. You can't create a world holding 1000s of players without separating it into zones.
It is possible with cluster servers, battleground europe/ww2online has no zones and no instance and can hold 1000s of players without seperating into zones
recant is a simple world of daily craft fanboi. unable to give up time invested and quick to judge anything "they dont like" or that is not in keeping with their goals and desires. wierd how folks continue to do this.
simply put, opinionate posts like this do nothing but increase the fanbois post count. folks need to get a handle on their own lack of wisdom (in the bad sense) and before they post understand what it truly means to give an opinion and not be opinionated.
to date i have not seen a single competant review done by anyone or any mmorpg forum or site that isnt opinionated in some way. whatever happened to unbiased reporting? "i have done this, i have done that", who cares! make a simple factual report that doesnt include your life history or what you like or dislike. As dull as it is, this type of reporting is needed. havent seen any in years, litteraly.
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
WiccanCircle no offense but I don't think you have a damn clue what the hell people are talking about when they say instance. If your playing aoc no matter what zone your in, you are in an instance. Each zone spawns a copy of itself after it reaches a player limit, so saying you havn't instanced since whenever is false, no matter where you are at you are instance, Instance does not = load screen. For example if your in totrtage you can click the triangle and click select instance a list would pop up w/ tortage 1 2 3 4 alpha, blah blah list. Most people don't mind zones, the fact every zone spawns tons of copies of itself and you can port tortage 1 to tortage 30 is ridiculous, its like this for every zone, and breaks immersion for people. If I'm getting ganked and harassed by someone on pvp server, np I will just port to the alternate dimension #15 and prob never see that player again, problem solved. Jesus christ how can people not understand this.
Duh. I have a complete understanding of the difference between a zone and an instance. But the attacks are carefully using these two words interchangeably to discredit this game. People that have not played this are thinking it is something that it is not.
And since people here and on other boards are using the two interchangeably in order to attack the game. So will I in order to defend it. Anyone at all that I see playing in my zone I will continue to see playing in my zone until I or they leave it. Period. Nobody disappears and reappears elsewhere. Nobody that is in my team ever goes in to another instance unless THEY do it to themselves by clicking it. You want to play in the same instance as your team? Super, fabulous, great because unless you make a dumb choice to purposefully remove yourself from that instance you do! It is no different than somebody on my team leaving this server and going to another server by CHOICE.
It is the kidiots in PvP that are having an issue with this. And here I thought they wanted no-rule Pvp?
Getting some dork kid to instance-jump during pvp is not something over 90% of the poplation of this game care one wit about. PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid, and having the ability to "Beam Me Up, Scotty" to another dimention is just another part of the stupidity that 90% of the MMO market stay away from anyhow. That little insignificant aspect of the silly pvp part of this toy doesn't damage the entire game one bit. It is part of the penance you PvP servers have to pay for F-ing up the archery range in this game.
As for breaking immersion... how many people do you want to have standing around hunting the exact same critter you are? Haven't people been crying rivers over camping? Kill stealing? There are volumes writen about this whine. So now you want Kill Stealing and hours and hours of Camping back in your game? Make up your minds.
Besides, this all comes down to a simple fact. We would not have to deal with instancing nearly as much if more of the loser population would upgrade their WoW-playing, Toaster Oven level computers. Perhaps when all the subscribers with crappy computers finally shut up and go back to Candyland WoW we can start to center this game around better equipment which are better able to handle the intense level of graphics and non-autoattack mode of combat.
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
[quote] PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid[/quote]
PvP was the biggest selling point of the whole game, This game was directed at PvPers!, (Notice they refused to make an Rp-Pve server? Was for a reason) who were promised a massive open world. And what they got was a linear instanced, dimension warping piece of shit that that has no depth at all because it sacraficed everything for prettier graphics. The only time mob camping and stealing is a problem is at release, and any mmo vet knows that and expects it. Sorry for venting /rant off.
WiccanCircle no offense but I don't think you have a damn clue what the hell people are talking about when they say instance. If your playing aoc no matter what zone your in, you are in an instance. Each zone spawns a copy of itself after it reaches a player limit, so saying you havn't instanced since whenever is false, no matter where you are at you are instance, Instance does not = load screen. For example if your in totrtage you can click the triangle and click select instance a list would pop up w/ tortage 1 2 3 4 alpha, blah blah list. Most people don't mind zones, the fact every zone spawns tons of copies of itself and you can port tortage 1 to tortage 30 is ridiculous, its like this for every zone, and breaks immersion for people. If I'm getting ganked and harassed by someone on pvp server, np I will just port to the alternate dimension #15 and prob never see that player again, problem solved. Jesus christ how can people not understand this.
Duh. I have a complete understanding of the difference between a zone and an instance. But the attacks are carefully using these two words interchangeably to discredit this game. People that have not played this are thinking it is something that it is not.
And since people here and on other boards are using the two interchangeably in order to attack the game. So will I in order to defend it. Anyone at all that I see playing in my zone I will continue to see playing in my zone until I or they leave it. Period. Nobody disappears and reappears elsewhere. Nobody that is in my team ever goes in to another instance unless THEY do it to themselves by clicking it. You want to play in the same instance as your team? Super, fabulous, great because unless you make a dumb choice to purposefully remove yourself from that instance you do! It is no different than somebody on my team leaving this server and going to another server by CHOICE.
It is the kidiots in PvP that are having an issue with this. And here I thought they wanted no-rule Pvp?
Getting some dork kid to instance-jump during pvp is not something over 90% of the poplation of this game care one wit about. PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid, and having the ability to "Beam Me Up, Scotty" to another dimention is just another part of the stupidity that 90% of the MMO market stay away from anyhow. That little insignificant aspect of the silly pvp part of this toy doesn't damage the entire game one bit. It is part of the penance you PvP servers have to pay for F-ing up the archery range in this game.
As for breaking immersion... how many people do you want to have standing around hunting the exact same critter you are? Haven't people been crying rivers over camping? Kill stealing? There are volumes writen about this whine. So now you want Kill Stealing and hours and hours of Camping back in your game? Make up your minds.
Besides, this all comes down to a simple fact. We would not have to deal with instancing nearly as much if more of the loser population would upgrade their WoW-playing, Toaster Oven level computers. Perhaps when all the subscribers with crappy computers finally shut up and go back to Candyland WoW we can start to center this game around better equipment which are better able to handle the intense level of graphics and non-autoattack mode of combat.
...you're still harping on the fact that the game is not instanced?
It quite clearly is. I'm not exactly sure what point you are trying to prove. Ok, let's take any other MMO out there, let's say World of Warcraft for instance. There is no multiple instances of cities, there is not multiple instances of world areas. In Age of Conan there is. When the player cap of 50 or so people in any area, any area at all, a new instance is generated. This is why a lot of people have been comparing Age of Conan to Guild Wars, because it uses a very similar system.
WiccanCircle no offense but I don't think you have a damn clue what the hell people are talking about when they say instance. If your playing aoc no matter what zone your in, you are in an instance. Each zone spawns a copy of itself after it reaches a player limit, so saying you havn't instanced since whenever is false, no matter where you are at you are instance, Instance does not = load screen. For example if your in totrtage you can click the triangle and click select instance a list would pop up w/ tortage 1 2 3 4 alpha, blah blah list. Most people don't mind zones, the fact every zone spawns tons of copies of itself and you can port tortage 1 to tortage 30 is ridiculous, its like this for every zone, and breaks immersion for people. If I'm getting ganked and harassed by someone on pvp server, np I will just port to the alternate dimension #15 and prob never see that player again, problem solved. Jesus christ how can people not understand this.
Duh. I have a complete understanding of the difference between a zone and an instance. But the attacks are carefully using these two words interchangeably to discredit this game. People that have not played this are thinking it is something that it is not.
And since people here and on other boards are using the two interchangeably in order to attack the game. So will I in order to defend it. Anyone at all that I see playing in my zone I will continue to see playing in my zone until I or they leave it. Period. Nobody disappears and reappears elsewhere. Nobody that is in my team ever goes in to another instance unless THEY do it to themselves by clicking it. You want to play in the same instance as your team? Super, fabulous, great because unless you make a dumb choice to purposefully remove yourself from that instance you do! It is no different than somebody on my team leaving this server and going to another server by CHOICE.
It is the kidiots in PvP that are having an issue with this. And here I thought they wanted no-rule Pvp?
Getting some dork kid to instance-jump during pvp is not something over 90% of the poplation of this game care one wit about. PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid, and having the ability to "Beam Me Up, Scotty" to another dimention is just another part of the stupidity that 90% of the MMO market stay away from anyhow. That little insignificant aspect of the silly pvp part of this toy doesn't damage the entire game one bit. It is part of the penance you PvP servers have to pay for F-ing up the archery range in this game.
As for breaking immersion... how many people do you want to have standing around hunting the exact same critter you are? Haven't people been crying rivers over camping? Kill stealing? There are volumes writen about this whine. So now you want Kill Stealing and hours and hours of Camping back in your game? Make up your minds.
Besides, this all comes down to a simple fact. We would not have to deal with instancing nearly as much if more of the loser population would upgrade their WoW-playing, Toaster Oven level computers. Perhaps when all the subscribers with crappy computers finally shut up and go back to Candyland WoW we can start to center this game around better equipment which are better able to handle the intense level of graphics and non-autoattack mode of combat.
The point of this thread was to discredit the claims of people who said that instancing only applied to the 1-20 game. It was misleading. I wasn't really concerned about zoning, but obviously the two are intertwined.
To some, like yourself, this is obviously not an issue. But to many, like myself, instancing is a deal breaker because it simply doesn't exist to the extent it does in other games.
You can call WoW names if it makes you feel better, but for people who are used to a seamless and non-instanced open world, AoC can appear like a step backward. Obviously, this is a complete personal preference.
Blaming people's PCs is also an easy excuse, the game obviously isn't optimised that well - it's not making best use of resources for the results we're getting on screen. Not all 3D engines are born equal, and even games that use the same engine can be brought to a halt with inefficient world design. Still, it's better than some games.
I'm just letting people know. Everything is instanced - even the cities have multiple copies of themselves running. But just like Counterstrike players don't care what is happening on another server, if you ignore the fact the guy you met earlier is actually where you are now, but you cant see him, because he's in an alternative reality, AoC provides entertainment for those who are forgiving.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
If I were Conan I'd order this game destroyed. 5 years they took to build this... it's Vanguard 2.0... only instead of anything resembling progress, gone is the seamless world, replaced with arbitrary instances and piss-poor game design. Failed.
I'm gald to see that atleast a few other people feel the same way I do about this game.
I played in the closed beta and saw even then that the basic premise behind this game was flawed. The highly vaunted combat system seemed boring to me, leveling was tedious and the supposedly great storyline and NPC interaction didn't impress me either.
I tried to warn people about the game but everyone just accused me of being an AoC hater and quoted stuff off the AoC website about how awsome the game was going to be. Pffft. Morons. I hope they enjoy their crappy Vanguard clone.
If I were Conan I'd order this game destroyed. 5 years they took to build this... it's Vanguard 2.0... only instead of anything resembling progress, gone is the seamless world, replaced with arbitrary instances and piss-poor game design. Failed.
I'm gald to see that atleast a few other people feel the same way I do about this game.
I played in the closed beta and saw even then that the basic premise behind this game was flawed. The highly vaunted combat system seemed boring to me, leveling was tedious and the supposedly great storyline and NPC interaction didn't impress me either.
I tried to warn people about the game but everyone just accused me of being an AoC hater and quoted stuff off the AoC website about how awsome the game was going to be. Pffft. Morons. I hope they enjoy their crappy Vanguard clone.
Not a Vanguard clone. Vanguard has no instances.
I was wrong to compare it to Vanguard, although the visual style in some places is very similar - both use speedtree - making the trees look almost identical in both games - both have a certain sharpness about their graphics. I would have to say though, that what AoC loses in instancing, it makes up for in art direction - it cannot be faulted, it's a very beautiful game.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
Comments
WiccanCircle no offense but I don't think you have a damn clue what the hell people are talking about when they say instance. If your playing aoc no matter what zone your in, you are in an instance. Each zone spawns a copy of itself after it reaches a player limit, so saying you havn't instanced since whenever is false, no matter where you are at you are instance, Instance does not = load screen. For example if your in totrtage you can click the triangle and click select instance a list would pop up w/ tortage 1 2 3 4 alpha, blah blah list. Most people don't mind zones, the fact every zone spawns tons of copies of itself and you can port tortage 1 to tortage 30 is ridiculous, its like this for every zone, and breaks immersion for people. If I'm getting ganked and harassed by someone on pvp server, np I will just port to the alternate dimension #15 and prob never see that player again, problem solved. Jesus christ how can people not understand this.
Point is you can take most of these "reviews" with a grain of salt. Some you can tell are objective and others you will see all types from those who see nothing but positive and those who seek nothing but the negative. But you probably shouldn't just suddenly discredit a handful of others because of a post with a different view. Heh in any case enjoy whatever game that you do then.
2 days ago some people said there is no instance after lvl 20 and its like a traditional mmorpg with a persistant world. Now after player got to lvl 20, it seems it is not correct. Is it so difficult to tell if there are instances or not ? Dont worry i did enjoy games since the 80ies and i know what i want in a game and what i like or dislike. Of course i will wait some days to get more infos about this, since it seems people dont know the difference between zones and instances. And instances in a game is just a no go for a big part of real mmorpgers.
AoC is instaced, same way like GW. The only difference that AoC instancec can hold up to 100 players.
BUT WHO CARES, IF YOU WANT SANDBOXC GAME WITH OPEN WORLD GO FIND ANOTHER MMO.
AoC got its own plusses and minuses. For Example Combat system is a Plus but instacing is a minus.
I am a bit confused about what i am reading, the game is instanced, or is it zones,
zones mean that the part of the world you go into can hold your group and others not i n your group usually up to where theres a server load in which case they will make another mirror of that zone for the ones that dont fit to go into
INSTANCE means you, your group, your raid can only enter, and there is a copy for this for everyone to do
are people getting these two things confused, because i am reading many conflicting posts about after lvl 20.
playing eq2 and two worlds
No no no.
Its liek this. Zone can hold MAX 100 player, so for example you and your group with 9 players and other 90 players, that will make 100 players. so once that limit riched there is anothe zone for other 100 players and so on but you want see them since they are in other instance.
I played in the closed beta and saw even then that the basic premise behind this game was flawed. The highly vaunted combat system seemed boring to me, leveling was tedious and the supposedly great storyline and NPC interaction didn't impress me either.
I tried to warn people about the game but everyone just accused me of being an AoC hater and quoted stuff off the AoC website about how awsome the game was going to be. Pffft. Morons. I hope they enjoy their crappy Vanguard clone.
The History of the Order of The Golden Shields
/facepalm. Every single zone in AoC has a player limit, when that limit is reached, the zone makes a copy of itself. So if your in Zone A, and you friend is in Zone A, and you tell him to meet you somewhere, you could both be in the same zone and same spot, but not see each other, because he is in Zone A #10 and your in Zone A # 18. click the triangle top right of screen next time your in game, and hit select instance, you can port from instance to instance of the same zone. Its hardly even an mmorpg built like this. So much fun next gen, good graphics don't make a game, gameplay does and this is a huge step back. I had huge hopes for this game and waited years for this epic linear instanced dissapointment.
Yes, it's instanced.
No, not like Guild Wars.
To be like Guild Wars, every outdoor zone would be accessible only by you and your group. Only towns would be "public", and you'd have to group up before you leave.
AoC has one facet of GW's zone instancing -- but to say the entire game is instanced like Guild Wars is a horrible spin that I'm getting tired of people passing off as valid.
NOTE: This fact doesn't mean it's better or worse than GW, or better or worse than you expected -- but the terminology needs to match up.
No no no.
Its liek this. Zone can hold MAX 100 player, so for example you and your group with 9 players and other 90 players, that will make 100 players. so once that limit riched there is anothe zone for other 100 players and so on but you want see them since they are in other instance.
No. No No.
What's commonly meant by zones and instances in MMORPG parlance is this:
ZONE - a discrete part of a game world. You might get a loading screen while entering (EVE online) or you can do it smoothly (Like WoW). All MMOS have this. You can't create a world holding 1000s of players without separating it into zones.
INSTANCING - multiple copies of the same zone can exist at the same time - Guild Wars, Hellgate and EQ2 are all instanced because multiple copies of the same zone can exist at the same time.
ZONING - an act of moving from one zone to another. Used derogatory for the immersion breaking moment this happens, although some games mask it really well - WOW with preloading and EvE with a valid justification in lore ("you're not loading the new zone, you're warp jumping" - yeah right)
So:
EVE - Zoned
WOW - Mostly zoned with selective instancing (bgs and dungeons)
Guild Wars - instanced
Age of Conan - INSTANCED - because multiple copies of the same zone exist, and not only when they fill up. They are always on for the vast majority of the world. (I heard that there are is no auto-instancing for capital cities but this is not yet confirmed).
A bit of confusion comes from the fact that in AoC random people can end up in the same instance. However this doesn't change the fact that it is INSTANCED. We can make a new term for it, like.. "dynamically instanced" or even better "randomly instanced" to differentiate from GW-style group instancing. Nevertheless, it is an instanced game.
Personally I have no problem whatsoever with zoning and loading screens are just a minor annoyance to me. However excessive instancing without any lore justification is a total party breaker. All the players are dimensional phase-hoppers without any reason or sense about it. WTF?
I couldn't stomach it in GW which seems awesomely well designed game otherwise and I sure as hell won't put up with it in a half-job like AoC.
I want to personnaly thank the Original Poster for saving me $50.00 and 32 gigs of Harddrive space.I'll stick with BF2
No no no.
Its liek this. Zone can hold MAX 100 player, so for example you and your group with 9 players and other 90 players, that will make 100 players. so once that limit riched there is anothe zone for other 100 players and so on but you want see them since they are in other instance.
A zone can hold unlimited players ( as much as the server and engine allows), there is no max 100 players . its just a boarder, in most cases you dont have a loading screen, between parts of a persistant world.
i.e. world of warcraft, Eve Online,
An instance is just a copy of the same area, in each copy only a handfull people can spawn and see each other and lots of copies exist, similar to a cluster server but u cant see the people which dont belong to the instance. every instance has a loading screen and every instance is a part of the existing world which is not persistant.
i.e. GuildWars, EQ2
A persistant world without zones and instances which can hold 1000s of players, well you can imagine it
i.e. Battleground Europe - ww2online
Well, after reading the OP's post... I have to say I'm more than a little amused at the various attempts at misconstruing or spinning what they said completely out of context, just to be able to bash them for posting it.
Like any other MMO, AoC has its population of fanboys who will tolerate no crticism of the game without going apes**t at the person posting it.
The canned retorts, like "go back to WoW" - seriously... give it a rest. It's such a lame, over-used and absurd rebuttal that says only "I have no good rebuttal, but I don't like you criticizing my game, so I'm going to insult you instead".
For one, the example he gives - of someone being able to avoid PvP by instance hopping is pretty messed up for a PvP game. What one thinks of PvP, or the PvP servers, or those who play on them is irrelevant. Being able to run up and gank someone, then avoid all retaliation by simply clicking yourself into another instance is pretty lame.
In a PvE game... can maybe be abused, but no harm no foul as I'm sure the mobs aren't sentient enough to get ticked. In a PvP game where both sides are player controlled, though? That would definitely be abuse IMO. Frankly, it sounds like a gank squad's dream come true and, unless Funcom makes a change to it, I'd bet money it's going to be abused heavily to that end.
Here's an example of a situation that happens in any PvP MMO I've played...
Someone attacks another player thinking they're going to gank them easily. The person they're attacking ends up being a better or more powerful player and quickly turns the tables... The would-be ganker realizes they're going to die and so quickly hops to another instance to run away from a fight that they started.
That, to me, is abuse of a system that I'm sure isn't intended for that kind of use. IMO, a fix for it could be that you can't switch instances while in combat or for a brief period of time once you're out.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
The zones are far larger than any MMO I've ever played. Which include DAoC, WoW and LoTR. I won't throw UO in there because the design was something completely different than todays MMO's. And when I say larger, I mean.. WAYYY larger. The only real difference in the seemless world is that you have to load between zones. It isn't random, if you are going to Stygia, it takes you to a small zone outside the gigantic quest/play zones, then you run out of the city through a gate and you load into them. Yes, instances kind of suck. However, stopping players from changing instances while in combat would be an easy fix. Stopping players from changing instances multiple times in a certain period of time is something else that can fix the issue. Having people load in to the closest resurrection spot while changing instances could help stop jumping from one end of the zone to the other. You are complaining about things that have easy fixes, and these things are definitely going to be addressed. If you want to make a point about core mechanics of the game, then mention some core mechanics. Don't spout BS about minor details that are going to be fixed in the near future. It's pointless, and you're only making yourself look stupid.
The game, itself, has very VERY little bugs and/or glitches. The zones are far larger than the Tortage zones, and those aren't that small to begin with. The quests actually have story to them.. so far (I'm level 44), jut no voice overs. The areas are very detailed and each one is vastly different from the next. Very well designed dungeon areas.. what game are you playing? If your only complaint is instancing.. I don't believe that's nearly enough to label a game a failure and that it should be subjected to a bonfire burning.
How long did we play everquest? That game was exactly the same. Maybe a few less instances, but the world was very similar in design. By the way, is there another MMO with better graphics. Combat is awesome in the open world as well. You are just another damn trolling naysayer that didn't get enough love and attention from their parents and think that they will get more respect by bashing something that they don't like.
ZONE - a discrete part of a game world. You might get a loading screen while entering (EVE online) or you can do it smoothly (Like WoW). All MMOS have this. You can't create a world holding 1000s of players without separating it into zones.
It is possible with cluster servers, battleground europe/ww2online has no zones and no instance and can hold 1000s of players without seperating into zones
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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Ya pretty much, linear instanced xbox beta. It doesn't feel like an mmorpg at all.
saw this little gem,
recant is a simple world of daily craft fanboi. unable to give up time invested and quick to judge anything "they dont like" or that is not in keeping with their goals and desires. wierd how folks continue to do this.
simply put, opinionate posts like this do nothing but increase the fanbois post count. folks need to get a handle on their own lack of wisdom (in the bad sense) and before they post understand what it truly means to give an opinion and not be opinionated.
to date i have not seen a single competant review done by anyone or any mmorpg forum or site that isnt opinionated in some way. whatever happened to unbiased reporting? "i have done this, i have done that", who cares! make a simple factual report that doesnt include your life history or what you like or dislike. As dull as it is, this type of reporting is needed. havent seen any in years, litteraly.
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
And since people here and on other boards are using the two interchangeably in order to attack the game. So will I in order to defend it. Anyone at all that I see playing in my zone I will continue to see playing in my zone until I or they leave it. Period. Nobody disappears and reappears elsewhere. Nobody that is in my team ever goes in to another instance unless THEY do it to themselves by clicking it. You want to play in the same instance as your team? Super, fabulous, great because unless you make a dumb choice to purposefully remove yourself from that instance you do! It is no different than somebody on my team leaving this server and going to another server by CHOICE.
It is the kidiots in PvP that are having an issue with this. And here I thought they wanted no-rule Pvp?
Getting some dork kid to instance-jump during pvp is not something over 90% of the poplation of this game care one wit about. PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid, and having the ability to "Beam Me Up, Scotty" to another dimention is just another part of the stupidity that 90% of the MMO market stay away from anyhow. That little insignificant aspect of the silly pvp part of this toy doesn't damage the entire game one bit. It is part of the penance you PvP servers have to pay for F-ing up the archery range in this game.
As for breaking immersion... how many people do you want to have standing around hunting the exact same critter you are? Haven't people been crying rivers over camping? Kill stealing? There are volumes writen about this whine. So now you want Kill Stealing and hours and hours of Camping back in your game? Make up your minds.
Besides, this all comes down to a simple fact. We would not have to deal with instancing nearly as much if more of the loser population would upgrade their WoW-playing, Toaster Oven level computers. Perhaps when all the subscribers with crappy computers finally shut up and go back to Candyland WoW we can start to center this game around better equipment which are better able to handle the intense level of graphics and non-autoattack mode of combat.
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
[quote] PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid[/quote]
PvP was the biggest selling point of the whole game, This game was directed at PvPers!, (Notice they refused to make an Rp-Pve server? Was for a reason) who were promised a massive open world. And what they got was a linear instanced, dimension warping piece of shit that that has no depth at all because it sacraficed everything for prettier graphics. The only time mob camping and stealing is a problem is at release, and any mmo vet knows that and expects it. Sorry for venting /rant off.
Duh. I have a complete understanding of the difference between a zone and an instance. But the attacks are carefully using these two words interchangeably to discredit this game. People that have not played this are thinking it is something that it is not.And since people here and on other boards are using the two interchangeably in order to attack the game. So will I in order to defend it. Anyone at all that I see playing in my zone I will continue to see playing in my zone until I or they leave it. Period. Nobody disappears and reappears elsewhere. Nobody that is in my team ever goes in to another instance unless THEY do it to themselves by clicking it. You want to play in the same instance as your team? Super, fabulous, great because unless you make a dumb choice to purposefully remove yourself from that instance you do! It is no different than somebody on my team leaving this server and going to another server by CHOICE.
It is the kidiots in PvP that are having an issue with this. And here I thought they wanted no-rule Pvp?
Getting some dork kid to instance-jump during pvp is not something over 90% of the poplation of this game care one wit about. PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid, and having the ability to "Beam Me Up, Scotty" to another dimention is just another part of the stupidity that 90% of the MMO market stay away from anyhow. That little insignificant aspect of the silly pvp part of this toy doesn't damage the entire game one bit. It is part of the penance you PvP servers have to pay for F-ing up the archery range in this game.
As for breaking immersion... how many people do you want to have standing around hunting the exact same critter you are? Haven't people been crying rivers over camping? Kill stealing? There are volumes writen about this whine. So now you want Kill Stealing and hours and hours of Camping back in your game? Make up your minds.
Besides, this all comes down to a simple fact. We would not have to deal with instancing nearly as much if more of the loser population would upgrade their WoW-playing, Toaster Oven level computers. Perhaps when all the subscribers with crappy computers finally shut up and go back to Candyland WoW we can start to center this game around better equipment which are better able to handle the intense level of graphics and non-autoattack mode of combat.
...you're still harping on the fact that the game is not instanced?
It quite clearly is. I'm not exactly sure what point you are trying to prove. Ok, let's take any other MMO out there, let's say World of Warcraft for instance. There is no multiple instances of cities, there is not multiple instances of world areas. In Age of Conan there is. When the player cap of 50 or so people in any area, any area at all, a new instance is generated. This is why a lot of people have been comparing Age of Conan to Guild Wars, because it uses a very similar system.
Mne eto nado kak zuby v zadnitse.
pvp is stupid at its core? lawl. What are we all doing here then... lets go play the sims
And since people here and on other boards are using the two interchangeably in order to attack the game. So will I in order to defend it. Anyone at all that I see playing in my zone I will continue to see playing in my zone until I or they leave it. Period. Nobody disappears and reappears elsewhere. Nobody that is in my team ever goes in to another instance unless THEY do it to themselves by clicking it. You want to play in the same instance as your team? Super, fabulous, great because unless you make a dumb choice to purposefully remove yourself from that instance you do! It is no different than somebody on my team leaving this server and going to another server by CHOICE.
It is the kidiots in PvP that are having an issue with this. And here I thought they wanted no-rule Pvp?
Getting some dork kid to instance-jump during pvp is not something over 90% of the poplation of this game care one wit about. PvP is stupid at its core, no consequent FFA PvP is even more stupid, and having the ability to "Beam Me Up, Scotty" to another dimention is just another part of the stupidity that 90% of the MMO market stay away from anyhow. That little insignificant aspect of the silly pvp part of this toy doesn't damage the entire game one bit. It is part of the penance you PvP servers have to pay for F-ing up the archery range in this game.
As for breaking immersion... how many people do you want to have standing around hunting the exact same critter you are? Haven't people been crying rivers over camping? Kill stealing? There are volumes writen about this whine. So now you want Kill Stealing and hours and hours of Camping back in your game? Make up your minds.
Besides, this all comes down to a simple fact. We would not have to deal with instancing nearly as much if more of the loser population would upgrade their WoW-playing, Toaster Oven level computers. Perhaps when all the subscribers with crappy computers finally shut up and go back to Candyland WoW we can start to center this game around better equipment which are better able to handle the intense level of graphics and non-autoattack mode of combat.
The point of this thread was to discredit the claims of people who said that instancing only applied to the 1-20 game. It was misleading. I wasn't really concerned about zoning, but obviously the two are intertwined.
To some, like yourself, this is obviously not an issue. But to many, like myself, instancing is a deal breaker because it simply doesn't exist to the extent it does in other games.
You can call WoW names if it makes you feel better, but for people who are used to a seamless and non-instanced open world, AoC can appear like a step backward. Obviously, this is a complete personal preference.
Blaming people's PCs is also an easy excuse, the game obviously isn't optimised that well - it's not making best use of resources for the results we're getting on screen. Not all 3D engines are born equal, and even games that use the same engine can be brought to a halt with inefficient world design. Still, it's better than some games.
I'm just letting people know. Everything is instanced - even the cities have multiple copies of themselves running. But just like Counterstrike players don't care what is happening on another server, if you ignore the fact the guy you met earlier is actually where you are now, but you cant see him, because he's in an alternative reality, AoC provides entertainment for those who are forgiving.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
I played in the closed beta and saw even then that the basic premise behind this game was flawed. The highly vaunted combat system seemed boring to me, leveling was tedious and the supposedly great storyline and NPC interaction didn't impress me either.
I tried to warn people about the game but everyone just accused me of being an AoC hater and quoted stuff off the AoC website about how awsome the game was going to be. Pffft. Morons. I hope they enjoy their crappy Vanguard clone.
Not a Vanguard clone. Vanguard has no instances.
Good, we will rock in AoC while people aren't talking trash on it no??
I played in the closed beta and saw even then that the basic premise behind this game was flawed. The highly vaunted combat system seemed boring to me, leveling was tedious and the supposedly great storyline and NPC interaction didn't impress me either.
I tried to warn people about the game but everyone just accused me of being an AoC hater and quoted stuff off the AoC website about how awsome the game was going to be. Pffft. Morons. I hope they enjoy their crappy Vanguard clone.
Not a Vanguard clone. Vanguard has no instances.
I was wrong to compare it to Vanguard, although the visual style in some places is very similar - both use speedtree - making the trees look almost identical in both games - both have a certain sharpness about their graphics. I would have to say though, that what AoC loses in instancing, it makes up for in art direction - it cannot be faulted, it's a very beautiful game.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...