Haha, that's funny. Never thought about that. Instead of complaining about "linear" games, I'm going to start griping about communism seeping into MMO's.
AOC was made by communists? Who knew?
The instances don't really bother me, except when I sync up with my son and we get ported outside of town to the graveyard and have to run back in.
But the zoning of some dungeons is a bit more than I care for.
Still, I'm only level 17, we'll see how it is later in the game.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
For the most part, I have really enjoyed the game so far and have a very positive attitude concerning it. However, I have to admit that the instancing does bother me somewhat. While I understand the need for instancing and benefits on performance and playability it provides, there are certain aspects of the instancing in Age of Conan that really bother me. I see no problem with instancing public questing zones where there are lots of NPCs and locations that could easily become overcrowded. Instancing such areas seems very reasonable and beneficial to the overall enjoyment of the game...
The one place I do not like instancing is for PLAYER CITIES. If Age of Conan is focused so heavily on the conflict for these territories, why are there so many damned instances of the same player city locations? Giving almost every guild the opportunity to build a city hardly leads to conflict over limited resources. How could one powerful guild ever truly gain any political power in the world when there are 10 other instances of each city they hold? What separates these great guilds from their weaker competition?
In my opinion, Funcom HAS TO get rid of the multitude of instances with guild cities for the true conflict and politics I have been hoping for to ever take shape.
Instances have a negative effect socially because its much more rare to see people you know in game.
Lots of friendships in these games start from repeatedly encountering the same people; which is much less likely with everyone spread about different instances.
On the other hand, its nice to have less competition for quest mobs, bosses etc.
I think its acceptable in AoC - I'm loving it so far. But ideally, I'd prefer a game with no instances and just a huge world with lots of options and less people per server. Would much rather have 2k people per server than 10k per server with an average of 5 instances.
Originally posted by VultureSkull Thanks, I can't understand the problem people have with instancing tbh. You got to remember that AOC has collision, so if there were no instancing then no one would be able to move in the cities.
The guild I am a part of has been running together since 1999. They've been through most MMO's together, and know what they like.
We all understand why instances are sometimes necessary, which I believe is to cut load times, lag, bad frame rates, etc.
If they're needed, then they're needed. I still believe all of the above is based on how well the game is coded, so instancing only shows poor design.
Take Vanguard for example. The game was a flop. It was released too early, was buggy as hell, but IMO, it was a bloody fantastic game.
The reason is that there were NO instances.
Our guild gets off on PVP in MMO's. We live PVP, and PVE is just a thing to do to fill in time.
In Vanguard, the most serious fun came from working your way into a dungeon behind a group and then smashing them right when they least expected it. It took control not to get too close, sneakiness, and the joy of hitting them while they had 3-4 mobs on them was awesome fun. On that same note, when we were running in a dungeon, having to have a scout sitting at the back of the pack listening for battle noises from behind the group added a touch of fear before you pulled the next 2 or 3 pull of mobs. There was ALWAYS a chance that you could get smashed the second you pulled that next mob.
It was a huge world, and there were no instances.
Everyone could go everywhere, and anyone could gate-crash any party levelling anywhere.
That is why instances are disliked by so many people. It splits the entire server up. If a game is purely PVE, then I have absolutely no issues with instancing. If a game has PVP involved, then instances do not deserve any place in the game, because you're taking away a core part of the whole PVP aspect.
Most people won't agree with what i've said, because most people like to PVE in peace, or raid in peace.
But anyway, that's my opinion (and all my guild) on why instances have no place in any MMO that includes PVP.
Comments
Lulz, AoC is a commie
Haha, that's funny. Never thought about that. Instead of complaining about "linear" games, I'm going to start griping about communism seeping into MMO's.
AOC was made by communists? Who knew?
The instances don't really bother me, except when I sync up with my son and we get ported outside of town to the graveyard and have to run back in.
But the zoning of some dungeons is a bit more than I care for.
Still, I'm only level 17, we'll see how it is later in the game.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
WRONG. The zones are pretty big .
For the most part, I have really enjoyed the game so far and have a very positive attitude concerning it. However, I have to admit that the instancing does bother me somewhat. While I understand the need for instancing and benefits on performance and playability it provides, there are certain aspects of the instancing in Age of Conan that really bother me. I see no problem with instancing public questing zones where there are lots of NPCs and locations that could easily become overcrowded. Instancing such areas seems very reasonable and beneficial to the overall enjoyment of the game...
The one place I do not like instancing is for PLAYER CITIES. If Age of Conan is focused so heavily on the conflict for these territories, why are there so many damned instances of the same player city locations? Giving almost every guild the opportunity to build a city hardly leads to conflict over limited resources. How could one powerful guild ever truly gain any political power in the world when there are 10 other instances of each city they hold? What separates these great guilds from their weaker competition?
In my opinion, Funcom HAS TO get rid of the multitude of instances with guild cities for the true conflict and politics I have been hoping for to ever take shape.
Instances have a negative effect socially because its much more rare to see people you know in game.
Lots of friendships in these games start from repeatedly encountering the same people; which is much less likely with everyone spread about different instances.
On the other hand, its nice to have less competition for quest mobs, bosses etc.
I think its acceptable in AoC - I'm loving it so far. But ideally, I'd prefer a game with no instances and just a huge world with lots of options and less people per server. Would much rather have 2k people per server than 10k per server with an average of 5 instances.
The guild I am a part of has been running together since 1999. They've been through most MMO's together, and know what they like.
We all understand why instances are sometimes necessary, which I believe is to cut load times, lag, bad frame rates, etc.
If they're needed, then they're needed. I still believe all of the above is based on how well the game is coded, so instancing only shows poor design.
Take Vanguard for example. The game was a flop. It was released too early, was buggy as hell, but IMO, it was a bloody fantastic game.
The reason is that there were NO instances.
Our guild gets off on PVP in MMO's. We live PVP, and PVE is just a thing to do to fill in time.
In Vanguard, the most serious fun came from working your way into a dungeon behind a group and then smashing them right when they least expected it. It took control not to get too close, sneakiness, and the joy of hitting them while they had 3-4 mobs on them was awesome fun. On that same note, when we were running in a dungeon, having to have a scout sitting at the back of the pack listening for battle noises from behind the group added a touch of fear before you pulled the next 2 or 3 pull of mobs. There was ALWAYS a chance that you could get smashed the second you pulled that next mob.
It was a huge world, and there were no instances.
Everyone could go everywhere, and anyone could gate-crash any party levelling anywhere.
That is why instances are disliked by so many people. It splits the entire server up. If a game is purely PVE, then I have absolutely no issues with instancing. If a game has PVP involved, then instances do not deserve any place in the game, because you're taking away a core part of the whole PVP aspect.
Most people won't agree with what i've said, because most people like to PVE in peace, or raid in peace.
But anyway, that's my opinion (and all my guild) on why instances have no place in any MMO that includes PVP.