Stargate Worlds

Originally posted by Smilex0311

I never understood this argument about instancing.  I never found it to be so bad.  

So whats the big deal?  Loading times?  Loading times take only a few seconds ....

What is it ?

There is a difference between zoning and instancing, if you dont know the difference then I feel sorry for you.

Zoning is fine, most people dont mind zoning.  Its the Instancing that screws up alot of games, it allows farmers to farm without anyway to stop them.  It break the flow of the game. It screws the community part of the MMo because most people will just stick to grouping with Guilds and not do pick up groups. It takes away from the adventure part of the game because everyone can just enter an instance and kill the same mob. 

Instance is the single biggest problem with MMOs today.  I can handle some instances, like the ones for story quest, and random missions like EQ1 has with LDoN expansion.

Instances = Multiple layers of the same zone which splits the zones population.

Zones = A region or hunting area.

Thanks for the clarification and for feeling sorry for me...... lol

I have to agree with the OP in a sense.  Instancing has become the norm in western mmorpgs and I disagree with their current overuse.  Hopefully SGW will find a happy medium, because we already know from the devs that there will be instances.  I could live with something similar to how DAOC is set up, I think they did a decent job with determining which areas should have loading zones, most of the large land masses are open and seamless, and there is instancing for special dungeons but not the open dungeons.

Originally posted by Laiina

Then you probably won't be pl;aying many MMO's in the future.

There is simply too much going on in a large MMO for servers to handle without extreme lag.

So I suggest you buy a console game.

sorry, but my 10 years in world class programming says otherwise

1. instancing (or in this case - levels) currently belongs to consoles

if you are going to release your MMO, or are thinking about it, it has to be designed with "instancing"

consoles dont have virtual memory, and theres not much you can upgrade on it

computers can run anything.. a stable 1000mhz can run a modern game, just at a great disadvantage (assuming the game doesnt absolutely require it)

frankly, designing an MMO to work on consoles is asking for death, esp. now

2. have you ever played world of warcraft? i bet you have

proof right there... and it works great on my old 1400mhz on the biggest of raids, with low graphics on, of course

i hardly have any hardware acceleration on it

now, this is where you will say "but the graphics are shit"

its just graphics.. it doesnt really affect anything BUT YOUR OWN COMPUTER

yes, thats right.. it has NOTHING to do with the other end - the servers

do you know what will happen if they release a Crysis MMO?

some people will upgrade their computers, and some will moan and then upgrade, given that the MMO is up to par, or better than the competition

in a nutshell

yours truly

EDIT:  its come to my attention that you werent specifically mentioning graphics, but the obvious still stands -

if you can hold X people in the same "room", you can also hold X people in the same "world"

the leap of faith here is directors will allow programmers to take up the medium-heavy task of programming smooth transitions, which makes a world "continous".. its not an academy-graduate skill

it requires the MMO to be built for it from the start, and you have to have the economy and manpower

small MMO developers will choose instancing, and not tell anyone about it :)

Originally posted by Samuraisword

I believe EVE is still non instanced, it was when I played it. When you fly thru a gate you load a zone aka a star system, but everyone shares the same geographic area. There are not multiple copies of the same geographic area for separate groups of players.

Anytime a specific geographic area exists more than once it is an instance. Old school MMOGs like classic EQ and Horizons didn't employ instancing and I want to play a real MMOG like that again.

 

Hey there. Not bashing you or anything. You have just as much right to your opinion as anyone else. You might want to make sure you understand your example here a bit better though. Just some friendly advice.

I'll not bore you with a long winded explanation, and leave it up to you to find out about it yourself if you want to, but there are some very specific reasons why EvE can do what it does, and these aren't things that other MMOs can really copy.

Originally posted by BlakeySGV

Originally posted by Samuraisword

I believe EVE is still non instanced, it was when I played it. When you fly thru a gate you load a zone aka a star system, but everyone shares the same geographic area. There are not multiple copies of the same geographic area for separate groups of players.

Anytime a specific geographic area exists more than once it is an instance. Old school MMOGs like classic EQ and Horizons didn't employ instancing and I want to play a real MMOG like that again.

 

 

Hey there. Not bashing you or anything. You have just as much right to your opinion as anyone else. You might want to make sure you understand your example here a bit better though. Just some friendly advice.

I'll not bore you with a long winded explanation, and leave it up to you to find out about it yourself if you want to, but there are some very specific reasons why EvE can do what it does, and these aren't things that other MMOs can really copy.

you basically said nothing with your post

are you referring to the clustering one-server world? or are you talking about why its not instanced?

there is absolutely no reason for a PC game to be instanced, unless the programmers are sub-par

or the game director wants to hold the door open for a console version, in which case he should be burned with cigarettes

Well you have your opinion, and I have mine. That's the beauty of people interacting like this. We don't all have to think the same.   

i suggest you go back to Eve, because you shouldn't be playing any other MMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instance_dungeon

Originally posted by Samuraisword

I don't care if it's permanent instancing like dungeons in WoW, or instancing on demand to prevent lag like EQ2 or AoC, or scenario/mission/quest instancing like LoTRO.

If there is any instancing, any at all, I will not play this game. Are you listening Devs?

I like open worlds to explore AND I like instancing.  I think good games have both. 
 

Exploring an open non-instanced world is a lot of fun.  Meeting new people in a wide-open evironment is also fun.  Waiting for my turn at a spawn point isn't fun.  Waiting for my crack at "the" key that everyone needs in a non-instanced environment also isn't fun.  Lagging out because their are a bazillion players in one area isn't fun etc..

Instancing or non-instancing isn't the real debate for me.  I think it's more about how instancing is used.  It can be used poorly, or it can be used wisely. 

If there's so much instancing that there isn't an open world (or worlds) to explore and meet people in, that's a drag.