Something that hit me when I got to try Aion , a game I was looking for , was the annoying feeling of instanced small zones, I realized I can't go back to that and the next mmo I'll be playing must have a huge amazing world to explore as a minimum like WoW and Lineage 2,

what do you think?

Ah Aion is zoned? Cross that one off my to try list.

Huge seamless world, no doubt. I hate instancing in MMORPGs, defeats the whole purpose of playing in a virtual, persistent world.

 Do you seriously need to ask this? I bet 99 out of 100 people would prefer a big seamless world if it was possible.

I like a huge seamless world...definitely better for immersion.  I do for the most part like dungeons to be instanced just to avoid kill-stealing and what not, but I'd rather the world itself be seemless.

Originally posted by Anciegher

 Do you seriously need to ask this? I bet 99 out of 100 people would prefer a big seamless world if it was possible.

I really don't know that... otherwise I can't understand why they make Aion not only instanced and small but also have channels, which is the worst thing you can do to an mmo imo.

In a linear MMO instanced small zones, or just instances.  Linear style is basically a singleplayer/co-op game with a chat room to me anyways.

In a sandbox style MMO, huge seamless world, no instances, maybe for major cities depending on the game.  After all it's a sandbox MMO.

Huge seamless world.

I don't mind zoning either, I think it actually adds more variety. But I hate instances. Why call your game an MMO if you have all the most important encounters instanced? I don't touch MMOs with a fucking barge pole that have instancing in them anymore. Don't go near 'em.

Give me a persistant, open PK world. Everything uninstanced, PKing breaking out at boss rooms. I love it.

I think everyone prefers a huge seemless world.  Capable of handeling tens of thousands of people.

Alas due to technology restraints, people will often avoid this.

PS>  yea AION is small really. I do not see myself being able to play it for that reason.

Is that a catch question? Does ANYONE prefer instanced zones over an open world, when there would be a choice???

 Sounds like going backwards instead of forward. One of the things i hated about AOC was it felt like a lobby with rooms off to the side .....It felt very small to me

   Instances can serve a purpose as far as server load but not an entire game of instances blah.... Thanks op for airing your frustrations. So how many zone walls did you count first few hours of play???

Tho the starting areas in Aion are a little small, it didn't feel zoned off to me.

Anyway I perfer, large mostly seemless worlds. And I'm all from Instance dungeons.. I don't like the idea of fighting for spawns.

I remember hearing of a RvR game where the world would be seemless... but dungeons were instanced, like WoW...
But the catch was a group from the other faction could join your instance and fight your group for control of it.
I just can't remember the name of the game... I think I could deal with some like that, tho.

I prefer seamless open world. IF it can be done without a huge impact on performance. If it turns out like Vanguards "seamlessness" then Id rather have instances.

Originally posted by Adam1902

Huge seamless world.

I don't mind zoning either, I think it actually adds more variety. But I hate instances. Why call your game an MMO if you have all the most important encounters instanced? I don't touch MMOs with a fucking barge pole that have instancing in them anymore. Don't go near 'em.

Give me a persistant, open PK world. Everything uninstanced, PKing breaking out at boss rooms. I love it.

What he said.

I'm going to say instanced, because I'd rather have an instanced world that works, than a seamless one that runs like Vanguard. At the end of the day it simply isn't the most important issue.

Sure, it's immersive to run around in a huge open world, but how immersive is it to stand in line to kill a rapidly respawning boss in that open world? And how immersive is it when the whole of creation grinds to a halt because of lag? If you can suspend disbelief for that  and the other problems with a seamless world, then you should be able to handle some instancing as well.

I like large seamless worlds.

I also like unique experiences that are varied and diverse.

I don't mind instances.

I'm not at all opposed to a game that mixes mechanics to give me what I'm looking for. I don't feel that instances are inherently flawed, but I do feel that a game that sacrifices open worlds for diversity, or sacrifices diversity for an open world, is fundamentally flawed.

If the compromise cannot be made to balance then the I feel the developer took a shortcut to a problem. In that, I am dissatisfied.

Originally posted by kakarotrage

Something that hit me when I got to try Aion , a game I was looking for , was the annoying feeling of instanced small zones, I realized I can't go back to that and the next mmo I'll be playing must have a huge amazing world to explore as a minimum like WoW and Lineage 2,

what do you think?

Vanguard SOH

the best pve game mmoprg medieval, wolrd NO instance, world very very big, NO zone loading, NO door loading, NO dungeon loading

world vanguard is big = wow + lotro x2 or x3, with all expansion or books

download this video in mp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLjJnAGcQoo

the future is world no instance, NO loading, as The Vanguard

I very much prefer private instanced content, but if we're talking about how the outer Game World is constructed then obviously everyone would want a seamless world.  Seems like a pretty serious technical hurdle for companies to do it who haven't done it before though, and it's not a huge deal to me if I have to load/zone to go places.

I'm basically all about playing the game, which to me means having interesting combat with a group of teammates all playing characters with unique strengths/weaknesses.  Guild Wars' structure therefore appealed to me, as it distills out what I consider flaws (I'd probably swear off MMORPGs entirely if I ever added up how much time I wasted just traveling places in the typical game,) and you're left with a platform for gameplay.  And if I could unmake WOW's open world and spend those man-hours on dungeons instead, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

It's really too bad my preferences are divergent from most people.  Most want open worlds, so that's predominantly what the major MMOs are offering.  Open worlds are plagued with gameplay flaws, and I just don't get enough enjoyment out of the whole "exploring", "travel time", and "watching a quest boss die to another player right as I reach him so I have to wait 2 minutes doing nothing instead of playing."

Originally posted by Karbonoid

I'm going to say instanced, because I'd rather have an instanced world that works, than a seamless one that runs like Vanguard. At the end of the day it simply isn't the most important issue.

Sure, it's immersive to run around in a huge open world, but how immersive is it to stand in line to kill a rapidly respawning boss in that open world? And how immersive is it when the whole of creation grinds to a halt because of lag? If you can suspend disbelief for that  and the other problems with a seamless world, then you should be able to handle some instancing as well.

hehehe...never thought of it that way. You've got a good point. I do, however, like most, preferr seamless mmos.

Originally posted by Elikal

Is that a catch question? Does ANYONE prefer instanced zones over an open world, when there would be a choice???

Yes I prefer instanced zones if the alternative means dumbed down graphics or combat.

Edit: should probably add dumbed down quests

Originally posted by Karbonoid

I'm going to say instanced, because I'd rather have an instanced world that works, than a seamless one that runs like Vanguard. At the end of the day it simply isn't the most important issue.

Sure, it's immersive to run around in a huge open world, but how immersive is it to stand in line to kill a rapidly respawning boss in that open world? And how immersive is it when the whole of creation grinds to a halt because of lag? If you can suspend disbelief for that  and the other problems with a seamless world, then you should be able to handle some instancing as well.

QFT

I find respawning bosses and camping or queueing for them a lot more immersion breaking than a loading screen.

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by Elikal

Is that a catch question? Does ANYONE prefer instanced zones over an open world, when there would be a choice???

Yes I prefer instanced zones if the alternative means dumbed down graphics or combat.

Ye for me it's exactly the opposite I'll gladly go with an mmo which has "shitty gfx" like WoW (even though I like wow cartoony graphics but years passed since it was released) as long as the world is that big and has so much content to be discovered in the world itself (not talkign about dungeon ofc which should be instanced imo).

Neither. It's a false choice. Huge worlds with nearly seamless transfers between appropriately sized persistant shards. If absolutely necessary you can que a shard but if the game is designed correctly it shouldn't be necessary. The technology has been available for years and it works well. You can actually even shut down or add segments of the world temporarily to prevent scattering your player base to thinly or cramming them into too small an area. That also makes running things like special events easier without disturbing the rest of the persistant game world. The idea that it is difficult to transfer a player from one shard/server to another is a lie. People are oftem paying a significnt amount of money for what amounts to moving a database file.

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

I find respawning bosses and camping or queueing for them a lot more immersion breaking than a loading screen.

I agree 100%. It is really ridiculous how loading screen might ruin one's immersion but respawning is alright. Kill stealing and other things involving somebody behaving like a dick is an unnecessary nuisance. Exploitation of AI stupidity is also on my list of unimmersive things in a game.

In my opinion every single, even slightly meaningful dungeon should be instanced.

I have usually enjoyed instance-heavy games more than persistent world ones. Even if I play a game that has a persistent world, the instances strike me as the best content in the game. I have no agenda or anything but these are my experiences so far.

Originally posted by Karbonoid

I'm going to say instanced, because I'd rather have an instanced world that works, than a seamless one that runs like Vanguard. At the end of the day it simply isn't the most important issue.

Sure, it's immersive to run around in a huge open world, but how immersive is it to stand in line to kill a rapidly respawning boss in that open world? And how immersive is it when the whole of creation grinds to a halt because of lag? If you can suspend disbelief for that  and the other problems with a seamless world, then you should be able to handle some instancing as well.

A seamless MMO should be approached differently to avoid this issue