Originally posted by gainesvilleg

No of course not.  I working as a freelance consultant to every MMO company other than Anet.  We are so scared that GW2 will take all the players from every other MMO on the planet that we MUST lead a campaign of disinformation against this godly game called GW2, also known as "the savior of the MMO genre."  We are very frightened and there are thousands of us on the payroll to stop this GW2 before it ends world hunger and eliminates our dependence on foreign oil.

The devious tactics I employ are using terms such as "instance" instead of saying "is not open and seamless."  What was I thinking!

Now, please let me go back to my masters and see how I should proceed now that this term "instance" has been brought into the light LOL...

That's the first thing you've posted that might be believable.

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Originally posted by RizelStar

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by RizelStar

Or does the game contain many instanced zones?

GW2 = no

TERA = yes

However, many people on these forums seem to be unclear as to what an instance actually is. An instance is a copy of parts of the game world that exist on the same server. For example, PvP battlegrounds / warzones are instances (same map, different copies).

GW2's instances = personal story, personal instance, dungeons, PvP battlegrounds.

TERA's instances = everything (The world does feel more seamless, but the entire game has channels (copies) for each zone)

DING DING DING you are CORRECT!!!!!!!!!

I'm not being sarcastic either, I'm dead ass serious.

This should anser the OP question point blank.I was trying to be calm like for example, yes Tera will feel more seamless, it's funny actually how well hidden their load screens are *cough* flying horses *cough* not a bad thing though, but I dislike when others get tricked into believeing otherwise.

GW 2 and Tera are not seamless, it's just that GW 2 makes it more obvious.

Instances is more so shards/channels and they copy everything and it be like 10 of them in one servers.

Overflow servers is an optional qeue place, and once the server is free then you get to o into the main one. That takes place outside the server though not in the server. You don't have to switch channels or anything it's your in game queue.

Lol I found a lot of posts funny though. Actually it's still amusing people think WoW is seamless.

 

Congratulations, both of you proved how smart you are yet failed to understand the point behind the OP's question.

Sorry for doing all that for nothing then lol.

Originally posted by SuperXero89

Congratulations, both of you proved how smart you are yet failed to understand the point behind the OP's question.

Please, share with the rest of us this hidden meaning to the OP's question?

Originally posted by Adalwulff

Originally posted by gainesvilleg

Originally posted by Adalwulff

I cant believe we are still educating people on the difference between an Area, an Instance and a Zone.

Clearly this must come from a lack of diversity in thier games, probably only played a couple MMOs, and decided they had it all figured out.

Absolutly astonishing!

Well, the term "instance" has been made the focus of the discussion by the GW2 defenders instead of the original intent of the OP's questions which was, is GW2 "fully open and seamless."

The technicalities of what is or isn't an "instance" do not help answer that question.  The real answer to that question is that GW2 is only "fully open and seamless" as long as you stay within one zone (out of 25), do not visit any cities, do not visit any dungeons, do not do any personal quests, and do not teleport.

The term "instance" is being used as a red herring here.

 

I noticed the term "seamless" is being used in the same manner.

Everybody knows there isnt a single MMO that is seamless. Even WoW, the game everyone claims to be seamless, is not, and many of the transistions are simply masked, its done well, but its still not seamless.

Thats what I find so strange, you will never find such a game by that definition of seamless, yet rail against GW2 for not being seamless... it boggles the mind.

The point is the immersive aspect.  By stating that "technically" no MMO is run on a single server with one large memory block is again missing the point.  The OP was asking about SEAMLESS which doesn't mean that "technically" there is one server with one memory block for the entire world.  It is SEAMLESS because you do not notice these transitions.  It is something that is very difficult to do and games that do it should be applauded for it.  It really shouldn't be trivialized in my opinion.

That is like saying that since we all know that the avatars aren't real we might as well just make them square blocks and not worry about animations.  After all, the animations aren't "real" since NOTHING is "real"

I think you are taking this to quite the extreme by saying that the illusion of seamlessness is of no value.  It is of high value to those that like to just get lost in the world.  Those loading screens are buzzkills for many of us.

Originally posted by RizelStar

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by RizelStar

Or does the game contain many instanced zones?

GW2 = no

TERA = yes

However, many people on these forums seem to be unclear as to what an instance actually is. An instance is a copy of parts of the game world that exist on the same server. For example, PvP battlegrounds / warzones are instances (same map, different copies).

GW2's instances = personal story, personal instance, dungeons, PvP battlegrounds.

TERA's instances = everything (The world does feel more seamless, but the entire game has channels (copies) for each zone)

DING DING DING you are CORRECT!!!!!!!!!

I'm not being sarcastic either, I'm dead ass serious.

This should anser the OP question point blank.I was trying to be calm like for example, yes Tera will feel more seamless, it's funny actually how well hidden their load screens are *cough* flying horses *cough* not a bad thing though, but I dislike when others get tricked into believeing otherwise.

GW 2 and Tera are not seamless, it's just that GW 2 makes it more obvious.

Instances is more so shards/channels and they copy everything and it be like 10 of them in one servers.

Overflow servers is an optional qeue place, and once the server is free then you get to o into the main one. That takes place outside the server though not in the server. You don't have to switch channels or anything it's your in game queue.

Lol I found a lot of posts funny though. Actually it's still amusing people think WoW is seamless.

 

Actually slightly inncorrect. An instance is a copy of a zone that is specific for a single group or an individual. WvW is not an instance. It is no different than a seperate zone, but only for PVP.  I'll post the definition and source again here

In massively multiplayer online games, an instance is a special area, typically a dungeon, that generates a new copy of the location for each group, or for certain number of players

There are four maps in WvW.  They are each uniquly different and not copies of one another.  Everyone goes to one of these four maps.  There is no unique map for a group or person.  It would be like calling a server an instance because it's identical to another area on another server. Same with WvW, except one area is shared among 3 different servers. So calling it an instance is akin to saying that one of the 25 zones is an instance of another.  

By this logic, every server is nothing but a bunch of instances and there is no non-instanced locations.  This is obviously illogical and untrue.  

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

Originally posted by dontadow

Originally posted by RizelStar

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by RizelStar

Or does the game contain many instanced zones?

GW2 = no

TERA = yes

However, many people on these forums seem to be unclear as to what an instance actually is. An instance is a copy of parts of the game world that exist on the same server. For example, PvP battlegrounds / warzones are instances (same map, different copies).

GW2's instances = personal story, personal instance, dungeons, PvP battlegrounds.

TERA's instances = everything (The world does feel more seamless, but the entire game has channels (copies) for each zone)

DING DING DING you are CORRECT!!!!!!!!!

I'm not being sarcastic either, I'm dead ass serious.

This should anser the OP question point blank.I was trying to be calm like for example, yes Tera will feel more seamless, it's funny actually how well hidden their load screens are *cough* flying horses *cough* not a bad thing though, but I dislike when others get tricked into believeing otherwise.

GW 2 and Tera are not seamless, it's just that GW 2 makes it more obvious.

Instances is more so shards/channels and they copy everything and it be like 10 of them in one servers.

Overflow servers is an optional qeue place, and once the server is free then you get to o into the main one. That takes place outside the server though not in the server. You don't have to switch channels or anything it's your in game queue.

Lol I found a lot of posts funny though. Actually it's still amusing people think WoW is seamless.

 

Actually slightly inncorrect. An instance is a copy of a zone that is specific for a single group or an individual. WvW is not an instance. It is no different than a seperate zone, but only for PVP.  I'll post the definition and source again here

In massively multiplayer online games, an instance is a special area, typically a dungeon, that generates a new copy of the location for each group, or for certain number of players

There are four maps in WvW.  They are each uniquly different and not copies of one another.  Everyone goes to one of these four maps.  There is no unique map for a group or person.  It would be like calling a server an instance because it's identical to another area on another server. Same with WvW, except one area is shared among 3 different servers. So calling it an instance is akin to saying that one of the 25 zones is an instance of another.  

By this logic, every server is nothing but a bunch of instances and there is no non-instanced locations.  This is obviously illogical and untrue.  

Ahh ok thanks.

Originally posted by MMOExposed
I believe the OP is confusing terms.

GW2 doesn't have a seamless world. Plain and simple as that. The world zones are split up by load screens. Not seamless like WoW world.

Another note. GW2 does has channels to the world, just like SWTOR, it's just that they are called something else in GW2. They are called Overload Servers in GW2.

So amusing...

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

That is zooning, not instancing.

In MMOs instancing means a private instance for you or your group.

Zones are when you get loading screens in the open world and they can be really few (like between Wows continents) or everywhere (like in AoCs small zones).

Truly open games are rare.

TERA is a lot more open than GW2 though if that is all that matters,.

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

Originally posted by MMOExposed

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

 

The term you are looking for is Non-Seamless, not Instanced.

but you are still correct. GW2 has a Instanced world with the overflow server concept similar to SWTOR's zone channels. But use correct terms people when talking about load screens

more bs from exposed. TERA is set up like SWTOR, GW, AION channels. that's instancing, making two, three, four channels of a zone when 100 people are in it. GW2 doesn't do channels. the overflow server is one shared auxiliary server for a given WvW battle grouping, as evidenced from the beta. people on the overflow shard were from different servers.

GW2 = not seamless but persistent

TERA = seamless but instanced

Originally posted by BlueLantern

Originally posted by MMOExposed

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

 

The term you are looking for is Non-Seamless, not Instanced.

but you are still correct. GW2 has a Instanced world with the overflow server concept similar to SWTOR's zone channels. But use correct terms people when talking about load screens

more bs from exposed. TERA is set up like SWTOR, GW, AION channels. that's instancing, making two, three, four channels of a zone when 100 people are in it. GW2 doesn't do channels. the overflow server is one shared auxiliary server for a given WvW battle grouping, as evidenced from the beta. people on the overflow shard were from different servers.

 

GW2 = not seamless but persistent

TERA = seamless but instanced

Well technically the overflow server only works for when the main server is full, so instea of waiting in a queue screen you get to play pve rather than wait.

That was shown and talked about in videos, once that main server isn't full any more you'll get asked to go to it. The main server does wvwvw and pvp you can't o those while in an overflow server.

Maybe we are saying the same thing lol, but also we both agree and know that W 2 won't have channels/shards like SWTOR.

I think you can have a persistant instance aswell so Tera is still persistant atleast to me.

Originally posted by RizelStar

Originally posted by BlueLantern

Originally posted by MMOExposed

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

 

The term you are looking for is Non-Seamless, not Instanced.

but you are still correct. GW2 has a Instanced world with the overflow server concept similar to SWTOR's zone channels. But use correct terms people when talking about load screens

more bs from exposed. TERA is set up like SWTOR, GW, AION channels. that's instancing, making two, three, four channels of a zone when 100 people are in it. GW2 doesn't do channels. the overflow server is one shared auxiliary server for a given WvW battle grouping, as evidenced from the beta. people on the overflow shard were from different servers.

 

GW2 = not seamless but persistent

TERA = seamless but instanced

Well technically the overflow server only works for when the main server is full, so instea of waiting in a queue screen you get to play pve rather than wait.

That was shown and talked about in videos, once that main server isn't full any more you'll get asked to go to it. The main server does wvwvw and pvp you can't o those while in an overflow server.

Maybe we are saying the same thing lol, but also we both agree and know that W 2 won't have channels/shards like SWTOR.

 

yes, we are indeed saying the same thing.

Originally posted by BlueLantern

Originally posted by RizelStar

Originally posted by BlueLantern

Originally posted by MMOExposed

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

 

The term you are looking for is Non-Seamless, not Instanced.

but you are still correct. GW2 has a Instanced world with the overflow server concept similar to SWTOR's zone channels. But use correct terms people when talking about load screens

more bs from exposed. TERA is set up like SWTOR, GW, AION channels. that's instancing, making two, three, four channels of a zone when 100 people are in it. GW2 doesn't do channels. the overflow server is one shared auxiliary server for a given WvW battle grouping, as evidenced from the beta. people on the overflow shard were from different servers.

 

GW2 = not seamless but persistent

TERA = seamless but instanced

Well technically the overflow server only works for when the main server is full, so instea of waiting in a queue screen you get to play pve rather than wait.

That was shown and talked about in videos, once that main server isn't full any more you'll get asked to go to it. The main server does wvwvw and pvp you can't o those while in an overflow server.

Maybe we are saying the same thing lol, but also we both agree and know that W 2 won't have channels/shards like SWTOR.

 

 

yes, we are indeed saying the same thing.

Oh ok, and I edited about Tera, maybe when I saw auxillary I was like "da hell is that?" Had one those dumb moments :/

Originally posted by MMOExposed

Originally posted by pacov

Someone probably mentioned this but GW2 zone are actually all instanced. Yes they are persistent but when you are entering to a new zone you will get a screenshot. Hopefully you can afford both though as a buy to play does not damage your monthly budget.

 

The term you are looking for is Non-Seamless, not Instanced.

but you are still correct. GW2 has a Instanced world with the overflow server concept similar to SWTOR's zone channels. But use correct terms people when talking about load screens

Hmm... wrong again. Overflows are servers set up that allow multiple people into, and if I'm not mistaken people from multiple servers can use the same overflow at the same time. You're not in a private instance, just a different persistent world shared with others, be they from your party, your server, or other servers needing to use the overflow.

Originally posted by MMOExposed
It's still in instance. Aka a copy of something. In AoC and SWTOR you have persistent zones that have copies of itself when the zone cap is reached. Same thing happens with GW2. Cap is reached and the game makes a copy of the world for players to go to.

+1

Originally posted by MMOExposed
It's still in instance. Aka a copy of something. In AoC and SWTOR you have persistent zones that have copies of itself when the zone cap is reached. Same thing happens with GW2. Cap is reached and the game makes a copy of the world for players to go to.

Again... wrong. The overflow servers are always up.  They're their own server, always running, events always happening. Think of it this way...

If Not (Home_Server == "full")

  Login_Destination = #Home-Server

Else

  For (i = 1 to #max-overflow-servers)

    If Not (#Overflow-server == "full")

      Login_Destination = #Overflow-server

    End-If

  End-For

End-If

I'm probably combining a few languages I've used in the past, but the idea is there.

OP your posting history states you will not like this game and much more of a Tera person, I say stick to that route, because then you will not be disappointed if GW2 does not offer what you are looking for.