I hate it, well that seems a bit extreme but I really dont like it. For those of you who played EQ back then, imagine if Karnor's Castle was instance. That would have been a terrible zone. Why dont we see non-instanced dungeons anymore? I understand that instancing has its uses for CERTAIN things. Like if your doing a quest and there is a timeline and what not, that makes sense. I mean look at  these games today. I hate going into a dungeon and only having my party there.

Now the flamers will say that instances help us from not having to camp spawns and instead we all get our of zone and the mob is already spawned for us!

bah to that. I think that is dungeons/castles whatever were made with "named" mobs all over that had decent respawn rates with not to many place holders, then it would work. 

please explain the popularity AMONG players for instancing. I know that devs love it because it uses up less bandwidth on thier servers or w/e

Thanks!

SWOOGIE MCDOOGIE 

I agree with you, I miss the days of an open dugeon that you had to compete for kills in.  Seamless transitions into those dungeons and seeing other groups of players running around in there.  For me it wasn't EQ that spoiled me on that it was Asherons Call, and to me still one of the best worlds as a whole then any other mmo that i have played.  I dispise that 3 groups could stand outside of lets say Onyxia's dungeon and all enter at the same time and never have to compete with each other from that point on.  Everyone and there dog ends up with ultra rare items, these are no longer rewards instead they are just a free drop like playing a slot maching and hitting 1 cherry, sure you get your bet back but nothing special.  Ahh the days of trying to get a Hoary Mattekar Robe on AC, waiting for the 1 Mattekar in all of Dereth to spawn every 15 min I think it was then the mad dash to kill it.  I miss those days.

I agree and hate instancing as well.  When I play an MMO, I want to feel like I'm in a persistent world with thousands of other players all playing at the same time.  When I look across the landscape I want to be able to have a far clip pane sky line.  Instancing and battlegrounds disgust me.

Few reasons:

1. No having to sit around waiting for respawns.
2. Themepark experience tailored to me and my group.
3. No lag/graphical slowdown.
4. No overcrowding/interference.
5. No PvP.
6. No griefing.

 I love instances so much. Its the only place in a game where I feel like a true adventurer. Just you and your group alone in a dungeon, ready for the next challenge. No help is coming and cooperation is required. Helps set the atmosphere a lot as well. Im talking about dungeons though, not like instanced areas like AOC, which I still have nothing against.

I think instancing in games like DDO, LoTRO and GW are stellar. There is a story and such that just plays better when instanced.

I think quite a few people are stuck in the "old" MMO mentality. It really isn't fun camping a mob for hours to complete some silly throw away quest. People with short play times (Say 2 hours or less) want to be able to login and feel like they have accomplished something.

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Few reasons:

1. No having to sit around waiting for respawns.
2. Themepark experience tailored to me and my group.
3. No lag/graphical slowdown.
4. No overcrowding/interference.
5. No PvP.
6. No griefing.

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

I dislike instancing, it makes the game world feel smaller.

It makes it feel like I am playing a "game" instead of playing in another world.   After all that is why I play MMOs, to get away from the real world and get lost in a fantasy world. (does not have to be a fantasy setting)

 1. No KSer (Kill Stealers)

2. No need to worry about other players

3. All the enemies are MINE and no fighting people to get to fight monsters *cough* runescape *cough*

4. I PWN YOU!

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Few reasons:

1. No having to sit around waiting for respawns.  :No competition
2. Themepark experience tailored to me and my group.:  Very un-sandboxy
3. No lag/graphical slowdown.  Lazy programmers
4. No overcrowding/interference.  Very single player'ish
5. No PvP.  No Danger
6. No griefing.   No risk

All reasons NOT to play. 

EDIT:  This is the perfect example of all that is currently wrong with the genre.

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Few reasons:

1. No having to sit around waiting for respawns.
2. Themepark experience tailored to me and my group.
3. No lag/graphical slowdown.
4. No overcrowding/interference.
5. No PvP.
6. No griefing.

 

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

I dislike instancing, it makes the game world feel smaller.

I think it's more like, "I want a quality dungeon running experience". Instancing isn't for every game, and it's being overused lately, but it can be a useful tool for certain kinds of gameplay.  Besides, the reasons listed do not at all mean that the instance must be easy. It's just that they can eliminate certain aspects of gameplay that are very tedious, annoying and add nothing to the game.

Originally posted by TdogSkal

 

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

I dislike instancing, it makes the game world feel smaller.

It makes it feel like I am playing a "game" instead of playing in another world.   After all that is why I play MMOs, to get away from the real world and get lost in a fantasy world. (does not have to be a fantasy setting)

Hard work is for Real life, I'd prefer if it stayed the hell out of my video games.

Originally posted by neoterrar

I think quite a few people are stuck in the "old" MMO mentality. It really isn't fun camping a mob for hours to complete some silly throw away quest. People with short play times (Say 2 hours or less) want to be able to login and feel like they have accomplished something.

I agree with this big time. That's exactly what I do.

Camping a spawn isn't really "Effort". Getting up at 4 in the morning to get a rare spawn(for example) is just sheer idiocy. It's a bloody game.

Basically the argument i see is thus:

Those that have excessive amounts of time to accomplish something trivial want something to show for their "efforts."

Those that have limited amount of time, or just want to have fun, also want something to show for the time they played.

Originally posted by Kurai3

Originally posted by TdogSkal

 

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

I dislike instancing, it makes the game world feel smaller.

It makes it feel like I am playing a "game" instead of playing in another world.   After all that is why I play MMOs, to get away from the real world and get lost in a fantasy world. (does not have to be a fantasy setting)

 

Hard work is for Real life, I'd prefer if it stayed the hell out of my video games.

"doing stuff" in a video game is not hard work.

With instances theres no:

-kill stealing

-ninja looting

-waiting for your turn

-waiting for respawns or watching over for respawns

-general annoyance caused by other players

-FFA PvP if you don't want to

Instances bring also:

-more scripted (and therefore more interesting) content

-you can affect your surroundings more dramatically (as opposed to a static world that you cannot change in any way)

-more immersion -> for example: waiting for a respawn is not very heroic nor is it very dramatic either

Generally I have experienced that devs also use more time and effort into instanced missions/quests/dungeons so they are usually the best content in the game.

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

No, it's more a case of:

"I want to play with the people I choose, not be subject to the asshattery of every retard on the server who has nothing better to do than annoy other people."

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Few reasons:

1. No having to sit around waiting for respawns.
2. Themepark experience tailored to me and my group.
3. No lag/graphical slowdown.
4. No overcrowding/interference.
5. No PvP.
6. No griefing.

 

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

I dislike instancing, it makes the game world feel smaller.

It makes it feel like I am playing a "game" instead of playing in another world.   After all that is why I play MMOs, to get away from the real world and get lost in a fantasy world. (does not have to be a fantasy setting)

actually, no it doesn't He's not saying he wants easy mode nor is he saying he wants the adventure handed to him. He most likely is saying that he enjoys very specific story driven intstances where he doesn't have to deal with people who don't share the same viewpoint.

Also, in my opinion, not having isntances can be just as theme park as instances. Instead you see everyone running around waiting for the same boss to spawn. If that doesn't scream disney world I don't know what does. Might as well just add a line and a "are you this height" meter. Or someone trying to complete a quest and other players screwing around who are clearly not immersing themselves in the game world.

Well I have only 2 or 3 hours every 2 or 3 days playtime so instancing works good for me. I can jump right into zone and do something, not wait my turn.

But if I had more time I think that open dungeon would be more appealing to me.

I like instanced dungeons, because then there's a limit on the amount of players, so zerging won't work. One of my favorite dungeons is Magister's Terrace in WoW. Alot of teamwork is needed to complete this place. If it wasn't an instance, and 20 people would enter, then it would be too easy and tactics long forgotten. I don't think instancing is the only way of doing boss fights, but it sure is a good way.

Originally posted by Ruyn

Originally posted by Kurai3

Originally posted by TdogSkal

 

"I want everything handed to me with little or no effort" sums up your "reasons" pretty well.

I dislike instancing, it makes the game world feel smaller.

It makes it feel like I am playing a "game" instead of playing in another world.   After all that is why I play MMOs, to get away from the real world and get lost in a fantasy world. (does not have to be a fantasy setting)

 

Hard work is for Real life, I'd prefer if it stayed the hell out of my video games.

 

"doing stuff" in a video game is not hard work.

It may not be "hard" but it certainly is NOT entertaining.