BioWare please remove instanced worlds.

[Ramrion]

Seriously, I think its time BioWare removes the instance barriers on worlds. The game seems too empty. I'm on a High population server (Dark Reaper) and places like Nar Shaddaa and Alderaan seem quite empty.

 

I personally think it would help the game alot if instanced worlds were removed ( after level 15 maybe?) It would really make the game feel like a true MMO.

 

 

What do you guys think ?

 

 

P.S: This is not a rage thread, just trying to give BW some good sensible suggestions.

[LordRelyks]

Yea. I mean theres not too much of a point for the instanced worlds. If someone is on the same quest as you, just group with them to kill the mobs.

[SkateOnTrees]

-wut?

[prmsntrcrps]

I agree, I am on a full server and saw three members of the opposing faction from lvl 1-50 in the open world. That's not very exiting or "mmo".

[Rikalonius]

You mean the instanced area for class quests. Well, I personally love them, and I remember that being a survey question during beta that got overwhelmingly positive response. What do you mean feel more like an MMO, like, because your quest objective isn't camped by 10 people, then it's not a really MMO?

[mercilous]

I agree also. The more instances, the harder it is to find world PvP on PvP servers.

[Kontagious]

Are we playing the same game? I am also on Dark Reaper and I'm CONSTANTLY running into people. Everywhere I go. Groups take less than a minute to fill. I wonder how you can avoid players so easily for I fail at that.

[xIllumi]

It should be removed after lvl 30 at least. I mean for planets at lvl 30+.

 

The world does feel empty and this is also something i never liked in Age Of Connan tbh.

 

I think Warhammer Online had it removed after you reached a certain area/lvl.

[liquidpension]

Probably thats the price you have to pay for stable and uninterrupted gaming, no server chrashes, almost no lag etc.

 

I don't mind instancing.

[hattertea]

From what I've gathered and hear during beta forums, is that the world instancing (not the class or group instancing) is only temporary and will be removed overtime as the population spreads, though from what I can tell they aren't even needed now, from what I've seen no planet has had to much overcrowding in areas to warrant a second world instance when there is over 50+ people.

 

 

Though whether or not Bioware will in fact remove world instancing remains to be seen, but let us hope they will do so.

[HELhikari]

You mean the instanced area for class quests. Well, I personally love them, and I remember that being a survey question during beta that got overwhelmingly positive response. What do you mean feel more like an MMO, like, because your quest objective isn't camped by 10 people, then it's not a really MMO?

 

There is zone sharding as well, although a lot of people probably don't notice it. I'm always running in to people.

 

That said I suspect they can fold the zones without any problems, there aren't enough people to actually fill the zones. They're not empty though. There's certainly enough people to objective steal from under you

Edited January 2, 2012 by HELhikari

[UnderatedNoob]

Can someone please explain what this world instancing is? I'm lost.

[HELhikari]

Can someone please explain what this world instancing is? I'm lost.

 

Next time you're in game, look at your map. You'll see an option to change instance. There's a 30 minute cool down on it or something (to stop people flipping instances to mine nodes/mobs).

[Ramrion]

I agree also. The more instances, the harder it is to find world PvP on PvP servers.

 

Oh no I mean the zone sharding as some one else pointed out.

 

To the person who talked about lag and such:

 

Thats why i said after the starter planets, which are bigger, therefore can easily accomodate more players. Other mmo's do not lag as much either, I don't see any reason as to why SWTOR would lag.

 

 

I honestly believe that after the first few planets, zone sharding should be removed to give a more real mmo experience.

[Tallian]

+1, world instancing needs to go. I didn't roll on a pvp server so that I could quest in one instance while the other faction quests on a different one. Half the fun of a pvp server are the 'oh hell, I just ran into a hostile party questing in my area, now what?' moments.

[Formant]

Something needs to be done, game just feels empty.

[Grammarye]

I think people underestimate how big the maps are in TOR, whilst simultaneously complaining that it doesn't feel that massive. Instancing really doesn't have that much to do with it. People go where the action is. If you go where the action is, you will find people. If you go out into the big wide world, the number drops off. The same occurred in WoW, in EVE, in LOTRO, and in plenty of other MMOs.

 

A real life example: If I go stand by a busy road, lots of cars will pass me. If I go out for a walk on a nearby farm track, the likelihood of me meeting another person is dramatically reduced.

 

I've yet to visit the fleet for example and not find the place lags out with the number of people present. I've yet to visit a major city on any given planet and not have at least ten people passing me on their way to wherever. I've yet to go to a major heroic area and not have at least two other groups doing it at the same time as me.

 

Now, sure, out in the world that number drops off, but that is because people are getting on with playing the game. They're not paid to stand about waiting for you to happen by and wave.

 

For those complaining about PvP, this is the equivalent of hunting in quiet low-sec in EVE - sometimes you need a little more guile & tracking than just expecting the enemy to turn up. The open-world PvP currently lacks objectives to draw people together.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Grammarye

[Xerda]

On the whole zones have been reasonably quiet due to the instancing and only rarely have had to wait around for a particular mob to spawn in order to complete a quest. So I'd say on the whole it's fairly effective.

 

It does not stop there being strange lag in certain zones but so far I can live with it. I do accept that it has made some areas seem a bit quiet and empty. Just finished Tattooine and it was like a ghost town, rarely running into other players. It's quite a big area too (compared to the previous planets) so that doesn't help either.

[Manakar]

The shards(instances of the same map) only open up as needed.. So if one is full a nother will open.. Most of the time there is only one shard and it has low population. Mostly because everyone is in high lvl areas.. Not too many people make alts in this game.. Thats the real problem...

[liquidpension]

Oh no I mean the zone sharding as some one else pointed out.

 

To the person who talked about lag and such:

 

Thats why i said after the starter planets, which are bigger, therefore can easily accomodate more players. Other mmo's do not lag as much either, I don't see any reason as to why SWTOR would lag.

 

 

I honestly believe that after the first few planets, zone sharding should be removed to give a more real mmo experience.

 

I do not quite agree about the lag and other mmos part. If you are talking about the state of other mmo's now, years after their launch, yeah. But at launch, they all suffered from it at some point.

[Ramrion]

I do not quite agree about the lag and other mmos part. If you are talking about the state of other mmo's now, years after their launch, yeah. But at launch, they all suffered from it at some point.

 

True but the technology exists to handle the "lag".

 

Also the worlds are SOO huge that they feel empty, the leaste they can Do is increase the player cap on instances.

 

Also there should be auto switching between instances (with some sort of smart mechanic). E.g There is instance 1 with 300 players and Instance 2 with say 150 players. If 250 of the Instance 1 players log out and 100 of the Instance 2 players log out, Instance 1 stays at 50 players and Instance 2 at 50 plays as well. There is no evening out of sorts. BW should come up with some sort of method to keep the majority of people in one instance after the population hits a certain level.

[HerrFett]

Raise the instance player cap drastically (at least on the friggin HUGE planets like Hoth/Tatooine/Alderaan and everything will be good.

 

It makes no sense to have only 90 people on a planet as huge as tatooine for example.

[Ramrion]

I'm in for the long haul for SWTOR. But that doesn't mean I don't want the game tp improve!

 

GTN + Animation Delay + Instances should be on top of their priority list IMO at least.

 

I think it would quiet down a butt load of QQrs on the forum =)

 

And then working on other smaller issues as well.

 

Come on BW! I'm rooting for you guys <3

[Grammarye]

Also the worlds are SOO huge that they feel empty, the leaste they can Do is increase the player cap on instances.

 

Also there should be auto switching between instances (with some sort of smart mechanic). E.g There is instance 1 with 300 players and Instance 2 with say 150 players. If 250 of the Instance 1 players log out and 100 of the Instance 2 players log out, Instance 1 stays at 50 players and Instance 2 at 50 plays as well. There is no evening out of sorts. BW should come up with some sort of method to keep the majority of people in one instance after the population hits a certain level.

Could you please go have a word with the people who keep making threads along the lines of 'TOR is so small'?

 

How would they implement an instance transfer or instance merge the way you describe? You get a message box saying 'this instance is too small, please prepare for a loading screen in 5..4..3..2..1..' no matter what you're doing?

 

How about the players that so deeply care about this actually press M, go to the instance box and change to the busy instance, if it is really that vital to their continued existence?

 

I would love to see instance populations rise, or instancing go, if at all possible, but we have to be realistic about these things.

[liquidpension]

True but the technology exists to handle the "lag".

 

Also the worlds are SOO huge that they feel empty, the leaste they can Do is increase the player cap on instances.

 

Also there should be auto switching between instances (with some sort of smart mechanic). E.g There is instance 1 with 300 players and Instance 2 with say 150 players. If 250 of the Instance 1 players log out and 100 of the Instance 2 players log out, Instance 1 stays at 50 players and Instance 2 at 50 plays as well. There is no evening out of sorts. BW should come up with some sort of method to keep the majority of people in one instance after the population hits a certain level.

 

Ok, autoswitching sounds fine, but when you switch between shards you are getting a loading bar. They can't do it automatically, even with a warning message it will stll be annoying if you're on a heroic with a group for example.

 

It is the way it is for a reason, probably the reason is to handle the mass waves of people at the start, I don't know, but I know I preffer it, if the other option is "server down" message.

 

I mean, few gamers with their desires cannot be smarter than a team of developers knowing the hardware and software limitations. People may want a train to mars, but still.....

Edited January 2, 2012 by liquidpension