Server Instances - Information Provided, Help needed?

[DerexSWTOR]

First I apologize for putting this in the new player help section, I figure it may belong here because I MAY just be missing something.

 

So last night late I was looking for group for 3 of the quests on the Sith Home World...two elite and one that probably should be marked as such (blood something...)

 

For one of them, I invited 2 people to group and got a popup message that someone was not in the same instance I was...that seemed odd since as far as I knew none of the people I invited were instanced, so I cancelled the message and moved on.

 

Turns out, one of the players I had invited was on a different instance of Korriban and we never could get hooked up.

 

So, I wanted to first note to the new player community (because this was a surprise to me).

 

*** Even outdoor non-dungeon areas in SWTOR are instanced!

 

"General" chat seems to span all of these instances of the outdoor world, but just because you can see a player call for group in General doesn't mean you can physically find that player on the world some where...they may be in a different "Korriban" than you are. This caused me, personally, some HUGE confusion during beta when I was trying to find people I was chatting with and/or just wandering around and waiting on friends who never seemed to be able to reach where I was.

 

As far as I know, this is one of the few MMO's that actually INSTANCES their OUTDOOR/PUBLIC content. While it's a good idea it's creating quite a confusing situation for people who are new to the game (and I have 15 years of MMO experience dating back to EQ) trying to hook up with other people.

 

Second, I have to say that in attempting to make the pop up (asking you to shift phases to get on the same instance as your group) more in character, I think you've obfuscated what is actually happening to the point where a player not familiar with SWTOR instancing doesn't understand that it's vital that they select this. The popup needs to be MUCH more informational: "Your group members are in a different instance of the world than you are and thus you are unable to group with these members unless you switch phases. Switch phase now?"

 

Third, I found it confusing that when *I* was the one creating the group it was asking me to "phase" to one of my group MEMBERS instances. I would expect that being the group leader, everyone would phase to "my" instance. I realize there's likely some very large technical reasons for this, but it certainly makes for a confusing situation.

 

Fourth, another thing I didn't realize: When you click the ok on the pop up and it says "Dispatching a Shuttle to your location" you aren't actually physically changing locations (I originally assumed that you were being transported to where your group already was gathered...I had no idea it was switching your instance phase). The only change is the phase. You will re-appear after the "dispatch" in the EXACT SAME LOCATION you were standing before, just in a new instance of the zone.

 

Fifth, I realize the game interface is "new" to many who haven't played in the beta for more than a few days, but resetting/switching/changing instances/phases is NOT in a trivial to find location. Nor is there any information / tutorial information popups describing instances, phasing or forcefully clearing/switching phases, I know there's a place in the interface somewhere where you can do this (though I don't know if you can manually force switch instance phases) but I have no idea where.

 

Bioware: There needs to be EITHER some major communication on instancing, phasing, and connecting up with your group, or this process needs to be made ALOT more seamless to the user.

 

At the end of the day, one of the players who THOUGHT they were going to get a group last night never did, because there was no way for them to reach where we were...even after spending 15 minutes trying to phase correctly.

 

I did finally realize (since his chat posts were tagged with (Korriban: 1) on the end) what that meant, but we never were able to figure out (including de-grouping/regrouping him) how to get him to our phase of the instance.

 

Anyone out there know how this works IN DETAIL and can explain (with no guesses or mis-information) how phasing/instancing works and how to fix instancing problems? An instancing/phasing FAQ would probably be helpful.

 

--Illydth

[jtzako]

Open the world map and look in the lower right, you can see which instance you are in and even pick another one.

 

Also, when you form a group you can right click a group member and switch to the instance they are in.

[Macfergusson]

There's an option on the World Map to change planet shards.

[pcloadletter]

Well said. I first encountered this in the Weekend Beta. I absolutely agree it needs to be better explained, perhaps in a tutorial window pop-ups like with other mechanics. The first time it happened, I also thought the shuttle was taking me to my group, only to find myself in the same spot. I hadn't realized I'd changed instances because I didn't know there were instances.

 

Also, I'm not sure if the instance-swapping still utilizes your Quick Travel cooldown. It did in the beta. So if your Quick Travel is on cooldown and you group with someone, you won't be able to switch instances. Maybe the other party members can, but maybe they are on cooldown too, in which case you're effed.

 

Edited to add to responders above me: the OP figured it out already, but it's not made clear at all to new players, which is his/her complaint.

Edited December 15, 2011 by pcloadletter

[AIox]

I dont have any "Change instance" at all in the map.

Not even a "You're in instance #.."

[AnimaOnline]

I dont have any "Change instance" at all in the map.

Not even a "You're in instance #.."

 

That's because there's only one available instance for your current planet.

[onestepfromlost]

I think the point the OP is making and i agree is that for someone totally new to mmos there is absolutely no tutorial in how this works or what it even is, I find the lack of manual in the box and the online manual being not too in depth could lead to a lot of new players being lost when it comes to things

 

tbh Ive played a couple of mmos and im still discovering features by chance or after a good while of play someone else mentioning it.

[Darthshnooky]

I think the issue here is that this is a dynamic, optional feature. If you are on planets with a moderate population throughout your entire gameplay experience, you'll never need to know how to deal with this. It's only when planet populations get high that multiple instances of the same world are created. So there's no tutorial in place since not everyone will have to deal with this issue.

 

That said, some form of in-game explanation would be nice. Also, every time i've invited people from another phase, they were the one brought over into where i was. I think the OP is mistaken on that point; the person forming the group remains in his phase.

[renegadeimp]

That's because there's only one available instance for your current planet.

 

Why did you necro this thread?

[TheShoob]

How is this going to work with world pvp? say i wanna track down a real life friend on the opposing faction and grief him or help in some world pvp battle, will i need to sit there and guess and check multiple instances? Even tho this feature may make the game run smoother, it sounds like it could hurt the "mmo" feel of the game.

[Florixia]

I joined a high pop server not knowing that common areas were instanced because I wanted to be around a bunch of people/friends etc. I understand it is to cut down on lag or whatever but it just turns it into 2 (or more) servers. As hard as people keep trying to tell me this is an mmo it keeps giving me reason to believe it is still just a single player game in disguise. I shouldn't have a wait time to log into a server that I still feel lonely on when questing.