fildien

I found this on EQ2's forums and found it interesting.

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Nurta <Shark Baby>
Mind Trick - Empire

Palimax Sceleris

The biggest "for" was the allusion to old-school D&D, that it was basicly you, a couple of your friends, and the GM. Instances are like that.

I'm in favor of some instanced content, and some "contested" content. But I was never fond of the cockblocking that gatekeeping contested content presented. As the number of events in the game continues to grow (and as populations continue to dwindle), it's less and less of a big deal. A guild coming up now doesn't have to worry about European Uberguild-X killing every Trakanon, Cazic Thule, Vindicator, Ylenak, and PoP god before they wake up or get off work.

Bylimet Spiritwalker

Definitely agree with this position, seeing that the people who are paying subscription fees to play should not be denied the ability to see most of the game, and especially not so that some *Uber* guild can complete it's alt-equipping adventures.

Instances have allowed many to see parts of the game that they might not have had opportunity to otherwise. Those that have only limited time to play each week can still experience high-end content via instancing; it just might take a longer period before they get there, compared to the hard-core.

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Ibudin

When the instancing started I actually liked EQ more so than before. I do however like a little bit of both for the fun factor. Instanced zones really ended a lot of competition but set a new competition...see how many times you can help guild mates through single instanced zones for some stupid ass part for progression. Nothing like burning out clerics and tanks during the early days of GOD and those stupid little trials that eventually became very trivial..only after many quit the game.

Palimax Sceleris

Monster Missions - to some extent, help reduce the "holy trinity" EQ problem. I dislike them, in general, but have been in the habbit of helping guildmates through things like 70.3 - because it's easier if someone knows what to do. [Yes, it's very easy, but easier still if someone spoon feeds it to you.]

JazyaVechette

Some instanced content is good. PoJ trials in early PoP would have been a LOT different if instancing is around. On the other hand, while it was boring waiting around in lines - look where you were... waist-deep in a pool of dedicated players. It's that feeling of 'community' that instancing can't compete with.

What I dislike is the trend of instancing being the default. This is a MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER online game. The more instanced content you have, the more disconnected you are with that 'big' world where you see everyone in passing. About the only place that happens anymore is PoK.

More and more I see the 'days of old' withering away. While zones like MPG and RSS are still popular for max-level players, Norrath is a big place and the playerbase is already too spread out. The last thing we need is for instancing (or heaven forbid, Monster Missions) to become the new 'default' for experience content.

While it might not have been fun to be clearing towards Oreen in BoT only to have Ezen leapfrog you and solo him with a charmed pet, instancing takes us away from what brought us to the EQ world - interacting with other people.

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Sandin54

I think Jazya hit it right on the head.

I believe as time goes by, MMO's will have a few different types of people attracted to them. Some that want casual easier content will have games that are made for them. (WoW comes to mind.) That isnt a slam on those guys, as adults some people can only put X-amount of hours a week into a game. There should be games made so the content should be on par with the amount of play time available.

I like the emmersion aspect of the MMO's I want a linier game that everyone is a part of good and bad. Even though I probably wont play more than 20 hours a week I dont mind falling behind. The sense of community was SO much more back in the first several years of EQ. Sometimes you hated people sometimes they came to your rescue. I remember having TONS of names I knew instantly. I think the instancing thing has really eaten away at that. I played WoW and I couldnt tell you one single name I remember other than those that I played EQ with that also played WoW.

There are a lot of people out there that feel that since they pay the same $ amount a month they should be intitled to the same "rewards" I can empethize with that, however I dont agree with that. I remember when everyone on the server knew Sithgear.. because he had the good stuff. Or a bit later everyone knew Davan.. same reason. I dont like the idea of there being 100 top dog warriors. I liked looking at someone with the good stuff and thinking oh man someday maybe I will have that. Instancing in my mind makes it too easy to get the top gear. *Note* I said I wont be a hard core player in any game again, I just have too much RL to deal with to go there. So I wont be the guy with the top gear. But I still like the gear being damn hard to get.

Starrla

Sadin you are right. It is nice to save someone and rescue them. Off topic a bit: EQ2 took that away. One of the aspects of the game I did not like. I cant walk up to group that is wiping and help them really. Being a cleric I am the rescue type too.

Instanced zones you only have to deal with the group at hand. When you are the in the land of "all" you can at some point or another be involved with someone IE. the all famous "trains". lol You can always learn about the character of the person behind the toon when there are situations brought about just being in the area of other people. A part of the game that makes it fun. Many things people talk about "the good days" usually some occurance that involved some dispute or event with people outside of their group. lol

I don't mind some instanced but to make it mostly that...no way.

Darus Grey

I think both, seperate and mixed together, have thier place in the MMO genre.

Each of the three ends up breeding three distinctly different communities among players.

Completly contested spawns means that the playerbase tends to be closer together, in larger groups, as it benefits them to support one another so they even have the oppurtunity to advance.

There havn't been any large games recently that had a well formed hybrid experience(well, I know EQ might of, but I can't speak from experience as I havn't touched it since the end of PoP).
Ideally it should be a mixture that allows both a fond community element without fully alienating the casual community.

And fully instanced content, is geared towards the mass-market and the casual, who like to play on thier own terms, and it shows in the community. Fully instanced games tend to have very disparse communities because you can play through the entire game with your small circle of friends and never have to be exposed to outside elements.

All three have thier places in the gaming world, WoW is popular because it has mass-market appeal to many people who wouldn't play MMOs otherwise.
Games like FFXI have a more niche market appeal, but cater to the exceptionally "hardcore" players who like to compete for spawns and play 10hour sessions.
Vanguard is also supposedly going in this direction, though VSOH reminds me alot more of UO then anything else.

I think instanced content will be more prevalient in the future, simply because easier more convient content means more mass appeal, meaning more customers.

Contested spawns will still have thier niche market.

Neither is inheritley better then another, its totally a matter of your personal preferance and taste.

(Like I'm the type of gamer who likes to play everything on the hardest setting without so much as reading the manual for a clue as to what I'm doing, because I adore challenging myself. On the otherhand, someone like my brother, simply likes to get on, play for 30min to kill some time, and quit. Both have thier places in the world, and thier associated markets to cater to).

Fandros

No to instancing above a small group "dungeon" level encounter.

The game was more exciting, the community never more "in touch" than it was when we had to deal with one another daily.

Fandros