Quick Instancing Reply I made on FB involving future systems that don't make sense to implement until alpha/beta;
That means, you got it, none of this is set in stone.
Doug Spitler My only concern is the neckbeard guilds locking down content. Then you get into the instanced vs non instanced debate. But if there is a dedicated PvP server, the populations usually remain lower. I don't envy anyone trying to balance a PvP server.
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Brad McQuaid - Pantheon I hear you, but please remember, you don't NEED istancing to protect content with in a dungeon or elsewhere. There are other approaches. The ones we've been thinking of require a bit more programming and more design/implementation work. That said, with our latest programming hires and their HUGE desire to provide design and art with powerful but easy to use tools. In any case, Dynamic Threat Assessment needs to be documented further and ratified but I can sum it up (who am I fooling lol): if you are on a quest and you enter a dungeon, mobs only you guys can affect spawn on your way to the final conclusion, the boss mob or what have you. So you can see the other players, they can even watch, while it will be dangerous if you are too low level. During this entire time the rest of the NPC population is attackable by other groups, etc.
Now the details I'm not ready to reveal. If you zerg a 20 man mob with 40 toons, he's probably going to just leave or, sometimes, call friends. Quests (and I mean from the simple to the complex) that lead you on a journey will provide NPCs only you and your group/guild can communicate with. Other players cannot bother them.
Another band-aid that is Instancing: helps players not fight for finite resources. The most simple answer to that is to watch the size of your world and then the population during core, key hours. Then make sure there are enough resources. Don't make it easy. Sometimes a little competition is a good thing, and the whole concept need not be a baby thrown out with the bathwater (Instancing). I've experienced. I bet you have too. Running to be the first group to a special spawn or event.... gotta be first! It can be a lot of fun, even if you weren't the first. This is purely a content issue (and an event system issue too potentially).
But this can go too far. Players and groups become unable to work with their fellow community on when they might adventure in one location. Basically it means that we can't create enough compelling content for you and everybody else. That mean's we kick our asses into gear, not resort to Instancing.
Yes, it's not realistic -- players consume content geneally more quickly than we can create it, but that's a Universal MMO Truth. Like MUDflation, you just have to be on top of it. Monitoring key resources, currency, etc. does (at least) 2 different items of importance:
1. It shows us, regionally, etc. who is getting what, what items are going for, etc. with an emphasis here on tuning the player driven economy.
2. This one is no fun! This is where we use the same or smiliar 'reports' to alert us to who has the most wealth in the game, when large quantites of wealth change hands, etc. This will draw GMs to your general area because we need to make sure it's legit.
If it's just resources, not new zones, encountes, etc. than it's much easier and we will be tracking currency, items made to act as large $$ like jewels,
. But neither is instancing. It's a bit harder to implement, but tools always remain paramount. It gets low level sharing a dungeon with higher levels. It creates scenarios where you watch another group/guild and you are awe-strock and vow to return to the same spot one day, more powerful, and doing this quest as well.
Questions welcome.
hours. If guilds don't have their chars/alts parked on major spawns, then... more
