What is your view of GW2 having a non-instanced explorable world?

Turtle222

Turtle222

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

:D:D

D/W

What is your opinion on GW2 having non-instanced zones?

i really love the idea personally, but just curious as to what others think. Instancing kind of killed the prospect of just going out and exploring the GW world. the scenery is beautiful. it is a shame that it is overshadowed by the lonliness one faces with onl H/h.

Horus

Horus

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

www.godtguild.com

Blades Of Burning Shadows [GoDT]-leader

Mo/

i wold like non-instanced world, except for missions + dungeons ofc! it would be way funnier to play in non-instanced world, as there would always be someone around etc. not just always the same things on the same place... zzz

Avarre

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

Guys stop camping the Smite Crawler spawns I want to farm ectos omg!!!

Flem

Flem

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2005

NA

N/Me

I, for the most part, like non-instanced worlds too. It's cool to have someone come join in to help you if you need it.

But, it's makes farming a lot more lame, unless in a dungeon, because people will just sit and camp for the respawn of a certain boss or mob group.

Horus

Horus

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

www.godtguild.com

Blades Of Burning Shadows [GoDT]-leader

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flem
But, it's makes farming a lot more lame, unless in a dungeon, because people will just sit and camp for the respawn of a certain boss or mob group.
maybe then more ppl will decide to go into dungeons with others, as farming will be slightly harder, maybe even bots will not have enough bussines as they wont have their own group of foes to kill, and at ammount of bots, they wont have a chance to all farm at same time same creatures.

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

If you've played LOTRO, it behaves like that.

You have one huge continous world, but the story missions are all instanced.

Theres normal quests that take you all over the place, and theres going to be busy areas where certain quests are at. Youre gonna run into people doing the same quests as you constantly.

Adian D

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2007

England linconshire

SPFW

R/E

i would love it as i feel when i played WoW briefly that was one of the things i enjoyed most about the game

rotielover

rotielover

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/Mo

Non-instanced world was one of the things I loved about WOW. So far what has been publicized about GW2 is if you participate in fighting, you will earn rewards for that. I would think they are aware of spot camping, and they have plenty of time to address it. That, and ninjas -- i hates them!

I liked walking around and seeing someone in trouble, and lending a hand! It made for a much more immersive experience. You never really knew what was going to happen -- I once joined in a HUGE battle in WOW just cuz it was happening when I walked by! Good times, good times.

Quru

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2007

Acolytes of Death

N/

1. I like that GW2 is going to have both. It would be nice to just join some party at explorable area instead of having to set party up at town/outpost. If there is going to be some personal PvP-on/off like at *swears* WoW, i'd love it <3

2. Making money through farming comes more harder. Recently I found out, that 55 farming is something that hooked me to GW, instead of WoW or w/e. Faming is just so easy way to make money. I don't farm a lot, but when i do it, i want to make money fast, instead of killing 1 mob at time and avoiding loot ninjas.

Halmyr

Halmyr

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2005

Canada! eh!

~none~

W/Me

As long as I don't have to spend an hour to get to an outpost or town, I don't care all that much really.

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

Noninstanced world can be fun, especially when you can /point, /laugh on mending wammos while you roll foes with ease.

I can see it increasing overall player skill (at least because of copycating) when they see how effective effective tactics can be.

But community will inevitably make it hell (there is reason lots of people who moved from persistent are mmos loved instancing in gw).

Also: Unpicked white loot faming FTW!

Bryant Again

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by lyra_song
If you've played LOTRO, it behaves like that.

You have one huge continous world, but the story missions are all instanced.

Theres normal quests that take you all over the place, and theres going to be busy areas where certain quests are at. Youre gonna run into people doing the same quests as you constantly.
All of this what I'm hoping for, and why I'm looking forward to GW2.

Meat Axe

Meat Axe

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2007

Brisbane, Australia

R/

In some ways, I'll enjoy it. Walking around a huge world where I can just explore across the entire continent if I wanted to. However, I have come to like instanced play. Not having to wait for a respawn just so you can kill a certain thing for a quest or whatever. Not having to listen to all those idiots that seem to inhabit certain GW towns. Just alone with myself, my pet, and the monsters.

Dkraftwerk

Dkraftwerk

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Mar 2007

Me/Mo

I like the idea of it a lot. I think it will add a little bit of life to the game that I think is missing. Granted you are going to get your share of nasty, spiteful people who will upset you...but it's pretty much a given in any online game.

I agree with others here that dungeons and any sort of mission type of quest should be done instanced. Though personally, I'm not crazy about a linear story and don't care for missions, but that's a whole other conversation to be had.

I think it will lend to more open exploration...I don't really see the way mobs are set up now being the same in GW2. I envision more wide open areas with more spread out mobs to allow for a good amount of space for players to play in. All speculation from my experiences of course.

MrGuildBoi

MrGuildBoi

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

A/

"omg stop ksing lol ksksksksks" is what im thinking unless they put some anti-ks/ninja looting thing.

RTSFirebat

RTSFirebat

The Humanoid Typhoon

Join Date: May 2005

UK

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

R/

I think its going to be good. Instances work great for Dungeons and missions, but the world seems so empty when you go outside towns and outposts.

Now the real question is will towns and outposts have districts? I'm guessing not. But they going to have to do the following:

- Towns will have to be a heck lot bigger (Think WoW size)
- It be good if there was means to get around towns quicker, like magic teleport portals or Gates, otherwise its going to be pain to get about.

[Morkai]

[Morkai]

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Oct 2007

Heroes of Elonia [HE]

W/Rt

Being a fairly new cartography fan..i would love an open world setting sort of thing...but i noticed that with WoW, you had to run to outposts (begining anyways got bored not very far in) And so a "Map travel to X Town" would still needed to be implemented..

I'd love it to be open plan.

/signed or w/e

The Titan

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2007

D/

I like the sound of it, It will be a change of style from the current one, and it will give the chance to meet much more people.

Icey

Academy Page

Join Date: Sep 2007

non-instanced worlds are what I look forward to the most, and I'm sure its what everyone in mmorpg's like the best as well.

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by RTSFirebat
I think its going to be good. Instances work great for Dungeons and missions, but the world seems so empty when you go outside towns and outposts.

Now the real question is will towns and outposts have districts? I'm guessing not. But they going to have to do the following:

- Towns will have to be a heck lot bigger (Think WoW size)
- It be good if there was means to get around towns quicker, like magic teleport portals or Gates, otherwise its going to be pain to get about.
I dont think you can have districts in a static world.

They've mentioned servers, and being able to jump from server to server easily, so im betting thats how they will handle what used to be districts.

Im betting map travel will still be around.

Ravious

Ravious

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Servants of Fortuna

N/Mo

I am looking forward to it greatly.

I believe that it is going to be more of an event game than a farm game. Like we won't be farming smites, we will be playing an event where smites are attacking a reaver trying to carry souls to the underworld, and anyone can join...

At least that's the way I see it... as to what will be... who knows.

Aera Lure

Aera Lure

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

In Baltar's head

Bring Out Your Dead [BOYD], former officer [LBS]

Mo/

I like it. Seems to me though the zones/world would have to be huge. An awful lot bigger than the biggest zones that were in Guild Wars, otherwise certain areas would just be too crowded.

I used to play MUDs ages back. Its a completely different scale, but all around outposts of course monsters would respawn constantly, as they were getting killed by the players all wandering around close to town. As you moved out into the wilderness though, you saw other players less and less.

Just how far out into nowhere can we go? And would very distant localities still yield custom and beautiful unique visual finds? Or would it just be repeating bland expanses of landscape at some point? If the latter, I'd be disappointed. If the former, I'd be in love. I'd probably just spend my time being a true cartographer and explorer, heading way out into the wilderness where few ever go. I have no idea though just how large the environments might get. The idea seems iffy if they arent of considerable size (read: huge) or are bland, repeating landscapes.

Crom The Pale

Crom The Pale

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

Ageis Ascending

W/

I really love the idea, for the simple reason that guild members who log on late would be able to join up with us where ever we were rather than us all haveing to exit and meet at a city.

The one real drawback I forsee is the travel time would increase dramatically.

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crom The Pale
The one real drawback I forsee is the travel time would increase dramatically.
^^ legitimate reason for mounts...

you should see my "Wake Rider" class...

ValaOfTheFens

ValaOfTheFens

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2006

Warrior Nation[WN]

My playstyle prolly won't change too much. If map travel isn't in GW2 then there better be some FREE means of travel. I played the WoW trial and I spent a mint on griffon travel.

sterbenx2

sterbenx2

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2007

New England

Lunatic Legion

N/

I liked this feature of WoW also.. but I HATED walking for endless minutes to get from point to point.

The map travel system we have now can work for an instanced world just as well as it does for a persistant world. It would just need a set spawn point to "drop" you on.

And if you look back to old interviews, Jeff said he hated spawn camping, so I'm sure he'll take steps to prevent it.

but please. NO HORSES!!!! my god.. Unless we can ride Zhed.. =P

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by sterbenx2
but please. NO HORSES!!!! my god.. Unless we can ride Zhed.. =P
My idea was mountable Elk (Yakul from Princess Mononoke!!)

I dont have my concept drawings since im at work, but i might show you what i had in mind later.

Ctb

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

W/

There are good ways and bad ways of managing persistence. Bad: WoW and EQ. Good: LOTRO.

For a tip on what not to do, see the way WoW handles quest items and MOBs in the persistent world. One person can pick them up or kill them, and it removes that MOB/item for everyone until there's a respawn. A really prime example is a Wastewander elite in Desolation. He wanders HUGE open area, and he doesn't respawn that often, so finding him to kill him is a terribly frustrating process.

LOTRO, on the other hand, does a good job of respawning quest MOBs quickly and not having them wander all over the place. Another nice thing is that quest items never disappear from the world no matter what. You can't interact with them if you don't have the appropriate quest (they just appear as part of the landscape), for one thing. For another, when you take the item, YOU can't reuse it, but everyone else who has the quest still can.

Quote:
legitimate reason for mounts...
There is no legitimate reason for mounts, ever. The only reason MMOs don't have map travel is because the time you waste walking increases the probability that you'll pay them for another month. Even with mounts traveling around the map is an annoyance.

I hate having to leave a town and ride my mount for 3 or 4 minutes, complete the quest, then ride back for 3 or 4 minutes. It's boring and it's a waste of time. And it's just that much more frustrating when it takes even longer because you get knocked off the mount by an enemy you couldn't ride around.

No mounts! Map travel or bust!

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ctb
There is no legitimate reason for mounts, ever. The only reason MMOs don't have map travel is because the time you waste walking increases the probability that you'll pay them for another month. Even with mounts traveling around the map is an annoyance.

I hate having to leave a town and ride my mount for 3 or 4 minutes, complete the quest, then ride back for 3 or 4 minutes. It's boring and it's a waste of time. And it's just that much more frustrating when it takes even longer because you get knocked off the mount by an enemy you couldn't ride around.

No mounts! Map travel or bust!
Town to town travel, i'd definitely want map travel.

But quests far into the wilderness without mounts is just @_@

>.> I prefer fighting mounts anyway...

Ctb

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

W/

Quote:
But quests far into the wilderness without mounts is just @_@
Depends. I wouldn't mind a system where you can map travel between towns, but to get to outposts quickly you have to pay a modest fee for a ride. That way, the option is there for you to skip having to walk all the way out there, but if you don't mind, or you want to fight for the experience/money, you can. As long as outposts are intelligently placed, you could get to and from critical areas of the persistent world quickly without paying through the nose or having to wait until level ??? and XXX amount of gold for a mount.

Bazompora

Bazompora

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2006

Belgium

N/Me

The instanced world has <imo> always been one of the major drawbacks of GW1; I was always playing either a singleplayer or very limited multiplayer party. With persistancy and other of it's implied feats, GW2 sounds like it could be everything I am looking for in an online multiplayer game.

Though "Map Travel" has been confirmed for the remake, I really do hope it would exclude a number of non-storyline outposts (for the sake of having some fully-equipped backwater towns outside of the instant-public-transport network) and especially any settlement in the World PvP world (it would be kinda dull if troops would just teleport to battlefield and back to base again).

Eli Rela

Eli Rela

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2005

USA

N/

It would be double edge sword. It is fun, BUT, how would you like to wait for hours on boss spawn and someone just steal your green? So I am against non-instancing, unless ANet comes with a way to stop items stealing and endless camping.

Taurucis

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2006

The edge of reason

I don't play any more.

W/E

I think it'll be a good idea. GW feels a little too "lonely" and there have been many times (when I'm hopelessly lost, with a party at 40% DP, and still half of the map to go) when I wish that another party could come by and clear up the road. I also tend to have a lot of issues with either being ready for a mission/quest too early, or too late... so it would be nice if the rest of my guild could swing by, or I tag along after them.

About queuing up for quests and spawn campers - Guild Wars already did a good job with the end-boss chests - they are instanced per player. While you might have to wait for the other guy to open the chest first, the chest does not disappear. There's also more examples but I can't remember them off the top of my head...

Camping quest monsters? I think Anet could take a hint from Runescape. There's a particularly memorable quest (because I see a lot of low levels get demolished by surrounding mobs as they attempt it) in which you have to kill a lesser demon. I used to hang out there a lot, and I could easily kill that quest demon in 2 or 3 hits... What Jagex did, was that you had to have the quest active or else you couldn't attack the demon. Perhaps Anet could incorporate the same thing - If you don't have a "Kill The Purple Flowers" quest, you couldn't kill the Purple Flowers who are wandering around - and to be fair they can't attack you either, unless you have the quest.

EPO Bot

EPO Bot

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2006

Mo/N

If you want to avoid spawncamping, you should put all the desirable loot in the dungeons. But that doesn't mean a dragon shouldnt show up once in a wile. When it comes should be absolutely random. A place could remain empty for days and then suddenly a huge dragon shows up to lay waste on everyone in the area. When this happens, it's time to mobilize all your guildies before a competing one kills the dragon first.!

Avai

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2006

There WILL still be map travel in GW2, it's on the official wiki.

I agree that it would be cool to have events where an army of smites will spawn and we'll all get to jump in, but so many times when I played WoW I would be waiting for my boss to come every 3rd hour and some invisible guy would poof out of nowhere and steal my drop.

I think this will make it easier for guildies to meet up with the group if they sign on a bit late when we all go on a quest or something, and I think it would be cool if you could ride a horse or tiger or something to catch up with your guild if you are a bit behind (after all, you can map to an outpost, but the group will have already left that outpost and you'll need to catch up quickly!).

However, I also like having my 55 monk wipe an entire area clean. I know we'll be able to solo in GW2, but if I solo a persistent area what will happen if someone else comes along and pwns a guy at the end I that wanted to get? I would hope drops would still be assigned for 5 minutes, but I still enjoy being able to play solo when I've had a tiring day at work and want some peace and quiet. Maybe the instanced areas will be exciting enough for me to solo.

And what about guild halls? What do you think they will be like in a persistent world? Do you think they would be the same as they are today?

Dylananimus

Dylananimus

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2007

The Eternal Champions

W/Mo

This is a tricky one for me. One the one hand I like the idea of running past people who are doing their own thing, sometimes stopping to lend a hand or throw a heal or buff their way. It's kinda nice, and I liked that in WoW.

On the other hand...OMG, it's just too frustrating to clear an area of little baddies to get to the big baddie, just for somebody else to run past you now the way is clear, to kill the boss you'd worked 15 mins getting close to. I would hate, hate, hate that to happen in GW2. I don't see how they would be able to stop that kind of thing happening in a persistant world.

I seriously hope they give us both options, and not just instanced parts for missions and dungeons, but instanced parts for other types of play like soloing and questing. With a few big, explorable areas of persistant play so we can mix it up when we feel like it.

It's a lot to ask of Anet, but I'm hoping it's not just going to be a copy of WoW or LotR. I want it to be GW and stay GW, with just a little bit extra in the way of gameplay in a few persistant areas.

Oh, and map travel HAS to stay. Nothing more boring than spending half your time getting to places. Some people don't have that much time to spend on a game...hell, some people out there have lives and just wanna hop on to do 30 mins questing, not spend that 30 mins riding on a pony.

Ravious

Ravious

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Servants of Fortuna

N/Mo

Hopefully they will take a page from Lotro and WAR and make loot from crafting or "quests" more valuable than the 0.001% drop from some elite boss.

Rather than WoW's in sistence on the opposite..

Ctb

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

W/

Quote:
Hopefully they will take a page from Lotro and WAR and make loot from crafting or "quests" more valuable than the 0.001% drop from some elite boss.
Remember: the original design philosophy behind Guild Wars was that the PvE and PvP environments were tied directly together so that PvP basically was the endgame.

It was a horrible plan and failed spectacularly, which is why almost nothing in Guild Wars is worth anything (everybody has to have the same armor and the same access to max weaponry to keep the balance) and why skill updates are always such a huge hassle (PvP and PvE require completely different tactics, but you can't change the behavior of a skill in one style but not the other). Hopefully they learned from that mistake and unlink PvP and PvE so that PvE players can have a more robust set of armor, weapons, upgrades, stats, etc. while PvP can be focused more on providing a level playing field for all characters from a technical standpoint.

I'm really hoping Guild Wars 2 finally combines the two things I really want in an MMO: the rich set of gear and stats from the "traditional" MMOs like EQ and WoW and the tactically-minded skill system of Guild Wars. I'm tired of having to choose between either the skill-based play of GW or the gear-based play of LOTRO. I want gear to be useful, but not the only thing that matters, and I want my skill selection to require some tactics and thought, but still benefit from my gear selection. And I want it all in one game.

Lonesamurai

Lonesamurai

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cheltenham, Glos, UK

Wolf Pack Samurai [WPS]

R/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crom The Pale
I really love the idea, for the simple reason that guild members who log on late would be able to join up with us where ever we were rather than us all haveing to exit and meet at a city.

The one real drawback I forsee is the travel time would increase dramatically.
Actually no, its already been stated that map travel will still be the most common form of transport

Molock

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2006

Qu??bec

Legacy of Angels [Halo]

E/

I think it sucks... completely instanced world ftw!