Zones?

I know there arent going to be different servers, but are there going to be differrent zones like in everquest? i assume there isnt because they said it was [COLOR=Sienna]"seamless"[/COLOR] world, but i just want to make sure

Yes, there are "Districts" but only in cities or outposts/towns... you can switch between districts at any time via a Drop Down Menu in the upper left of the screen.

The number of districts is directly related to the number of players in that city/outpost/town.

each explorable area is like a "zone" in eq. each one has portals that you enter and exit from. unlike eq however, each one is instanced so once you enter, nobody else can join you. you can bring a party to eplore or run it by yourself, but you will never have to worry about camping, kill stealing, etc..

Ok, Let me see if I got this right...

Basing my assumptions on other games I've played: there's one persistant world, where folks can all mingle together; chat, socialize, schmooze, etc., and then there's Player-Only areas where it's just you and the folks you choose. The "doors" to the Player-Only areas are scattered throughout the persistant world, and can be accessed either by teleporting or by walking from one door to the next, something like Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (With Hyrule Field being the persistant area, kinda sorta).

-OR-

The Player-Only areas are the norm and the persistant areas are more like little train stations, you enter the "subway" and can talk to people, form a party, etc., then when you exit the "subway" it's just you against the world.

-OR-

(and this one's based on the map at mmorpg.com)
All the areas are roughly the same size, but are arbitrarily assigned as Persistant or Player Only by "Th' Powers That Be", creating a situation something like "You can reach the Hillan Dales by crossing through the Dark Forest, taking a left at the Burning Sands, go past where the Sunken City used to be, use the secret door at the Temple Of The Big Chicken, go down three lights past the bank and it's on your left, you can't miss it."

-OR-

All the areas are roughly the same size, but one can "Phase Shift" between a persistant or Player-Only version of the area depending on certain settings when one first enters said area.



Number three seems to fit the available facts the best, but on the other hand, I have been trying to avoid too many spoilers. ^_^ Is any of this even remotely near the mark?

Dave III

I'd think that the first one best described it...

There are 4 types of areas, give or take:

1) Non-Combat Areas

These are your towns, outposts, cities... they can be accessed/joined at any time by anyone. You can trade, talk, switch your skills, and all that Jazz in these areas. Formation of Parties is also done here.

To my knowledge, this is how it works: Depending on how many people are in this area, new districts are formed, to compensate. Let's say as a number out of my hat, 100 people per district. When the number hits 101, a new district is formed. You can easily switch between these districts at any time.

It's also from these various areas that you can enter missions or PvP battles or explorable areas. You simply click on a "Enter Mission" button on the screen, your walk through a "Portal"... basically it's a Giant Doorway that will take you to an Explorable Area.

2) Explorable Areas

This is your basic NON-Mission area. These are instanced zones that you can access from towns or other Explorable Areas. If you enter the area with a party of, say, 5 people... it's just you 5... you won't run across any wandering party of other Players. There no set objectives that you can fail in these zones... it's as the name suggests... they're explorable, and you can find new places by exploring them.

3) Co-Op Mission

In a Co-Op Mission zone, acessed from an Outpost (or Non-Combat Zone), you have a given objective that displays itself on the screen and can be viewed at any time. Again, these are instanced areas... meaning no one can come along and ruin your fun. These are much like Explorable areas except that you can "lose" them, sending you back to the Outpost that gave you the mission.

4) PvP Zone

These are pretty simple... you are put on a team and you are against another team... or teams, depending on what style of PvP you're in. All PvP zones are also instanced.

The Ascalon and Gladiator Arena takes you to a Non-Combat Zone where you press a button that randomly puts you on a team of 3 other players and you are sent to the PvP zone. Now it's 4v4... you win when the other team is dead...

If you join a guild, you are given access to a Guild Hall, where only members of your Guild can enter. The Guild Hall, currently, is always in the same spot and can only be found by bringing up your map and clicking on it. When your Guild assembles at the Guild Hall, up to 8 players can create a Party and choose to start a Guild Vs. Guild match. The game tries to match you up to a guild of similar skill, which is determined by your "Guild Rating". Once you're in a GvG battle, it's 8v8 and the objective is to kill the other Guild's "Guild Hero", an NPC that remains at the Guild Hall.

The Tomb of Primevil Kings works much like the Ascalon and Gladiator Arena, but this time you are allowed to form your own teams of 8 before entering the battle. In some cases you can be in a battle of up to 8v8v8v8v8v8 (If I remember correctly).

Again, everything is instanced EXCEPT the Non-Combat zones...

Dunno if this really explains it at all for you.

No, that makes sense...

1> Everybody, No killing.

2> Just you and your party, no killing, lots of terrain to wander.

3> Just you and your party, killing possible. Missions and such.

4> Just you and the Bad Guys, Death A Certainty, Here there be PvP'ers. (Eek! )

It's different from what I'm used to, but it sounds like a good system. I'm eager to try it. ^_^

Dave III

Well, there's killing in ALL the areas except the Non-Combat places... the explorable areas offer some of the most challenging content sometimes.

In all honesty, it's a brutally simple system... if you haven't picked up the pre-order yet, I recommend that you do so and give it a shot next weekend. It's so easy to pick up that you'll wonder why I even tried to explain it.

"Death At The Door" very kindly gave me a weekend key. And you tried to explain it 'cause you're a nice person who wanted to help a newbie out. If you and Death are typical of the people I'll meet in GW then I'm gonna enjoy this quite a bit. ^_^

Dave III

Tombs is very different from arena just because you form your own team. Tombs require much more skill whereas Arena is pretty arbitrary and self-reliant characters and teams with Monks have the edge.

The max number of teams on a map is 6, and the max number of teams fighting each other simultaniously is 3.

Everything is instanced, really. The difference between combat areas and Towns/Outposts is that people can join and leave the latter as they wish. They are still instances though, each Town or Outpost has a number of districts all of which are instances of the same town. Putting all the players in the same town instance would kill the servers, and your ping.

Not only that, it would get way to crowded. These locations can be extremly small (anyone make it to the Estate in pre-searing?).

Ok, with you so far... If a town were a book, then there'd be a cap of, say, 100 words per page. When word 101 is written, a new page is created. The combat areas, et al, might equate to a flyer, tucked between the afore-mentioned pages. When words from the pages are printed on the flyer, A new flyer is created every time. When ALL the words leave the page, the page evaporates.

Ok, I think I got it. This would make things easier on the bookshelves. Uh, servers. I meant servers. ^_^

Ok, so if there's only 100 to a town instance, does this curb the socialblizing factor? Is it hard to meet and schmooze people, and figure out which guild you may or may not want to join? Or is this better acheived through forums like this lovely one?

Dave III

flip through the pages at will

tell somebody you will meet them at such and such a place in district number xxx and they are easy to find

dont like people in this district try another

lots of opportunities by spreading people out

You can met nice people in missions, too. I've added some people to my friends list after playing with them in Tombs. When I feel like playing I can message them and ask if they want to play more Tombs, and I know they're not hopelessly incompetent.

Forums and IRC is also a good way.

So, in short, it's not as hard as all that, assuming you're proactive about it. Ok, I can handle that. ^_^

Dave III

I meant that the Arenas and Tombs were handled the same way (except for team selection)... not their styles of play...

Either way, it's a really easy system to grasp once you see it in action.