User talk:Quizzical/Instancing

Good observations, that. GuildWars is pro in another way in that "Party Search" actually works across "instances" (and even districts, if desired!) as well.

Keeping underused instances open is not a big problem either. For one thing, I doubt that an instance maps to one server always, so underused instances can share a server with other instances. By placing no new players in that underused zone you pretty much ensure that the only players who experience this are those who are afk anyway: nobody is going to join this zone "by hand", and active players seeking out others players are going to leave on their own accord.

Instances are also a great way to do a graceful game update: instances that run the old version can be kept running on the same servers as those running the new version, whereas non-instanced games often need a maintenence downtime that kicks all players to update the game world. --◄mendel► 02:35, 9 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm a "solo" player by heart, so the combination of henchmen and separate instances of areas was a big selling point for me. I coudn't imagine playing the game any other way. It's strange, because I came from one of those small games which has playerbase too small to do instancing. And I liked that too. But then again, there's always >100 people online of GW, and we only hit 100+ at rare peak hours. :p [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 02:58, 9 December 2008 (UTC)