Breakfast Topic: To Instance or Not to Instance
by Elizabeth Harper 
May 19th 2006 at 8:00AM
If you've spent much time at all adventuring around Azeroth, you understand the concept of instancing - non-shared areas of the world that you will only see your own party members in. Each has its own advantages - non-instanced parts of the world can make you feel as though you're within a bustling world full of numerous players with whom you can interact. Alternately, instanced areas can provide experiences that are always available to everyone, regardless of how many players may wish to to kill the monsters within. There doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rule about what is or is not instanced in World of Warcraft. For example, Onyxia lurks inside an instance of her own, while the four green dragons - encounters that involve killing a similar number of monsters of similar difficulty to Onyxia - are not instanced. Certainly this makes each of the encounters have a different challenge.But what do you think about instancing? Is it overdone, underdone, or just right in World of Warcraft? Do you prefer running through a private instance encounter, or racing against others to achieve the same goals?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lummox May 19th 2006 9:31AM
Blizzard has, in my opinion, struck a pretty fair balanced between the instanced and the non-instanced content in their world. Every few levels you gain after your mid-teens opens up a new instanced dungeon for you to explore, with it's own unique storyline, mobs, and feel. There are just as many raid instances now as there as outdoor world raid bosses and raid events; Silithus alone has a 20-man, a 40-man, a 40-man outdoor quest event (The Calling), and three summonable 40-man raid events (the Twilight Royals).
Granted, I'd still like to see one or two more instances for people between 20-50 just so there is some choice as to where they go. And maybe another large outdoor elite area like Jin'thalor which is big enough and hard enough to practically be an instance. There was always something kind of thrilling to be fighting your way up Jin'thalor only to look down the structure and see an opposing faction team on the plateau below you right on your tail. :)
If you want to see a game that is way over instanced, try out Dungeon and Dragons Online, or City of Heroes/Villians.
georges May 19th 2006 10:00AM
I would like to see more 5 man high level instances. The focus on 20-40 man raids really makes it difficult for casual players to improve their characters past 60. This isn't to say they should be getting the same Tier 2 items that 40 man raids are, but just some better gear than blues.
Though, I hear the expansion is going to add this exact thing.
Brian May 19th 2006 4:27PM
I too would like to see more 5-10 man instances for the high levels. And I completely, totally believe that they can be designed "hard" enough to warrent a reward equal to any 40 man raid. Hard can mean a lot of time over weeks, difficult encounters and special chain quests to get the epic rewards.
The crap that 40 man instances give better loot is totally shitty. Expecially when the entire game up to level 60 is focused around a 5-10 man grouping game with 5 man being the focus.
I speak all this from a person in an uber guild where I already have most of my tier 2 armor. I have the "goods" but I don't think that any of our 40 man raids are any more or less difficult than a 5 man run. The only difference is that in a 40 man you do one task and outfit yourself in one way (say fire resist) where as a 5 man you really need to be on your toes.