Why do solutions always seem like they were gotten from the Gaming 101 for Dummies book?
Instancing is a nice solution for overpopulation in content, especially nice for developers, but it robs the world of social interaction and instead of playing in different content to keep yourself occupied, you're playing in the same exact content that everyone else is playing in. Instancing extends the life of already existing content - at the cost of other things.
The industry needs to look at other possibilities that don't reduce social interaction, and should encourage new content as opposed to the mirroring of already existing content (to save resources).
But I think instancing is probably the cheapest method right now and that's why it's used, among a few other reasons. However, this does not mean the same will remain true indefinitely.
I picture several things:
1) Dynamic spawns and spawn times
2) Whole dynamic zones that despawn and spawn based on changing conditions
3) Spawning that's based on population
Those're the first few things that come to mind. This takes me way back to Diablo II. In that game, when population goes up the creatures would drop higher rewards and better loot (with some increase in hitpoints and dps of the creatures you fight). This extended the usability of the content and ensured that if you couldn't find others to help you kill something because there was no one else then you could have a reasonable chance of doing it yourself (the creatures become easier). It also meant that when more players entered the server that things would get a bit harder and last longer.
Just imagine zoning into lower guk and seeing that there're too many people in the zone and there's no room for more groups or people. Now imagine that instead of leaving the zone to find something else, that the game increased the power of the creatures just enough that there'd be room for you somewhere. So instead of everyone else keeping all of the spawns clear, there might be several leftover so that you have something to do. This kind of change would probably entail numerous other changes in EQ, but it shows how something like this roughly works.
A server that's designed to dynamically respond to population, low or high, is not going to collapse when the population changes. EQ was (less so today, but I'd still argue that it's) highly dependent on population. But in any case, when a server can do this it will tolerate population changes much more effectively.
But I'd like to see more dynamic dungeons or zones that're created to be open world (not instanced). These dungeons might only exist for a time, dependent on other factors. They could have random elements inside and be sprinkled across the world in different places. It would be a bit like ldons except that everyone could enter.
I'd lke to see more land area and a travel system that's similar to UO's. One where players are in control of the travel system and can travel instantly to different locations they have stored in their travel book. One way to produce lots of content is to pregenerate it. While the content will not have the kind of quality we're used to in handmade content, it will be abundant and it won't come at the cost of social interaction or other negatives associated with instancing.
I've just given a few ideas here. But there're countless things. Instancing is just one way to reduce the chance that players will hit a road block in their progression. If you don't understand the underlying cause of these things, you might think instancing was made in the bible or given to man from god. Once you do understand the causes that lead developers to make instanced content, then you can see how other answers are possible if they're investigated and employed in new projects. But it has to be with conviction and not a halfass attempt - nothing is easy.
It just feels real contrived to me; the whole instancing thing. I always get this horrible feeling that it's just another excuse for people to be private and stick to their circle of friends. I don't think worlds should go too much in that direction. Spontaneous meetings are not bad and nor were PUGs. PUGs were one of the greatest things about the older game. A game where everyone is so private is not socially rich. It's a reflection of our society too, not just MMOs in general.
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