Are Multiple Raid Instances Possible?

[Dinbin]

First off, I know I'm "Johnny Come Lately". Let's get that out of the way.

I'm only now catching up on the chatter (and vitriol) that seems to be part of the HL raid scene, though it will be a long time before that becomes an issue for me.

It certainly appears (and I know I'm stating the obvious) that the accumulation of high level characters has lead to a ridiculously congested high end game. Every raid mob is effectively camped either by a toon, or by associated bureaucracy.

Given that I don't know what kind of hardware is required to run the EQ world as it stands; how feasible are instanced raid zones? Is it "classic"? No, but neither is 50% of your population at raid-level, which is where we sit. "classic" EQ was the population spread out across two dozen server worlds... I doubt any had as much raid congestion as I'm seeing (albeit based on threads) here.

Is there any dev discussion on this? Or is it a flat no?

[Tewaz]

They made a new raid instance, it's called Project 1999 Red (PVP).

[xKoopa]

No. Thats what phinny is for

[Dinbin]

Originally Posted by Tewaz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

They made a new raid instance, it's called Project 1999 Red (PVP).

I keep hearing that answer, but I don't think it means what you think it means... That's only 2 instances, total, really. One that is shared by 1000 people, and one that is shared by 200, maybe.

Also, I played PvP the first time around (RZ) and was part of that raiding scene. The PvP elements added more risk (and the inability to use AoE's) what with multiple guilds fighting over areas, but generally the MUCH lower number of people at raid levels is what made it more "raidable"... nothing else. There were less people there because it was "harder" to get to raid level.

I suspect RED is the same way here... it only seems more raidable because it's less populated. And that's the point of instanced raid zones. Less people in one area.

[Tewaz]

It is more raidable because of less population.

You can hit raid level on Red in 3 weeks. Probably can't do 1-35 on blue in that time if you get on after all the exp groups form.

[Dinbin]

Originally Posted by Tewaz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It is more raidable because of less population. You can hit raid level on Red in 3 weeks. Probably can't do 1-35 on blue in that time if you get on after all the exp groups form.

Exactly. Blue doesn't have a way to spread those people out other than instancing or server splitting.

[Evia]

I've never ever ever ever been a fan of instances. However blue has the most atrocious raid scene ever. It's brought even me to be a little softer on the idea of it. I know we will likely never see it on p99 due to it being unclassic. However like you said, what is going on now isn't really classic either. It's far too congested and top heavy.

[Priceline]

Originally Posted by Dinbin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Is there any dev discussion on this? Or is it a flat no?

Flat no, server ends with Velious.. Live EQ didn't have raid instances during this era so neither will we.

Phinigel is really the only option for a partially classic EQ server that also has instancing

[Haynar]

No to instances.

Not Classic.

Haynar

[Dinbin]

Counterpoint: Server splitting is classic.