August News/Discussion

[NiteFox]

Going to be interesting to see how Blizzard handles this;)

--Pete

Simple: They won't. It's an impossible process to do without instancing. In which case, this feature will almost certainly make it into instances, but not the outerworld. No way.

This was pretty much a promised feature of Guild Wars, except rather than keeping players "out of phase" of each other, they'd accommodate the quest progress of as many players in the party as was feasible.

It never worked. They never really utilised it in the way they promised (And yes, they used the same bridge and houses analogy). Really, all that was achieved was putting drops/quest mobs in the area if a player's quest required them to be there. The only significant use came in Factions, where gates blocking players from accessing questline missions would remain closed if a player hadn't completed the prerequirements (And even then the story was railroaded in such a way that it was nearly impossible to get into this situation).

It would have been perfect for Guild Wars to use this gimmick extensively; changing entire areas to suit the progress of a few players in the party? Entirely possible, because everything was instanced. In a single persistent world? No chance.

About the only way I can imagine this happening is by using zone buffs in certain areas, like for instance the stat decrease around Cenarion Thicket or out-of-phased Bashir's Landing. If a player has done something, set this buff on him, if not, then use this other one. This might be used to switch mobs around for the area, but I doubt it'll be able to change physical features.

In short, it would be nice, but I can see this talk isn't going to go much beyond the "hey, wouldn't player housing be neat?" stage of development.

[Icebird]

A follow-up Blue post regarding the content patch makes it sound like we could see a PTR up in a few weeks, but the actual patch itself might be much further away.

In the Burning Crusade they've generally favoured *long* testing phases on the PTR, and given how much they have to test, I'm not sure I would see that changing for this patch.

[Zarathustra]

There are tons of talents still not implemented. I don't care what they say - you cannot possibly properly balance something that can't be used. This, by the way, despite the "Top people are working on this. Top. " for Murder Spree comment. It's taking their "top people" a month for a single talent.

There's a bunch of fundamental changes that could mess with raiding, though I'm not sure the net effect. If downranking nerf, lifebloom nerf, and potion sickness all go in it could be pretty damn significant since Blizzard won't spend time rebalancing the current instances.

I have the same worry. We have to keep in mind that EVERY encounter in TBC (and pre-, for that matter) was balanced with the idea of players chain-chugging potions. Other fights (like Illidan) rely on a game mechanic that's being changed, resulting in some classes losing their "gimmick" to being successful. I'm sure the bulk of Blizzard's testing has been with WotLK content, as they seem to have a sort of disregard for the antiquated instances upon the release of the new.

This could be bad news, and is reminiscent of Alliance guilds FINALLY downing Kel'thuzad... and getting the Shaman ring. Blizzard has made changes that I forsee as being detrimental to the current game, and time will tell how they handle that.

[Icebird]

Simple: They won't. It's an impossible process to do without instancing. In which case, this feature will almost certainly make it into instances, but not the outerworld. No way.

I haven't seen some of the other examples they mention in the article, but I have done the Death Knight starting experience, and there is *something* going on there.

You start in Archerus and complete a few quests there. Then you get sent out of Archerus to Death's Breach where the Scourge is at war with the Scarlet Crusade. The battleground is the town of Havenshire. After completing a series of quests, you return to Ebon Hold. When you return to Death's Breach, Havenshire has been overrun and the front lines of the battle have moved to New Avalon. Once you've completed the DK starting experience, the entire area is plagued, and the Archerus you return to to visit trainers is not the same as the one you start in.

It isn't instanced, but I suspect players at one stage of the starting area are seperate from players in the other part. How that translates on to the ongoing game world - well that will be interesting to see.

Chris

[Skandranon]

I haven't seen some of the other examples they mention in the article, but I have done the Death Knight starting experience, and there is *something* going on there.

You start in Archerus and complete a few quests there. Then you get sent out of Archerus to Death's Breach where the Scourge is at war with the Scarlet Crusade. The battleground is the town of Havenshire. After completing a series of quests, you return to Ebon Hold. When you return to Death's Breach, Havenshire has been overrun and the front lines of the battle have moved to New Avalon. Once you've completed the DK starting experience, the entire area is plagued, and the Archerus you return to to visit trainers is not the same as the one you start in.

Yeah, I noticed the same when I went through it. I assumed I was actually being taken to separate instances, but without a load screen. Now that this "phasing" thing has been discussed, I know that it's the same area, just phased differently. So far, Blizzard seems to be handling it by making sure that it's not just that you can't see environments relating to a different quest stage, but that you cannot see players on a different stage of the quest, either.

[--Pete]

Hi,

So far, Blizzard seems to be handling it by making sure that it's not just that you can't see environments relating to a different quest stage, but that you cannot see players on a different stage of the quest, either.

Interesting. So, Joe and Moe group in town and then head out to an area that Joe has quested but Moe hasn't. What happens then? Do they become invisible to each other? Do they see different things in the same place? Or is the situation impossible because you can only group with people that have done exactly the same quests as you? The last will make guilds a joke, pretty much.

Can the testers test out some of this and tell us out-of-the-beta people how it works? Please?:)

--Pete