Aye, I guess we are pretty much on the same wavelength. And an instant travel system without loading screens is pretty much impossible (unless they restrict fast-traveling to only IN-zone fast traveling in which case a good preloading system could take care of it. But yeah, fast traveling between seperate zones will always mean loading screens, (at least with the tech of our day and age).
The idea of having a dedicated non-fast travel server (i.e. a "hard core rp" server) and more natural means of transport would have me signing up right away I guess. The world is looking so great that I'd gladly spent (a reasonable amount of) extra time getting to places instead of having ma immershunz chopped to pieces.
Originally posted by Quenchster
Originally posted by DarkPony
It beats alt-tabbing while auto-walking. Now I got to figure out if I can find something I can alt-tab to during those 30 seconds. The only thing I can think of is using the time to swap music playing on the computer or glancing at forum posts.
That's exactly my issue with it: I might be a tad ADD'ish but loading screens any longer than 10 or 12 seconds make my mind wander off and alt-tab to mmorpg.com or another forum and hey look! A new topic called "An Open Letter To *insert developer here*: Must Read Everyone!" or wow ... A picture of a bunny with a kitten and a rainbow! .... and I am already occupied with something else.
In SWTOR I found myself doing so time and time and time again; it really broke the flow of the game.
So yeah, really hoping this will be a focus of their optimization efforts.
After playing EQ for 7 years, a little zoning here and there is nothing to me.
Hell even with the zoning in EQ the world felt larger and more alive then half the "try to be all open" mmos these days.
I played EQ2 for 7 years and it has plenty of loading screens. They never bothered me. I figure if people have a hard time with it they'll just quit playing. /shrug So what? I think there will be more than enough about this game that is interesting and captivating that some of these piss ant small worries I'm hearing about it now will be no big deal at all in the end.
I'm certainly NOT concerned. But thanks, OP, for drawing out attention to yet one more thing people can argue about.
I played EQ2 for 7 years and it has plenty of loading screens. They never bothered me. I figure if people have a hard time with it they'll just quit playing. /shrug So what? I think there will be more than enough about this game that is interesting and captivating that some of these piss ant small worries I'm hearing about it now will be no big deal at all in the end.
I'm certainly NOT concerned. But thanks, OP, for drawing out attention to yet one more thing people can argue about.
They could get annoying, I mean walking around in Q or Freep annoyed me, not because there were a loading screen once in a while but because there were so many and you often could pass 5 in that number of minutes.
Outside the town it was fine and all newer cities as well but there is a limit to what I can stand as well.
I think how much loading screens people can stand is induvidual but if people who really dislike them stay away from the personal storyline I doubt it will be that annoying, or so have people who actually played assured me.
Loading screens have been in all the MMOs I've played. Eitehr I am used to them, Have simply accepted them as part of the game, or they straight up dont bother me. Idunno.
They were in City of heroes, SWG, WoW, A host of F2P games I have tried. In fact, looking, when I rememebr a game I played, I can recall images of loading screens associated with that game.
Early on, I had crappy computers with too little RAM so yeah, those loading screens were painful, but that was on me. Now, however, I find that Rift has terrible loading screen times. It's long enough for me to notice that I am waiting for the game to load, but I don't find it game breaking.
Never played a role playing game that didn't have a load screen. So nope, not concerned. I expect to see tons in the personal story, a few in the city and very few in the real world. I don't want it to be like TOR, where actual questing zones were instances. I don't want dynamic events instances. Though I am okay with having multiple channels perserver.
Honestly out of all the videos I've watched I haven't been really bothered by loading screens.
Fast travel ones are expected, going in/out of towns might kind of suck. It's to be expected in dungeons and things like that. You zone into WvW, but it's pretty large. I wouldn't say near as bad as AoC, you don't get loading screen for going into a shop.
So let me gues GW2 isn't an open world MMO because it has instanced dungeons? so no matter how big the world is but somehow its value is diminished because of instances? who made this rigid definition of 'open world'? didn't know it was set in stone.
So let me gues GW2 isn't an open world MMO because it has instanced dungeons? so no matter how big the world is but somehow its value is diminished because of instances? who made this rigid definition of 'open world'? didn't know it was set in stone.
There are also a few loading screens in the world, the ones that you have to go through when you enter the cities are the one you will cross most.
The game is not completely open, no. It is less open than Tera but more open than EQ2 and AoC. If that is a problem or not is up to everyone, I personally don't care that much but some people do and they should know it before buying the game.
I have been assured by several people that it is no biggie for them, but it might be for you...
Loading screens have been in all the MMOs I've played. Eitehr I am used to them, Have simply accepted them as part of the game, or they straight up dont bother me. Idunno.
They were in City of heroes, SWG, WoW, A host of F2P games I have tried. In fact, looking, when I rememebr a game I played, I can recall images of loading screens associated with that game.
Early on, I had crappy computers with too little RAM so yeah, those loading screens were painful, but that was on me. Now, however, I find that Rift has terrible loading screen times. It's long enough for me to notice that I am waiting for the game to load, but I don't find it game breaking.
There are games without it too. Vanguard is a good example.Personally I get annoyed if you move half the continent like that, if it feels like it all hangs together it is no biggie.
In GW2, the portals between zones aren't a big deal at all. As a matter of fact, with the fast travel implemented you need to realize that the portals between zones are likely something that you'll see extremely rarely... you'll simply teleport to the nearest waypoint for whereever you want to go once you've been to a new zone. Especially after having played GW1 for so long the fast travel system begins to feel natural. Imagine if we had that today in real life? You can't tell me you wouldn't use it because it "breaks your immersion". So yeah... you'll be travelling to new zones, use a portal to enter, tag the nearest waypoint then really have little to no reason to use the portal again.
Interesting thought... where map travelling is included in the lore of Guild Wars (in GW you even do a quest for a kid who claims his mom invented map travel), wouldn't it be the people complaining about fast travel existing be the ones breaking immersion?
Anyhow... the zones are huge. Portals will be rarely seen and more rarely used thanks to fast travelling, which is an integral part of Guild Wars lore and carrying forwards into GW2. This is still an extremely open world. Sure, there are instances for your personal story line and for dungeons, which is how it should be. But that's irrelevant to the fact that GW2 is a massive, multiplayer open world game where you'll be in the world with likely thousands of other players.
Well.. that can be a little bit bugging. From all what i have heard and seen the zone loading is not really a problem, as much as i dont see the personal story instances as much of a problem, and the city loading screen is more or less common in most mmorpgs(so i am used to it), but the duration of loading is critical here. In nowadays games with more than 15GB size and increasing loading time(save loading in Deux Ex 3 killed me) it can be nevertheless really bugging.
BUT, the teleporting is most probably the worst of all four, especially if you teleport just to the next portal within the same zone, is there a loading screen really necessary? Maybe i will just avoid teleporting as much as possible, especially if it takes to long.. and i am really thinking about buying a SSD HD, not only because of GW2, but more of the general tendency of longer loading times in all games.
So yes, we will see how much of a turn down this will be.. because what ever you say, or how much you like GW2, loading time is always bugging.
this game isnt open world at all. i dont think they say it is. SURE it HAS WvWvW combat but thats the largest non loading zone ive seen in beta.
this games a lobby game.
just like GW1.
I hate to quote myself, but
ZONING != INSTANCING
or
ZONING IS NOT EQUAL TO INSTANCING
if you cannot read the syntax above.
True, but its all about perception: frequent loading screens + zipping around with fast travel are able to make a game world feel like it isn't "whole" and detract from the open, persistent feeling it should have, and when those loading screens end up being too long there's a whole new can of immersion breaking worms to deal with. It doesn't really matter whether you call it instanced, sharded or zoned: it all comes down on the average player's experience of that world.
p.s. that PVP hub which you can go to before you enter the mists still has the exact same lobby function from GW1 towns, despite its portals leading to persitent zones. Same with the cities with all their portals to other capitals. There's still a distinct lobbyness to GW2, despite the zoned, persistent main game world.
Comments
Hehe its funny indeed
. Just noticed it now lol.
Looking forward to EQL and EQN.
Aye, I guess we are pretty much on the same wavelength. And an instant travel system without loading screens is pretty much impossible (unless they restrict fast-traveling to only IN-zone fast traveling in which case a good preloading system could take care of it. But yeah, fast traveling between seperate zones will always mean loading screens, (at least with the tech of our day and age).
The idea of having a dedicated non-fast travel server (i.e. a "hard core rp" server) and more natural means of transport would have me signing up right away I guess. The world is looking so great that I'd gladly spent (a reasonable amount of) extra time getting to places instead of having ma immershunz chopped to pieces.
That's exactly my issue with it: I might be a tad ADD'ish but loading screens any longer than 10 or 12 seconds make my mind wander off and alt-tab to mmorpg.com or another forum and hey look! A new topic called "An Open Letter To *insert developer here*: Must Read Everyone!" or wow ... A picture of a bunny with a kitten and a rainbow! .... and I am already occupied with something else.
In SWTOR I found myself doing so time and time and time again; it really broke the flow of the game.
So yeah, really hoping this will be a focus of their optimization efforts.
My brand new bloggity blog.
I played EQ2 for 7 years and it has plenty of loading screens. They never bothered me. I figure if people have a hard time with it they'll just quit playing. /shrug So what? I think there will be more than enough about this game that is interesting and captivating that some of these piss ant small worries I'm hearing about it now will be no big deal at all in the end.
I'm certainly NOT concerned. But thanks, OP, for drawing out attention to yet one more thing people can argue about.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
They could get annoying, I mean walking around in Q or Freep annoyed me, not because there were a loading screen once in a while but because there were so many and you often could pass 5 in that number of minutes.
Outside the town it was fine and all newer cities as well but there is a limit to what I can stand as well.
I think how much loading screens people can stand is induvidual but if people who really dislike them stay away from the personal storyline I doubt it will be that annoying, or so have people who actually played assured me.
Loading screens have been in all the MMOs I've played. Eitehr I am used to them, Have simply accepted them as part of the game, or they straight up dont bother me. Idunno.
They were in City of heroes, SWG, WoW, A host of F2P games I have tried. In fact, looking, when I rememebr a game I played, I can recall images of loading screens associated with that game.
Early on, I had crappy computers with too little RAM so yeah, those loading screens were painful, but that was on me. Now, however, I find that Rift has terrible loading screen times. It's long enough for me to notice that I am waiting for the game to load, but I don't find it game breaking.
Never played a role playing game that didn't have a load screen. So nope, not concerned. I expect to see tons in the personal story, a few in the city and very few in the real world. I don't want it to be like TOR, where actual questing zones were instances. I don't want dynamic events instances. Though I am okay with having multiple channels perserver.
That made me lol
.
Looking forward to EQL and EQN.
The best games I know have loading screens and are very immersive.
"Hey look, the game has a UI! It is not immersive!"
Honestly out of all the videos I've watched I haven't been really bothered by loading screens.
Fast travel ones are expected, going in/out of towns might kind of suck. It's to be expected in dungeons and things like that. You zone into WvW, but it's pretty large. I wouldn't say near as bad as AoC, you don't get loading screen for going into a shop.
It seems nothing even close to how bad SWTOR is.
So let me gues GW2 isn't an open world MMO because it has instanced dungeons? so no matter how big the world is but somehow its value is diminished because of instances? who made this rigid definition of 'open world'? didn't know it was set in stone.
If the biggest complaint I have with a game is the loading screens, I'm going to be one happy gamer!
Enter a whole new realm of challenge and adventure.
The world clearly is not open. Can I turn easy and run, untill I arive at the starting point? Wait what...?!? o.O
There are also a few loading screens in the world, the ones that you have to go through when you enter the cities are the one you will cross most.The game is not completely open, no. It is less open than Tera but more open than EQ2 and AoC. If that is a problem or not is up to everyone, I personally don't care that much but some people do and they should know it before buying the game.
I have been assured by several people that it is no biggie for them, but it might be for you...
this game isnt open world at all. i dont think they say it is. SURE it HAS WvWvW combat but thats the largest non loading zone ive seen in beta.
this games a lobby game.
just like GW1.
Hero Evermore
Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982.
Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
There are games without it too. Vanguard is a good example.Personally I get annoyed if you move half the continent like that, if it feels like it all hangs together it is no biggie.
A SSD helps with any loading screens though.
I say is mix between poker game and snooker...
In GW2, the portals between zones aren't a big deal at all. As a matter of fact, with the fast travel implemented you need to realize that the portals between zones are likely something that you'll see extremely rarely... you'll simply teleport to the nearest waypoint for whereever you want to go once you've been to a new zone. Especially after having played GW1 for so long the fast travel system begins to feel natural. Imagine if we had that today in real life? You can't tell me you wouldn't use it because it "breaks your immersion". So yeah... you'll be travelling to new zones, use a portal to enter, tag the nearest waypoint then really have little to no reason to use the portal again.
Interesting thought... where map travelling is included in the lore of Guild Wars (in GW you even do a quest for a kid who claims his mom invented map travel), wouldn't it be the people complaining about fast travel existing be the ones breaking immersion?
Anyhow... the zones are huge. Portals will be rarely seen and more rarely used thanks to fast travelling, which is an integral part of Guild Wars lore and carrying forwards into GW2. This is still an extremely open world. Sure, there are instances for your personal story line and for dungeons, which is how it should be. But that's irrelevant to the fact that GW2 is a massive, multiplayer open world game where you'll be in the world with likely thousands of other players.
Oderint, dum metuant.
Well.. that can be a little bit bugging. From all what i have heard and seen the zone loading is not really a problem, as much as i dont see the personal story instances as much of a problem, and the city loading screen is more or less common in most mmorpgs(so i am used to it), but the duration of loading is critical here. In nowadays games with more than 15GB size and increasing loading time(save loading in Deux Ex 3 killed me) it can be nevertheless really bugging.
BUT, the teleporting is most probably the worst of all four, especially if you teleport just to the next portal within the same zone, is there a loading screen really necessary? Maybe i will just avoid teleporting as much as possible, especially if it takes to long.. and i am really thinking about buying a SSD HD, not only because of GW2, but more of the general tendency of longer loading times in all games.
So yes, we will see how much of a turn down this will be.. because what ever you say, or how much you like GW2, loading time is always bugging.
GeeTeeEffOh has been deleted?
What did he do?
I'm guessing he G T F O.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
I hate to quote myself, but
ZONING != INSTANCING
or
ZONING IS NOT EQUAL TO INSTANCING
if you cannot read the syntax above.
I thought this was a necroed post from 2008 or something, so I was surprised to see that this is from yesterday.
Can't tell if joking, serious, or trolling... ?
It's definitely not a lobby game, and it definitely doesn't use instanced zones like GW1 did.
You realize you can't do that in real life either, right?
Oderint, dum metuant.
True, but its all about perception: frequent loading screens + zipping around with fast travel are able to make a game world feel like it isn't "whole" and detract from the open, persistent feeling it should have, and when those loading screens end up being too long there's a whole new can of immersion breaking worms to deal with. It doesn't really matter whether you call it instanced, sharded or zoned: it all comes down on the average player's experience of that world.
In that sense the topic title should have been:
"A few points of concern: The open world and how it might not feel so very open afterall".
p.s. that PVP hub which you can go to before you enter the mists still has the exact same lobby function from GW1 towns, despite its portals leading to persitent zones. Same with the cities with all their portals to other capitals. There's still a distinct lobbyness to GW2, despite the zoned, persistent main game world.
My brand new bloggity blog.