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Size of zones
pmaura
Member UncommonPosts: 530
anyword how large the zones are, I would cry and be extatic if each zone was the size of skyrim, but I know it will porbbaly only be 1/10th the size if that.
Comments
MMO history - EVE GW2 SWTOR RIFT WAR COH/V EQ2 WOW DAOC
Tuktz - http://www.heretic.shivtr.com/
Well, I know mmo's have to balance size of world/zones with number of players. You don't want it too crowded, but you also don't want to NEVER see other players. Then the world feels super empty. Some mmo's have such big pve lands that you never see another player lol.
It's all about numbers/balance.
MMO history - EVE GW2 SWTOR RIFT WAR COH/V EQ2 WOW DAOC
Tuktz - http://www.heretic.shivtr.com/
With ESO using the zone shard tool, zone size and population is not a problem. Most games that use zone shards tend to make smaller zones. At this point I have seen no info on how this will be done. We will have to wait and see. I personally dont care as long as its not smaller zones on rails and invisable walls everywhere. I want to feel like I am exploring.
Well it pretty much puts the zone populations fully in their control. They can say, set a number X = 200 (just as an example) that they want max players per PVE zone, and then whenever it gets over that amount it kicks over into a new instance.
So it really is just a population density question for the TESO devs. How dense a population do they want in each PVE zone. It already sounds like from what they say about 100's of players on screen at once for RVR, that I expect them to set that zone limit pretty high on PVE zones.
Or they could make MASSIVE zones and set the zone limit even higher.
Like I said, it's more a matter of population density (number of people per square area) that they'll consider and adjust zone max numbers before new instance formed. Bigger zones will likely have higher max since more spread out.
The cool thing is, with the mega server idea, no matter what the population of the game overall, we're guaranteed a good population in every single PVE zone across every level for the life of the game. If the game population goes down, the number of instances of thsoe PVE zones goes down, so you likely won't even really notice an im game difference in terms of how many players you run into while doing PVE.
That makes the game feel very alive at all times, even at 4am lol.
MMO history - EVE GW2 SWTOR RIFT WAR COH/V EQ2 WOW DAOC
Tuktz - http://www.heretic.shivtr.com/
Ya I hope ESO does not follow the norm with sharded zones as I said above they normally tend to be smaller maps. I would like to see large maps that can support 200+ players.
I hope they don't fall down the same hole as TOR and have each area zoned to hell with several instances. I would hate to be stuck in a huge area with only 2 other guys because the first instance for my playstyle filled up. That was very annoying.
Sad to say that kinda what they are doing but with a unique twist. The mega server filters by your friends, guild, and play style last. So if you goto a area and it has 4 shards of it. 1. You will be added to the shard with friends, if no friends then 2. you will be placed in a shard with guildies, if no guildies on the shard 3. If you put down you like exploring, LFG, LFRaid you will get sent to the shard that most people that picked that option.
The Megaserver concept essentially ensures most zones will are in fact "zoned to Hell" as there will be tonnes of copies of a given zone. Cyrodil being the exception here as you get "locked" into a specific version of it to give a sense of permanence.
I've also read there'll be multiple load screens even within a zone. I want to believe this isn't as bad as it sounds (maybe it's only for special dungeons?), but I have a bad feeling about it.