Newsletter Discussion: Instanced Content - Yay or Nay?

It's become the norm these days to shift MMO content and dungeons into individual "instances" for players and groups. While it's certainly convenient, some lament the older days when anybody could run into another player anywhere in the world - even in the middle of a dungeon. This week, we'd like to know:

How much content in an MMO do you prefer to be instanced?

Share your thoughts with us and post in the comment thread!

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I think instances are the "necessary evil" of MMO gaming. They do take away from the live world feel, and limit emergent gameplay and random turnouts, but on the other hand, they allow players to experience the game's preset story elements in a quarantined setting, and limit boss/mob camping by others, especially if the map/mission/instance is critical for your advancement.

Personally, I would prefer to abolish instances altogether and instead create a smart and dynamic system that allows for a unique playing experience without critical hindrance or devalue of the story elements. Create an illusion of an open world within an area, but still make it feel as "you-are-the-hero" of this mission at this area right now.

Sigoya:
but still make it feel as "you-are-the-hero" of this mission at this area right now.

Oh how I hate those types that try to glorify the player every step of the way, even though nothing has really changed and the guy behind you and in front of you has just saved the day too.

What you mentioned, guitar, pretty much sums up the biggest challenge MMOs in general encounter, versus single player games, and that is to make players feel as if they really make a difference in their world. It's definitely a big can-o-worms of a discussion in itself.

It's nigh on impossible to accomplish that. Instead, they should not even try. A sandbox style game is, to me, a lot more fun to play. In these kind of games, because of the "politics" and "drama" that the players themselves create, it really does feel like whatever you do makes a difference - and that's because it does.
Don't get me wrong though - a sandbox still needs the sand, if you know what I mean.

Instances are not "needed" if the game is designed properly from the ground up for today's PCs.

however because there seems to be a push towards console gaming [I hate consoles btw] there seems to be much larger limits from the hardware.

the less instancing, the better.
there is one MMO that comes to mind which was designed as 1 world with no "zone lines" and from a technical standpoint, it works brilliantly.
So as far as I'm concerned, instancing is generally bad for the "feel" of the game and also its unneeded.
there are exceptions, such as in PotBS where the real time combat had to be instanced because the "travel map" was time accelerated to allow people to traverse the game world in a reasonable time frame.