Zone Instancing

[Rocker8956]

Well after looking through the code this is definitely out of my league. Though here is what I think needs to occur for zone instancing to work.

Add a UniqueID to field to the zone table that increments for every zone, including ones that are added.

Add a InstanceZoneType field to the zone table.
0 = Not a instance capable of being instanced
1 = A zone capable of being instanced that is for only one player
2 = A zone capable of being instanced that is for a group
3 = A zone capable of being instanced that is for a raid

Add a InstanceZoneFlag field to the character_ table

When the players InstanceZoneFlag field is set the server will need to create a new entry in the Zone table by copying all of the information from the zone’s entry that matches the short_name.

When a zone is started the server checks to see if that zone’s InstanceZoneType is greater then zero
If not the server goes about the zone loading as normal
If it is the server gets the zoning players character_.InstanceZoneFlag
The server then checks to see if a Zone.UniqueID matches that player’s InstanceZoneFlag
If it does then the zone is loaded and the player is sent to that zone based on the Zone.UniqueID

Sorry, if this post makes no sense. I was up all night looking through the source code trying to figure it out.

[Rocker8956]

Forgot to mention the new zone entry would need to be given a unique zoneidnumber. Since the source code seems to track most things through the zoneidnumber.

It is possible the instanced zone could then be loaded based on that ZoneIdNumber instead of the Zone.UniqueID.

[Kagatob]

I don't know if this is the correct thread to post this in, but the question I've been asking myself as of late, is do you really want to add any kind of instancing to EQ EMU at all? Even the largest servers only have around 150 people on them at peak times, and their communities, while thriving now, are certainly fragile with such a small (when compared to live) player base.
Instancing is certainly not good for those types of communities as not being in normal zones helping and interacting with each other you would start to get the WoW effect on the community.
If you've never played WoW ask someone who does, this question.
"Besides in the auction hall, when was the last time you've talked to someone outside of your guild?"

Just my 2 cp.

[ChaosSlayer]

even on 50 men server instancign has its uses.
for exmaple i like to have Time B to be only doable once a week. (to enforce item rarity), but this means that only 1 raid total can ever do it. and if server has say 5 guilds - you not gona see your turn in in less than a month.

if i increse Time repop rate by once a day - which ever guild plays at earlier hours- can do Time EVERY DAY, and then you never gona get a chance to raid it, until every single twink and their dog in their guild has every single drop

thats where instancing comes in friendly. each guild can have their own once a week run

WHile i myself prefer to keep loot zones contested, when it comes to doign quest/progression raids -repop timers suck when you have to wait a week to do a progression flagging

[Kagatob]

Originally Posted by ChaosSlayer

even on 50 men server instancign has its uses.
for exmaple i like to have Time B to be only doable once a week. (to enforce item rarity), but this means that only 1 raid total can ever do it. and if server has say 5 guilds - you not gona see your turn in in less than a month.

if i increse Time repop rate by once a day - which ever guild plays at earlier hours- can do Time EVERY DAY, and then you never gona get a chance to raid it, until every single twink and their dog in their guild has every single drop

thats where instancing comes in friendly. each guild can have their own once a week run

WHile i myself prefer to keep loot zones contested, when it comes to doign quest/progression raids -repop timers suck when you have to wait a week to do a progression flagging

I can understand that for progression and big events like PoTime, I was talking more about people grinding their AAs, Leveling and spending 90% of their time in said instances to do such things. When LDoN released on live, the decrease in community was palpable.
Besides, who says you can't simply inforce that everyone who is able to go to Time gets a chance just by saying, ok you had your shot, next guild please.

[ChaosSlayer]

Originally Posted by Kagatob

I can understand that for progression and big events like PoTime, I was talking more about people grinding their AAs, Leveling and spending 90% of their time in said instances to do such things. When LDoN released on live, the decrease in community was palpable.
Besides, who says you can't simply inforce that everyone who is able to go to Time gets a chance just by saying, ok you had your shot, next guild please.

actualy LDON when first released brought more people togther than any other EQ feature =)
simple cuase it given people tool to easily find group to XP and get garanteed rewards via time invested=points earned system (since eq before that UTERLY sucked on loot specialy for non raiders)

Important point to note that myself I don't see a need for instancing at low levels. Instancing would be used for most group quest/raid purposes, where you woudl do the dungeon, get to the end, kill the boss, and get an option to try an ultra-hard sub-level. Now this kind of thing should be instanced

As far as raid rotation go - that don't realy works very well on small servers.
Did not worked very well on live either. When my guild was coming up on elementals and VT we faced a situation where 5 upper guilds who were at that level for a while (over a year) looked at us and said "who said you can come and raid here? Yeah we a rotation but that does not mean we let you into it". And there simply nothing you could do about it, but pick up a scraps

When Time B was on rotation it was a nightmare, europian guilds would on regular bases storm in early in the morning, wipe it clean, and there is nothign you can do to stop them since in US no one raids till 6-9pm
And same thing would repeat every week

[Kagatob]

Originally Posted by ChaosSlayer

actualy LDON when first released brought more people togther than any other EQ feature =)
simple cuase it given people tool to easily find group to XP and get garanteed rewards via time invested=points earned system (since eq before that UTERLY sucked on loot specialy for non raiders)

This is completely untrue, half of the entire existing EQ player base left between LDON and GoD. I felt these effects because I wasn't one of them, though in retrospect I wish I was because that year and a half that I kept playing was the worst experience I've ever had in EQ.

Originally Posted by ChaosSlayer

Important point to note that myself I don't see a need for instancing at low levels. Instancing would be used for most group quest/raid purposes, where you woudl do the dungeon, get to the end, kill the boss, and get an option to try an ultra-hard sub-level. Now this kind of thing should be instanced

As far as raid rotation go - that don't realy works very well on small servers.
Did not worked very well on live either. When my guild was coming up on elementals and VT we faced a situation where 5 upper guilds who were at that level for a while (over a year) looked at us and said "who said you can come and raid here? Yeah we a rotation but that does not mean we let you into it". And there simply nothing you could do about it, but pick up a scraps

When Time B was on rotation it was a nightmare, europian guilds would on regular bases storm in early in the morning, wipe it clean, and there is nothign you can do to stop them since in US no one raids till 6-9pm
And same thing would repeat every week

When I said rotation I meant developer/GM enforced rotation, not discussion between the guilds.