08-26-2008, 06:23 PM
Quote:Going to be interesting to see how Blizzard handles this;)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.
--Pete
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.
When in mortal danger,
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout.
BattleTag: Schrau#2386
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout.
BattleTag: Schrau#2386