Byproduct of phasing?

[Soulrift]

Maybe it's just because I'm a sucker for storyline and lore and whatnot, but one thing I've been noticing in a lot of zones now is that npc characters are now reappearing throughout the zone, giving it more of a storyline feel than the usual going from the quest hub to the objective and back 50 times.

For example, in the goblin starting zone, you get the main characters at the start and then they show up at every other stop through the zone. Not only that, but the fact that there is no permanent hub for much of the zone gives it more of a going-forward feel. Hell, by the end of the zone you can remember the names of almost every npc and get a real sense of accomplishment from completing quests.

Again in Vashj'ir, where the whole zone feels like a fight for survival with the same group of npcs. Find a new hole to hide in, fight off naga, try and attack naga, get asses handed to us by naga, etc.

So, to the question, is the entire point of phasing to give more storyline immersion and, if so, is it as effective as I claim it to be here?

[videogamerpat]

That's the biggest thing I loved about the goblin zone. It felt like you were all in it together, that they weren't just faceless class trainers, but were going through the same shit that you were. The fact that every class trainer had a name just sweetened it even further.

[Deleted]

I couldnt trade with a guildie in MH, we were in different phases. "We just werent there, man"

[Ghul]

well its a new way of telling the story, ofc it feels better

im not sure if blizzard invented it(probably not) but the way theyre using this technology is pretty awesome!

[Deleted]

Damnit to hell, lol! This is first time I've seen a post where the game seems to have something new and different that would be worth returning to! Rolling a goblin sounds sweet!

Hate you, haha!

I ... am ...
going ... to
hold ... out
as long as ...
I can!

I couldnt trade with a guildie in MH, we were in different phases. "We just werent there, man"

Oh, bugger! I HATE phasing (for this and other reasons)! :/

Well, at least that solved the problem then ...

[cybermind]

So, to the question, is the entire point of phasing to give more storyline immersion and, if so, is it as effective as I claim it to be here?

With what they did with phasing in WotLK, particularly in the larger Icecrown chains with Tirion, that seems to be exactly what they were intending. They can have a much better immersion factor without everyone seeing 30 of the same NPC in varying states of progression all over the place. With some of the quests, only specific NPCs are phased, so you still see other players, but only you see your quest giver wherever he is at that moment.

---------- Post added 2010-12-10 at 05:30 PM ----------

I couldnt trade with a guildie in MH, we were in different phases. "We just werent there, man"

You should be able to if you're in a party. If I'm not mistaken, you join the party leader in his phase as long as you've completed it already.

[Reciprocity]

Love it, but the absolute WORST downside to phasing and the new "design philosophy" is...::drumroll::

That if something bugs out, which it will since the game isn't even a week old, you often cannot progress the storyline, questhub, zone and therefore you may miss out entirely on finishing the zone. I'm currently bugged out on the quest requiring you to kill the Cinderlord in the Fire Portal/Elemental plane and loot the chest...I cannot loot the chest and have tried many times over, with no addons, complete restarts, etc. Not sure how much this affects the zone or questing, but it is annoying.

Same in Vashj'ir...I am around 145 quests and have seen numerous bugs. I know it will happen, but when you are given only 2-3 quests and often finishing the quest line leads to a new flight hub/inn, or more, it's really annoying and sort-of zone breaking. I remember finishing just one quest and all of a suddent there's a new inn/quest hub, etc. Fortunately it hasn't been that bad and I love the design philosophy, but it will require faster hot fixes, more bug reporting and attention to detail.

In the old wow method, you could bug something out and that was ok, b/c there was no phasing nor did quests really converge or lead anywhere. Now...you have to fix it asap, or people could be stuck.

[Cerebes]

Let me tell you the real byproduct of phasing. Getting out of combat and in combat out of the blue, it happens cause the phased part has a mob there or had a mob and the combat part is still there.

[Yseraboy]

Let me tell you the real byproduct of phasing. Getting out of combat and in combat out of the blue, it happens cause the phased part has a mob there or had a mob and the combat part is still there.

Is that what it is?

I've had that happen a couple of times: while grabbing Whiptail herbs in Uldum, and doing Nespirath [sp?] quests in Vash.