All Instances Full ... Please try again LATER

#0 - June 1, 2009, 2:27 p.m.

What is the deal with sub-80 instances constantly being full?

Cannot create instance at this time ... please try again later????? (or something like that)

I am leveling 2 characters currently (66 Rogue and 71 Mage) and I am EXTREMELY tired of spending 30minutes to an hour to finally get a Group together and then getting rejected by the instance server being full.

It is hard enough to get a healer and a tank at these levels, let alone 5 total people in your level range on some servers. Now I have to deal with Blizzard telling me that I cannot play at this time and should "TRY AGAIN LATER".

Unfortunately this has resulted in some very unhappy groups that spend 30 minutes jumping into the instance until they just give up and drop group.

I end up just logging off most of the time because I am obviously bored enough to level an alt.

ANOTHER unexpectedly lame side effect is the level 80s who have figured this problem out and now camp the entrances and slaughter all lowbies trying to zone in.

PLEASE INCREASE THE NUMBER OF INSTANCES YOU CAN HAVE AT ONE TIME BLIZZARD.
THIS IS LAZY AND AFFECTING YOUR CUSTOMERS ENJOYMENT OF THE GAME.

Bornakk

#12 - June 1, 2009, 6:33 p.m.

The limit on the number of instances has been around for awhile now. We feel this was needed to preserve the game play for those already in the instances as it would eventually deteriorate when too many instances were up.

That said, we do not feel feel this is a permanent fix and have been working on a more long term solution for quite awhile now.

Bornakk

#21 - June 1, 2009, 6:44 p.m.

Q u o t e:

Bornakk,

I appreciate your time and reply. I am not referring to the limit on number of instances you can do in an hour or day as indeed those have been around for awhile now. (NOT "you have entered too many instances recently")

I am specifically talking about a recent change many people have noticed (~1 month or less) where additional instances are unable to be created even if you haven't done an instance all day.

See Palehoof's helpful reproduction of the exact verbiage.

Were the number of simultaneous instances recently reduced?
Is this a Temporary of Permanent decision?
If not, when can we expect some relief? I know you cannot give dates but how about "In the next Expansion" vs. "In a future patch".
Is there a planned upgrade (soon) for the Instance Server to allow more Instances?
Is this due to an influx of new Players or other population increase?
Is this related to dungeons/raids becoming more "accessible"?
Would you rate this as an "Important" issue you are working on or "Low Priority"?

This issue has happened in the past and has been addressed. What is the story this time?

Thanks.

Sorry for any confusion, but this is exactly what I was referring to.

Bornakk

#27 - June 1, 2009, 6:59 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Thanks again for the clarification.

In that case, is there any chance you can bring this issue up for comment from the Server/Raid team?

I want to make sure that Blizzard realizes the extent of the issue. This seems to be affecting a lot of people and varies based upon server. On Anetheron I get this infrequently. On Burning Blade I get this EVERY single time I try to start an instance (sometime the wait is less than 1 minute, but there is always a wait). Lately the wait has been >30 minutes and I and the rest of my group just give up. You can imagine some of the colorful commentary from all the groups waiting outside the instance.

Obviously I know customer feedback is an important part of your Quality Assurance process. Can't fix a problem you don't know about.

There are no specifics I can provide at this time, but I can assure you we knew about this issue quite awhile ago when we had to start limiting the number of instances. This was never meant to be something we would put in and just ignore until players complained about it enough. I can assure you we are actively in the process of a more long term solution but these take a lot of time to plan out and implement so it won't be done overnight.

Bornakk

#34 - June 1, 2009, 7:15 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Can you explain why it appears to be getting worse and worse, and why it seems to be a relatively recent thing (last month-ish)?

While I am not one of the people directly monitoring this, based on what I heard last, it isn't really getting worse and worse per say. It really hit people awhile back in Naxx when a lot of people were running it, then participation in the dungeons slowed down as patch 3.1 drew close. When patch 3.1 hit a lot of people hopped back on to focus on dungeons again and that is why you are seeing it increase again.

Bornakk

#77 - June 1, 2009, 8:32 p.m.

Q u o t e:

So without asking for the solution you're "working on", what's the cause of the problem? Are the servers too full? Did server populations after WotLK exceed your current hardware?

Lots of instances are being made and lots of people are running dungeons. :)

Q u o t e:
Also, assuming there is a longterm solution at work, what can be done in the short run? Or will we have to deal with it until 3.2 or beyond? (Not trying to be snide)

The short term solution is already implemented as that is the limit on the number of instances. When we allowed too many the gameplay for everybody deteriorated and we felt that was the higher priority to prevent.