Will you quit if this game becomes raid-centric?

[Preypacer]

If they go to the extreme where every activity that potentially rewards a nice piece of gear or something is instanced, it would definitely kill the game for me completely.

Some instancing? Absolutlely. As much as 50/50 I think would be fine. Give both camps enough comparable content to satisfy them.

I'm on the same page as Jennestia in how instancing has greatly diminished the MMORPG genre from one of massive, open and shared virtual worlds that players actually had to experience, survive and interact in, in order to progress, to a collection of scattered instances that players can instantly teleport to and from, from just about anywhere, making the presence of an open, persistent world pretty much superfluous.

Something I see a lot from the genre these days are statements along these lines:
"When I was younger, I had more time to spend in these games, so it didn't bother me that things took time. However, I'm grown up now and have a job and family, so it's better that games are making things faster and more convenient".

Being a 38 year-old adult with a full-time job and other responsibilities that prevent me from playing MMOs as much as I used to, I have a serious issue with that mentality.
1. As one generation of gamers "grows up" and takes on more responsibility, a new, younger generation takes their place. In other words, we may not have "all the time in the world" anymore... However, many others do. Let's try and remember, the "married with full-time jobs" demographic isn't the only one that "matters". That some expect games should always change to cater to *them* and *their* circumstances, regardless of others, rings of a certain sense of selfish entitlement that I could never quite fathom nor agree with.

2. Even considering #1, whether you have all the time in the world and few responsibilities, or have a lot of responsibilities and little time does not automatically indicate your leaning one way or another. I am soundly in the "lots of responsibility and little time to play" category, yet I still prefer my game experience to not be sugar-coated in "convenience" and "time-savers". My intention is to play a MMO for the long-haul.. for many months, if not years. Given that kind of time-frame, it really isn't going to "kill me", nor do I consider it "unfair" if it takes me a few extra days to accomplish something that others with more free-time can do in one or two. If something I'm trying to achieve or acquire in a game is beneficial to my character in some way, I have absolutely no problem with it taking time to earn through doing some kind of quest or hunting a rare mob.

3. I'm also of the opinion that just because certain types of content aren't what *I'm* personally interested in, doesn't mean that it "shouldn't exist for anyone else". That's another mentality I see an awful lot. People suggest types of content or activities that they and others would enjoy, and without fail, there are others saying "I wouldn't like that, so they shouldn't waste their time developing it". Well, if you don't like it.. then don't do it!

For example, I hardly *ever* camped NMs in XI, at least not for myself. I'd help others camp ones they needed usually. It just didn't interest me that much because the items you got were, to me, "trophy items" more than anything else; they weren't "necessary" (elitist claims to the contrary notwithstanding), and I felt my game time could be more enjoyably spent doing other activities that I did enjoy.

I never said "Oh, I don't like the idea of rare spawns on slow respawn timers dropping rare gear... so I don't think the game should have them". My thinking has always been "If there are people who enjoy that content, then great! More is more." I really think that "if I don't like it, then it shouldn't be in the game" attitude is born of a sort of jealousy, along the lines of "if I can't get the items that activity yields, then no one else should be able to either".

Kinda along the same lines of the jealous ex-lover who says "If I can't have you, no one can!".. only no one's life is in danger in a MMO .

The way I see it, if you care enough about the item that it *bothers* you to see other people with it, then in my opinion, you either have to learn to change your attitude and "get over it", or just decide you're going to try to get it yourself. Wanting to deprive others of content they enjoy because you (I use "you" in the general sense by the way) don't is, again, a form of selfish self-entitlement.

No one is a special snowflake and no one is entitled to have the game cater to what they want simply because they've chosen to "grace" the game with their presence.

But that's just my take on it. From what I've seen, it's apparently not a popular one among the MMO scene.