Instances and Parties?

[WindyGamer]

Ok. I get why we have "instances". No problem.

But I don't see something that we need. So in a party. We do a Duty? No problem. we are different instance and then we queue and we go into the dungeon or raid together. No problem. But if we come out of the duty, or move between zones we might end up in different instances. It asks sometimes, but not always and there is no "hint" about where my other party members are so no easy ability to join them.

I did a google search and forum posts popped up on this subject from 2015 and 2017. I looked in the client and I could not find a feature that fixed this issue.

Playing with party members and moving around the world where there is enough crowding to cause instances to happen is missing a feature? Something as simple as "Join in Instance" or something. What am I missing? Do we have this? I couldn't find it. Don't we need this?

Thanks.

[PharisHanasaki]

Wasn't this made eventually so that you all teleport to the same instance while in a party? It was a common complaint, so they fixed it.

The only time when this doesn't work is when the party was made after teleporting to the zone, or if the instance is full. And there's nothing to be done about that, exceeding the limit just to keep a group together would defeat the purpose of instancing the zone in the first place.

You can change instances at any Aetheryte in the zone btw. As for telling which instance you're currently on, just type < pos > without spaces.

[Hiragawa]

As for telling which instance you're currently on, just type < pos > without spaces.

You can also just type /instance

[PharisHanasaki]

You can also just type /instance

True, I forgot about that.
We usually use flag markers, which include the instance in it. Thanks!

[WindyGamer]

You can change instances at any Aetheryte in the zone btw..

So you are saying that Rclick on any Aetheryte in a non-city zone shows an option to change instances? Well I missed that. Can't get in right now. I'll have to try that the next time I'm in the game. I new about changing Worlds in major cities, but never heard about "Changing Instances" at aetherytes. Cool. Of course "Join In" would involve less travel when folks are far from the Aetheryte in the zone. But ok. I'll check that tomorrow when I can play again.
Thx.

[Risvertasashi]

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they never fixed that parties get split up when they all go to the same zone. Or even return from a duty or such. It's annoying, yeah...

[PharisHanasaki]

So you are saying that Rclick on any Aetheryte in a non-city zone shows an option to change instances? Well I missed that. Can't get in right now. I'll have to try that the next time I'm in the game. I new about changing Worlds in major cities, but never heard about "Changing Instances" at aetherytes. Cool. Of course "Join In" would involve less travel when folks are far from the Aetheryte in the zone. But ok. I'll check that tomorrow when I can play again.
Thx.

If you go to an instanced area, clicking on the Aetheryte will show this extra option:



Clicking on it lets you manually change between instances:

[WindyGamer]

Ok. So here's the problem with the current design. So go to Vesper Bay, for example. No Aetherite. So if you wanna both be in the same Instance, you have to travel all the way to Horizon which is the only Aetherite in the zone. Moving between instances needs to use a menu in Travel, for example, not in an Aetherite. These menus can be anyplace in the game, so putting them in Aetherites is just not a good idea.

IMO

[HyoMinPark]

Ok. So here's the problem with the current design. So go to Vesper Bay, for example. No Aetherite. So if you wanna both be in the same Instance, you have to travel all the way to Horizon which is the only Aetherite in the zone. Moving between instances needs to use a menu in Travel, for example, not in an Aetherite. These menus can be anyplace in the game, so putting them in Aetherites is just not a good idea.

IMO

Does Western Thanalan even have instances right now? Aside from the new Endwalker areas, the only other zone that I can think of that has active instances is Mor Dhona/the Rising Stones. I don’t think Western Thanalan would have them, since it’s not considered high-traffic (despite its relevance in the ARR storyline).

That said, instances aren’t permanent. After a while, the devs remove them from the zones that currently have them. The instance travel being tied to the Aetherytes themselves is likely due to system/engine limitations. Most areas that end up with instances have more than just one Aetheryte in them (either 2 or 3 is the standard outside of ARR areas). So the traveling to one isn’t a huge deal.

[Seraphor]

Ok. So here's the problem with the current design. So go to Vesper Bay, for example. No Aetherite. So if you wanna both be in the same Instance, you have to travel all the way to Horizon which is the only Aetherite in the zone. Moving between instances needs to use a menu in Travel, for example, not in an Aetherite. These menus can be anyplace in the game, so putting them in Aetherites is just not a good idea.

IMO

Western Thanalan has instances?
Isn't it only major cities and new zones that have instances?

Vesper Bay is the only example of a teleport location that isn't itself an aetheryte, and only via a special limited item.