Instance FAQ.

IainC

English WAR Community Manager
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As there seems to be a bit of confusion as to how Instances work, I thought I'd whip up a quick guide here.

Firstly there are two kinds of instances; 'Walk-in instances' and 'task instances'.

Walk-in instances are just there, you can go up to them and just walk in. There are no other requirements. All classic dungeons (except DF) have two instance entrances in them and so do most Catacombs zones. Generally speaking the level range for the walk in instances will be the same as for the zone they are in - so for example Muire Tomb instances will be designed for level 10-20 adventurers. One will usually be aimed at the higher end of that range and one to the lower end.
Walk-in instances are really designed for groups of at least 4 people. You can go into them solo, but the XP will not be as good as a task instance solo. The more people in the dungeon, the higher the bonus XP is. Only the people in your group can enter the instance. If someone is not grouped and tries to get in they will enter their own instance. If you leave the instance they will remain for 5 minutes and then despawn, so if someone goes LD for example or you want to train halfway through, you can leave and come back to the same instance as long as you are quick. Otherwise you have to start again with a new instance. Aurulite is only dropped in walk-in dungeons.

Task instances are slightly different. They work in much the same way as the old level 1-20 kill tasks. You talk to a Taskmaster (one next to every bindstone in classic areas and in each capital city) and he gives you a quest in a nearby task dungeon. Each Taskmaster can only give tasks to adventurers between certain levels. If you are too low or too high, he'll tell you which Taskmaster you need to talk to at your level. Only groupleaders can start a task and everyone in the group gets the same task. Once you have the task it's just like the old killtasks, if you die you fail it. Tasks can be 'Kill x number of this monster type', 'Kill the boss in this dungeon' or 'kill everything in this dungeon'. You get a bonus XP award when you complete the task (it's automatic, you don't need to return to the taskmaster) as well as very good XP for each monster you kill.
Task dungeons are only found in classic outdoors zones.

In both types of instance monsters do not repop. There are also bosses in each which drop loot as well as cash.

All instances have a level range that they can adjust between. They'll automatically adjust for the numbers and levels in the party but only between certain limits. When you enter you'll be told how many people of what level the dungeon is instanced for. If you go into a Stonehenge Barrows instance at level 10, things will still be purple to you. If you take your group of 50s into a Nisse's Lair instance, things will still be grey.

Walk-in instances are shown on dungeon maps as red spots. Task instances look like small dungeon entrances on zone maps, but can look like anything when you actually see them - some look like piles of stones, some look like split treetrunks etc.

On Camlann each instance exists only once so if you start an instance, a second group can come into your instance and kill you.

Aurulite can be traded with special merchants in much the same way as DF seals. Aurulite only drops in walk-in instances and will drop in varying amounts depending on the level of the monster. There is no difference between different types of Aurulite, it's just an indication of how big the chunk is. Thus an Aurulite Cluster is 15 bits of Aurulite while an Aurulite chip is 1 bit. It'll display in your inventory by the size of the piece and the total number of bits so if you see '30 Aurulite Clusters' that's 30 total pieces of Aurulite and not 30x15 pieces of Aurulite. The Aurulite merchants are in the main Catacombs city for each realm - Kobold Undercity, Shar Labyrinth and Inconnu Crypt. You can buy items with up to 5 or 6 bonuses on them of which one or two may or may not be PvE only. All item types are on sale - all armour, weapons and jewellery options can be bought with Aurulite and low level stuff generally costs around 6-10 pieces each. If you're allergic to the colour blue though stock up on dye first.
 

Esselinithia

Fledgling Freddie
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Requiel: In game map is enabled now for old world dungeons? Or the red mark on map is only for catacombs zones, which aren't treated as dungeons even if they look like a dungeon for most purposes?
 

Skrad

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A very nice walkthru :)

Now I just need april 1st to hurry up and come!
 

Levin

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Very nice indeed. Many thanks, Requiel! Roll on Wednesday! :D
 

Flimgoblin

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Esselinithia said:
Requiel: In game map is enabled now for old world dungeons? Or the red mark on map is only for catacombs zones, which aren't treated as dungeons even if they look like a dungeon for most purposes?

/map works in the new catacombs main zones (which are dungeons but they spent a while mapping them) but not in any old world dungeons or instances as far as I know.
 

Raven

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i think you could probably get maps for them, as it says "map unavailable" probably worth trying, ofc it would have to be to scale so that the little dot moves properly.
 

Yshynsin

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givf wednesday, still, gives me time to think what race i want for my Vampiir, shars loook funny :)

Bit like a orange pineapple ;)
 

Zrall

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my UI has maps for every dungeon i have entered since got it :cheers:
the only problem is that the cursor does not match, so u can only use it for looking at, wont show u ur actual position :(
 

Esselinithia

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Flimgoblin said:
/map works in the new catacombs main zones (which are dungeons but they spent a while mapping them) but not in any old world dungeons or instances as far as I know.

This is almost my information with one exception, I heard that most catacombs zones are treated as "outside" zones for many purposes (zone border handling, camp bonus calculation, etc) but it isn't a big difference :) this is why I was surprised by mentioning colored dots for adventure wings when Requiel mentionedthe old world dungeons part too. :) But it is cleared up now. (Tought in the EU patch maybe they added the missing map files...)
 

Job

The Carl Pilkington of Freddyshouse
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Hmm I walk into the instance in VEIL at lvl 5 loads of greys and greens around me and all the mobs in the instance are Purp, just had to walk back out??
 

Fana

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Job said:
Hmm I walk into the instance in VEIL at lvl 5 loads of greys and greens around me and all the mobs in the instance are Purp, just had to walk back out??

Well the adventure instances are geared towards grps of around 4 people, and are alil more difficult than the area they are in it seems.

What you want is instance tasks - go the bindstones of the oldworld villages and talk to the taskmaster you find there :)
 

knighthood

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Right but.. say the Taskmaster for Keltoi <the ctas entry in there> i want to get a task zone for...

Youre telling me once i finish this little jaunt. i then have to walk ALL THE WAY back to him to get another? thats like 5-10 mins run there and back ?

Thats kind of sucks doesnt it.. why didnt they stick a guy outside the actual zone on points :p
 

Zenythe

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There isn't a taskmaster for Keltoi, Keltoi is just an instanced dungeon NOT a tasked dungeon.
 

UndyingAngel

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Zenythe said:
There isn't a taskmaster for Keltoi, Keltoi is just an instanced dungeon NOT a tasked dungeon.

Just a question.. when I when into a taskmanter instance.. sometimes it takes me back to the logon screen any reason for this.. when i logback in im still in the grp and in teh right place but its weird :eek:
 

Fana

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You dont have to walk back, you get the rewards as soon as you complete the task, and the task instances are only like a minutes run away from the taskmasters.

You talk to a taskmaster at a bindstone, he tells you what you need to do and what direction the dungeon is in, then you run there, enter and do what you came for (clear it, kill a boss etc) as soon as you complete it you get exp and then you can run out and back to taskmaster for another if you want. :)
 

Fana

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UndyingAngel said:
Just a question.. when I when into a taskmanter instance.. sometimes it takes me back to the logon screen any reason for this.. when i logback in im still in the grp and in teh right place but its weird :eek:

I get that too sometimes, but as you say, just loging in again sorts it so its not really a problem, just alil annoying.
 

IainC

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UndyingAngel said:
Just a question.. when I when into a taskmanter instance.. sometimes it takes me back to the logon screen any reason for this.. when i logback in im still in the grp and in teh right place but its weird :eek:
It's a known bug with 1.73. It's fixed in 1.74 to my knowledge.
 

knighthood

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nerf my bad then, just wondered why there was a guy at camp forest
ofc id have known this.
if i could buy catas :D
but nm :p

wednesday for meh , actually something bizzare happened really in that , while aiming to pl myself as quick as poss b4 catas to get into my 40s and get uber xp, i have being soloing the last 7 lvls on my scout in DF equip and it flew by :O

Even got a lvl 33 bow with a proc that works lol
 

Sharma

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Stickied.


Thanks a lot for the info Req/Zen, would be nice to have more FAQs posted on here from yourselves in future. ;)
 

bigchief

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regarding aurelite drops. Is it just me that thinks you need an insane amount to buy things? Spent 2 hrs in a lvl50 instance as a duo, can buy 4 lvl30 items. Had I wanted to buy these with my lvl 2x id have spent weeks in the bloody things. Instances that drop 5 aur every 3-4 mobs and then thats split between the grp ... when you need 180 odd to buy one thing = zzzzz
 

Fana

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Auralite items could be a bit cheaper yes, takes too much farming to be able to kit out as you level up - you will outlevel the equipment you can buy with it faster than you can get new level appropriate equipment.
 

Sharma

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Is it possible to sell the Auralite for a decent amount of cash for a shopping trip in the housing zones or?
 

Zil

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Requiel said:
In both types of instance monsters do not repop. There are also bosses in each which drop loot as well as cash.

ive done around 10 or so of the dungeon tasks, so far killed around 5+ bosses and yet ive got nothing but cash drops? is this common? or a bug? or just my bad luck ?
 

Fana

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Zil said:
ive done around 10 or so of the dungeon tasks, so far killed around 5+ bosses and yet ive got nothing but cash drops? is this common? or a bug? or just my bad luck ?

Same, although ive only done 4-5 instance tasks. But no drops from the bosses apart from money.
 

Malcolm

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My main complaint about the taskmaster instances are that they're far too cramped for casters who rely on a little distance between themselves and the mobs
 

Fana

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Think thats fixes in 1.74 or some such, with more caster friendly instances.
 

IainC

English WAR Community Manager
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Malcolm said:
My main complaint about the taskmaster instances are that they're far too cramped for casters who rely on a little distance between themselves and the mobs
In 1.74 you get to choose between long corridors for casters or twisty passages for melee. The taskmaster will ask you which you want when you get the task.
 

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