So why the decision to go with Private Realms (instancing)?

"It seems backwards but most people were initially wanting to create a completely immersive experience where everyone could get together and play. What we've discovered over the last several years is that a lot of people get hurt so you have to compromise your gameplay. What we wanted to do was create an environment where the public can still ad-hoc get together but then get  into an area where it's really an adventure that's unfettered by the interruptions of others. Some other developers are using it to make Boss fights private but we know we can do that but why not expand it out and nest all sorts of objectives in there that we couldn't do in a public space. MMORPGs are usually light on gameplay and lighter on story and the only way we're going to be able to make both those things larger is by providing a real captive experience"

"We've only really been learning how to do MMORPGs since 1996/1997 and the industry is all evolving at the same rate so it's really exciting. You know what, I hate the fact that I have to wait until Saturday night after waiting for five hours to get something from a guy I might be able to kill.  That is not fun. We're making games, not lifestyles. We want to bring the game back into the genre and we actually want to bring the role playing back into the genre and it's really hard to role play if you're constantly surrounded by guys going 'FAT LOOT HERE, NEED SELL SWORD, REAL CHEAP QUICK"