Instance throttling explained
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 19th 2009 at 2:00PM
If you do a lot of instances, you're probably familiar with the error message "Additional instances could not be launched. Please, try again later," and the accompanying dance of spamming the instance portal until it lets you in. For me it seems to happen most at the Azjol-Nerub portal, but that's probably just coincidence.
Anyway, although I've been seeing this error pretty much since WotLK launched, Wryxian just made a post today in the European forums explaining what it's all about. Basically, it's an attempt to fix instance performance; if too many instances are running at the same time on the instance server, lag and possible crashes result (and I'm sure we've all experienced that), so there's a limit imposed on how many instances can be up at any given time.
The thinking is that players would rather wait for an instance that is going to run well than be able to immediately enter an instance that might be laggy or crashy. And I probably agree. However, I can't help but be frustrated with the way it's implemented; I'd like to see something like a queue for instances. As is, the best way to get into an instance as soon as possible is to continually run in and out of the portal, which is hardly fun.
Fortunately, they are working towards optimizing the servers so that this is no longer an issue; eventually, the instance limit should be lifted and performance should return to what we've always known it as. Until then, I can only advise that strafing is probably the fastest way to get in and out of a portal.
Filed under: Realm News, Bugs, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gnosh Feb 19th 2009 2:04PM
thousands of players attempting to solo old instances for Elder coins prevented raids for many guild on Durotan.
Clevins Feb 19th 2009 2:33PM
This. If instance performance is an issue, then Blizzard only makes it worse when they create events that require you to enter instances if you want the achievement.
Kraf Feb 19th 2009 2:05PM
I've never had this problem ONCE....gogo Cenarion Circle?
Michael Sinclair Feb 19th 2009 2:12PM
It's happened to me several times on Cenarion Circle, you must just pick the good times. :P
ZergtronBilly Feb 19th 2009 2:07PM
It's always Azjol-Nerub for me too.
MazokuRanma Feb 19th 2009 2:20PM
I would assume Azjol'Nerub is one of the most frequent instances full because of how simple and fast it can be. If my friends and I want a quick badge run, AN is the first considered. I would think VH would be a close second for the same reason, although I've known people to choose AN over VH so they don't have to deal with the random boss factor.
Koskun Feb 19th 2009 2:48PM
@ MazokuRanma
It isn't that one instance (dungeon) is full so you can't go into that one, it's that all instances are run on the instance server.
So if there are multiple 5-mans, 10-mans, and 25-mans going, and it hits the cap, it won't let anymore of them be created. It isn't specific to just one dungeon.
Save Feb 19th 2009 3:41PM
I don't know how they set up the instance servers in relationship to the realms. But if they are shared over realms, esp. with a PvP realm, I would assume that AN would have the most created instances. Mostly because that's typically the dungeon that people hide in or wait out for all the gankers at the summoning stone.
On PvP servers its usually a blood bath out front of the summoning stone, Azjol-Nerub's stone is unique in that its inside and closed off from flying, and the stone caters to two different dungeons. The AN dungeon is used as sanctuary as it is extremely easy to jump in and out of in compairison to the stone.
Kanuris Feb 19th 2009 4:47PM
Koskun, i disagree. I know this because theres been situtations where we've been un-able to enter AN due to the "Additional Instances cannot be launched" issue, so we decided to do OK instead and it let us in there, even checked AN after getting in, still no go.
rosencratz Feb 20th 2009 7:09AM
Kanuris, I disagree.
I had a group that did the same thing with the Halls instance. We were trying to get into Lightning and one of our guys, despite us telling him the instances are on a shared server scampered off to see if we could do Stone instead. He got excited when he made it in immediately, but not at all by coincidence, we who were dancing in and out of Lightning made it into that instance at precisely the same time. This suggests that what occured was an opening in allowed instances which opened up a short window for new instances to which we both managed to take advantage of at the same time.
Otherwise why would this issue also afflict old world dungeons? They can't possibly be that busy(Off holiday)
The problem stems from Blizzard making instances way way way more accessible and attractive than they have been in the past with easy dungeon dailies, puggable raids, achievements and soloable holiday achievements they could've easily doubled the average number of instance goers on any one server to my mind.
Gnosh Feb 19th 2009 2:05PM
guilds*
butler Feb 19th 2009 2:24PM
Thank you for clearing this up. I totally didn't understand your post without the missing 's'.
Gnosh Feb 19th 2009 2:30PM
Thanks for the pointless waste of a sarcastic post. People who see typos and don't correct them look like idiots.
apoxic Feb 19th 2009 8:45PM
People who correct spelling mistakes with a new post make them look like idiots.
Gnosh Feb 20th 2009 9:01AM
Yup, because obviously there's an edit button and I decided not to use it.
Thlop Feb 19th 2009 2:06PM
Sounds good, its rly annoying when that happens
Jabadabadana Feb 19th 2009 2:06PM
I've never seen this error, ever. I do instances a lot, and at different times.
So, huh?
Pillage Feb 19th 2009 2:07PM
As a person that runs a lot of instances quickly (powerleveling my multiboxed alts) and guildmates I find this very annoying. Often I spend more time waiting to zone in than I do clearing an instance.
Not to mention how annoying it is if you logout in and instance and then are unable to log back in. Nothing else after x amount of time being logged out from an instance blizz could have it port your toon outside the instance upon login to avoid not being able to login due to the instance limit.
Zeplar Feb 19th 2009 2:07PM
Happens even on CC kraf >>
I get it in Utgarde Pinnacle a lot.
belligerent Feb 19th 2009 2:15PM
Re: everyone who finds this annoying:
You'd be annoyed regardless if "instance full" was active or not. Either you don't get in, or you do and it crashes. Pick one.