Just a quick extra shot today;  this is a new, quite simple MMORPG Tycoon starting area (it’s zoned for adventurers of level 1 through 3).  This particular starting area has 75 monsters in it, and therefore supports having up to 225 players in the region simultaneously.  This is great for a starting area, especially in the very early game, when you might not want to spend your time managing and financing the upkeep for multiple regions.

You can also see the quick “mountains” graphics around the borders of the region, which form impassible barriers to divide regions. Adventurers cannot cross these mountains, unless you place crossings.

Note that these mountainous barriers only exist at the edge of the world (that is, at the junction between zoned regions and unzoned ones, as in this shot), and between regions of different level zones, but not between regions with matching levels.  By default now, quests send players to fight monsters within the same region as the quest-giver (previously they sent players into adjacent regions).. but the player will now be able to place “epic quests”, to send players from one region to another.

Even though the number of adventurers in a region has increased, sending adventurers around into new regions  will be important, not just for managing server load, but also to keep the adventurers interested;  they’ll become bored if they end up hanging around in one region for too long.  Especially if they end up having to grind combats, in order to gain enough levels to go explore a new area.