Instance

An Instance is a location in Runes of Magic that differs from the outside world: featuring more difficult mobs, bosses and situations. They are commonly traversed in a party and are saved to a party or player upon entering. Due to the increased likelihood of death within instances, the death debt is reduced inside. There are many kinds of instances and availability changes based on the instance. For example, some instances are a daily occurrence and thus provide rarer items than an instance that has no limit.

Usage
Instances (also called dungeons by some players) are party created areas that exist separate from the rest of Runes of Magic. While inside, players in a party will experience mobs and bosses that are considerably more difficult that the outside world - depending on the difficulty of the instance. This increased difficulty will often yield better items and equipment for that specific level that offer more bonuses than conventional items.

Mechanics
Instances are based upon progression: the idea that the party start from the beginning and work their way gradually through to the end. Traditionally, the instance difficulty rises the further the party traverses but this is not always true. However, at the end of most hard mode instances, the final boss will drop a different stat group than it's counterparts (these stats are identified as "Red stats" or "Orange stats" and are far more rare and valuable than "Yellow stats").

Instances are unique to a party, meaning that a single player and an entire party entering the same instance will not encounter one another. This means that players must be within the same party if they wish to run with each other. This does not apply for world instances however, which exist only as one instance for a whole server, rather than many for each party that enters.