The guide says that if you are defeated in an instanced level you get 30 minutes to reenter the area if you don't go to another one. I have tried this a few times and I always have to start completely over. Is this normal, or am I misunderstanding the guide?
I'm pretty sure I've had an instance reset on me faster than that. I haven't timed it to be sure, but I've generally assumed that the game allows about five minutes before an instance resets.
If you log off, walk out of the start of an instance, are disconnected by lag, or enter a different instance, the instance you were in resets immediately. If you die, flee, or teleport out, or if your client crashes, that does not reset the instance immediately.