Dynamic Events -- better than expected?

swarmofseals

Early in the game's hype cycle people were excited by promises of dynamic events that really allowed you to have an impact on the game world. This was met with some skepticism, and after a beta weekend or two there seemed to be a pretty distinct shift away from that hype. Folks like Keen started stressing that really this is just a Themepark MMO with a better disguise. These arguments seemed reasonable to me so I adjusted my expectations accordingly.

 

After having played the game some now, I'm starting to think that while the initial promises of changing the world with your actions might be somewhat oversold, the counterpush of "this is just a themepark in camo" isn't really quite right either. I definitely have seen a few dynamic events that had a substantial impact on the game world -- for example, setting up an encampment with vendors in an area that previously did not have one, or turning a cave full of monsters from hostile to friendly. Now, I did not expect these changes to be permanent. I assumed that after a fixed amount of time the world would just revert back to a neutral state. Perhaps it does work that way with some events. But I have witnessed some that seem to be permanent until reversed by another event. For example, a raiding party attacks the camp that you just help set up. If you succeed the camp survives, if you fail the camp is wrecked. In the low level areas the timeframes for these events and counterevents seem pretty short, but Anet has hinted that higher level areas might have events whose effects last for days or even weeks.

 

Automatic reset vs. reset through a counter-event might seem like a subtle distinction but IMO it really does make the difference between promises of being able to affect the world being true or being hype. If you as a player have an opportunity to alter the world and then keep it altered as long as you put the energy into maintaining that gamestate against hostile forces, you really do have the ability to make an impact.

 

As someone who expected a dressed up themepark, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised!

Kuppa

They grow on ya

Badaboom

Originally posted by Kuppa
They grow on ya

And get better/more complex as you gain levels