There have been some recent threads where some folks felt that they progressed through an area's content so quickly that they didn't have a high enough level to move on.

I think videos have been posted highlighting the nature of the story in GW2 DE system, and how often, just by staying in an area to watch what NPCs do, you are treated to something that does not appear on the map that increases immersion AND often leads to other events.

This recent video shows this in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KbjpZJ9MJM

I think people have come to expect to run from renown heart to renown heart like they were running to a new quest hub, or just chase after any event on their screen, and thus end up missing some of the neat things the devs have created.

My suggestion: slow down and see what happens. Listen to conversations. Follow the NPCs. You never know what might happen.

WoW. I'm actually more impressed than I was already. This game actually reward patience and wanderlust. Fantastic!

Damn, I went through shit tons of events and I never got this one. People are posting about a lot of the ones I missed. Pretty awesome actually, considering that means every new character has the potential experience entirely different content.

That's awesome!

I actually think it could be a twofold system.  I found in a couple areas that you could do some hearts but then cycle upon cycle of DEs would happen.  I spent about 2 /12 hours last night just running around Kessex Hills doing event after event almost nonstop.  Yes, they did eventually repeat but it was still a bunch of fun.  And when I got bored with the repeats, I still had the hearts to do.

So it seems that Anet is thinking of everyone from ADD boys to the Patient People.  The result is a fantastic game, IMO.

If you think about the number of dynamic events they said they had in the game (around 1500), and the fact that they are continuing to add them now and after release... you are looking at roughly 50+ DEs per zone and climbing. That's amazing. The game is packed with content in a way that a lot of people just don't understand because of how most of it is in motion.

I know I did a ton of exploring and had a blast, but I don't think I've come anywhere near seeing all the events in just the starter zones. That plus personal story, crafting, skill points, and all the little easter eggs and puzzles to reward exploration even more...this game is a dream for players who love the journey.

Originally posted by Badaboom
 It was not something I could do solo so she was just huddled over sobbing that she can't provide for her family. People need to start talking to every npc to see if anything new unfolds.

This is the one part of scaling that sucks. If you are playing solo you often run into content you can't do by yourself. Definitely will need a small group of like minded people to truly enjoy this game.

Originally posted by evolver1972

That's awesome!

I actually think it could be a twofold system.  I found in a couple areas that you could do some hearts but then cycle upon cycle of DEs would happen.  I spent about 2 /12 hours last night just running around Kessex Hills doing event after event almost nonstop.  Yes, they did eventually repeat but it was still a bunch of fun.  And when I got bored with the repeats, I still had the hearts to do.

So it seems that Anet is thinking of everyone from ADD boys to the Patient People.  The result is a fantastic game, IMO.

It is a twofold system.

What a lot of people don't know, is that hearts were added to the game to help direct people towards areas that have dynamic events. They are an addition, not the main method of content. However, the downside to this is a lot of people now only do hearts, and skip most of the dynamic content.

It's a tricky thing, because if you go out of your way in game to tell people 'hey! there's a dynamic event here!' it feels contrived and fake. But if you allow the events to happen naturally, no one seems to do them.

One thing that does help, though, is if you take it upon yourself to do a DE and it gets too difficult, you can link the location of the boss monster in map chat and ask for help. I found a lot of people doing this, and posting things like 'over here! Cave Troll is up!' or 'Need help for flame temple! it's being overrun!'. It was good to see people starting to do this, and I hope it only gets more common as the game progresses.

Originally posted by Charlizzard

There have been some recent threads where some folks felt that they progressed through an area's content so quickly that they didn't have a high enough level to move on.

I think videos have been posted highlighting the nature of the story in GW2 DE system, and how often, just by staying in an area to watch what NPCs do, you are treated to something that does not appear on the map that increases immersion AND often leads to other events.

This recent video shows this in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KbjpZJ9MJM

I think people have come to expect to run from renown heart to renown heart like they were running to a new quest hub, or just chase after any event on their screen, and thus end up missing some of the neat things the devs have created.

My suggestion: slow down and see what happens. Listen to conversations. Follow the NPCs. You never know what might happen.

Originally, the devs weren't going to have Scouts show us where the heart quests were, but while observing other people play, they ended up including them.  Now it's backfiring, since players are treating them as traditional quest hubs.  It would've been interesting to play without them.

Originally posted by Badaboom
I posted this earlier in another thread, but the same applies. I didn't play much this weekend but when I did I made it a point to talk to everyone to see if an event would happen. So I talk to the this family of fishermen.  The Husband doesn't do the fishing, he lets his wife do it, which is dangerous because these baracudas spawn and scare away the fish.  This is in the Human area.  Anyways, I talk to the wife and we both decide to get some bait.  So she runs off with me in tow and she takes me to a cave with a lot of grub and a new event starts.  People in the area see this and start killing and turning in the grub.  The wife fishwoman gets what she needs and runs off back to her dock to go fishing.  Except that no one followed her besides me.  We get back to the dock to fish when a really tough fish baracuda spawns.  It was not something I could do solo so she was just huddled over sobbing that she can't provide for her family. People need to start talking to every npc to see if anything new unfolds.

This is what exactly happened to me too, but during BWE1.  I ended up dying because i tried to solo that barracuda. lol.

Pretty awesome! I'll admit I gave him the scraps and ran off. I'm so used to hub questing and hand holding but I'm definitely going to slow down and pay more attention.

Oh heh, I played both evetns but never put them together.

Anyway the whole critique is silly.  You do stuff in areas that are clsoe to your level.  There are 5 frigging starting areas, wtf is people's problems?

Originally posted by gestalt11

Anyway the whole critique is silly.  You do stuff in areas that are clsoe to your level.  There are 5 frigging starting areas, wtf is people's problems?

In their minds 'not being forced to play a specific way' = 'i can play however I want w/ out being gimped!' = 'why can't I ignore most of the content and still powerlvl?' = 'anet lied'.

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Originally posted by Badaboom
I posted this earlier in another thread, but the same applies.

I didn't play much this weekend but when I did I made it a point to talk to everyone to see if an event would happen. So I talk to the this family of fishermen.  The Husband doesn't do the fishing, he lets his wife do it, which is dangerous because these baracudas spawn and scare away the fish.  This is in the Human area.  Anyways, I talk to the wife and we both decide to get some bait.  So she runs off with me in tow and she takes me to a cave with a lot of grub and a new event starts.  People in the area see this and start killing and turning in the grub.  The wife fishwoman gets what she needs and runs off back to her dock to go fishing.  Except that no one followed her besides me.  We get back to the dock to fish when a really tough fish baracuda spawns.  It was not something I could do solo so she was just huddled over sobbing that she can't provide for her family.

People need to start talking to every npc to see if anything new unfolds.

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Zone (/map) chat is great for this, and I really think we more experienced players need to be making more use of the chat channels to help new players realize where the bulk of the content lies and how to find it. A lot of folks really don't realize that the "completion" percentage shown on the map does not include the bulk of the game's content, namely DEs and personal story...and they just run around completing hearts and can't figure out why they are under-leveled.

Give a shout for people to help, tell them where the events are happening. Let them know how you triggered the event and what you had to do to get to the boss mob. The more people we educate, the better the community will be and the less frustrated "traditional" MMO players there will be. =)

I hope all the kids will stop with the "dynamic events are the same as quests" now. They probably won't but it's worth a try

Those are really nice details, but they are still details.

What impressed me the most in their dynamic event, is that it gave a real scenario behind the zones and the places in the world, and this is very hard to show in a short video, and probably a lot of players are still missing it because we didn't played the game much.

For example in most mmo you would have the same mob to grind over and over, you would come to a zone filled with orcs or whatever and would just grind them. Well in GW2 you still have that field of mobs, but contrary to usual mmo, there is a reason why they are there, and if you follow the events you will learn why they are there, and many small details won't make them as stale as they usually are in other mmo. They will do something related to the event, like stop people from using the road, kill traders, stop caravan, build something, whatever they are doing and most player are probably ignoring, all this kind of small details that add a lot to the game.

If they are those mob around a town its probably because they plan to attack it later, stuff like that, and when playing the game longer you kind of learn to look at those things more. This is imo the real strength of the dynamic event setting in GW2, and what is really impressing. When you play an human you know they are constantly at war with the centaur, and you probably will "learn" to dislike them too and fight them. This give a dept to the game other mmo lost from our old pen& paper rpg, those mobs have again a reason to be there. They are not just dummies for you to gain xp, they actually have a story behind, and that's quiet a feat Anet pulled here. They must have done a lot of work to put this in place, its quiet breath taking when you think about it a bit longer.

Originally posted by gestalt11

Oh heh, I played both evetns but never put them together.

 

Anyway the whole critique is silly.  You do stuff in areas that are clsoe to your level.  There are 5 frigging starting areas, wtf is people's problems?

So, you think people should do everything in a small area that can be done in 20 mins then move onto the next starting area, spend 20 mins there, then move to the next starting area and keep doing that for 80 levels spending more time traveling then actually leveling? That is called terrible progression design. Warhammer did that and it sucked. Donno why people think it's suddenly good now. 

Originally posted by observer

Originally, the devs weren't going to have Scouts show us where the heart quests were, but while observing other people play, they ended up including them.  Now it's backfiring, since players are treating them as traditional quest hubs.  It would've been interesting to play without them.

I think it's more of an issue with player mentality being stuck in traidtional quest system. I usually only run into the first scout int he zone and then I get "lost" in the world, running across the zone and bumping into DEs, hearts and smaller, unmarked "events". By the time I remember about socuts again I usually am done with most of the things they would uncover anyway.  It's just too much fun to find the content yourself. 

I think it's going to take some time to rid myself of the 'run from quest giver to quest giver' mentality. That's been pretty much the only way to progress for many years now.

When I first started playing MMO's I had the idea that exploration would be rewarding and interesting, didn't take long to forget that. I was delighted to discover that ArenaNet are putting those old ideas back into practice - rewarding exploration and gathering that is. Not everyone wants to fight or stand around idle 100% of the time. Sadly those are the only two options in most MMO's out there these days.

I'm really looking forward to the release of GW2.