idk i loved them, everytime i saw one i jumped up and went to it. i didnt get tired because i was constantly moving from area to area. plus sometimes the events will even get you hearts, so it always kept me moving.

Originally posted by DrWookie

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

 

The other downside to the system (which I have experienced during two separate play sessions now) is that because they are "dynamic" and 80-90% of the content in the game...you can get "unlucky" and have literally NOTHING to do in the game. On two separate occassions I came across maybe 3 or 4 dynamic events in 2 hours. Since there are no traditional quests (the renown hearts are very minor), I was basically just wandering around and grinding. I tried talking to every named NPC, I did all the renown quests and events never triggered. It was like a ghost-game.

renowns don't really trigger DE's generally a lot of the time DE's will overlap heart quests though..  You also have your personal story to follow as well if you feel your tired of just wandering.

Also never once in all the time I put into beta did the game feel like a ghost game people were everywhere.. but even if i was alone I find the zones to be incredibly immersive so would enjoy it either way..

Both times I had made a new character in sort of the middle of the event (beta weekend 3 I didn't get into until saturday evening since I was gone, then this last stress test I joined around 5 and made a new character at 6:00). So the "crowds" of people had kind of moved on to higher level zones. There were still players, but only a small handful...for the most part what I would consider "normal" for a zone in an MMO. In both situations I followed the renown quests for my level, and got all the exploration points/vistas/waypoints. I very quickly hit a wall because my next renown quest in both situations was about 4 or 5 levels above me...which I just couldn't do. At that point the game felt very grindy since "quests" are dynamic events, but since they are dynamic they don't always show up. The zones are gorgeous and immersive, but I still like to have things to do. The sad thing is I know it wasn't because of a lack of content in the game, it was just an odd scenario where the content wasn't "revealing" itself. In the first two weekends I had PLENTY to do and I was easily outleveling the content in the early zones. I didn't have to change zones on any of my characters leveling up because there were plenty of dynamic events. On these two charactesr by about level 6 I had to change zones just because there was nothing left for me to do in the zones. It was very strange.

odd never had any issues like you are describing just wandering around I almost always ran into some event or something going on.. and if for some reason I didn't I always had my personal story to follow to get xp as well.. Not sure if you watched them yet but got a few good videos on leveling and such in my Sig.

I've taken 5 characters through the early zones. It happened on two. Not really sure what else to say except that both of those were started in the middle of weekend/stress tests when most people were past the zone. Like I said in my original post I believe I was just "unlucky"...however that does still point out a flaw in the system. When you are unlucky the game suddenly grinds to a halt since 80-90% of the content are dynamic events. WIthout them, there isn't a lot to do.

I wouldn't exactly call it a flaw because that implies something needs to be fixed and the only fix for that would be to make the events predictable or forced triggers, which pretty much removes the "dynamic" part.

In cases like you experienced where you were "unlucky", you could hop to another race's starting zone if you're out of things to do but too low level to move to harder areas.  Heck just running around the different race's cities discovering POI's, Waypoints, and Vistas will give you a decent amount of XP.

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

 

The other downside to the system (which I have experienced during two separate play sessions now) is that because they are "dynamic" and 80-90% of the content in the game...you can get "unlucky" and have literally NOTHING to do in the game. On two separate occassions I came across maybe 3 or 4 dynamic events in 2 hours. Since there are no traditional quests (the renown hearts are very minor), I was basically just wandering around and grinding. I tried talking to every named NPC, I did all the renown quests and events never triggered. It was like a ghost-game.

renowns don't really trigger DE's generally a lot of the time DE's will overlap heart quests though..  You also have your personal story to follow as well if you feel your tired of just wandering.

Also never once in all the time I put into beta did the game feel like a ghost game people were everywhere.. but even if i was alone I find the zones to be incredibly immersive so would enjoy it either way..

Both times I had made a new character in sort of the middle of the event (beta weekend 3 I didn't get into until saturday evening since I was gone, then this last stress test I joined around 5 and made a new character at 6:00). So the "crowds" of people had kind of moved on to higher level zones. There were still players, but only a small handful...for the most part what I would consider "normal" for a zone in an MMO. In both situations I followed the renown quests for my level, and got all the exploration points/vistas/waypoints. I very quickly hit a wall because my next renown quest in both situations was about 4 or 5 levels above me...which I just couldn't do. At that point the game felt very grindy since "quests" are dynamic events, but since they are dynamic they don't always show up. The zones are gorgeous and immersive, but I still like to have things to do. The sad thing is I know it wasn't because of a lack of content in the game, it was just an odd scenario where the content wasn't "revealing" itself. In the first two weekends I had PLENTY to do and I was easily outleveling the content in the early zones. I didn't have to change zones on any of my characters leveling up because there were plenty of dynamic events. On these two charactesr by about level 6 I had to change zones just because there was nothing left for me to do in the zones. It was very strange.

odd never had any issues like you are describing just wandering around I almost always ran into some event or something going on.. and if for some reason I didn't I always had my personal story to follow to get xp as well.. Not sure if you watched them yet but got a few good videos on leveling and such in my Sig.

I've taken 5 characters through the early zones. It happened on two. Not really sure what else to say except that both of those were started in the middle of weekend/stress tests when most people were past the zone. Like I said in my original post I believe I was just "unlucky"...however that does still point out a flaw in the system. When you are unlucky the game suddenly grinds to a halt since 80-90% of the content are dynamic events. WIthout them, there isn't a lot to do.

videos I have show lots of other things you can do for XP.. DE's are the core of it but you still have a lot of options.. hell you could craft ot level 80 if you wanted to. Not saying you are wrong or lying or anything i just never had this issue even during BWE2 when many people moved on past the first zone i still had a TON of stuff going on in the 1-15 charr zone where I never felt like I was grinding or out of events to do.

Oh I know there were things I could have done but in those moments I wanted to do PvE. Yes I know I could craft, or I could switch to WvW (I actually did end up switching to WvW on the first character with the problem just because the grinding was becoming to painful. I didn't wantt o join WvW at level 6 but it was that or log off). I also know I could have changed zones...however it was just frustrating because I KNEW the content was there, it just wasn't "appearing" for me. So yes I may have forced the boredom a little bit, but only because I was just disappointed that the game wasn't really cooperating with me in terms of what I wanted to do. If I feel like doing dynamic events and leveling in PvE that way, I should be able to do that. I shouldn't run into an "unlucky" play session...especially when most of the time all I have to play is like an hour or so at a time...the content was there..it just wasn't showing itself to me which was frustrating.

When looking at events I'd already done I would skip them the second time but sometimes the 4th time I saw it I would go and participate again. 

Even though I knew what would happen I also knew that I would (possibly) enjoy that event and get rewarded for it. Sometimes I would leave a repeat event halfway through because maybe I'd changed my mind about it or other events happened instead.

Originally posted by DrWookie

 

Oh I know there were things I could have done but in those moments I wanted to do PvE. Yes I know I could craft, or I could switch to WvW (I actually did end up switching to WvW on the first character with the problem just because the grinding was becoming to painful. I didn't wantt o join WvW at level 6 but it was that or log off). I also know I could have changed zones...however it was just frustrating because I KNEW the content was there, it just wasn't "appearing" for me. So yes I may have forced the boredom a little bit, but only because I was just disappointed that the game wasn't really cooperating with me in terms of what I wanted to do. If I feel like doing dynamic events and leveling in PvE that way, I should be able to do that. I shouldn't run into an "unlucky" play session...especially when most of the time all I have to play is like an hour or so at a time...the content was there..it just wasn't showing itself to me which was frustrating.

think that might be your issue.. with DE's most require some sort of trigger.. many by interacting with a npc or object in the world. Most of the time with lots of people around you may not notice this because the events already triggered so you are just jumping into an already started event aside from starting one yourself.. in a previous post you said you were talking to all the npcs and exploring but if true you should be triggering events

pissed I didnt know how to hide the UI for the screen shot competition

I was walking around as an asura and someone ran up saying teh inquest released a shark into the lake.

 

So I leapt into action...and right off a cliff missing the lake and hitting ground...ow.

 

anyways I amde ti to the lake and found the shark, was surprised I could see it as it was being mauled by a couple hundred asurans.

 

wanted to take the screen shot and make a demotivational poster

 

"feeding frenzy....you're doing it wrong."

Originally posted by DrWookie

Oh I know there were things I could have done but in those moments I wanted to do PvE. Yes I know I could craft, or I could switch to WvW (I actually did end up switching to WvW on the first character with the problem just because the grinding was becoming to painful. I didn't wantt o join WvW at level 6 but it was that or log off). I also know I could have changed zones...however it was just frustrating because I KNEW the content was there, it just wasn't "appearing" for me. So yes I may have forced the boredom a little bit, but only because I was just disappointed that the game wasn't really cooperating with me in terms of what I wanted to do. If I feel like doing dynamic events and leveling in PvE that way, I should be able to do that. I shouldn't run into an "unlucky" play session...especially when most of the time all I have to play is like an hour or so at a time...the content was there..it just wasn't showing itself to me which was frustrating.

I fully understand what you are talking about. There were times where I just wanted to do DEs but it was a simple fact that none of them were running in my level appropraite area. 

It is an unfortunate side effect but at the same time does provide that surprise factor when running into old zones. I think eventually they will have enough variety of events for all areas so that we don't feel so...idle. 

Keep in mind that there are player initiated events as well. There is one 'boss event' that simply does not spawn until you reach the end of the cave.

I found myself doing content 2-3 levels higher than myself for a challenge and had an absolute blast doing so. Doing higher level reknown hearts are another decent way to get some XP chunks. The story gives signifigant amounts of xp although I don't think that's what you're talking about.

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

 

Oh I know there were things I could have done but in those moments I wanted to do PvE. Yes I know I could craft, or I could switch to WvW (I actually did end up switching to WvW on the first character with the problem just because the grinding was becoming to painful. I didn't wantt o join WvW at level 6 but it was that or log off). I also know I could have changed zones...however it was just frustrating because I KNEW the content was there, it just wasn't "appearing" for me. So yes I may have forced the boredom a little bit, but only because I was just disappointed that the game wasn't really cooperating with me in terms of what I wanted to do. If I feel like doing dynamic events and leveling in PvE that way, I should be able to do that. I shouldn't run into an "unlucky" play session...especially when most of the time all I have to play is like an hour or so at a time...the content was there..it just wasn't showing itself to me which was frustrating.

think that might be your issue.. with DE's most require some sort of trigger.. many by interacting with a npc or object in the world. Most of the time with lots of people around you may not notice this because the events already triggered so you are just jumping into an already started event aside from starting one yourself.. in a previous post you said you were talking to all the npcs and exploring but if true you should be triggering events

Ya sorry I just used the word "appearing" though I didn't mean I was just standing there waiting for them to happen. I did talk to all the named NPCs I came across. If I heard them speaking I would also wait around a bit to see what would happen....I didn't do anything differently from the characters where I had a lot of DE's popping up, but for whatever reason just nothing happened. The first time it was in the Sylvari zone (my only experience with the zone) and I just figured that zone was like on DEs right now or something. Yesterday however it happened again in the Norn zone which I had previously played in the first weekend (completed the zone) and had PLENTY of DE's. This time it was a graveyard again. I was level 6 and the renown quests that were not completed were level 9 and above just because I wasn't experiencing enough content...even though I tried to talk to everyone. I saw 3 dynamic events in the 2 hours I played yesterday. The "minotaur stampede" one, the "Destroy the tents of those guys that captured the wolves" (I forget their name) and the "Gather yeti pelts and then chase the jackalope and then take down that giant guy".

I'm new to GW and only participated in the stress tests so take this how you will.  I very much enjoyed the de system.  IMO it's very much superior to running to a quest npc, clicking through some text, then running around killing whatever.  I like the de concept alot.  My only issue was not really know the story behind why the de began.  I was never really clear on why a particular event was happening, just that it was  happening.  Maybe I wasn't close enough to see/hear why it began or maybe I just wan't paying attention enough to know.  It'll probably just take some getting  used to.

Originally posted by DrWookie

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by DrWookie

 

Oh I know there were things I could have done but in those moments I wanted to do PvE. Yes I know I could craft, or I could switch to WvW (I actually did end up switching to WvW on the first character with the problem just because the grinding was becoming to painful. I didn't wantt o join WvW at level 6 but it was that or log off). I also know I could have changed zones...however it was just frustrating because I KNEW the content was there, it just wasn't "appearing" for me. So yes I may have forced the boredom a little bit, but only because I was just disappointed that the game wasn't really cooperating with me in terms of what I wanted to do. If I feel like doing dynamic events and leveling in PvE that way, I should be able to do that. I shouldn't run into an "unlucky" play session...especially when most of the time all I have to play is like an hour or so at a time...the content was there..it just wasn't showing itself to me which was frustrating.

think that might be your issue.. with DE's most require some sort of trigger.. many by interacting with a npc or object in the world. Most of the time with lots of people around you may not notice this because the events already triggered so you are just jumping into an already started event aside from starting one yourself.. in a previous post you said you were talking to all the npcs and exploring but if true you should be triggering events

Ya sorry I just used the word "appearing" though I didn't mean I was just standing there waiting for them to happen. I did talk to all the named NPCs I came across. If I heard them speaking I would also wait around a bit to see what would happen....I didn't do anything differently from the characters where I had a lot of DE's popping up, but for whatever reason just nothing happened. The first time it was in the Sylvari zone (my only experience with the zone) and I just figured that zone was like on DEs right now or something. Yesterday however it happened again in the Norn zone which I had previously played in the first weekend (completed the zone) and had PLENTY of DE's. This time it was a graveyard again. I was level 6 and the renown quests that were not completed were level 9 and above just because I wasn't experiencing enough content...even though I tried to talk to everyone. I saw 3 dynamic events in the 2 hours I played yesterday. The "minotaur stampede" one, the "Destroy the tents of those guys that captured the wolves" (I forget their name) and the "Gather yeti pelts and then chase the jackalope and then take down that giant guy".

could of been bug in the stress test people were having issues all over.. but during the BWEs I never had the issue.. so I dunno maybe you are just very unlucky:P or maybe there was a bug going on at the time preventing some events from going on I dunno.

Originally posted by C1d0s

+ There's a lot of them, and almost all heart quests involve them in some shape / fashion

- Just like everything, it will get stale as you continue to experience them / level alts

A couple of corrections to what is written here.

First, there are NO heart quests which involve DEs. Sometimes you can complete heart goals while participating in a DE and sometimes you can find a DE while trying to do a Heart, but they are completely separate and have nothing to do with each other. Hearts were put in very late(right before the BWEs as I recall) because people were having a hard time transitioning from a linear system with quest hubs, to an open world where everything was really happening. The hearts were designed to drag people around the map so that they would pass by locations where DEs might start, and to give them at least a basic bit of exploring...

 

Second, DEs branch rather than being linear(yes, I know, many of the DEs in the tutorial/noob zones are linear or stand-alone... It changes as the game progresses) so it is very possible to run through the same area doing everything in the area 5-10 times and never see all the DEs. Even if you do see all the DEs, they remain fun just given the variety of stuff to do during them...

 

 

Short answer - DEs are awesome... And they will keep adding more and evolving the stories over time.