The Tyrian Chronicle: Dynamic Events .

It’s time for another edition of our weekly Guild Wars 2 column: The Tyrian Chronicle. Since last week was focused on the Entanglement episode of the Living Story, this week will focus on a specific aspect of the game. Specifically, this week will focus on the dynamic event system in Guild Wars 2.

Dynamic events were one of the most-hyped features of the game prior to its launch and were used as a talking point in several of the trailers and developer diaries. However, now that the game has been out for almost two full years, the development team has experienced a drastic shift in focus – for better and for worse. Let’s discuss the dynamic event system as it stands now, as it was at launch, and how it looks for the future.

Save the Farmer, Save the World

Crumpling beneath the might of the centaur hordes!

When the dynamic event system was first discussed, it had an aura about it that resembled what I like to call the “Peter Molyneux Effect”, or simply the act of game developers dreaming up what certain features could look like in their head, but not in the actual game. Similar to Molyneux’s promise of fallen acorns sprouting brand new trees in the original Fable, dynamic events were seen as literal game changers.

I remember in some of the dev diary videos that I watched when waiting for the game, certain developers would refer to dynamic events with such awe and excitement. They described them as if each and every action would have diverse and far-reaching consequences. For example, one video implied that if I saved a single farmer from the onslaught of centaur’s attacking his fields, that perhaps that action would cause a ripple effect resulting in something far greater.

The actual in-game system was, expectedly, far different. Single farmers of course were never as important as they were dreamed to be and many events felt extremely useless. Sure, I could save that farmer and maybe that opens up a new junk merchant, but even if he got killed and the farm was overrun, I could just teleport to a different spot or jog down the road to the next group of NPCs.

The Reality of Dynamic Events

One of the first big events in the game for humans.

Once you get past all of the smoke and mirrors, dynamic events in Guild Wars 2 are really just standard quests on timers without the pre-quest and post-quest dialogue. Instead of having players talk to an NPC to activate the event, it’s instead on a repeating timer that allows it to be experienced repeatedly. The great thing about this system is that it also allows for an element of unpredictability. Instead of that boss spawning in the same cave every time someone accepts a quest, maybe it’s a bit different this time.

Maybe this time, instead of spawning in the cave, a group of minion-type enemies flank players from the side, distracting them, while the larger boss enemy spawns elsewhere to begin his attack. Maybe the event before this one the players failed, making the boss harder this time around. Maybe he is attacking a village instead of a waypoint. All of those situations are possibilities due to the smartly crafted dynamic event system in Guild Wars 2.

You may not be creating life from fallen acorns, but the dynamic events do make a difference. No matter where you go in the world of Tyria, you can pop up your map and usually find something exciting going on near you. Follow the orange circles to locate hotspots of activity that will grant precious rewards and camaraderie with allies.

 

Playing Multiplayer Games Solo

They play at the same time, but do they play together?

All good things must come to an end though. As Guild Wars 2 grew in age and size, so too did its population. Players filled up all of their alt slots, characters maxed out their levels, and a lot of the game’s areas become dead zones. Somehow, someway, MMO culture has taken on this identity that while we play these at the same time as thousands of other concurrent players, we’re no longer actually playing with them.

In many ways, the very design decisions made for Guild Wars 2 almost encourage playing alone. The majority of the main storyline is geared towards framing your single character as one of the key heroes, even being called in-game as your “Personal Story”. In fact, the most recent Living Story episodes are almost entirely self-contained, with little to no room for multiplayer situations. When lower-level zones empty out, those dynamic events that were created for groups of players suddenly become frustrating roadblocks engineered to halt progress.

However, that’s not always the case. When done right, the dynamic content in Guild Wars 2 are the game’s strongest moments. Huge events like world bosses, champion encounters, and even some of the events from Season 1 of the Living Story are testaments to that fact. Due to ArenaNet’s intuitive design, the necessity for grouping is no longer apparent, as players can simply play together and grow together without the need for invasive interfaces.

See a group of elementalists struggling against a particularly hard-hitting foe? Jump in with your guardian and provide the support and tanky-ness they need to overcome the challenge. Maybe you could lay down some ranged support in WvW as a Ranger while the rest of your squad heads into the front lines. The system works so well though, because dynamic events aren’t just restricted to the pre-made occurrences the developers created. In truth, the entire game is one giant, constantly evolving, dynamic situation.

 

Changing the Dynamic Landscape

Winds of change are in the air.

It wouldn’t really be an MMO without massive changes though. While the trait system, end-game loot, and several other elements of the game have undergone significant overhauls in the past two years, the dynamic event system has remained intact. Partly due to how engrained it is in the game’s core identity, and partly because the development team has simply moved on. Dry Top, the newest zone by way of the Living Story, has only a handful of events to engage in, populated instead with a focus on jumping puzzles and boss encounters.

I would love to see a resurgence of the dynamic event system, with more of them spread across all of Tyria, or even new achievements tied to their completion. The biggest thing that sets Guild Wars 2 apart from the other popular MMOs on the market today is the unorthodox approach to leveling and player progression, and dynamic events are a huge part of that.

Next week we will dive back into the Living Story with the release of The Dragon’s Reach Part 1. The trailer held some really interesting clues about what’s happening next – Mordremoth’s vines were stretching further across Tyria, Destiny’s Edge appears to be returning to the forefront, and Rytlock seemed to be attempting to eradicate Ascalon’s curse. That’s a lot of stuff to digest for a single episode!