Dynamic Events | Guild Wars 2 PC (GW2)

If you’ve played an MMORPG before you likely know all about how quests work. You see that exclamation point over the head of a NPC, you talk to them and read a novel worth of text about what’s going on. After getting this novel-load of information you head towards the quest, complete it, return, read some more text, and get a reward. This is the trusted and proven quest system that all games incorporate, right? Luckily, Guild Wars 2 wants to take a break from this ordinary system and has developed dynamic events that will truly make your MMORPG experience and quests unique.

An Ever-Changing World

 
In a traditional MMO, you go off to fight the quest to stop evil invaders from attacking a city and you are put out of the city limits and must hunt a certain number of the enemy to stop the invasion. If you decided you didn’t want to stop the invasion, or you lost, what would happen? Absolutely nothing. With dynamic quests you get the sense that the invaders REALLY are coming and if you fail? You will find that the invaders have come and now a new quest involving repelling them is in order. Guild Wars 2 has developed many systems that make your actions have very real and noticeable repercussions, both good and bad.

Dynamic events are designed with the idea that we want more out of our world than boring quests that really mean nothing in the long run. Gone is the book-load of text describing the invasion that is happening and instead we have people screaming and preparing for the invasion, guards recruiting aid, and a world that truly seems in crisis. With the traditional quest model the text tells you the world is in panic and yet everyone goes about their business unaffected as if they don’t care. In Guild Wars 2 you live in a world that is constantly changing and alive with conflict, if bad things are coming your way you will see a sense of tension in the air. The new events system goes a long way in evolving the traditional feel of the game world and instead puts you into a world where you are compelled to complete quests not just for that awesome pair of boots or some more XP, but instead to help the people of Tyria and prevent travesties from falling upon them.

The new quest system will truly change the world around you for good or for worse. If a quest fails than an enemy may create a fortress in land that is traditionally friendly and will result in new quests to cleanse the land of this new fortress of evil.

In Guild Wars 2 you will experience a world where every event’s outcome can affect the world around you, driving together the community in a way that goes beyond any other MMO.

Coming Together in Battle

 
Outside of creating a dynamic world, the new events are also designed to bring players together. Traditionally if you are fighting a boss and a player not in your group shows up you dread it and just know they are trying to steal your kill and your rewards. In Guild Wars 2 everyone receives benefits and XP from joining in on the quest, whether or not they are directly part of your group. Additionally, if you have three or four new players show up to a fight, the fight will scale up to add more challenge to keep all the players involved in a dynamic fighting experience. When a player leaves, the experience will scale down so you don’t become overwhelmed, thus eliminating the annoyance of players that ‘drop out’ of the game.

The event system in Guild Wars 2 doesn’t want you to compete against other players for gold, quests, and kills so it addresses this problem by sharing the benefits among all players. In GW2 you will actually be happy when a new player shows up because it will increase the XP you will get and add to the battle experience through the new dynamic scaling system.

Dynamic events have made questing with big groups and allowing new characters to show up much more fun. We’ve seen that dynamic events also can change the world and result in quests that alter with the experience, but what else does DE do for the game?

Dynamic Events Make GW2 An Oasis For Explorers

 
There are two common types of MMO players that often aren’t specifically catered to in most MMO experiences, the explorer and the multi-character player. In Guild Wars 2 if you explore every nook and cranny of the world, there is still more to explore thanks to environments that change on random based on your character, other events in the world, or possibly even an item you carry. In one game session you arrive in small town that is friendly yet the next stop shows the town overwhelmed by enemies that you must fight to save the town. This means that truly exploring entire game map or having every experience possible with all profession and character classes can never really happen. The world continually changes making it so you can never truly ‘accomplish everything’.

Guild Wars 2 strives to create a world that is truly different from any other experience that has come before it. When many MMOs release a sequel, it is largely a graphical update with a few changes sprinkled here and there. GW2 offers a world that is truly alive with conflict and dramatic events that players of the original Guild Wars only dreamed of.

You can also read more at the following links:
Official Guild Wars 2 Website on Dynamic Events
ArenaNet Introduces Dynamic Events