Guild Wars 2

[LK]

Day 1: "Hey, there's a dragon attacking the village! EVERYONE DEFEND IT!"

Day 50: "Hey, that dragon's attacking the village. Anyone want to team up, take it out?"

Day 350: "Drag atack vill agin. 5% rare loot drop. PST. Need healer."

This. No matter how brilliant or clever you are, players will undermine that and drag your visions through the mud and show you for what it is.

[Draegan]

Content scales, so it may differ.

But given the complexity they have taken on, I doubt they just settled with one event in one area that happens repeatedly.  It also depends on the tools they have and how quickly they can create content.

If they just developed a series of public quests on a repeat timer I will be very disapoint.  What they are describing doesn't seem like that though because content is always shifting back and forth.  They did mention that you could take over the orc fort and then help from afar would come in to take it back so it's not like those orcs have a static spawning point in the fort.  Then the battle is taken to wherever they are coming from.

I don't know, with all their talk and their reputation, I very much doubt it's just Public Quest A lead to Public Quest B which leads to Public Quest C at which point it becomes mundane and repeated.  I think they also mentioned that these things can fuck up vendors and other things if ignore it long enough.

Here is my imagined zone.  Newbie area on a smaller server is dead.  No one is in it.  Orcs are everywhere.  You have your spawn point and then you're in chaos.  Then a small group of new players that are all friends log in and then they have the option of taking back the zone.  Clear a village and the villagers come back spawning vendors etc etc.  Those events, hopefully, have a cause and effect to neighboring zones.  It all depends if they develop this dynamic content in a bubble or not.  I say you can't develop a zone around a dynamic event; rather you have to develop the event around the zone.  It should appear less artificial as well.

[Draegan]

MMORPG got an interview regarding Dynamic Content.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/4235/page/1

Let me give you an example of the Guild Wars 2 dynamic event system in action. Players can gain access to the home city of the skritt -a bunch of rat people- but first, they need to progress an event chain in order to win over their trust. The event chain begins with skritt outside the closed city being kidnapped by members of the Nightmare Court - evil sylvari. Players can join in the event chain and attempt to stop the skritt from being kidnapped.

If the Nightmare Court succeeds in kidnapping the skritt, they take their captives back to a prison, where they prepare to torture and brainwash them. A new event will kick off to rescue the skritt from their captors before they become brainwashed. If the players don’t save the skritt prisoners, the Nightmare Court will drive them insane, and these brainwashed skritt will launch an attack on their brethren back at the home city - which will kick off a new event to help defend the skritt city from the insane ones!

On the other hand, should the players save the skritt from their kidnappers, the event chain will alter dramatically. The skritt will become more trusting towards the players and open the front gate of their home city, allowing players inside. From there, events will cascade out into further chains that kick off as a result of the skritt city being opened. Eventually the chains will reach a point where the players can complete events that open up an audience with the king of the skritt, which will in turn launch an entire new set of events. Should the skritt king ever be slain in the ensuing chains of events that follow, the event chain cycles back around as the skritt throw the players out of the city and turn their backs on the “untrustworthy” outsiders. Players will then need to complete different event chains in order to win back the trust of the skritt and get invited into their city once again, where they will access different event chains. The particular events in this area involve dozens of different events, all contained within various chains involving the skritt city.

Interesting cycle, especially when he talks about it "resetting" and different things that need to be done.  So apparently it's just not a linear chain of events.

[Malakili]

MMORPG got an interview regarding Dynamic Content.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/4235/page/1

Let me give you an example of the Guild Wars 2 dynamic event system in action. Players can gain access to the home city of the skritt -a bunch of rat people- but first, they need to progress an event chain in order to win over their trust. The event chain begins with skritt outside the closed city being kidnapped by members of the Nightmare Court - evil sylvari. Players can join in the event chain and attempt to stop the skritt from being kidnapped.

If the Nightmare Court succeeds in kidnapping the skritt, they take their captives back to a prison, where they prepare to torture and brainwash them. A new event will kick off to rescue the skritt from their captors before they become brainwashed. If the players don’t save the skritt prisoners, the Nightmare Court will drive them insane, and these brainwashed skritt will launch an attack on their brethren back at the home city - which will kick off a new event to help defend the skritt city from the insane ones!

On the other hand, should the players save the skritt from their kidnappers, the event chain will alter dramatically. The skritt will become more trusting towards the players and open the front gate of their home city, allowing players inside. From there, events will cascade out into further chains that kick off as a result of the skritt city being opened. Eventually the chains will reach a point where the players can complete events that open up an audience with the king of the skritt, which will in turn launch an entire new set of events. Should the skritt king ever be slain in the ensuing chains of events that follow, the event chain cycles back around as the skritt throw the players out of the city and turn their backs on the “untrustworthy” outsiders. Players will then need to complete different event chains in order to win back the trust of the skritt and get invited into their city once again, where they will access different event chains. The particular events in this area involve dozens of different events, all contained within various chains involving the skritt city.

Interesting cycle, especially when he talks about it "resetting" and different things that need to be done.  So apparently it's just not a linear chain of events.

I think the question is if it will be dynamic enough to actually make a difference, or, as people have suggested earlier in the thread, will just game it to get the best rewards for the doing whatever parts of the events are best.   

The other question, which might be equally important is how the playerbase will react to really wanting to go into the city...only to find it locked because the last batch of players in the zone didn't save the prisoners in time.  I mean, it sounds really interesting, hypothetically, to walk into a zone, have to take inventory on whats happening because you'll never know, and then choose what to do from there.  But I also think it has a strong potential to turn a lot of people away when they are unhappy with whatever the current state of the zone is.  This is a complaint that can happen with any sort of dynamic content though, player driven pvp stuff, or PvE stuff like this.   To me, it just isn't an issue because I kind of like the idea of not knowing, but I think the huge amount of players prefer consistency, being able to log in to a game where they are fairly sure with what they'll be able to do, etc. 

In any event, I have to say this got me way more interested in GW2 than I would have been otherwise, so good job by arenanet in that regard at least.  I'll probably have to buy this now just to see how it plays out, if nothing else.

[Nebu]

I'm just considering this all marketing hype.  If the game is even a slight improvement over GW, then it's a buy for me.  "Over-hyped and under-delivered" is the MMO mantra. 

[ajax34i]

Heh that makes me laugh.  So what happens to the city when half the players try to rescue the rats and the other half start farming them for loot and xp?  What happens when 50 roleplaying guilds get together to roleplay meeting with the King and one asshole attacks the king and gets everyone kicked out?

All these examples are single-player-game examples.  MMO players don't act in an unified way like that.  If what they're saying is that access to the city will depend on your faction standing with the rats, then that I can understand, but it's not "something new."

[Draegan]

Maybe they use phasing to a certain degree.  It all depends on how you trigger events.

[Ingmar]

Heh that makes me laugh.  So what happens to the city when half the players try to rescue the rats and the other half start farming them for loot and xp?  What happens when 50 roleplaying guilds get together to roleplay meeting with the King and one asshole attacks the king and gets everyone kicked out?

All these examples are single-player-game examples.  MMO players don't act in an unified way like that.  If what they're saying is that access to the city will depend on your faction standing with the rats, then that I can understand, but it's not "something new."

None of those things will happen, because there is a 99% chance the rats will not be attackable.

[Draegan]

Sure, but everyone will die when I train a shit ton of insane rats into the room.  (Unless it's instanced)

[Draegan]

More stuff from Eurogamer:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/guild-wars-2-dynamic-events-interview?page=1

A lot of great quotes in this article that I'll just let you guys read it.

Personal stories (I get a Fable feel with that).  Large cities with bar brawls, mini games, and other stuff.  Dynamic Event information.  Raids, dungeons etc etc.  Good read.

[Lantyssa]

Sure, but everyone will die when I train a shit ton of insane rats into the room.  (Unless it's instanced)

There will only be enough insane rats for the people in the area.  If you're able to survive long enough to train them, they're capable enough to kill them.

[Draegan]

Not if I get enough of my asshat friends to stay in the zone with me to spawn enough of them.

[Sjofn]

Not to say arena net isn't exactly what you say they are, because it is a beautiful game and body of work so far. I guess it struck me more than turbine artists have done more with less and come out with comparable art with out the reliance and overhead of such systems. My post was not a knock, or flame in anyway, simply an observation.

I'm playing LotR right now since I got the $10 digital deal.  The game is pretty, and you picked carefully chosen screenshots for examples, but if you compare GW1 and LotR in action, Guild Wars is already way ahead of them.  If you take the few vids we have have GW2, then LotR is completely blown away.

(Caveat:  I have not seen their new zones, and the LotR artists are really talented, however seeing both games in play makes a huge difference over screenshots.)

Man seriously! Guild Wars blows LotRO out of the fuckin' water as far as character models go, if nothing else. LotRO's people aren't ugly, exactly, but they're not even in the same universe as Guild Wars. The worlds I would put up against each other as similar, but the actual people, it's no contest.

[Stormwaltz]

I squee'd big time for this article on GW2 clothing design.

I am such a girl sometimes.

[Sjofn]

God, I cannot wait to remake my favorite dude character ever, Orlando Fabuloso. He will be gorgeous. I can SENSE IT. 

[Lantyssa]

Vu made a perfect William Turner from a mesmer.  Same face?

[Ollie]

Orlando again? I swear, I don't see the appeal at all.

I squee'd big time for this article on GW2 clothing design.

Awww, that article had about as much to do with fashion as a polyblend sweater. Still, failing spectacularly even after stealing Galliano's gypsy motifs is a pretty big accomplishment. I wish fantasy MMOGs would stick to period pieces and those minuscule chain mail bikinis that are mandatory for marketing purposes, and not go bumbling after anything resembling contemporary fashion. Chic by MMOG standards is still the white-washed jeans of the rest of the world. I can almost hear Marc Jacobs weeping in the corner.

FAKE EDIT: Was I being too harsh? I was being too harsh.

[Ingmar]

Orlando again? I swear, I don't see the appeal at all.

Not Bloom.

[Ollie]

The only other William Turner I know of was the painter, but I somehow doubt Lantyssa was referring to him. Someone please help, the suspense is killing me.

By feeding my PM box, you will be endorsing my future silence on the subject of fashion in MMOGs. That should provide plenty of incentive. 

[Ingmar]

Oh, that's probably who Lanty meant. Sjofn's Orlando is more um, Latin.

[Lantyssa]

Vu's was after Bloom, but purely as a joke since one of the faces is the spitting image.  There isn't really any 'appeal' there, for either of us.  I never got what my friend saw in him (she likes bishies, so had this huge thing for Legolas, but... ugh, no).

I was curious if Sjofn used the face to match the name or it just happened to represent the character's... flair.

And I liked the outfits they showed.

[Draegan]

I'd be more interested on how the clothing moves than looks.

[Typhon]

WTF?  What thread am I in?  ...  what site am I on?!

[Ingmar]

I'd be more interested on how the clothing moves than looks.

I wouldn't expect it to move much if at all, if history is a guide ArenaNet is going to aim low for the minimum specs to run this thing.

[Lantyssa]

The new GW costumes have a fair amount of movement.  I'd be expecting at least as much cloth physics on those in GW2.

WTF?  What thread am I in?  ...  what site am I on?!

You've died and gone to Heaven.  Well, at least my version of it.

[Sjofn]

Vu's was after Bloom, but purely as a joke since one of the faces is the spitting image.  There isn't really any 'appeal' there, for either of us.  I never got what my friend saw in him (she likes bishies, so had this huge thing for Legolas, but... ugh, no).

I was curious if Sjofn used the face to match the name or it just happened to represent the character's... flair.

And I liked the outfits they showed.

You know, the face MAY have been similar but it was totally not intentional if it was. I can't remember exactly what he looked like to be honest, and I don't currently have GW installed on my computer. But the name, the name was just so perfect for multiple reasons. I should really get him to level 20, it's just leveling in the original campaign is such a pain in the ass, I completely abandoned him, even though I like the class and everything. Alas!

I also liked the outfits they showed. High five!


EDIT: And haha, yes, Orlando was a mesmer. :P

[Typhon]

The new GW costumes have a fair amount of movement.  I'd be expecting at least as much cloth physics on those in GW2.

WTF?  What thread am I in?  ...  what site am I on?!

You've died and gone to Heaven.  Well, at least my version of it.

Lol.  :)  seriously lol'd.  Well played.

[Sjofn]

I totally reinstalled JUST TO CHECK and I am pretty sure Orlando has the same face you're talking about. How embarrassing, that totally wasn't on purpose!

Whatever, he is a fabulously pretty man and I heart him.

[UnSub]

Orlando again? I swear, I don't see the appeal at all.

Not Bloom.

No, Jones.

[Sheepherder]

I wouldn't expect it to move much if at all, if history is a guide ArenaNet is going to aim low for the minimum specs to run this thing.

Most people have hardware T&L these days.  Do you still play on a Voodoo card?

[Ingmar]

I wouldn't expect it to move much if at all, if history is a guide ArenaNet is going to aim low for the minimum specs to run this thing.

Most people have hardware T&L these days.  Do you still play on a Voodoo card?

No, but I know plenty of people who may as well. ArenaNet is going to deliver something that looks much better than it has any right to given the technology they're using, that's their 'thing'.

[Ratman_tf]

MMORPG got an interview regarding Dynamic Content.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/4235/page/1

Let me give you an example of the Guild Wars 2 dynamic event system in action. Players can gain access to the home city of the skritt -a bunch of rat people- but first, they need to progress an event chain in order to win over their trust. The event chain begins with skritt outside the closed city being kidnapped by members of the Nightmare Court - evil sylvari. Players can join in the event chain and attempt to stop the skritt from being kidnapped.

If the Nightmare Court succeeds in kidnapping the skritt, they take their captives back to a prison, where they prepare to torture and brainwash them. A new event will kick off to rescue the skritt from their captors before they become brainwashed. If the players don’t save the skritt prisoners, the Nightmare Court will drive them insane, and these brainwashed skritt will launch an attack on their brethren back at the home city - which will kick off a new event to help defend the skritt city from the insane ones!

On the other hand, should the players save the skritt from their kidnappers, the event chain will alter dramatically. The skritt will become more trusting towards the players and open the front gate of their home city, allowing players inside. From there, events will cascade out into further chains that kick off as a result of the skritt city being opened. Eventually the chains will reach a point where the players can complete events that open up an audience with the king of the skritt, which will in turn launch an entire new set of events. Should the skritt king ever be slain in the ensuing chains of events that follow, the event chain cycles back around as the skritt throw the players out of the city and turn their backs on the “untrustworthy” outsiders. Players will then need to complete different event chains in order to win back the trust of the skritt and get invited into their city once again, where they will access different event chains. The particular events in this area involve dozens of different events, all contained within various chains involving the skritt city.

Interesting cycle, especially when he talks about it "resetting" and different things that need to be done.  So apparently it's just not a linear chain of events.

If you think of it as a see-saw with quest opportunites on either end of the see-saw, it makes sense.

In any case, at this point I'd much prefer a new system, even if it gets gamed. That's the fate of all systems.

[Trippy]

I wouldn't expect it to move much if at all, if history is a guide ArenaNet is going to aim low for the minimum specs to run this thing.

Most people have hardware T&L these days.  Do you still play on a Voodoo card?

That may not be true given the prevalence of Intel's POS "GPUs" like the GMA950 which don't do hardware T&L (and their software T&L is broken to boot). That isn't true for "gamer" PCs, though.
 
Edit: isn't

[Mrbloodworth]

Intell cards are a pain to support. It's been keeping us back over on wurm. But dropping support means cutting out a lot of people for any game. There are a ton of them out there.

[Ollie]

Lead Content Designer Colin Johanson talks about the event system.

Mostly stuff we've been over already, but I did want to quote this bit:

Loot will never be directly given as a reward for an event. The idea here is you should never feel like you need to participate in a specific event, or feel let down that you missed an event because it had a reward you really wanted.

All events reward you with experience, gold, and karma, which you can spend at merchants and vendors in the game to purchase rewards. This way, we’re rewarding you for participating in any event equally, so you can play in the events you discover, or the event types you really enjoy.

Barter system it is, then.