I love the idea behind the 3 areas in Orr. There are no renown hearts, it’s just a constant event. It really seems to be where the base ideas behind dynamic events over quests can shine.
There are two main problems that I’m running into with these areas though, and they are big enough that they kill my excitement for the epic chain events.
The first is that you NEED a zerg to complete some of the events. I can somewhat understand this for the final events of a zone. Taking over the temples is a great finale to the work you’ve put in to get there. But, some of the events in the chain that lead to that are difficult to do with a small group (2-4) people.
Example:
Straights of Devastation, North Invasion. When the Pact subs invade and make landfall. I failed the first time with just two people. After that we were pushed back and had to defend an area while new subs came. Then the invasion again, with three people this time, and again a fail. After the forth time with four people and never getting even to half of the meter we all gave up.
It’s one thing for group events or the epic finale, but the chains just to move across the map? Seems a bit steep. I also see many complaints about the vast numbers you need for the epic ending event. The three dragon champions are cool and defiantly not to be done alone. But I’ve seen it done with 10-15 people. Perhaps the complaints on the forum are exaggerated, but the average I see that is required is 20-30. I don’t know from experience because of the second problem.
Second Problem: There are a ton of bugs. Because these events are long chains, it’s very disappointing to get through a dozen or so and then come to a halt. Not just a temporary one, or a setback that can be solved by finding more people. Bugs that last for hours. I have only been to the Straights of Devastation a handful of times, but I have never seen the south path working. I started in the Straights this morning around 10:00am, finally left at 4:00pm after getting map completion, and the NPC’s in the south path hadn’t moved an inch.
I don’t know if this is possible, but it would make sense to put a timer on all events as a fail condition. Certainly a long timer, but a timer on all of them would insure that if it does bug, at least after an hour it would fail, reset, and hopefully not bug. At least then we have a chance to move on.
Again, I think these areas are epic. It’s one thing to go back and forth with centaurs in the same little area. It’s a whole new game when you have events that span and move through the whole zone. But there isn’t always a zerg available (especially for people who work 3rd shift most of the week), and the rare times there is progression is blocked.
I love the new island that just got released. But, I would much rather have the game that exists now working than new stuff.