Guild Wars 2

Now I read Colin’s post about the live teams and where he mentioned the team who works on holiday events and one-time events.

Now for the holiday events I know they will be announced prior, as was in GW1, but for the one-time events, will we get much notice before they occur, and if so how much?

Does that mean there could be additions made without notice and any kind of visual or otherwise noted clue in game or out? for example something could be added and a week or two later someone just happens to come across say a sign that roughly says this way to a new test, event, happening?

That’s absolutely kitten. So world changing events will happen with no warning, and if you don’t happen to be on at that time, whoops you missed out on a one time only paradigm shifting occurence, sucks for you if you aren’t on 24/7.

Stratzvyda.3921:

That’s absolutely kitten. So world changing events will happen with no warning, and if you don’t happen to be on at that time, whoops you missed out on a one time only paradigm shifting occurence, sucks for you if you aren’t on 24/7.

Did you not read Colin’s first response?

He said one time events would have warnings or countdowns. Read the last sentence.

Actually he specifically said “Other one time events might have things in the game showing warnings or count-downs until they occur”. This means some events can and will happen and if you are not in the right place and the right time you are SOL.

I like idea of hidden events. It may be harder to play them but I think that it will add flavor to game and be rewarding for dedicated players.

I’m 50/50 on this. It’s the same as the holiday events – WHY is winter’s day on christmas? Why do game developers think “Family or the game, PICK ONE!” One time events being unlisted is kind of weird – “Dragon super spawn – 5 AM on a work day! No one knows of it though.”

If one time events were to happen and reset from time to time (thusly not turning them into one time events. . . ) then at least more peopel would see them.

I remember BWEs. Thanks for ending all of those at 12AM+ on a workday, guaranteing I didn’t see them.

Not everyone will be able to experience every event, thats life- if you have a job/family/other hobbies you may miss out on some part of a video game. Im sure if you read the forums people will announce when they find an event so every thing should work out just fine.

Im thinking that the small one time things are precursors to things like expansion additions, or opening up of new regions on the map.

Things like “oh no, there was an avalanche in the mountains where asura were holding an archeological dig!” – you can go there for a day and see them excavating an area that seems to open up to a new continent/cavern/realm and they tell you that they should have it cleared out in a day.

GADefence.5634:

I’m 50/50 on this. It’s the same as the holiday events – WHY is winter’s day on christmas? Why do game developers think “Family or the game, PICK ONE!” One time events being unlisted is kind of weird – “Dragon super spawn – 5 AM on a work day! No one knows of it though.”

If one time events were to happen and reset from time to time (thusly not turning them into one time events. . . ) then at least more peopel would see them.

I remember BWEs. Thanks for ending all of those at 12AM+ on a workday, guaranteing I didn’t see them.

This. It seems they only cater only one type of person, the one with ALOT of free time to be able to play (or ones that are on all the time), not us that have a great love of the game but have work/family that don’t allow us to be able to play for looooonng stretches of time (in one game session). I’m not really for unannounced one time events. If they reset from time to time, maybe (because that way I have another chance, possibly, to experience it).

skullmount.1758:

This. It seems they only cater only one type of person, the one with ALOT of free time to be able to play (or ones that are on all the time), not us that have a great love of the game but have work/family that don’t allow us to be able to play for looooonng stretches of time (in one game session). I’m not really for unannounced one time events. If they reset from time to time, maybe (because that way I have another chance, possibly, to experience it).

From a guy with a full time job, several side projects, an amazing family, great friends and limited play time this seems like a really selfish attitude. It isn’t the end of the world if I miss something, and I think one of the greatest things developers can add to a game is events that actually shape and change the world. For all their “dynamic” nature, MMO worlds tend to feel very static and ultimately it really feels that in any non-sandbox game players have 0 ability to impact/shape the world. That is a pretty big failing imo in a genre that is supposed to be about community.

Part of the current issue (as I see it) with endgame is that it is just a cyclical churning of events, if you miss something no big deal since it’ll happen again in just a handfull of hours. I think that both holiday events and one time events (even if they take a really long time) are great things.

ANmara has it right. Is it not an oxy moron to complain about ANet catering to those who are capable of devoting a massive amount of time to the game while demanding to be allowed to experience every little nuance of the game?

I think it’s pretty awesome that they’re incorporating such events. It’s the internet, if something ‘once-in-a-blue-moon’ goes down….the GW2 community will let you know about it.

“… living world”. My hope is that the game would get to a point where we have unannounced weekly special events going on. If the script design tools are well built it and the engine becomes more stable it shouldn’t take more than a few days to put one together, run though some rough testing and make it available -or- put it in the queue.

“Not everyone will be able to experience every event, thats life- if you have a job/family/other hobbies you may miss out on some part of a video game. "

The difference between life and a video game is I can’t reload that bath I took this morning because I enjoyed it so much – I have to take a new one, and my kid might interupt me, or the water may go cold halfway through. It’ll probably be enjoyable, but it’s not scripted to only changed if I slip up and die.

MMOs are NOT single player games. It’s a whole world that continues on when you aren’t there playing. You are not entitled to every little thing that ever happens. Unless there’s some crazy one time reward for it then it’s not like you’re even missing much of anything. If an event happened and you never knew about it then I’m betting you could still be happy with the game. Also just because you don’t have a lot of play time doesn’t mean you can’t stumble onto an event. You won’t see EVERY event, but it’s still possible you’ll hit some randomly. Do you get mad when a radio station gives away tickets to your favorite band if you happened to be standing in the right place at the right time or something?

This is the best thing they could possibly do. MMO worlds are so static and while they have made some progress on that front it’s not a fully dynamic world yet. These events help give the feeling of a living world. If you happen to be around at the time of an event, it’s awesome. If not, it’s not like the rest of the game now sucks or something.

It really annoys me how people try to push these single player game perspectives into MMOs so often. MMOs SHOULD be a living worlds where things can and do change without your interaction. Other players should be able to affect the world in ways that can affect you. That would make MMOs truly persistent online worlds instead of the same static stuff we get from every other genre.

I like the hidden events also, HOWEVER I also feel very strongly that players should have a means with which to discover them! otherwise they can go undiscovered, and were’s the FUN in that?! As a DM for Dungeons & Dragons I hated prepping the game and have the players never discover three or four of my painstakingly created puzzles, tasks, encounters, or special rewards just because they chose to go down the other hall. Or open the other door or kill the person they should have saved. I found the secret to having my goodies getting discovered was to drop subtle hints or craft the events in such a way that the players could put the clues together. This assumed they were working together as a team. This is 99% of the time true with D&D.

GW2 assumes the “community” is working together. Unfortunately that is less true than they would like to hear I am afraid. I am walked over far more many times than revived by other players resulting in a much larger expense than otherwise needed because players just aren’t reviving as much anymore. Oh, of course they will during event’s as they are seen as an asset then because they will never be able to complete those events without help. I make it a point to revive anyone or anything that has a revive option, provided they are not nakid :-) (you know what I mean ;-) I mean afk’ers).
GW2 also stated in a video they learned that players would often times pass right by an event they were meant to do something with. They found the key was to go back to old school and provide some clue “poison over NPC heads” to get players to react. So if they found this out, why in the world would they stop doing that? What? Are they going to send an ingame server message “One Time World Event to kill the gorgon and win the holly grail has ended. 0 players took part, 0 players received the holly grail, 0 records in Hall of Heros” REALLY! It took weeks for players to figure out that the Swamp Beast was activated by following the secrets of the swamp events when those events were active.

So, unless that no warning event runs for months it is an absolute waist of employees time and company money to create it and then it is never found out about! what a waste :-(

I say there should ALWAYS be an ingame method, not reliant upon other players (that may or mayNOT be helping), to discover (through NPC chatter, world interactivity [books on the book carts or library?!?!?], Karma allies [after all we helped them! why not help us, why not have them not sale goods that day and instead give information??] glowing gravestones, there are thousands of other methods) any and all events that take place in game. I think they should use the same method they did for the black moa mini. Run around the world to complete it. But in the end you find the info that activates the hidden event. Like Easter egg hunts.

After all how many times have we seen the “Retake Beetletun Farms” world event just sitting there with 0 Centaurs remaining and the event hung because players haven’t figured out NOT to kill the Centaurs first!?! I have done that event once, every time I go by there it is sitting there. How unfortunate. I actually like the event a lot. to many people start camping it and they will add catapults and veteran centaurs.

Players WANT rewards, goodies, items….give it to them and they will stop finding ways to beat the system and actually play the game as you intended.

Sorry, this is something I obviously feel strongly about. I did not realize I was going to be this chatty. Hehe Guess I should start a blog ;-)

I love this type of content and having it completely random and unexpected. The best and most recent attempt at this type of thing was with Swtor and its Rakghoul Plague Event. Players just logged in one day to find news terminals in the main hubs with “breaking news” about a plague that was spreading wildly on a planet and that was all. Players then went to the planet to find a crash site and new NPC’s trying to contain the disease and all kinds of new little quests. every day the plague got a little worse or was further contained and a new quest would be available to get a new one item that would not be available post the events completion. It had new lightsaber/blaster bolt color crystals, new pets, new armor, new world bosses, and a hilarious player spread disease. It really added alot of life to the world and got many people playing and into zones that began feeling empty.

I’d love yo see events like these pop up in Guild Wars. This particular event lasted a week so even if you missed the very beginning, word spread like wild fire about it and people were logging in fast that day to take part in it and even days later. So you still had the opportunity to join in and not miss it.

Also forgot another favorite from LoTRO where randomly one day GMs went tot he main hubs and just randomly looked at peoples outfits and gave out “fashionable” titles to those that where creative. Then the ones that looked horrible they gave an ingame item “Bag of shame” that was a head piece that was just a bag lol its was alot of fun!

This is a wonderful addition.

Will it mean that I might miss out on some really incredibly cool things? Or that the whole mystery will be solved before I can get in the game? Yes.

So what? I miss things IRL, all the time. I’m sure that they’ll try to make the live events last as long as humanly possible. I’m really curious about which tools they’ll use for them – hopefully there will be a ton of different types so that everyone will have a chance to have a favorite type (although I guess that means that there will be a lot that are hated too — aahhhhh! runs in fear of the qq).

Regardless, I’m exicited about them any way that I can get it. I enjoy my daily life (with it’s randomly respawning DEs such as showering, dressing, working, gaming) but I really love it when the the evening is disrupted by a Heron stopping by and knocking on the door. I’m sure that these live events will do the same for my game world

Seth Moonshadow.2710:

GW2 assumes the “community” is working together.

Well this may be true that many players don’t care and don’t help each other but the same scenario was happening in Swtor’s live event. Then the community pooled all their resources to come up with great guides. Everyone was in a mad rush to figure out what was going on and what was the next piece of the mystery. Events that are short lived and have the likely hood of never being seen again change the selfishness mentality very quickly from what i have seen.

Svenn.5209:

MMOs are NOT single player games.

“A massively multiplayer online game (also called MMO and MMOG) is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously”
——WikiPedia

“A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time.”
——WikiPedia

simultaneously single players that may or mayNOT group together to play the same game environment. GW2 has stated that this (GW2), as with the original, will be solo (as in single player) compatible / capable. Basically a bunch of single players playing the same game at the same time choosing or not to partake of the same challenges at the same time.

I do agree with you that it should not be statice, it should have hidden secrets, dynamic should be a key element to help create the living breathing feeling. However, it is still a game I paid good money to play. I feel strongly that a pair (as in two) of players should be able to complete the game and have the option to partake of larger group events if they want. I should not miss out on “goodies” just because I had to work to pay for the game.

Corros.4360:

Seth Moonshadow.2710:

GW2 assumes the “community” is working together.

Well this may be true that many players don’t care and don’t help each other but the same scenario was happening in Swtor’s live event. Then the community pooled all their resources to come up with great guides. Everyone was in a mad rush to figure out what was going on and what was the next piece of the mystery. Events that are short lived and have the likely hood of never being seen again change the selfishness mentality very quickly from what i have seen.

True, and I stated that also:
“Oh, of course they will during event’s as they are seen as an asset then because they will never be able to complete those events without help.”

I agree group / world events is when I mostly get the team feeling. Out side of that I still maintain "Unfortunately that is less true than they would like to hear I am afraid. "

Just wanted to say that this is awesome.

Awesome, I love the idea of leaving things up to the community to solve.

Liavain Axon.1972:

Actually he specifically said “Other one time events might have things in the game showing warnings or count-downs until they occur”. This means some events can and will happen and if you are not in the right place and the right time you are SOL.

Well deal with it? I mean you can’t create all content in a game like this and expect every player to see it. Most people in GW2 completely miss half the content in the game anyway… I can’t count the number of people I’ve seen who leave on stage 1 of a chain-event and never return! I agree that huge, MASSIVE events should give some warning to players, but smaller to medium sized events should be more dynamic and random. Not everything should be set to a schedule

How exciting! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us!

Thanks, Colin, for giving us a peek at what you have planned!

Geeez, I’m guessing many of you would have a coronary if there were unique items in the game (meaning, once it drops for someone, it will never drop again). kittening children, I swear. Get over yourselves.

This is an awesome addition to the game. It adds a level of wonder and excitement when a unique (read: one time) event occurs. Will people miss out? Of course. That’s life, if you cannot handle something this small and meaningless I have very bad news for you about real life…

That is awesome – this was one of the best things about Asheron’s Call.

I agree, this is very awesome. It truly becomes a living breathing dynamic world which you are a part of, not something static and predictable where every detail can be looked up on a wiki. I am stupendously excited about this idea. I’ve noticed there are workers working on things. To be able to say “I remember when this was under construction” is really cool. I’ve noticed that the asura gates in Lion’s Arch that were under construction during BWEs and at launch have been finished and the workers packed up and gone home.

If I miss something, well, that’s GREAT! It means there’s so much stuff to do, and so many details that I can’t experience it all. This is a GOOD thing

I hope the one time events have unique items that never appear in game again.

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

I hope the one time events have unique items that never appear in game again.

well, they had the hats in gw1. They also had the candy cane weapons, though those were only available twice a year ( wintersday and wintersday in july).

I like the idea of having a few things snuck in without any notice.., putting in easter eggs to be found by the players. It gives a little more encouragement to go out and explore. Besides, chances are that when they add these things it will be found fairly quickly and then shared here on the forums and youtube. Once one person finds it half the player base will know about it within a week.

Did hats equate to town clothes, or were they usable as armor helmets/hoods? Transmuting something like that would be interesting.

Want to sneak in FoV control please?

Want to sneak in FoV control please?

If anyone could, it would be Colin.

If there was a bottle of Awesome Sauce on the shelf, it would have his picture on it!

Thanks for the replies Colin and everyone else.

Just want to add something else that not many people have noticed. Most maps now are very underpopulated, say like Harathi Hinterlands, which has led me to soloing events when I don’t have a guild mate with me. Is there any plans to fix this black hole effect that Orr has caused?

I may be wrong but I would figure that level 80’s now see going back to these areas as a waste of time except for world completion.

For these one-timers, could we maybe be told the overarching area that they will be held in at least? Say like Kryta or Maguuma or Ascalon. This way people will revisit these areas more in hopes of seeing the events, which also helps out with people who are currently leveling in the area.