Dynamic Events didn’t live up to the hype imo. However, the problem isn’t the core mechanic, only the implementation (like most things in this game). Which happens to be a blessing in disguise. What I mean is, they don’t have to change nearly anything in regards to programming.
Current implementation of DE’s act predominantly like typical MMO quests. They are a rather huge let down (if you think about what they COULD have been).
Here I will suggest changes in what they can do with the current system to make DE’s more, well, dynamic and fun to participate in.
Firstly, the majority of end game DE’s should be cyclical. Meaning, once a player becomes involved with a quest chain, it will continue throughout the players session and continue when they leave.
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In the above image, each #) designates a new dynamic event that is occurring. The event begins in the keep (think Fort Trinity) and always falls back to that location to start again. However, there is ALWAYS something in regards to this quest going on. (I apologize for spelling mistakes…didn’t catch it, and really don’t want to reupload)
So in the above example you first start by defending the starting keep. Whether you succeed or fail, it will bring you into a different event. This will continue constantly throughout the entirety of the event. Yes, this already happens in the game! Which means its possible to implement without changing any of the inner workings of the program.
Lets imagine we succeed and push the enemies out of our keep. Well, the general doesn’t like that we were attacked and decides to go on the offensive. “Lets go!” So they storm out to the enemies nearest outpost.
You then seek to take this over. Again, whether you succeed or fail, the quest continues…its cyclical, and will always wrap back around to the beginning of the original quest (inside the starting keep, getting attacked).
So take a look at the pic again. The difference here is that it is always happening. Another interesting addition to the DE system is incentives and pride.
What is the incentive to win if you can continue to get karma/gold/exp from losing an retrying? Simple, just make losing a DE cause a longer DE event. For example, ‘Rebuild the keep’ after failing an attack could take 30 minutes. “Sigh” says the player, “I do NOT want to lose this again.”
Lets go to the other spectrum. Eventually you finally make it to the end of the DE. The new quest is something a little different. A “Hold out as long as you can” Quest. Waves will spawn on a timer and they attack your keep door. Once they break in, you ‘retreat to POI’ and start over.
A second DE will occur, and would require players to farm supply to repair the door in between waves. Now, while these waves are deflected, the world gains bonuses for holding this keep. +MF, +EXP, etc. The longer you hold it, the more bonuses you get. Eventually, it would be far too hard to hold and you’ll inevitably lose the keep.
With an idea like this, players would be much more committed to participating. In addition, you can always be sure something is going on. To make things even more fun, you can combine ideas like the above with other DEs in any specific zone.
For instance. Perhaps a DE will spawn ONLY during Wave 3 of holding that keep where you push forward to taking down a Dragon, and you would need the bonuses to achieve victory.
I would also suggest ‘overlapping’ DE’s to cause new DE’s to occur. For instance, you may be escorting a VIP somewhere, and happen to cross another DE randomly. Maybe something could happen that makes the event a bit more special and provides extra incentives, like an ingredient for a legendary.
This brings on the last suggestion: Rare events. Things that not every player can expect to see, but are really cool when they do happen and might require a special item a player carries around to fully activate. The example I like to give is:
In a specific zone, fog increases so that players can’t see anything but 10 yards in front of them. This last no longer than 5 minutes. Somewhere in the zone, and NPC spawns and walks around. If you present this NPC with a particular item, a portal opens briefly that takes you to a place to harvest a rare ingredient (which requires a just as rare sickle).
Things like that would REALLY make the game more interesting.
