Originally posted by Colin Johanson (Source)
Just wanted to pop in and clarify a little bit:There are:
Renown Hearts (by Anthony Ordon on KillTenRats)
http://www.killtenrats.com/2012/01/20/gw2-just-play/
Meta-Events: (See halfway down by Devon Carver)
http://www.arena.net/blog/beta-development-update
Dynamic Events, Personal Story, Dungeons, etc.
You know that stuff!
In the beta weekend, there were generally 2 or more large meta dynamic event chains in each of the maps available. These meta event chains are made up of usually in the ballpark of 5-20+ events chaining and branching in various different directions. They stand out because even if no events are currently running, you’ll see unique UI for them that tells you the state of the world as a result of the events that occurred in the area.
Meta events generally have the largest amount of world impact of any event chains, making large sweeping changes to huge chunks of a map in the world. Dynamic events have varying impact from small (new merchant who sells stuff) to massive (explosions!!) depending on the scope and important of the event.
You’ll find the early part of the game tends to be a bit easier to help guide people into the game and not overwhelm them at first. There are optional much harder areas available in those maps for folks looking for larger challenges, and group events even in the starter maps as well designed to be a larger challenge. As you progress through the game, you’ll encounter more and more meta events, group events, and the difficulty ramps up. Along the way, you’ll encounter more events that have larger branches along their failure chains as well.
Also a bonus tip, after any dynamic event (or event chain) it’s always a good idea to follow the key NPC’s or investigate the area after the event has been completed. If you don’t run off, you’ll often times find they build new buildings, setup stores, build defenses, kick off new events (after some dialogue), repair broken things, build siege weapons, change the weather, have new spawns appear/change, and more as a result of dynamic events concluding.
The range of affect on each events varies on a case by case basis, if you get the rabbits out of the melon field the farmers daughter opens a store and sells watermelon and lucky rabbits feet. If you participate in the meta event chain to drive into centaur lands near Beetletun, you open up merchants who find centaur weapons and sell them, conquer centaur lands causing centaurs to stop spawning in the area, open up safe paths for caravans to travel to Beetletun and more!
It’s always good to look around after an event and see what happened, there is often more than on first glance you’d think.
Hope that helps a bit,
Colin
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