This month five events had to be completed to finish a daily achievement regardless of the day of the week. A lot of people, like myself, flocked to zones packed with events, such as Queensdale. Yet, the increased population for people looking to knock out the daily achievement was not the best part. The best part was that people were creating a community culture centered around the storm chasing of events.
Group Events
Guild Wars 2 shines when players shock the zone with communication and activity. My favorite zone is quickly becoming Malchor’s Leap. Since the repolishing of Orr, the whole region feels better, and I love the flow of the zone. The Cathedral of Eternal Radiance has got to be one of the most magnificent structures I have seen in any game. The view of the Cathedral from Pyrite Peninsula to the east is breath taking. Tangent much?
Anyway, there are two big meta-events in Malchor’s Leap, and the Cathedral of Zephyrs meta-event to take down Zhaitan’s control of the Dwayna statues throughout Orr is a good one. But, it needs people. Even the starter “Escort Historian Vermoth to the Altar of Tempests†requires at least about 2-3 players. Defeating the possessed statue of Dwayna takes more. As soon as I start the first event, I start calling out in /map chat. It’s always helpful to include nearest waypoint (shift+click) in the event. Often times I roleplay a tad, discussing the need to “whup sissy-boy Malchor goodâ€, or the like. I am always surprised at how much of a new thing this seems to be for many players or how my roleplay spam might break through their laziness.
In zones less populated, this can take a lot longer, but I feel the end result is more personal, in a way. The krait witch in Timberline Falls (50-60 zone) that seems to stand everpresent on her tower above Nonmoa Lake. There’s a shiny chest on top too, one that I’ve sacrificed many minions to get. But to beat the witch in this lower populated zone can be difficult. It took about ten minutes to rally enough players to make their way up the tower, but down the witch we did. There was a moment of internet high fives, and we all went back on our own ways. With little effort, playing through zones can be much more fun.
Guild Events
Guild missions coming in a couple days are going to be a natural progression from simply calling out events. Guilds can kick off specific missions,  which vary in tiered difficulty. Likely, the reward will increase with the difficulty, but some scrappy 5-active player guild won’t be able to tackle all the guild missions on their own. Some of the components of the mission can only be done by the guild, but that leaves much of the missions open to the world of the traveling adventure.
For instance, ArenaNet’s Colin Johanson mentioned in today’s EU fan luncheon that there will be guild missions in Southsun Cove. A smart guild will take some time to rally non-guild people in Lion’s Arch before heading to Southsun Cove. That way a guild can bolster its own activity with some pick-up players. Even if the portion of the mission is guild only phase, I’m sure plenty of guilds would be happy to receive a [temporary] influx of new blood to help out. I am hoping that when guilds do decide to kick off events, this calling out to rally the server’s troops becomes the norm. Colin even suggested that guilds might want to work together to help each other out with hard guild missions, such as a bounty mission requiring a guild to takeout multiple creatures in different zones at once.
It’s interesting to think that perhaps starting a dungeon is a way of evoking content. It just doesn’t feel that way since dungeons have been there a long time. Quests in conventional MMOs usually leave out that whole gathering feel with a community. I feel that allowing players to better control the creation of event content is a great move by ArenaNet. Already dragon timers are a thing, letting players know when to gather to take down a big’un. Would it be different if a guild could host a similar event, perhaps even controlling the difficulty/reward? I think so. It’s the thing I am most looking forward to with the Guild Wars 2 February update.
–Ravious
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