The open world in Firefall, the area around Fortaleza, Brasil, is filled with dynamic events. These dynamic events spawn quite often and when your character is near them you will be notified by messages from the Accord, Aero, or Oilspill depending on the event. Here is a list of the dynamic events currently in Firefall:
Crashed LGV
An LVG is a Light Ground Vehicle, basically it’s just a motorcycle. Crashed LVGs come in two types. The first kind is just a crashed bike. Approach it an press the E key on the keyboard and it will drop some minerals and then explode. Be sure to move away before it does. The second kind is more of an event. Aero, your NPC guide will radio in and say that she is dispatching a Data Worm to extract data. You then have to defend the data worm for set period of time as bandits spawn and attack. After successfully defending the data worm, you will be rewarded with minerals and experience points.
Crashed Thumper
A crashed thumper is basically a fetch-and-carry event. Oilspill, another of your NPC guides, will radio in and ask you to find the missing parts of the thumper that lay scattered around the crashed thumper. Approach an piece of the debris and press the E key on the keyboard to pick it up. After you do, you will become encumbered and move much slower than usual. Monsters will also spawn around the crashed thumper and target you. A timer over the crashed thumper will start counting down. You will only have a limited time to return all 5 pieces of the crashed thumper or it will explode and the event will end with no reward. If you do manage to return all 5 pieces in the allotted time and without dying you will be rewarded with minerals and experience.
Chosen Drop Pod
A Chosen Drop Pod is just that. It’s a drop pod that crashed to earth after being launched from somewhere in the meld. It spawns roughly 6 Chosen; 1 Chosen Drop Pod Guard, 1 Chosen Juggernaut, and 4 Chosen Assault Troopers. The drop pod will continue to spawn more Chosen until it is destroyed. After it is destroyed, the drop pod guard(s) will despawn a few seconds afterwards. The other Chosen soldiers, however, will not. The accord with reward you with crystite and experience for destroying drop pods.
Chosen Incursion
Chosen Incursions are by far the most challenging of encounters with the Chosen available in Firefall to date (Feb 2013). An incursion consists of a Chosen war ship, a Warbringer, surrounded by pylons. After attacking the Warbringer and lowering its health to certain point one of the pylons will project a shield onto it, preventing it from taking any damage. The remaining pylons will simply shoot at players. And, all of the pylons will come back online for each cycle of the Warbringer taking damage. Players must destroy the pylon projecting the shield in order to continue the attack on the Warbringer. In the meantime, inside the circle of pylons, Chosen soldiers and melded hissers will spawn at set intervals and begin to fan out into the world, engaging players when the come across them. This pattern of attacking the Warbring then attacking the shield pylon will continue until the Warbringer is destroyed. The Accord will reward players who participated in the battle against the Chosen Incursion with crystite, minerals, and experience.
Screenshots will be posted the next time I come across a Chosen Incursion and remember to take them.
Melding Tornado
Melding tornadoes are by far my favorite dynamic world event. To me, they encapsulate everything that is great about Firefall and melding tornado chasing is definitely a welcome break from fighting the Chosen and mining for ore. Indeed, when a melding tornado spawns it will be show on the world map and players will usually announce it in zone chat. Melding tornadoes are definitely group events – tackling one solo is a long and time consuming process. It can also result in multiple deaths.
To defeat a melding tornado players have to destroy the 4 lower melding shards. There are also two at the very top of the tornado’s funnel, but they are optional; destroying them does reward 1,200 xp each though. All players will be thrown back, take damage, and receive an ammo boost when a melding shard is destroyed. Also, as each of the 4 main melding shards is destroyed the tornado slows down. But don’t get too close as the tornado will throw you back if you do, usually causing damage. It will also shoot bolts of energy at players. After destroying the 4th melding shard, the tornado becomes stationary and its rock core is exposed. After players destroy the core, the tornado dissipates.
During the course of destroying the melding shards, monsters will spawn as the base of the tornado. There is usually a small wave of melded aranhas workers, melded hissers, and melded tidal scavengers after each melding shard is destroyed. Near the end of the tornado event there are usually 1 to 3 large waves of melded hissers.
Melding tornadoes offer great rewards. First, they grant a great deal of xp. While I don’t have exact numbers, they can be worth upwards of 10,000 xp for players who take part from start to finish. Second, killing the melded creatures also drops meld DNA used to craft the Meld Anomaly Neutralized required to summon the world boss Baneclaw. Finally, as each melding shard is destroyed, it breaks apart and falls to the ground. The fallen shard pieces can be attacked and destroyed. Destroying them will yield ammo, heal boosts, and minerals.
