Non-random events should actually take place independant of what you do. It does bug me somewhat that when you get a bandits quest, some bandits materialize out of nowhere. If you decline said quest, the bandits do not exist.
For a freee and open game, everything seems currently far too much to the player's convenience. Tournaments start whenever you feel like it. A merchant has a caravan ready just waiting for you to come and escort it. It gives a strong sensation that if you ever turn around and stop looking, things just stop happening.
I also think that such quests should come more seldom. By level 25, you've defeated every concievable enemy so many times, there's nothing else you can do to make it interesting. If your time in calradia was spent more with sort of menial tasks, such occurences would be less common, and therefore more fun. Every game needs to be able to generate a situation which is immensely fun to play, but occurs very seldom. For example, in Counterstrike, every now and then i'll be the last person on my team, and have to sneak around and use cunning tactics to defeat the enemy. When you're engaged in a 1 on 1 duel/hunt with the last remaining enemy, where you're both trying to out-think each other, and where each successive encounter brings you both nearer to death but you escape again. You start to tremble in anticipation, because the result of this game rests in your hands and everyone is watching.
These are the situations which i savour in Counter-strike. They are awesome when they come along, but my god do they happen rarely.
This was the case when i had the m&b demo. I would normally avoid unnecessary conflicts, to preserve my levels. Of course, seeing two war parties clash was an irresistable treat. When you're used to having a ragtag bunch of peasants from all over the show (so all your party slots are filled with 1 or 2 soldiers each), taking part in a knight charge against river pirates was just awesome. Similarly when my bserker was at level 3, he joined in a fight against mounted troops that tripled his army alone. Back then, dismounting and holding position wasn't an established strategy, and i felt proud of myself of thinking up such a thing. I joined part of this mass of foot soldiers and battered down the approaching knights with many losses. It's quite an experience to beat back wave after wave of horsemen, and to see that your group of soldiers that once numbered 15, now only numbers four, and a fresh bunch of knights comes over the hill.
Of course, my beserker has done this so many times now, it has lost all of its charm.
Wow i can write a lot sometimes. But yeah, i hope i had a point somewhere in all that, and that you can find it.
