devtrackers.gg
One of the things I loved most about the original game was the details of the dynamic events - how almost every NPC persisted in between events and how the state of the map changed around them as they succeeded or failed.
With Path of Fire it seems that there are very few long chain events, the state of the world is often identical whether they succeed or fail, and rather than move and reset organically, NPCs tend to run a short distance and despawn when events finish.
What were the reasons for moving away from the deeper style of event? It makes me so sad to see that one of the things I've always loved most about this game seems to not be as much of a part of it any more.
There are still NPCs who persist between event and follow a chain of events. The chain to open augury rock, another to the Deadhouse both affect player access to those locations. Those involve NPCs that tie the events together. But it's true that those are on a smaller scale than HoT event chains.
One thing to keep mindful of in trying to make a world filled with active events, is that having too many chained events means only some of those events can be active at a time. So it's a balance.