Have any of you played "Rift". It was kind of a fun game while it was still wasn't free to play.

Anyway, it has something very similar to fates. The title item, a "rift" is a random event thing that pops in various spots all over the map as well.

Actually lots of MMOs use this idea. Warhammer MMO is another that did if i recall correctly. I'm sure you guys could come up with a bunch of others that have these random event "bubbles" that appear in zones in various places last for a few minutes and then fade, only to come back a while later. This is about as common to MMOs as the idea of a Sword+1 or healers, tanks and dps.

I personally don't think there is anything wrong with it in theory, but it is a overused mechanic. It might take some re-imagining for SE to get around using it so much though. If you think about it, does a Fate make sense from a common sense standpoint? Sure, the idea of a random event makes sense but, why do we know to go there? Oh, so like, we pull out our trusty paper map that we've drawn out...and "Omg look! There is this glowing blue circle that appeared on this map I drew! I should definitely go to the spot it's marking to see why such a mystical thing happened!" Since Fates are such a common occurance, and these map glowy things are as well, shouldn't there be some lore to explain why our maps are magic and can tell us where to go to find some drunk guy that is causing a ruckus and needs to be dealt with? :P