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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Seasons and Climate!
I'm really intrigued by the visual representation of the seasons... it looks gorgeous! But of course, it has me thinking... will it be functional, and how will that fit into gameplay?
I guess I'm thinking of some questions from a farming perspective...
- How long are the seasons?
- Are there crops that grow better during certain seasons?
- Even within seasons, are there parts of the world with different climates? (Arid, humid, tropical, etc)
- etc.
But beyond that, and I guess we might be cracking open survival mechanics a bit here...
- Does the environment effect our character in any way?
- I guess there are a whole lot of questions that can spawn off of the answer to that one :)
I'm not sure if any of this has been discussed yet by the developers, but I am looking forward to diving in deep when it's revealed!
I guess I'm thinking of some questions from a farming perspective...
- How long are the seasons?
- Are there crops that grow better during certain seasons?
- Even within seasons, are there parts of the world with different climates? (Arid, humid, tropical, etc)
- etc.
But beyond that, and I guess we might be cracking open survival mechanics a bit here...
- Does the environment effect our character in any way?
- I guess there are a whole lot of questions that can spawn off of the answer to that one :)
I'm not sure if any of this has been discussed yet by the developers, but I am looking forward to diving in deep when it's revealed!
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That, yes!
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I really like the idea of a debuff! You can for instance negate these effects by certain potions, let's say when running a dungeon which is set in a certain region, and you don't want to be restricted by said debuffs, you have to use a potion - or pray to the gods or whatnot.
Also, a bigger impact on season would give them an overall more 'real feel'. Sure, night/day cycles are nice to watch, same goes for season changes, but if they don't bring anything different to the table it's - just - visuals.
The impact doesn't have to be world-shaking but a little extra would be always appreciated, in my humble opinion, that is.
~ Zention
I love the videos showing off the different climates, im hoping that they give us more information on how this would effect us soon! i would love to see a environment system that impacts the area, i.e people travelling through a snowy place get a movement debuff, or players in a deserty place have a stamina/mana regen debuff.
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That, yes!
—-
I really like the idea of a debuff! You can for instance negate these effects by certain potions, let’s say when running a dungeon which is set in a certain region, and you don’t want to be restricted by said debuffs, you have to use a potion – or pray to the gods or whatnot.
Also, a bigger impact on season would give them an overall more ‘real feel’. Sure, night/day cycles are nice to watch, same goes for season changes, but if they don’t bring anything different to the table it’s – just – visuals.
The impact doesn’t have to be world-shaking but a little extra would be always appreciated, in my humble opinion, that is.
~ Zention
[/quote]
More good ideas. Nice.
This is one reason I also like the idea of native habitats.
Some races or even classes would be less impeded in their natural environment.
Alternatively have access to local native remedies that counter natural environmental and/or seasonal conditions.
Native remedies would effect different racial physiologies in different ways.
Protection form heat stroke for one race, might put another into a drunken stupor.
This could also make some sort of "cloth" tailor profession really interesting. It might/could end up being tedious in the end, so maybe the better the tailor, the more variating of climate the cloth could be used in (wierd sentence :/ ).
This could also make some sort of “cloth” tailor profession really interesting. It might/could end up being tedious in the end, so maybe the better the tailor, the more variating of climate the cloth could be used in (wierd sentence :/ ).
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That's quite an interesting idea. Perhaps you would get a perma debuff for the entire season, and the cloth would take away a certain % of the debuff. If the tailor was good enough it would then remove the entire debuff
Could be fun to have the shirt/pants aka. the cloth that is normally only for show, have the property to keep you cool, warm, dry etc. Depending on the environment you are in <img alt="?" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/svg/1f642.svg" />
This could also make some sort of “cloth” tailor profession really interesting. It might/could end up being tedious in the end, so maybe the better the tailor, the more variating of climate the cloth could be used in (wierd sentence :/ ).
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That’s quite an interesting idea. Perhaps you would get a perma debuff for the entire season, and the cloth would take away a certain % of the debuff. If the tailor was good enough it would then remove the entire debuff
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Only problem with that is what about the medium/ heavy armour wearers? they would have to change to get the buffs
It takes the poisonous tunnel vision for max damage output away & actually makes environments more dangerous & content relevant.
Sometimes it seems like players have forgotten how to enjoy the moment and are too obsessed about the destination.
So yea,I'd love it if seasons and climate gets a bigger role,not simply special effects
Just like how climate could affect crop growth,it could affect our character.
Makes the content actually relevant and not something you can skip on
Only problem with that is what about the medium/ heavy armour wearers? they would have to change to get the buffs
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I meant and I think @BraneGames did to, that its the "under cloth" (whatever you call it in english), like a shirt and a pair of regular pants. In games like WoW you usually have a "shirt" slot, but it not used for anything or than cosmetic, why not give those slots some reason to be there. Likewise the cape is usually just for a stat boost, but its actually a wonderful weather breaker.
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It takes the poisonous tunnel vision for max damage output away & actually makes environments more dangerous & content relevant.
Sometimes it seems like players have forgotten how to enjoy the moment and are too obsessed about the destination.
[/quote]
Exactly, you want people to plan their trip, move and adventures instead of them just running around in confusing. This would also tie nicely into the node system, basicly make the weather/season mild at the start of a server, then ramp it up slowly the longer you get away from the start (with exceptions ofc ;) ). That way the node progression is slowed a bit, so everyone doesnt just start with running out and claiming land or start a bunch of expeditions. They are forced to progress slowly and carefully.
It might be a bit to much and deteriorate to many people at the start, but once you got used to it, I think it would be immersive like hell :)
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that makes alot of sense smurf :) i really hope the dev's consider this :)
On top of this due to a month sometimes being cut short / slightly longer than 4 weeks it would make for slightly more realistic seasons. E.G. Spring coming early, or an extended winter. If they decide to have farming and such affected by the seasons and climate (may not be a good idea due to balancing and the effect the profession would have on the economy so drastically), then farmers who ARE up to date on the seasonal and climate changes could take full advantage of this.
Just had a short spring? That means a long summer is ahead so I can plan on planting extra summer crops this week, AND it will mean the market will crash due to the amount of extra growing time. If I hold over my surplus summer based crops into the winter months then I'll make a larger return than usual.
On top of this due to a month sometimes being cut short / slightly longer than 4 weeks it would make for slightly more realistic seasons. E.G. Spring coming early, or an extended winter. If they decide to have farming and such affected by the seasons and climate (may not be a good idea due to balancing and the effect the profession would have on the economy so drastically), then farmers who ARE up to date on the seasonal and climate changes could take full advantage of this.
Just had a short spring? That means a long summer is ahead so I can plan on planting extra summer crops this week, AND it will mean the market will crash due to the amount of extra growing time. If I hold over my surplus summer based crops into the winter months then I’ll make a larger return than usual.
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It would be really interesting to see farming (if that is a profession within the game) being affected by the climate.
On top of this due to a month sometimes being cut short / slightly longer than 4 weeks it would make for slightly more realistic seasons. E.G. Spring coming early, or an extended winter. If they decide to have farming and such affected by the seasons and climate (may not be a good idea due to balancing and the effect the profession would have on the economy so drastically), then farmers who ARE up to date on the seasonal and climate changes could take full advantage of this.
Just had a short spring? That means a long summer is ahead so I can plan on planting extra summer crops this week, AND it will mean the market will crash due to the amount of extra growing time. If I hold over my surplus summer based crops into the winter months then I’ll make a larger return than usual.
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I see one major issue with this....localised and limited playtime.
Someone who only plays 2 hours a day will miss 92% of the seasonal effect.
You also have the problem of time zones and real vs virtual synchronisation.
If 24 hours = 12 real hours and a player is on between 5pm-7pm
That would be 4pm-8pm game time....always.
So such people will miss out on most of the day/night cycle and never see it all.
Some may be stuck in permanent night when ever they play
Some may be stuck in permanent day.
Thus the only way to ensure all aspects of time are experienced,
is to slow it down by multiplying it by the average % of playtime per day.
If 2 hours/day is nominal play time ...than time has to be slowed down 12x
Real and virtual time also has to be out of sync so you still experience everything even if you do play at the exact same time every day.
Minor cycles within major cycles...
3.00am feb 5th
6.00am mar 21st
9.00 may 5th
12.00 jun 21st
3.00pm aug 5th
6.00pm sep 21st
9.00pm nov 5th
12.00pm dec 21st
- if someone only plays 2 hours a day they will miss out no matter what.
If 24 hours = 12 real hours and a player is on between 5pm-7pm
- it would probably follow similar lines of 1 hour in game = 10 mins irl, 24 hours in game = 4 hours irl
– if someone only plays 2 hours a day they will miss out no matter what.
If 24 hours = 12 real hours and a player is on between 5pm-7pm
– it would probably follow similar lines of 1 hour in game = 10 mins irl, 24 hours in game = 4 hours irl
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Does that mean we shouldnt try to alleviate bad effects and improve the situation for everyone ?
I think the name of the game with an MMO is to please as many people as possible if you cant please everyone.
Why make anyone suffer if it can be avoided with careful thought ?
I think the name of the game with an MMO is to please as many people as possible if you cant please everyone.
Why make anyone suffer if it can be avoided with careful thought ?
- yes most defently we should try and cater for everyone, but noone will ever be able to make everyone happy, you have to aim to please the majority.
i should expand on if someone plays for 2 hours a day they will miss out no matter what.
if someone only plays for 2 hours a day (lets say 2 hours a day including weekends) thats 14 hours a week. with that amount of playtime there is always going to be things that they wont be able to do during that 14hrs a week, there just isnt enough time.
I understand that we should have casual players in mind that will only be able to play for a limited amount of time and the dev's have stated that they will cater for people with various playtime's, I just dont think changing a "proposed " season/climate/dayandnight cycle for the people who only play a limited amount of time. as you stated in your post "please as many people as possible" i believe that there are more gamers out there that sink alot more time than those who spend 2 hours a day.
I understand that we should have casual players in mind that will only be able to play for a limited amount of time and the dev’s have stated that they will cater for people with various playtime’s, I just dont think changing a “proposed ” season/climate/dayandnight cycle for the people who only play a limited amount of time. as you stated in your post “please as many people as possible” i believe that there are more gamers out there that sink alot more time than those who spend 2 hours a day.
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Interesting. I am of course picking a reasonable figure out of the air for causal players that will make up the bulk of the game.
Which is a dangerous thing for anyone to make assumptions.
I think something as critical as average daily playtime should mould the game myself.
Otherwise many potential players wont see the point in playing the game.
In fact, this kind of thing could be so crucial and pivotal to the game welfare it requires thorough canvassing of the playerbase.
IMHO.
We need an opinion poll ;)
I am happy to base it all arond the norm....whatever that norm may or may not be.
the average daily playtime could be a issue though seeing as in most mmorpg's now days people don't log off and they spend the time afk with no idle kick. so that would mess with the data for that.
yeah, thats why i believe its important for people to come and put their suggestions and thoughts up, together we can make this game great :)
i think it maybe a little early for that, alpha and beta phases should give the dev's a idea of what its going to be like :)
the average daily playtime could be a issue though seeing as in most mmorpg’s now days people don’t log off and they spend the time afk with no idle kick. so that would mess with the data for that.
yeah, thats why i believe its important for people to come and put their suggestions and thoughts up, together we can make this game great ?
i think it maybe a little early for that, alpha and beta phases should give the dev’s a idea of what its going to be like ?
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LOL. Yeah point taken and fair point indeed.
Truth be known it will probably be a wide and varied mix in an inclusive game trying to be all things to all people.
Indeed. Lets see where it goes.
Someone who only plays 2 hours a day will miss 92% of the seasonal effect.
If 24 hours = 12 real hours and a player is on between 5pm-7pm
That would be 4pm-8pm game time….always.
So such people will miss out on most of the day/night cycle and never see it all.
Some may be stuck in permanent night when ever they play
Some may be stuck in permanent day.
Thus the only way to ensure all aspects of time are experienced,
is to slow it down by multiplying it by the average % of playtime per day.
If 2 hours/day is nominal play time …than time has to be slowed down 12x
Real and virtual time also has to be out of sync so you still experience everything even if you do play at the exact same time every day.
[/quote]
I'm slightly confused on a few things here, but let's go through them. Because the parts about daytime/nightime makes sense, but the season thing you've got me confused on.
<em>Someone who plays 2 hours of the day misses 92% of the seasonal effect.</em>
What are we basing this off of? If a season lasted a full week meaning 7 straight days then each season if a person played 2 hours a day they would get 14 hours a season. On top of this that would 14 hours of spring, 14 hours of winter, 14 hours of summer, and 14 hours of fall. Albeit give or take maybe a day's worth of hours (2) if they decide to make short/longer variants of the seasons based on IRL month schedules. They would get anywhere from 12 to 16ish hours EACH per season. This happens over the course of 1 month period. If they miss a percentage of the seasonal affect that is more so to do with their game time than anything.
In such case they are getting relatively equal amounts of each season. So if a farmer (person would be affected the most by seasonal changes if they decided to put this in) had this schedule he would still get relatively equal amounts of all seasons. This means the seasonal affect on him is still important.
<em>If 24 hours = 12 real hours and a player is on between 5pm-7pm
That would be 4pm-8pm game time….always.</em>
Not quite sure where people are getting the numbers and assuming that the day/night cycle is tied into the actual passing of the seasons. You see, in this world it is more than possible we can simply have a "season" last something like 100 in game days or whatever we want. The time of day cycle can be changed to be COMPLETELY different than the cycle of a season. As such, if we made the 24 hour night/day cycle into something that occurs every 1 IRL hour... We would have 168 "24 hour in game cycles" each season. As such each season could last anywhere from 6 IRL days for shorter months (or 6x24=144 day/night cycles) to 8 IRL days which is (8x24) 192 cycles. That way as you said the people who are only on a couple hours a day get to experience the full night/day cycle.
I'm glad you brought up the point of the day/night cycle, because I have played games in which I consistently get online during a night cycle for my server. Though slower day/night cycles are often seen in Survival Servers more so than MMOs. In MMOs passage of time is rarely thought about in game except during expansions. Your character is basically an unaging god in most MMOs.
That!
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Okay, the day/night cycle might be a challenge. It especially depends on how heavily it will influence the overall game 'performance'. Yeah, using the word 'perfomance' here. If certain things are only availabe at certain night/day times, that's okay with me.
(Personally speaking, I would highly welcome a system simmilar to GW2. There are both night and day dungeons. Having certain insignias embedded into your gear, gives additional bonus attributes. Not something mandatory but for all those that do love to min/max their characters, a very nice feature!)
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There are a few aspects about seasons in general. I would find it rather strange if seasonal changes would occur on every single map or on the entire world.
Desserted regions, if there are any in game, shouldn't have any season changes. What do I mean by that?
Not every reagion needs 'naturally' occuring climate change.
E.g. There are several cities. 'Eteria' is an extremly warm continent, it doesn't snow there. We don't have Winter but a longer Autum / Fall.
'Greyclouds' is a city which is extremly cold, Winter only exists there.
I, as an avid farmer, who needs certain flowers would maybe buy land in either of those regions, to either plant my crops there myself or maybe hire someone who could look after them, when I am not online. You could even ask a friend of yours to simply look after your flowers / plants / herbs etc. once they matured.
See, you're not losing anything that way. Matured plants will naturally go into your inventory, once they've been picked by either yourself or a worker / friend etc. Furthermore he can plant new ones, for you to pick them, once you've returned..
That of course is just a suggestion. Endless posibilites, in theory..
~ Zention
The day/night cycle you understand...so I will leave that.
The seasonal cycle problem is where I need to clarify.
<blockquote>I think something as critical as average daily playtime should mould the game myself.
Otherwise many potential players wont see the point in playing the game.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Someone who only plays 2 hours a day will miss 92% of the seasonal effect.</blockquote>
If you have a trade that is season dependant, they could design the game so that the more disposable time you have, the greater the progress you make.
That may well lead to massive and unbridagble gaps between player progress.
When new players recognise these unbridgable gaps, there is no point in them participating.
Especially if progress is vertical rather than horizontal.
It completely depends on how progression effects production and other abilities.
There is often a large disconnect between game time and available player time.
Game time rarely if ever stops to account for that in an MMO.
So you get a massive gap develop proportional to disposable time.
Do you let those with only 1 hour/ day actually get a foot in ?
Do you deny everyone except the bots or paymasters employing people to play their account 24/7 ?
I would be surprised if seasons were short, since world content unlocks based on seasons, so my guess is that the duration of each season would be around a month in RL time.