What kind of enviromental hazards would you like to see in the game?

Ironhope

I mean, obviously besides the ''dont' stand in the fire'' or do ''don't stand in green goo/lava'' what kind of stuff would you like to see?

Personally, I think the world could be made more alive with stuff like:

- Avalanches

- Quicksand

- Flash floods

- Heavy hail storm

- Trying to cut down a tree only to find out its a treant and getting picked up by it and... ouchie.

- Lurking enemies such as huge crocodiles waiting in the water.

- Landslieds

- Big carnivorous plant eating you if you're not careful

One thing I would just love to see are Diseases; Debuffs you get from the enviroment that can only be cured via a certain profession or by certain classes.

It would be fun to add another dimension where people depend on one another and seeing people seek out people in the world for another reason.

In general, world design that makes the world alive is important and I think enviromental dangers (simplistic and more complex) are a big part of it.

Do you agree? Disagree? What would you like to see?

-

Xerheart

Love the topic idea, let me address my opinions on some of these things:

The natural disasters:
I think would be a ton of fun, but pretty hard to code/implement into the game I would imagine. Some are def easier than others, like the heavy hail storms. I wonder how they would deal with like avalanches, would it cover buildings? Damage buildings? Leave permanent terrain changes?

I think those things would be difficult to implement, but maybe less permanent events, like maybe earthquakes only leave temporary ground particles. Or buildings having a simple "health bar" IE: earthquake happens and health goes from 100/100 to 45/100" and the mayor needs to recruit an artisan to repair it or the buildings bonuses/effectiveness is reduced.

I love the idea, just curious how to make it not a coding/implementation nightmare.

Static dangers:
Stuff like quicksand, or a trap pit, etc, def cool and not too hard to implement I would guess. Like that it adds to the outside world and leveling danger.

Events:
Stuff like the treant and carnivorous flower, def doable too, we have seen this in WoW and other MMOs and people like it, as it spices things up like gathering.

Diseases/Player debuffs:
This is another tricky one, because my first though is:

"I've traveled 10 mins out to a rare dungeon, I spend 30 mins clearing it, almost to the boss, but a plant gives me a disease that makes it impossible for me to clear the boss. So I travel 10 mins back to the nearest village, get cured, travel 10 mins back again to the dungeon and I'm clearing it again, just for a crystal to smack me with another debuff."

I think you see where I am going with this. Spending more time travelling to cure the debuff than fighting the dungeon mobs would suck imo. I think there is a tough balance of making impactful debuffs. IE: Maybe to combat me having to travel back and forth to a dungeon 50 times to dispell the debuff. They make the debuff weaker, but then its more of an annoyance and not a mechanic. I think the debuff/disease just needs to be rare, or make it so when you cleanse the debuff you are immune for the next X minutes etc.

In terms of other impacts of these events:
Would love to see it as a progression path for professions. IE:

I am a farmer and a flash flood happens and half my crops are ruined. But I can see that when i reach X level of farming, I can add some form of like irrigation/drain control (Idk how farmers prevent it in real life, sorry XD). Or maybe add an earth element to their farm that negates landslides. Great way to intermingle other mechanics of the game with professions. Maybe you need a summoner to create an earth elemental or a blacksmith to build a machine to counter floods etc. Which adds value to items in the economy.