Weather as a game factor

[Vespias]

This was an old idea I had that I'd like to ressurect. I've always wanted to see the weather in game be more of a factor. For instance, in a heavy rain a hunter's arrows would be less likely to hit their mark. Also, I know when I get caught in the rain there's a good chance I'd become miserable. That could effect as a small decrease in stats. In heavy snow areas, I've often wondered how BElf and human women can keep up their degree of proficiency while running about in thongs and hooker stockings. I think extreme weather should give a debuff, small but noticable, just as weather would in RL. Along with making weather more of a factor, it would open more trade skills such as winter cloaks that would fit over your existing cloak to minimize cold effects and my favorite, a shelter building ability. Starting off with the ability to make a simple 1 person shelter and growing to make 5 person shelters to stave off the weather debuff. Your thoughts and possibly more suggestions.

[Kamalia]

What a cool idea! It sure would make WoW seem more realistic (As realistic as a fantasy world can get...). I definitely like your idea of changing emotions. It could be even more in-depth if we could permanently choose our character's preferred weather (other than sunny, as it is almost always sunny in-game) when creating them or right after the patch it may be in, therefore changing each character's experience in buffs/debuffs. After all, everyone's got a different favorite. If you happen to be in a type of weather your character likes, they get a buff, or small exp. gain. Of course, there would be a limit on how many you could choose to like to keep it balanced. For example, you could only check off a maximum of two you like. Although, I think this would work better with light weather. For the heavier stuff, everyone could get a debuff, ect.

It would also be nice if we could get more of certain types of weather year-round. Snow in winter, intense sun in summer, rain in fall...

[VelkynKarma]

That would be neat! Then again, it seems like it would work better in the old world content than the new stuff. I mean, if you are questing in Northrend, you're going to be continually unhappy, just because half the zones are snowy or--in the case of something like GH or HF--not covered in blankets of snow, but still likely quite cold.

If something like that could be worked out, it'd be pretty cool though

EDIT: Oh yeah! Cooking could have another application too then...the fires would warm you up, and there could be certain foods that warm you up as well (like hot cocoa )

~VelkynKarma

[Kryte]

I prefer weather to be merely aesthetic. Or, if it does do something, simply something along the lines of decreased visibility. Yes, it's less realistic that my character isn't miserable after running around in cold, wet plate, but being realistic doesn't necessarily equate to being better. Can you imagine the slew of complaining you'd hear over general or guild chat every time the weather changed? "Oh, great, it's raining again. *&^%$."

And frankly, that's probably how you'd come to view it, too. And while a "shelter" idea may be fine and nifty for a hunter who can just sit under the eves of his tent while he fires away at mobs, melee-centric characters like rogues wouldn't benefit much from this type of mechanic, unless they're stopping to build shelters every couple feet. Even now that the cozy campfire can be quickly made, and with no materials, nobody uses it, even at low levels. Nobody wants to use it -- people tend to be moving around too much to make it worth it.

PS. Stormwind needs rain, kkthx.

[Vephriel]

I prefer weather to be merely aesthetic. Or, if it does do something, simply something along the lines of decreased visibility. Yes, it's less realistic that my character isn't miserable after running around in cold, wet plate, but being realistic doesn't necessarily equate to being better.

^Pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

I love the variable weather we have in game (at least, in the Old World...I'd really love if they brought back that dynamic a little more in the recent continents), but I just don't think I'd enjoy worrying about specific buffs and debuffs that would be totally random depending on weather. Also having to worry about another detail to stack or use in order to negate such debuffs would frankly just not be worth it in my opinion.

I can definitely understand the realism and uniqueness that it would bring, but ultimately I don't think that I'd like it at all.

That being said, I adore the weather effects we have in the Old World and hope that Blizzard will pay more attention to those sorts of things in the new expansion. Outland and Northrend didn't have much in terms of weather, which was sad as there's nothing quite like landing in Stranglethorn Vale to meet the deluge of a tropical rainstorm.

[Skyshot]

As neat as it sounds, I would have to agree with Kryte and Veph. I absolutely love the weather effects in game but it would kind of suck the "ooh pretty" value out of it if I had to play in fear of some weather related debuff. I can only image the terror those debuffs could cause on pvp servers that are heavy with lowby gankers. :[ Although I suppose if a lvl 80 were running to kill some level 30, that level 30 will still die be it rain or shine. lol



I would just be happy if they introduced more weather to Outlands and Northrend. My only other weather related wishes are heavier sound effects (thunder for heavy rain storms and shrill howling wind for heavy sand/snow storms, etc) and better capital-starter zone weather synchronization. A good example is going from a rainy Teldrassil and running into a sunny Darnassus. xD

[Anansi]

Neat idea but can you imagine the lag this would cause? Weather is just a graphical effect, and even that can cause lag (there's an option to turn down weather effects for better performance). But if weather suddenly involved constant calculations applied in different ways to everybody in the zone, the game would grind to a halt.
And then there are bugs to consider! "It's bright and sunny but I'm getting the rain debuff!" due to a small code error relating to certain particle effects and so on.

And I can just imagine "Zul'Gurub raid cancelled due to rain" because the raid doesn't want the debuff. And "what do you mean I can't wear my plate armour in Tanaris?! I'm a Paladin, what am I supposed to do?".

I'm all for realism-enhancing weather effects in games, but I don't think WoW is the game in which to make those implementations.