Weather Do we need forcasters?

[Raolinx Aeromancer]

Some questions about Zoneing and Moods in other games and how was Vangaurd going to set the mood.

Originally Posted by Manaleeshi:
......In everquest, it used zones, and there where alot of zones that where in a permanent state. For example Greater Faydark was always dark.... I think it was because it was meant to be beneath very tall trees. But the effect was that it was a permanently dark forest. It was great.... and it was soooooo moody. You also had places like Unrest, which was a haunted house basically. And im pretty sure it was always night time at that place.... Most of the world was subject to weather and the day and night cycle, but i liked how some of these places where preserved in their ideal state.

Something im wondering about Vanguard, is if theres a dark, moody forest.... will the day come and ruin the experience? Or will they manage to keep it dark and misty 24/7? And in the haunted house type area (i forgot what its called... something Manor i think...), will the day come and spoil that experience too? Or will that area be permanently dark and therefore, permanently spooky?

Im glad the majority of the world will be subject to the day + night cycle. And im REALLY glad that there will be random weather patterns that even move across the world...... Thats all awesome. But do you think some areas should be preserved in a state that suits them? Otherwise.... a dark myserious, spooky forest... would only actually give you that effect while the game is in its night cycle.... Which would ruin the experience.

feed me

Brad wrote this in response:
It is harder to do this with a seamless world, but we're pulling it off. It required a lot of thought, work, and the latest tech to make it work.

So we can take any given region and have it have different weather, atmospheric effects, and even some crazy stuff we may do in an expansion (dimensional effects, etc.).

But we can definitely keep a dark, murky forest, using your example, that way throughout the day even though it's a region within a vast seamless world.

Jolee Posted:
What a great feature, different weather in different regions. I'm assuming that the changes between regions wont be abrupt, the tech to pull this off must be quite sophisticated, can't wait to see it!

Manaleeshi responds to Jolee:
He even said in some other thread, that the weather will travel... So a storm will build up over and area, but will move with the clouds to a different location. (Just like real life)

Im pretty sure thats what he meant anyway... i may have interpreted that in my own way. But either way, it sounds super impressive.

Brad responds to Manaleeshi's response to Jolee:
Yes, the weather system is actually run in its own process (e.g. not part of a region server -- sort of like the world server process) and is totally global. It moves around weather systems, spawns them, despawns them, and then talks to each region process when it tries to enter a weather system into it and then the parameters set by each region (is this a desert, or high mountain, or a jungle or swap) then change how the global weather system manifests itself in that region and therefore in-game and what you see while playing.

VERY cool stuff, especially when we continue to advance it and make weather systems pop up, move around, and affected by holidays, special events, locally changed via characters casting spells to make the weather to their advantage (say, a storm makes your lightning spells do more damage), and maybe even have NPCs try to change the weather to their advantage?

Again, too early to promise to what extent this will all be true at launch (although I should know by beta 4), but we will have a lot in by launch but also the potential of such a system after launch to be added as the game evolves is also fantastic!

From viewing the videos showing the sky and reading threads like this I get even more antsy to play this game.

Special event weather? I'm thinking snow all over for christmas.
Wonder if they can make four leaf clovers pop up on St. Patricks day. Or sunshine everywhere durring the world cup. Or Gloomy all over for memorial day.

Rao

[Pirotess]

I really love environmental effects like they are talking about there. The feeling I had in WoW when I first stepped into Dustwood from WestFall was pretty amazing. As the light dimmed you knew things were about to get dangerous. It really added to my experience and I still love traveling through that zone for that reason.

The Vanguard weather/cloud system seems like a great place to point out how Vanguard is a 3rd generation MMO. Prior to it all I can recall ever seeing of weather behavior is a loud crack of thunder and suddenly it was pouring in EQ. WoW's weather system wasnt much better. I really hope they get thunder and lightning and even varying degrees of rain density into Vanguard and looking right. It will make a world of difference.

[Mobius]

Yeah and they can use those pure mood rainstorm cd's for rain effect sound so you can just sit in a zone and fall asleep hehe... will be cool to see. I can forsee christmas time having feet upon feet of snow falling and you're able to fashion snowmen with crafting. Would be cool to see also deciduous trees in areas actually shed their leaves like they do in the coming of the cold season. Heck just have a total global environment, yah that sounds phat. Sandstorms in desert regions, tsunami's and the tides come in and out in shore regions. They could of hired a team just for that, now how cool would that be? Probably would take a crazy super computer to run a world like that tho eh?

[Raolinx Aeromancer]

A super Computer maybe but it would still be cool. Having to wait for low tide to harvest clams and things from tide pools would rock. Or drift wood at certain hightides.

I mentioned on the OVF that corpse runs out into the ocean areas would be hard if you didnt have a ship. So maybe after a certain amount of time your corpse would "wash ashore" Tides would go along with this nicely. I'd like to see more weather as well. Not just rain. And snow in colder areas but Like Mobias said sandstorms, huricanes, Tornadoes. All of these would be really cool effects AND would add Crafters something to follow around as these things would kick up all kinds of things.

I'd love a dungean entrance that is oly open after a huge sandstorm. And only stays uncovered for a few days. Maybe an underwater crypt that can only be entered durring a low tide.

Let the weather affect the game more than just being pretty. Hail stones should cause damage, As should lightning. (or can be harnessed by a lightning rod and jars with some form of alchemic potion to store the charge for future use in crafting.)

Rao

[Strongjaw]

and i hope like some games ..when it rains outside it doesn't rain inside or maybe haveing larger trees shelter you from weather and it's effects ... damn but my imagination is getting involved with this game.... something wow/eq2 never did

[Joejccva]

Originally Posted by Raolinx Aeromancer

A super Computer maybe but it would still be cool. Having to wait for low tide to harvest clams and things from tide pools would rock. Or drift wood at certain hightides.

I mentioned on the OVF that corpse runs out into the ocean areas would be hard if you didnt have a ship. So maybe after a certain amount of time your corpse would "wash ashore" Tides would go along with this nicely. I'd like to see more weather as well. Not just rain. And snow in colder areas but Like Mobias said sandstorms, huricanes, Tornadoes. All of these would be really cool effects AND would add Crafters something to follow around as these things would kick up all kinds of things.

I'd love a dungean entrance that is oly open after a huge sandstorm. And only stays uncovered for a few days. Maybe an underwater crypt that can only be entered durring a low tide.

Let the weather affect the game more than just being pretty. Hail stones should cause damage, As should lightning. (or can be harnessed by a lightning rod and jars with some form of alchemic potion to store the charge for future use in crafting.)

Rao

All great ideas Rao. This would be a dream in an MMO.

[Mobius]

Good ideas Roa, I thought I was dreamin' heh... you took it to the extreme. i was with you on that trip I could see the dungeons revealed by the sandstorms and low tides.

[Vilaseth]

Season's would be so cool. Nowdays zones seem to have a permanent season. Always winter in Winterspings for example, wouldn't it be cool if winter would give way to spring and we could see a change in the plants and flowers in the spring, summer, fall. What if trees got bigger over time etc...
Perhaps a reality in games someday.

[Mobius]

They mentioned in an article about crafting requring a player to cut down trees, it would be cool if they actually had a graphic for that and trees could be fell, and respawn in a couple hours or maybe have to be replanted and have druids nuture them with magic to mature trees again. Seasons like I said before would be an awesome idea!

[Aredhel]

So many possibilities here, and so exciting! The pictures they've shown us of the weather/sky alone make me want to go find some hill and just sit and watch!

Launch is closer every day! I know I'll have to pinch myself when it actually happens!