Guild Wars 2

Most MMO-s and games I have played have dynamic weather effects, and it saddened me a bit that GW2 does not.

When I was playing GW1, I always made remarks how funny it is that some outposts and areas have constant rains, and as soon as you step out it stops. “At least that will be normal in GW2” – but to my disappointment it isn’t…

It’s a very basic feature. Why should it only rain or hail in story missions or in certain places? Why are there outposts in Kryta that rain constantly? Why do some areas have constant fog and different color hue and soon as you step out it’s suddenly sunny?

C’mon Anet. You made dynamic events – make dynamic weather. It sets such a good mood in the game world. Also, you could make dark time look more darker.

I agree, I would love to see random weather effects.

I agree. I was just saying like an hour ago how it sucks that it’s always raining in south-east Queensdale, but never raining anywhere else. Ever. Random weather is awesome. It adds a touch of realism and a lot of atmosphere. Random rainstorms with lightning and thunder would be just dandy. I’d pay for it even.

It does work like that, just on a very very low timer.

I also agree, random weather should have been implemented.

There’s random weather in Orr. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I think some random weather is implemented but the timers are long. I’ve seen it snowing in some cold zones with no events going on and then be sunny later on the same day under the same conditions.

Am I the only one who likes scripted weather? I always know when I need an umbrella.

Weather effects that affect both players and enemies would be cool too… Hurricane coming in off the Sea of Sorrows, multiple maps affected, stackable hurricane chill for 5 minutes every 5 minutes (constant on enemies), random knockdowns, random lightning strikes on anybody in combat; fog rolling in on a map, constant 10% chance to glance on light fogs, 20% on thicker fogs, with a haze over everything (affecting enemies too); night having a moon schedule with new moon nights causing random blindness to everybody and a darker light-scheme; volcano erupts over an area (perhaps in expanded content) with a chance to randomly burn anybody in combat, random blindness, half endurance regen; a variety of weather effects with a “weather event” happening that has its own type of reward for participating enough during the length of it. would certainly expand the reality of the world, and not just to hinder players, but create new rules for fighting enemies, as well as giving a special weather event chest or exp/karma/coin for it.

and if not, it could at least be limited to wvw, so every player has the exact same disadvantages or advantages… you could use a heavy fog day as cover from enemies and raid a keep – throw in range of sight of names showing up and a fog of war over the map that only shows what’s going on around you, and you get the tactic of having a fog lookout over your keep to make sure enemies aren’t raiding you. wvw certainly could be its own form of endgame content then that the haters want. weather has a lot of potential for the game.

Yes, dynamic weather is in the entire game (except for a few scripted ones, like sPvP and some story instances.) it is sometimes just not common.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Weather

^ Hm, that is odd. I really didn’t notice it so far. Most what I have seen is scripted weather where in some places it always rains or has constant fog going on.

But random rain? Never. If dynamic weather is there, they need to make it more frequent, especially in starter zones.

i would like to see an option to turn weather effects off, its annoying and i lag enough in WvW

Charrgirl, I hear you. The thing is, there actually is dynamic weather(well, at least there is rain), however because of the low timer and the fact that the effects are quit anemic, you hardly notice it. The last (the anemic effects) is what bothers me the most about weather effects in pretty much every MMO. Same for the visibility at night.

A barely noticable drizzle is not what I would call exiting. And if you want to set a gloomy mood with a drizzle, then at least the sky and lighting should get considerable darker. When it starts to snow, or hard rain, visibility should become less: not ridiculously so, but at least the horizon should ge closer to you(Everquest does this!).

There should be a gathering of clouds, with an overall darkening of the light and sky (Rift has this to an extent). Then a hard rain should set in with lightning flashes and thunder (Everquest has this! inluding the lighning). There should be a sound of wind, with trees and shrubs moving (violently) in the wind.

I am convinced that Speedtree (which most MMO’s use for their shrubbery) can emulate this.

The saddest thing is, Rift has gotten some of these ominous signs of an upcoming storm right (I think the zone is Moonshade or some), clouds gather, the sky darkens, so I was really expecting some serious wind and rain and impaired visibility, however all that happens is a barely noticable drizzle….. such a pity.

They know how to do some of those things though: there is actually some very atmospheric weather going on in that low level FAE dungeon (Guardians), at the top. There is a snowstorm goin on there with really low visibility, and a good feeling of a blizzard. Still scripted weather, but would be GREAT if they implemented that as dynamic weather in a snowy zone.

I just do not get why the best (most ominous, with the most impact) weather effects are still in one of the oldest games (EQ). Is it to not “impair” the gameplay of people too much?

Would kill for some serious weather effects/changes.

(And I would be totally ok with a toggle to turn it off, that snowstorm in WvW was lagging me up badly too. )

I’ve seen zone weather ambience change. It is infrequent, but it does happen.

I think the dynamic weather change could be tweaked to be slightly more frequent and noticeable, but not too much otherwise it would become a bit annoying. Generally, I think an average zone has to have one overall weather ambience with the occasional change of weather, so that it’s a surprise, not a constantly-shifting weather pattern that’s always changing

I was also kinda of bummed by not having dynamic weather in the game. Many games since EQ1 have had it.

Note to Devs: Dynamic Weather conditions really bring a game world to life.

WasAGuest.4973:

I was also kinda of bummed by not having dynamic weather in the game. Many games since EQ1 have had it.

Note to Devs: Dynamic Weather conditions really bring a game world to life.

….someone didnt read the rest of this thread, haha. The game DOES have dynamic weather, just sometimes its not very frequent, but i definitely have experienced it!

I’ve seen it start to rain in Metrica Province today… there are random weather changes.

I am glad that the timers are low. I remember how I used to hate it when it started raining in LOTRO because it would always cause my ancient computer to lag and drag to the point, that entire encounters would be invisible to me, and I would have to rely on pressing random buttons and hoping I’m not dead in the end…

I am sure I’ve encountered random rains in GW2 and I’m glad that they (apparently) don’t have huge impact on my playability, or else I’d be screwed, pretty much. There’s only so much my graphics card can handle.

I’m not entirely convinced that dynamic weather is turned on, if it’s in the game at all (despite what the wiki says). I can’t remember a single time when it’s started to snow, or rain dynamically.

They should refine their day/night cycles as well. There is not dawn or dusk, the transition between night and day is extremely short.

Be nice if they added in alt skyboxes and alt lighting conditions for the maps.

The game lacks that feeling of surprise of seeing something in a whole new way, once you’ve played a map an hour or so.

I’ve been in a zone where it just started to rain or snow… you’re just not there when it happens. I think their weather affects are pretty awesome… I guess I am special because I always seem to be running into them.

Keep in mind that in the real world… you can go months without rain, never see snow et al. You’re actually asking for scripted weather… because you want to see it now, not when it might naturally occur.

Aeson Thackery.5927:

WasAGuest.4973:

I was also kinda of bummed by not having dynamic weather in the game. Many games since EQ1 have had it.

Note to Devs: Dynamic Weather conditions really bring a game world to life.

….someone didnt read the rest of this thread, haha. The game DOES have dynamic weather, just sometimes its not very frequent, but i definitely have experienced it!

Eh, I meant global Dynamic Weather. Not just certain areas. Sorry, didn’t make that very clear. :P

Was trying to edit my post; it wouldn’t let me though. /shrug

Anyway, what I’m referring to in Dynamic Weather is this:

Full global weather system. Rain in all zones including cities. LA might get more rain than DR for example, while BC might get nearly none.
Outside zones have small pockets of weather that we can “toy” with. Take a step in, rain! take a step back, sunny! Back and forth… it’s kinda silly.

I mentioned EQ1 in my first post as I fondly recall rain happening at night time and suddenly not being able to see a thing. The darkness and rain made the normally grassy plains take on a very ominous feel. In the northern areas where snow was everywhere, the occasional blizzard would kick up and really make the area look cold and harsh.
Apply that too Frostgorge, zone wide, and that frigid looking (great looking area btw) would really be excellent.

They need to speed up the whole timer. That includes day/night cycle too.

There is random weather, I was actually impressed at the sound quality of a thunderstorm that happened in one of the human zones. But I’m sure just like the day/night cycle which seems to be based on real time. The weather pattern may be just as infrequent.

Who knows maybe there will be whole seasons of rain.

I haven’t noticed anything dynamic. It seems each zone has a look and feel and it doesn’t change. Is there even a day night cycle? if there is I haven’t noticed it at all. I have seen rain, but it was in one zone. The design in the zones are excellent overall, but if there is any sort of day, night weather, it’s too infrequent to make any sort of impression. Quite a step back from other MMOs I’ve played.

I forgot to add in my long post, that I am ok with the low timers as long as the effects at least are exiting and thrilling and realistic (as per my post above). You do not want to endure 10 thunderstorms in a single game session of 2 hours in some snowy zone, that would be cheesy and not fun. So uncommon, yet exiting.

Well, looks like weather is something that won’t change any time soon. I’ve seen “speed up timers” , “slow down timers” , “make effects more common”, “turn effects off”, “there is scripted weather” , “the weather is dynamic”.

Just saying people, the areas where changes are usually implemented are areas that the community comes to a consensus on and says “yo, we really don’t like the way this thing works. Here is why”.

From this thread it actually seems like Anet did it perfectly. They hit the exact middle of the road. Upsetting a few people on the extremes of the too much/too little camps instead of every single person with an opinion on one side or the other.

With that…I can’t wait to see this Wintersday if there is going to be three ft of snow on the ground in Divinity’s Reach while Queensdale is the picture of Spring.

I would love to see weather and day/night cycle with in conjunction with dynamic events and mob spawns.

Like more undead/nasties at night, or when it’s foggy, etc.

AcidicVision.5498:

Well, looks like weather is something that won’t change any time soon. I’ve seen “speed up timers” , “slow down timers” , “make effects more common”, “turn effects off”, “there is scripted weather” , “the weather is dynamic”.

Just saying people, the areas where changes are usually implemented are areas that the community comes to a consensus on and says “yo, we really don’t like the way this thing works. Here is why”.

From this thread it actually seems like Anet did it perfectly. They hit the exact middle of the road. Upsetting a few people on the extremes of the too much/too little camps instead of every single person with an opinion on one side or the other.

With that…I can’t wait to see this Wintersday if there is going to be three ft of snow on the ground in Divinity’s Reach while Queensdale is the picture of Spring.