Lighting and Weather

Lighting and Weather

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Posted by: Zietlogik.6208

Zietlogik.6208

Q:

Is there a chance that there will be a graphical update in the future to change the ways some of the weather effects and lighting work?

Currently they are 2 things that seems very “locked-in” and not dynamic, in a world that is supposed to feel alive.

It will be raining here, but not there, weather never really changes, and when it does it seems to be limited to either a light rain, or no rain.

And lighting just seems awkward all in all, there are no real sunset or sunrise settings unless they are in areas where the entire sky changes suddenly to be that way (near Shadow Behemoth for example)

Shadows do not extend or retract based on where the sun / light sources are, the colors never change when the sun sets and rises (there is no orange, or other color hues)

it more or less goes from dark, into light, back into dark. And the dark isn’t dark, it is just grey, a bright grey during the night in most areas.

I don’t know these types of little things just bother me when I notice them so easily.

Zietlogik [Warrior] Chronologix [Ranger] Ziet The Dreaded [Necromancer] Zietlogic [Revenant]

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Posted by: Nightarch.2943

Nightarch.2943

I feel as if they should discontinue the living story and use those developers for quality of life updates like adding in weather, seasons and balance/adjustment updates while their main team operates on larger updates/legitimate expansions that don’t disappear. This asking for too much?

Guild Wars 2 is not a sequel to the original Guild Wars but merely an alternative story setting.

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Posted by: Durzlla.6295

Durzlla.6295

I feel as if they should discontinue the living story and use those developers for quality of life updates like adding in weather, seasons and balance/adjustment updates while their main team operates on larger updates/legitimate expansions that don’t disappear. This asking for too much?

Why can’t they work on both at once? And whose to say they ARENT working on an expansion? I mean we kinda just found out that Mordremoth was woken up by scarlet so clearly something big is coming!

That being said if be ECSTATIC if there was weather and seasons!

They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna

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Posted by: Nightarch.2943

Nightarch.2943

I feel as if they should discontinue the living story and use those developers for quality of life updates like adding in weather, seasons and balance/adjustment updates while their main team operates on larger updates/legitimate expansions that don’t disappear. This asking for too much?

Why can’t they work on both at once? And whose to say they ARENT working on an expansion? I mean we kinda just found out that Mordremoth was woken up by scarlet so clearly something big is coming!

That being said if be ECSTATIC if there was weather and seasons!

Along with a darker and more dangerous night would be great too.

Guild Wars 2 is not a sequel to the original Guild Wars but merely an alternative story setting.

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Posted by: swdoffa.2801

swdoffa.2801

Is there a chance that there will be a graphical update in the future to change the ways some of the weather effects and lighting work?

Currently they are 2 things that seems very “locked-in” and not dynamic, in a world that is supposed to feel alive.

It will be raining here, but not there, weather never really changes, and when it does it seems to be limited to either a light rain, or no rain.

And lighting just seems awkward all in all, there are no real sunset or sunrise settings unless they are in areas where the entire sky changes suddenly to be that way (near Shadow Behemoth for example)

Shadows do not extend or retract based on where the sun / light sources are, the colors never change when the sun sets and rises (there is no orange, or other color hues)

it more or less goes from dark, into light, back into dark. And the dark isn’t dark, it is just grey, a bright grey during the night in most areas.

I don’t know these types of little things just bother me when I notice them so easily.

I TOTALY AGREE WITH YOU! And I hope one of the devs will see this post. This has been bothering me quite a lot as well! Seasons may be too much to ask in the first place, but for the sun to move over the sky, from morning to evening, and also move the shadows from trees, houses, us players etc..
This will help the game feel more realistic and like “a living world” as they inteded this game to be. I find it so easy to get bored while playing with the same weather and atmosphere.

I’ve also realised that the skies on the sky is just a flat image floating over us, and not a circular image (that the world is inside of) like in other games.
I also think they should increase the draw distance for us with more powerful machines. They already have made it good for lower end machines. If they just create less and boring zerging content, they may not need to tweak down bits in these environments everytime, which makes it easier for them to create more “good looking content”.

(edited by swdoffa.2801)

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Posted by: Firearm.6904

Firearm.6904

I would love to see lighting and dynamic weather in some future quality of life patch. Seasons might be taking that a bit too far, but I definitely see the other stuff as doable if the devs ever have the spare time and resources. Seeing rain in Divinity’s Reach would boost the atmosphere and immersion by 200%!

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Posted by: Zietlogik.6208

Zietlogik.6208

They could even go as far as to add some little detailing to NPCs as well during different times of the day.

Right now, noone sleeps! People just stand in the same place all day, all night, no change. We don’t have quest givers, so these NPCs don’t need to be in static locations.

Zietlogik [Warrior] Chronologix [Ranger] Ziet The Dreaded [Necromancer] Zietlogic [Revenant]

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Posted by: Durzlla.6295

Durzlla.6295

I feel as if they should discontinue the living story and use those developers for quality of life updates like adding in weather, seasons and balance/adjustment updates while their main team operates on larger updates/legitimate expansions that don’t disappear. This asking for too much?

Why can’t they work on both at once? And whose to say they ARENT working on an expansion? I mean we kinda just found out that Mordremoth was woken up by scarlet so clearly something big is coming!

That being said if be ECSTATIC if there was weather and seasons!

Along with a darker and more dangerous night would be great too.

I was upset that night wasn’t Dark and Dangerous, especially since they DO have different events at night compared to during the day.

They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna

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Posted by: Zietlogik.6208

Zietlogik.6208

What if they removed nameplates during the dark o.o

various creatures and foes lurking around corners that you would only see if you target them….or see them in the dim light ofc.

There are alot of “immersion” effects that I notice when I turn my UI off, even if they aren’t directly linked to my UI at all, you just notice more about your surroundings, animations and the game all together without the UI.

Try running around in a zone and turn the UI off (Ctrl+Shift+H) and you will know what I mean…it makes the experience far more interesting tbh.

But that is straying off course here:

Need better shadows, lighting hues and weather effects plox

Zietlogik [Warrior] Chronologix [Ranger] Ziet The Dreaded [Necromancer] Zietlogic [Revenant]

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Posted by: Nightarch.2943

Nightarch.2943

I feel as if they should discontinue the living story and use those developers for quality of life updates like adding in weather, seasons and balance/adjustment updates while their main team operates on larger updates/legitimate expansions that don’t disappear. This asking for too much?

Why can’t they work on both at once? And whose to say they ARENT working on an expansion? I mean we kinda just found out that Mordremoth was woken up by scarlet so clearly something big is coming!

That being said if be ECSTATIC if there was weather and seasons!

Along with a darker and more dangerous night would be great too.

I was upset that night wasn’t Dark and Dangerous, especially since they DO have different events at night compared to during the day.

It would be so extraordinary to run into unique things/creatures during night. I agree, felt the same way when I first encountered the night, come on! I want to see some unique macabre creatures doing something incredibly sinister. I want to see the fires of the night to illuminate the darkness. As you said, I would love to see some contrast when it comes to these things.

Attachments:

Guild Wars 2 is not a sequel to the original Guild Wars but merely an alternative story setting.

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Posted by: Avascar.9237

Avascar.9237

Darker nights, night + blizzards/heavy rain causes super hard mobs to spawn, full moon spawns special champions

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Posted by: Zietlogik.6208

Zietlogik.6208

Darker nights, night + blizzards/heavy rain causes super hard mobs to spawn, full moon spawns special champions

In due time, we all know we can’t ask for too much without it taking 3 years to implement, lets start with something small :P

Zietlogik [Warrior] Chronologix [Ranger] Ziet The Dreaded [Necromancer] Zietlogic [Revenant]

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Posted by: Mario Lemieux.9107

Mario Lemieux.9107

A real night/day cycle in WvW would be so epic….imagine, just lurking in the shadows, roaming, waiting for some prey….implementing that with the no-nameplates idea would be ridiculous fun!

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Posted by: SlothBear.9846

SlothBear.9846

This is a great example of the sort of thing that I would rather have than the living story.

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Posted by: Olterin Fire.5960

Olterin Fire.5960

I could swear I saw the sun actually rising in Lion’s Arch the last day before it was attacked. It was a very subtle change in night/day, but the darkness clearly was slowly receding – and then when I looked up into the sky I saw the sun disk actually move to its “day” position. It’s a shame it’s not more of a gradual move and proper dusk and dawn with all the lighting that go with that, but saying there’s no day/night transition isn’t entirely true. I do agree that there could be more of that, especially random weather would be pretty epic.

WIthout light, there can be no darkness. Without darkness, there can be no light.

Sword Of Justice – Gunnar’s Hold

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Posted by: Zietlogik.6208

Zietlogik.6208

I could swear I saw the sun actually rising in Lion’s Arch the last day before it was attacked. It was a very subtle change in night/day, but the darkness clearly was slowly receding – and then when I looked up into the sky I saw the sun disk actually move to its “day” position. It’s a shame it’s not more of a gradual move and proper dusk and dawn with all the lighting that go with that, but saying there’s no day/night transition isn’t entirely true. I do agree that there could be more of that, especially random weather would be pretty epic.

I don’t believe anyone said there was no transition at all, it is just very sudden. Light > Kinda Dark> Light > Kinda Dark

And it still bugs me that alot of non-essential NPCs never sleep, or eat…or move…(and if they do…it is in a circle to repeat dialogue again)

Zietlogik [Warrior] Chronologix [Ranger] Ziet The Dreaded [Necromancer] Zietlogic [Revenant]

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Posted by: SlothBear.9846

SlothBear.9846

It’s also pretty much meaningless other than the lightning effects and a few NPCs/events mostly in the starter zones.

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Posted by: Thobek.1730

Thobek.1730

I watched the trailer of dragon age. Even though its not an MMO and therefore probably doesn’t have the same restrictions the lighting and weather effects look good because they are more severe.

its mainly from .59-1.05

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Posted by: ZDBioHazard.8246

ZDBioHazard.8246

I’ve been wanting a darker night for a while too. I was imagining some kind of “hardcore night” graphics option that made night as dark as the forest part of the snowblind fractal. It would really add some atmosphere.

I get that night wasn’t made all that dark in an effort to not affect actual gameplay much, which is why I was hoping for a fake graphics option of some kind that I can toggle when I’m in an atmospheric exploration mood.

If actual manpower were to be put into enhancing night time at the map level, I’d love to see NPCs setting up bonfires or campfires around dusk (there could even be wood-collecting events! ), village NPCs could congregate closer together, or move indoors, and night watch guards could start patrolling the more dangerous areas. NPCs that stand around in remote locations might even draw their weapon and say “Who’s there” or something when you approach, if they’re a vulnerable sort-of character. That would be awesome.

I’m not so sure about increased wildlife activity during the night, it’s already difficult enough to walk from point A to point B without getting harassed by something every five seconds. :p

I also like the idea of hiding nameplates during the night, but that probably should just remain a UI option, even though I’m very curious how a dark night with hidden nameplates would affect a WvW map.

I highly doubt the developers would go back and enhance existing maps to this degree unless it were part of some huge world-altering living story patch, or an expansion. I think that can be said for any other MMO as well.

Speaking of other MMOs, I’m glad the Guild Wars 2 day/night cycle doesn’t match real time. Back when I played WoW a few years ago, I got placed on a server several hours ahead of my local time, so the world was almost always in the middle of the night when I got to play. I missed out on a lot of nice environments because of that, though I do think the GW2 morning/evening transition is way too fast.

Plus, the day/night cycle being really short lets us handwave why people don’t sleep every night, they sleep when they’re tired, not just every time it gets dark.

Ara Daybreak [GT] – Charr Elementalist – Henge of Denravi

(edited by ZDBioHazard.8246)

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Posted by: ProtoGunner.4953

ProtoGunner.4953

They really should add more immersion, the da/night cycle is by far too fast and there is no sunrise and sunset, also the day/night is different in every region. The fact we have zones kills a lot of immersion anyway, you can mitigate this immerion killer at least with better day/night cycle and weather effects. Games like WoW did that 10 years ago…

‘would have/would’ve been’ —> correct
‘would of been’ —> wrong

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Posted by: kitsuneshoujo.5734

kitsuneshoujo.5734

I’d like to have better weather and day/night cycles too. The setting is so beautiful, but the kitten weather/seasons detracts from it.