Having some fun

Sitting here during lunch reading random topics and it dawned on me: what about a topic for nice little subtleties you'd like to see? Has there been such a topic? Nothing feature driven, like more character slots, guild storage etc and nothing balance driven like monk nerfing and economic hardship. No no. We've read all those. I'm wondering what things that would bring a little smile to our face while we proceed to do what we do in GW, whatever that is.

Also, if you hate someone's idea (or mine lol), please feel free to say so, but there really isnt a need to flame. Looking just for a fun brainstorming topic of things that have little or no impact on actual gameplay, but rather some impact on the experience of play.

So I have one:

Weather. I would love to wander out of Droknar's into a blazing snowstorm, or sleet, an overcast sky, or misty rain. No matter what we do, we have to play through areas a plenty. How nice it'd be to have some variety there and it wouldnt even necessitate more PvE content. Some random weather effects per area. Snow-related events up in Shiverpeaks of course. Maybe rain and tropical events down near the coast. How about the rather uncommon rainbow?

It'd be great if these sorts of things included the subtle through the overt: major storms bringing in some fogging and limited visibility, but storms wouldnt be as common as simply amount of overcast-ness and fading or bright sunlight. Possibly some related sound effects could accompany - wind rustling in leaves and howling in storms.

Could even go further and be slightly seasonal, though I'd recommend not following real life seasonal timelines, but accelerated game time. 4 week cycle or something. Colored leaves in the fall, full greens in the summer. This, however, might be a bit too much to implement since we're talking more about additional background modification then simply weather or sound overlay effects.

Last thing, is just an issue I foresee: if a storm creates a bit of fogging, some people may not wish to play in it and would therefore simply zone for something else. A possibility is to let simple weather effects stay random, with storms being global for a short period of time, whether you zone or not. Either that or its simply some minor random weather and light variation and no storms at all.

Weather I like, and was thinking about adding until I finished reading your post.

Night / Day with Sun rise and sun sets. When the sun rises in the morning in reality, have it do so in Guild Wars as well, and the same for evening. It would be kinda cool to be up at 2 AM playing in a dark area in the moonlight.

I think weather has been discussed in Sardelac before. And since I anticipate the mods moving this one there too... I'll pitch in my idea.

Tyria needs to feel more like a real place. I think seasons and holidays would be a great addition. We can watch the leaves turn in Lion's Arch, snow settle over Pockmark Flats, monsoon rains in the Crystal Desert, you name it. And give us some holidays to celebrate. Model them after real world ones if you want, but call them other things of course. I think it would really make the game world feel more alive.

hmm...its a nice idea, but may cause problems.

think about it.
ever played Morrowind on a PC? on a pc that just barely makes the minimums?

try wandering about in a dust storm, with something attacking you and 3+ permanent enchantments on you, and it looks like your mixing it up as Neo and its Bullet Time ^^
it slows to a crawl, even on some machines that are capeable.

same thing might happen to the lower end machines if guildwars had heavy weather.
and imagine, if you had that problem, and all your fave areas had weather at the same time?
or the fact that those who want to farm for drops, or have the same slowdown problem all migrate to weather safe areas....those areas will probably lag soon after that too from overuse?

however, i do like the idea....dont get me wrong on it....i also love the idea of day and night cycles....i want to see how many moons are up in the sky of tyria....i want to look up into the sky, on odd moments between dying and killing and running about, and look to see if i can make out constelations that maybe are tied to the gods..like the Warrior that reprisents Balthazar heheh.

I agree with rayea, my pc barely meets requirements for the game now, and if these different things were implimented i would probably crash and have to leave untill i could afford to upgrade. however, i think your ideas are really cool

I had a dream last week, really, I am not kidding, a real dream, that the update gave everyone 10 character slots. I was so happy that I created a necro and a mesmer, and still have 4 slots left for PvP characters!

Have to say I was disappointed when I first got the game that there wasn't a day/night cycle, I thought it would have been one of the fundemental elements of making a living, believeable world. Just imagine watching Lion's Arch slowly decend into the shadows of night, or Droknar's Forge bathed in an orange sunset. They'd feel like completely different places.

Seasons too, that'd be great. It's been a long time since I played Morrowind, but didn't you have special skills associated with your "star-sign"? I'd love to see something like that on a PvE basis in Guild Wars, a special skill that could only be used during your season.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the game does seem to allow for a Day/Night cycle...
Because In my recollection the char-selection screen does change it's skies depending on the time of day your playing. Atleast... I think it does that....

Moreover, the different day/night skies do already exist, Droknar's is night time, Snake dance could be early morning with it's big moon in the sky...
And a changing sky also happens during the "across the wall" quest in pre-searing, at a certain point in that map, the sky suddenly changes from happy sunny blue to the post-searing menacing red stormy sky.

(adding day/night cycles interferes with the storyline a bit...: "the last day dawns on the kingdom of ascalon..it comes with no... etc." what last day!? i've been standing in Ashford abbey for a week now counting sunsets!)

This is just one of those things they could've done with that beautiful instanced world of theirs... but didn't do...(yet?)

Some PvE areas darken and lighten like day and night, but those are pre-set areas. It would be nice to have a day/night cycle, and weather would also be a great modifier. Imagine heading out during a snowstorm where your visibility is severely reduced (the radar is put under fog of war), but your 'aggro circle' is also likewise decreased because the monsters can't see you either. A dilemma for runners. You could accidentally blunder into monsters, but it may also be easier running through certain areas.

Combat graphics. More distinctive and visible spell effects would be a start. Death effects when killed by certain elements/spells.

Adding animations for Evade and Block.
Adding animations for attacks like Final Thrust.

We do have the moon...

Very nice. ^^

I would like that once in a while too, just to change things up a bit.

Definitely. Casters have one casting pose (?). Some variation in spell effects and casting/skill-using would be great. Wonder how much work that is? Emotes work pretty much anywhere, so the character model can just be mapped to pose this way or that per given action (?). Would be nice anyway.

Animals!!!

Have you noticed how many different animals there are about... pigs, rabbits, birds, fish..

we should have MORE ... I'd like to see ducks on these ponds and lakes they look so flat and lifeless

ok this is to the ppl with low end pc's. if they do this weather changing night/day thingy it would be good to put it as an option so that ppl that cant meet the requirements can just switch it off so they dont lag or hav performance issues then it would work

I think day/night cycles will be coming in the future. Either the frog or a fansite friday mentioned it.

I want secret areas. Imagine walking into the ruins of Pockmark Flats for the first time and finding a hidden switch, which opens a hidden door that allows you access to a monster-free courtyard where you find a large chest. Now do you have to find the key or can you open it right away? Does it contain a weapon, coins or some evil ghoul or perhaps a treasure map for some spot in Kryta... Or you find a hidden teleporter that takes you to an Outpost that only finders of the secret can visit. I want more secrets and they don't have to be elaborate or anything.... You could find 3 stone pads glowing with runes in diff parts of the Jungle and if you walk on all of them you get a quest from a ghost. Stuff like that. I just would like to have the game be more explorable.

I like this very much indeed. Treasure maps that drop, much like exp scrolls - and they allow you to zone into new areas that you can't get to from the normal map. =)

I want a plotline....like an actual plotline that you can follow. One that makes a little bit of sense and doesn't jump around. man that would be a good....and RPG with a plotline....

If you watch all the end mission movies instead of skipping them you'll find there IS a plotline in GW.

*fixed

how about this? GW has probably the most player involed plotline than every other MMORPG on the market, except maybe FFXI.

How exactly are we involved? There's nothing we can do to alter the story. We simply get to observe it in all its twisted, non-sensical glory through the eyes of our (apparently unconfused) characters. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy PvE... but I'd enjoy it more if the plot made a little bit more sense.

Hmm, I feel that guilds would benefit if when a member logs into the game he would arrive at the Guildhall. Also that the Guild hall should have a Storeage NPC and Merchant at a minimum. As it is now the Guildhall seems like an empty shell.

involed as in, we actually feel like we are part of the story.

play ANY other MMORPG, you'll feel you can go mind your own business, the game world story has nothing to do with you, if there is a story at all to start with.

Just put a weather toggle in the settings window.

Having weather would be wonderful and add to the reality of the game, at the very least night and day but different areas and their weather would add to the game play.

Weather's a great idea... don't know how seasons would work, though...

Definately needs to be optional (either directly, or just as part of the graphical detail slider) though, 'cause there's some people who can barely play as it is.