I’ve been thinking about it form others comments, as I under stand this general idea is for ok for some and terrible for others. So I have gathered that an opt in or opt out option seems almost mandatory, it’s just features have to consider the “less then honest players” or “exploiters” using the opt in as a way to game the system.
My thoughts on the matter was originally to have the opt In feature on new character creation, but then I realized this creates a new problem for new players or those who don’t have an understanding of the weather system could create situations of player upset with their choice. And cause negative player experience resulting in negative growth.
My current thought processes is have a playtime threshold required to enable the weather feature. My take would be after the player finishes the first monolith boss fight they would gain access to a quest for ease let’s just call it the weather walk through . If the player wanted they could do said quest and would be able to run an instance that demonstrates the weather effect and then the player is given the option to opt in or opt out of weather effects. As I personally believe at that point of commitment to the game the player should have a general idea if situation buffs or debuffs were something they wanted.
That being said to prevent regretful situations and to ideally prevent gaming the system. Said player would have a one time op out if they choose to enable weather effects. That way if they regret turning weather effects on they can get a free redo. And to ideally prevent the exploitive only turn on weather when it’s beneficial to the player would theoretically be prevented.
As it stands now the big issue I see stemming from players having opt in and opt out choices comes from group play. As what do you do when one party member has weather effects turned on and another has it turn off. And at this time until a better solution if figured out I would make it that weather effects are only visual in group play and the weather buff debuffs are disabled when in a party.
If there’s any sort of benefit or negative to it and it’s not a moment to moment decision, it most often leads to burden of optimal play. ARPG’s are all about being as efficient as possible, even to the detriment of gameplay experience. This is something we have to be very careful about, as something that’s labeled as an “option” because of this feeling of need for efficiency often doesn’t feel like an option. A look at all the discussions regarding “Viable builds” is a very good case example (though not one that can really be avoided).
Unfortunately having choices isn’t always the same as being able to make a choice.
The original monolith of fate had purchasable modifiers, and I was personally a fan of it as it was a massive gold sink. I believe the team got rid of it because it actually directly resulted in fishing for the best random mods to get. If you allow selection of what mods to add, it can easily fall to burden of optimal play (eg. there’s always an optimal mod). But, I’ve still always supported spending gold on temporary monolith mods and have pitched it to the team a couple of times!
That does depend on how much of a benefit it provides vs the hassle of fishing for it.
If you only apply very small bonuses (and even very small penalties), that are barely noticeable, then most players would ignore it.
For example, if an area would give you 1% movement speed or 1% more chance to shock, that is not enough of a bonus to fish for, but it would be enough of a bonus to be slightly noticeable and players being “Oh, that’s kinda nice”, while helping those that want immersion, like the OP.
Likewise, if you add very small penalties, like -1% movement speed, that is barely noticeable, that would also not be enough for players to leave the map.
They would have to be small ones and they would have to be thought of so as not to disrupt any archetype (like leech or low life), but in those conditions it would be fine to have it and it would help those that want immersion.
If you do make the bonuses/penalties more noticeable, then yes, you would need to create mechanisms to avoid this being a burden on players.
PS: I was the first to actually say anything against this idea as it was initially proposed. But with these parameters I’d be fine with it.
I like the idea of heavy visuals for weather but penalties and bonuses. Heavy storms and stuff would look cool even though my favourite terrain in the game is the latest story chapters added this season. Obvs you’d need a sliding intensity bar or an on off for people with lower end spec’d rigs who have FPS issues.
I’d personally rather see that left in games like Heros of Might and Magic ( which I am currently playing the latest demo of )
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