Localized Weather - Controlling Hotspots
Only having one main hotspot was an issue on Panjura, and now especially Gondwa. These maps are huge and beautiful, but often barren aside from on area. Increasing the player count to 200 may not combat this, as everyone wants to be where the action is and will congregate there. Quests and water quality are not enough, so something else is needed.
Localized weather phenomon, rather than mapwide weather, can help move people around by bringing new effects to a region. Weather would affect large swaths of the map containing multiple POIs, and can be seen in the distance and on the worldmap:
Dust Storm:
Berry Bushes dry out
Water sources become dirty and cannot be replenished
Critters shelter in place, refusing to leave
Dinos get thirsty faster
Biome tints becomes tan and desaturated, more dust effects blowing
Rain/Storm:
Berry bushes replenish faster
Water sources replenish faster
Dinos lose water at half the normal rate
Lusher biome tints
Effect lasts 30 minutes after the rain ends
Comments: 4
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04 Sep, '23
Primal DragonHighlighted comment
I like the idea, though they would need to be careful how they implement it. If they aren't careful they could be forcing solo players and small teams into the same area as mega/mix packers. -
04 Sep, '23
NakI agree, though I think the map is large enough this shouldn't be an issue. I'd say no more than 25% of the map should be affected by either weather phenomenon at a time.
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05 Sep, '23
LeoPersonally I think this is a bit drastic since it makes areas of the map entirely uninhabitable considering no food for herbis and no water. Every game like this is just naturally going to have hot spots, though I think a less extreme mechanic like this could be neat and help at least reduce the hot spot issue. I do think no matter what there will be a generally agreed upon area for gathering, because people like to gather.
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05 Sep, '23
NakTemporarily making an area uninhabitable is the idea. Forces players to leave that area for a bit so no one is hanging out in one spot all the time. Buffing an area with rain would also encourage players to branch out.
One thing I like about Beasts of Bermuda is their dynamic weather system. Some parts of the map can become entirely uninhabitable/deadly (wildfire, flood) for long periods of time, forcing players to abandon hotspots and seek shelter/move somewhere safer.
The difference with my suggestion is you can still pass through an area under a dust storm effect, just wouldn't want to hang out there for long as it's not sustainable.