Brainstorming the Elements Post-rift - Winter

[readkey]

It is obvious that Klei wants to introduce a harsher environment post-rift for the advance players who are able to beat the two Big Bosses in the game. However currently Klei mostly added bosses and mobs to increase the difficulty, but for the elemental side, there are only the Lunar Hail, the Acid Rain and the Lunar Frog rail. Since 2 out of 3 of these overwrite rain, Spring is the most affected season by these new weathers, but not so much in other seasons. That's why I have a brainstorm on how the other seasons can work to provide a more challenging environment. 

I am a sucker for gathering all ideas from different modes and DLC (that's why I like Waterlogged very much), so most of my ideas come from them.

Feel free to give any suggestions or comments.

WINTER

Surface

Snowstorm

• Similar to a combination of moonstorm and the storm in SW. It comes with a warning and lasts for a certain duration. 
• Strong winds appear and blow away items on the ground and can cut most plants. Characters move slower against the wind and faster with the wind. Boats are pushed automatically. If any mast is opened, it will always correct its direction with the wind and thus push the boats even further.
• Fire sources and dwarf star drain faster under strong winds unless being placed behind a structure, depending on the wind direction.
• Vision is reduced unless wearing goggles.
• Energized thunder strikes very often like moonstorm, except this time it can target players and structures, deal planar damage. Lightning rod can redirect the first few thunder but will eventually become crystalized and useless.

Countermeasures 

• introduce Chiminea or something to upgrade firepit, or place walls surrounding the fire or the dwarf star
• Walls also blocks items from blow further away
• introduce a new clothing (probably upgrading the Puffy Vest) to resist the strong winds
• Introduce a gear (probably obtained through some certain event related to Wagstaff) that can be charged by the lightning rod when it got strike to prevent the lightning rod from crystalizing. This new gear can make Moon Shard into Infused Moon Shards (similar concept of Ice Maker 3000).

Mobs

• Pengulls might be replaced by Moonrock Pengulls. The chance of this increases depending on how close the full moon is. Some Moonrock Pengulls can occasionally be found on the ocean swimming towards the main land, and will attack the player on sight as usual. 

Ocean

• Waves occasionally appears on the ocean and might push or stop a boat depending the direction. 
• Some Mini Glaciers become Glaciers which is bigger and cause more damage to the boat if it slams into them. Certain area might become full of Glaciers.
• Some part of the ocean becomes frozen into thin ice and boats cannot pass through. Players can walk on it only for a very short period or else the ice will break and they will drown immediately.

Countermeasures 

• Introduce a new kind of bumper that act as Icebreaker (probably obtained through some ocean mobs)
• introduce a new gear that act as an engine that allows the boat resist getting pushed by waves and strong winds, or introduce a new kind of heavy boat that greatly resist them.

Caves 

Flood (originally I want to put this to Spring, but Acid Rain already exists in Spring)

• On the first few days of winter, Lunar Grotto starts to flood. The flood eventually spread to the whole underground in mid winter. Even the void is covered with water.
• Walking under flood areas significantly slow down your character, and increase wetness very quickly.
• Like SW, certain structures do not work under flooding.

Countermeasures

• introduce Sandbag to block flooding for protecting cave bases.
• Players can use Boats to travel instead of walking into the water. 
• When the flood spread to the whole underground, players can use Boats to travel through the void and reach to a new biome that can only be accessed by this way or teleportation.

[Swiyss]

This is a MUST if they really want the *warning* before opening rifts to actually be a warning.

[Guille6785]

1 hour ago, readkey said:

 

Snowstorm

why on earth do so many people suggest this specific thing, this isn't difficulty, it's just a green light telling you to put on X equipment or go to Y structure for a few minutes while you aren't allowed to have fun for that duration

[Valase]

I wish that we could get an "eclipse" every once in a while, one full day of new moon (like the one after killing CC), and once the shadow rifts are activated, we get harassed by the enemies on the surface.

[Walrusst]

6 minutes ago, Valase said:

I wish that we could get an "eclipse" every once in a while, one full day of new moon (like the one after killing CC), and once the shadow rifts are activated, we get harassed by the enemies on the surface.

After the archives events its almost certain that we are going to have planar entity battles more often.

[readkey]

6 hours ago, Guille6785 said:

why on earth do so many people suggest this specific thing, this isn't difficulty, it's just a green light telling you to put on X equipment or go to Y structure for a few minutes while you aren't allowed to have fun for that duration

I suppose this is most logical kind of weather hazard to expect during a winter.
 

As for the equipment part, aren’t most seasons/hazards do the same? We kill beefalo for beefalo hat to prepare for winter. We kill deerclops for the eyebrella to prepare for spring. We craft thermal stone for both summer and winter etc  You can still do whatever you want to do as long as you prepare in advance. 

[Mike23Ua]

The problem with new weather effects in DST is that they expect you to be able to kill several multiplayer designed bosses before these new weather effects will enable- Weather Effects that won’t ever be much of a challenge if you had to master beating the game first to unlock them.

With that said… here’s my idea’s for “Rift Version Winters” Harsh Snow Storms, I mean really harsh ones, where it’ll get so cold that you’ll need a Thermal Stone, Winter Insulation & probably a Warm Campfire to survive.

To make it even more interesting… I’d add Blizzards here, which reduce player visibility, & slows movement of not just the player… but all mobs in the deeper snow. Blizzards will be accompanied by strong Winds, which will be similar to Solo DS Hamlets Strong Winds but with the additional annoyance of strong wind being able to blow out Campfires and Player Torches or Trees you’ve set on fire to try to stay Warm  

Finally… as this is *After Rifts and Lunar Hail* all Passive Pengul are replaced with their Horror Variants and they’re naturally aggressive.

Snowballs can accumulate in the weather (as they did last year during WinterFeast) snowballs will grow till they become mutant snowmen monsters (as seen in scrapped concept arts from the game)

If all of this sounds too hard or annoying- Remember you literally had to kill several end game bosses just to reach this point.

 

[readkey]

13 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

The problem with new weather effects in DST is that they expect you to be able to kill several multiplayer designed bosses before these new weather effects will enable- Weather Effects that won’t ever be much of a challenge if you had to master beating the game first to unlock them.

With that said… here’s my idea’s for “Rift Version Winters” Harsh Snow Storms, I mean really harsh ones, where it’ll get so cold that you’ll need a Thermal Stone, Winter Insulation & probably a Warm Campfire to survive.

To make it even more interesting… I’d add Blizzards here, which reduce player visibility, & slows movement of not just the player… but all mobs in the deeper snow. Blizzards will be accompanied by strong Winds, which will be similar to Solo DS Hamlets Strong Winds but with the additional annoyance of strong wind being able to blow out Campfires and Player Torches or Trees you’ve set on fire to try to stay Warm  

Finally… as this is *After Rifts and Lunar Hail* all Passive Pengul are replaced with their Horror Variants and they’re naturally aggressive.

Snowballs can accumulate in the weather (as they did last year during WinterFeast) snowballs will grow till they become mutant snowmen monsters (as seen in scrapped concept arts from the game)

If all of this sounds too hard or annoying- Remember you literally had to kill several end game bosses just to reach this point.

 

I actually had a similar idea of blowing out fire instantly, but people will just use dwarf stars. So instead I propose they both got drained very quickly, but only the firepit got an upgrade or substitute that resists the wind. 

I also had a similar idea that drains up thermal stone fast to encourage insulation clothes instead but that is for summer.

 

[Cassielu]

Sounds like just a second or third season and not something for Rift.

Rift is distinguished by its later game content, when players already have advanced equipment and magical magic items, so Rift can bring some... crazier stuff than just putting on special clothes to protect against wind and water and stuff like that.

[readkey]

4 hours ago, Cassielu said:

Sounds like just a second or third season and not something for Rift.

Rift is distinguished by its later game content, when players already have advanced equipment and magical magic items, so Rift can bring some... crazier stuff than just putting on special clothes to protect against wind and water and stuff like that.

Good point. What crazy stuff do you have in mind?

I view weather and seasons are to challenge players planning and preparation, while also discourage players over-relying on certain items or strategies. For example berries bushes stop growing in Winter, so you are forced to get meat. New players like to catch rabbits for morsels, so rabbit holes are completely shut down in Spring. Rains also force players to either wear Eyebrella or Rain Coat, thus you have to give up either helmets or backpack when fighting. So here I was thinking to the storm might be able to discourage the reliance of bone armor and the planar helmet/armors and dwarf stars. 
 

On the other hand I hope there are more ways to get Infused Moon Shard since unlike nightmare fuel, they get expired easily. I know you can use bundling warp but it is kind of annoying to wait for the right moment just to collect a bulk of them. Especially I assume in the future updates there will be a lot more new stuff are crafted from them post-rift. That’s why I use the concept of Ice Maker 3000 here.