Feedback on bodyheat and hypothermia

When the update came out that brought body heat and fire crafting into PG, I knew my initial impression would be dislike, because the old DOT system was so easy to ignore. Now, there would be environmental consequences that would affect everyone, but be very impactful to ol Monger and his chosen play style.

Much like a cat whose litter box has been moved, my first urge was to "poop on the floor" (aka; forum post with dislike). It was so much harder to harvest wood in Kur, and just running across the tundra I'd have hypothermia before being halfway to the tower zone entrance from the Elt portal.

Then things began to change; I learned how to make an emergency fire, then a camp fire, so I made a few, went back to Kur. Ran out halfway through my march to the Kur town (because I only made one of each). So I got angry, and after a brief spider-genocide jaunt through the crypts, made 50 of each. After that Kur wasn't so bad, but I still wasn't sold on the whole body heat idea.

Bring in the Gazluk update.

Suddenly it's a new zone, colder, harsher, full of challenging monsters! The first time I zoned in, I was already at 0 body heat and losing health before the screen even loaded, then before my first step I was attacked by a skeletal mage. Quickly I healed, dropped a fire, and dispatched the mage with Muntok fierceness!

As i stood over my fallen foe, surveying the scenery and trying to bring back some body heat (the sweat I worked up already starting to freeze to my bare chest, giving it a nice sheen), the squeal of a pig announced the arrival of Pilot! We chatted for a moment, then moved out, both exploring in roughly the same direction.

At points, we would travel to the other, standing in the warm of the placed camp fire and exchange a few words, then off we'd go our separate ways, only to reconnect minutes later to continue our conversation, when body heat once more dropped to 0 and hypothermia set in.

I moved further into the zone, Pilot far behind, stopping in nooks to setup a fire to warm myself. I felt like a pro when I'd drop that fire as a bear was charging me; our clash bathed in light and heat. During one stop a druid-bird dropped in to chat and warm their feathers. It was then that I realized that this was a lot of fun and the mechanic strongly encourages encounters like these.


TL;DR
I like it, it's a good (if sometimes annoying) way that brings players together and creates a challenging play environment.
That being said, it'd be nice if it took a bit longer for hypothermia to set in.

Also, I would like to suggest that ice slicks should take a DOT when within a circle of warmth from a camp fire.

I like it too! I wrote something similar to this in the Patch Discussion thread. It's nice to "stop and smell the roses" in these zones.

This sounds like it's bringing back the role down time used to have before healing and combat were sped up so much that people now run through dungeons. Remembering hiring bodyguards for those moments spent staring at a spellbook...

I don't think I am anywhere near experiencing it yet, but I look forward to it. :D

Heh, it had been very similar to me. At first biased dislike, just because it is annoying and i couldnt just ignore it like old dot. Then when i started preapering for \Gazluk, i found out that... its fun. Having to actualy preapere for adventuring. Farmign up mats for campfires, and potions, then crafting cold-resistant gear, stocking up on wood so i can always lit campfires that i find in the world. Despertly runnign to caves when i found myself out of campfires and with hipothermia.

Honestly, i cant remeber when last time i had to prepere myself so much to explore new zone in game. Its really refreshing.

I'm happy you guys are all figuring out the ins and outs of the new map. When I decide to go there, I will have wisdom from all of you.

It really is a very welcome challenge for me as well. I enjoy the size of the zone and the difficulty I have getting around without flight form sometimes. There are so many crystals and caves though that even if I ran out of fires, I'm sure I'd be close to safety. The mountains are really beautiful. And my favorite feature is the map actually. Its really a great map.

The first little bit of mapping Guzlak was tough, but I crafted up the new winter gear, and carry around wood, fuel oil and finished fires. I rarely have to drop a fire any more, knowing where to duck in to get warm helps a lot. It was extra tough on the first day because of not being able to enter a fair number of the caves, but now that the work around is in place, not an issue. Now if only I could craft a diving helmet, I wouldn't get so upset about underwater mining. :|

Notice that all of the praise in this thread for hypothermia is specifically for Gazluk. Going from Eltibule to Kur as a level 40-ish must be 10x more daunting. You can't craft winter coats or make campfires without first making it to Ukorga in the other corner of the map. You can buy campfires from Hogan, but they're definitely not cost-effective. You can't even farm nightmare flesh for cold pots as well as high-level players, because if you're only ready to leave Elt, Goblin Dungeon isn't a faceroll yet. And anyway I think it's unreasonable to expect someone to die in Kur and immediately think of Hogan/cold pots, there's just too many recipes and NPCs to know that off the top of your head.

Without cold mitigation, you get 2 minutes per exploration session, and a bit under 3 with a cold resistance potion. Even if you ignore mobs, it probably takes the average player more than a few tries to find the first campfire, all the way by the Yeti ravine. Then you add in mob-fighting time, and surely it's frustrating for someone who's never entered Kur before. Yes, you can ask global or check the wiki, but I don't think the game should practically force you to.

IMO there needs to be some sort of quick explanation that first-time-Kur-enterers are likely to see. Maybe some sort of abandoned campsite with a journal that an adventurer left behind. It could explain the zone a bit, just like Sir Villas Wake's explains the statues. Maybe it could mention Hogan and alchemy. Or an NPC inside the zone that sells campfires. As long there's [i]something[i], you know? Right now the introduction to Kur just seems so harsh.

I still think it should be toned down. Admittedly I don't have the full winter set. Why u ask....because I put a lot of effort and materials into customizing my current set. So I have to carry basically 2 sets for the same build. Not even attempting to switch builds because I wouldn't have room for any drops. So Gazluk is not something I want to do for now, there's very limited selling option, no storage option and a crapload of different drops. Also having to unlock all the recipes for winter gear is extremely expensive so I couldn't afford it nor did I get any decent pieces out of the chests I crafted. So yes, I really dislike having to replace the set that I worked so hard on in just 2 months since I've had it.
If I had the full winter set I would have to carry the following: One normal set, one winter set, 2 pairs of earrings, chest and pants with sprint and pockets. For only my UA/ment build. Add all the food + flower buffs, tools, cold resist potions, other buffs (I carry ruggedizer), armor and FA kits, mats for meditation (perch and cabbage in case i change the environment), fuel oil+maple wood, already preped fires.
Honest question, how do you deal with inventory and still manage to farm anything? Because preparing eats up my backpack like crazy.

What I would add to Gazluk-more camps so we waste less wood, more respawn points when you die, more binding options (preferably not telepads in the middle of mobs), storage and more vendors and above all toning down the cold effects. As I said I don't have the full winter set, I roll with winter coat lvl 60+cold resist pots+20% cold mitigation from meditation. Yes, gravitating around camps is an option, there's just not so many of those. Maybe some like it for realism but lasting less than 3 minutes with all the cold mitigation options I mentioned is disruptive to gameplay and actually not realistic at all. I do last more than that in a -15 degrees snow blizzard (and I'm a lot weaker than my characters lol).

Some are able to withstand the cold effects maybe but as Extractum mentioned again, there's Kur too. I just realized when people mentioned that first time in Kur I died like a hero few times at lvl 45 cause I fell in water..finally Awatu was nice enough to guide me on foot. That camp is terribly far from the entrance portal and there's a lot of terrain to cover till the first campfire.

Overall I would certainly tone down the cold effects in both Gaz and Kur. I just hope we don't get a level 90 cold area worse than Gazluk anytime soon cause that harsh weather is hard to top

Sorry guys, but I have to, just for the protocol:

I hate the Cold mechanics. (No Surprise, lol). RAAAAGE. Meaningful reasoning:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Khaylara

So I have to carry basically 2 sets for the same build. Not even attempting to switch builds because I wouldn't have room for any drops. recipes for winter gear is extremely expensive so I couldn't afford it nor did I get any decent pieces out of the chests I crafted. So yes, I really dislike having to replace the set that I worked so hard on in just 2 months since I've had it.
As I said I don't have the full winter set, I roll with winter coat lvl 60+cold resist pots+20% cold mitigation from meditation. Maybe some like it for realism but lasting less than 3 minutes with all the cold mitigation options I mentioned is disruptive to gameplay and actually not realistic at all. I do last more than that in a -15 degrees snow blizzard (and I'm a lot weaker than my characters lol).

Overall I would certainly tone down the cold effects in both Gaz and Kur. I just hope we don't get a level 90 cold area...

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any level new cold area, because they're terrible.