If I don't see the hunger/thirst bars on screen then I don't know whether I'm hungry or thirsty ingame. As a result I feel compelled to repeatedly open the character page to find out.So not having these bars on the main hud is less immersive.
But that's just me.
There is no logical explanation for why it is this or that way. It just is.
I can give a logical explanation why the current system is more true to life than having 24/7 moment to moment percentage information constantly floating in front of your vision. It is based upon these premises:
1) Your character is not ever actually starving until he reaches 0%. 1% - 100% carries not one single penalty or gameplay change to your character.
There is never any reason to eat a single thing until your character is at 0%. That is when the penalties start and you can go for awhile without any serious repercussions happening to you. You may lose a wellness point or two but that is not life threatening in the least. So in the game as it is currently it is really simple to check whether you are hungry or not at a moment's notice. You look to see if there is a popup on the screen that says 0%. If it is there you are hungry and if it isn't then you are not. There is never a need to check some other screen to see if you are hungry. In the game you always know if you are hungry or not. Instantly.
2) Stress, adrenaline, worry, concentration, anxiety, excitement, etc. are all things that can cause you to not feel hunger or fatigue for long periods of time in real life.
People who say they always know exactly how hungry they are in real life must be living very peaceful lives. About 15 years ago when I was laid off from work and had no idea how I was going to take care of my family I didn't eat for three days because the stress and anxiety masked my appetite. All I could think about were my problems and I didn't eat or even sleep much. Was I hungry? yes. Did I feel it? no. It is logical and reasonable to assume that in a zombie apocalypse your character would be running on adrenaline and stress all the time and actually pretty easily ignore the signs of hunger until the consequences became so dire they would be forced to acknowledge them.
This is the apocalypse and not Thanksgiving morning sitting on the couch and watching the parade and thinking about whether you feel like Lucky Charms or Froot Loops...
So the game seems pretty close to a real life situation where there is stress and adrenaline. Popup warnings and audible hunger pains that CAN be missed in the heat of the moment and then when the first wellness is lost working as a wake up call that you have to take care of yourself or things will get dire-- seems pretty true to life for anyone who has actually felt stress.
I would also like to challenge Roland again while I'm here....
The human body has indications when food or water is low, the brain, stomach and the kidneys for example as well as many other processes involved in feedback regulate our systems so that we are made aware of being hungry or thirsty, full and hydrated, and this game is not real life.
Just as we don't need to be told we are hungry, the character shouldnt, and in real life this hunger and thirst is manifested in the awareness, so in game it should be in the HUD. You wouldn't need to open your diary or check a mobile app or look at your bio page to know when you're hungry, and that complements Gazz's point.
The game already has this awareness. Every time you eat or drink a popup makes you aware of your new level. At regular milestones a popup comes up to make you aware of your percentage of fullness. When you get to 10 or 20% the popup becomes permanently on the screen so you can't miss it and your character's stomach starts to rumble. Guess what? Through all of this you aren't really hungry yet because true hunger doesn't start until you are down to 0%.
Now if you miss these indicators because you as a player are stressed at the wrong moment then that simply feeds back into the idea that in actual life people miss hunger indicators due to stress and adrenaline.
But as I said earlier I think options are the key to this so that people can add or remove the elements and get only the info they want.
Absolutely. If I could remove all HUD indicators through an option and someone else can have them all present that would be great. I'm also happy with modding it the way I want.
Well.. To be honest you can still check whether you are filled for 40% (for example). It's just hidden away in a sub-menu which you have to open everytime when you want to check it.
So yes, I'm of the opinion that hunger/thirst meters should be added to the HUD if an XP-bar is going to be added to it. That, or neither.
Neither.
Anyway, hunger is entirely different. Until there's a usb port to my stomach we should have indicators that our character is hungry.
Agreed. Just as there is no USB port to my stomach to know at every moment what percentage of fullness I am at there should not be a permanent bar giving us moment to moment perfect knowledge of our character. The indicators in the game are more than sufficient. I play a mod to remove all but the audible stomach growling and that is more than sufficient so I know for a fact that getting popup notifications every time you eat or drink plus at set milestones down to zero plus permanently showing notification once you are at 10%, plus the stomach growling, plus the fact that the first penalty is a minor wellness point loss well after you have been at 0% for a reasonable amount of time.
(yes ladies I was having a stir/joke not serious... unless there is a book haha 
