Storms shouldn't deal damage to health

[crayzus]

I think the fact that storms deal damage over time to your health is excessive. They already reduce visibility, make vehicles go crazy. The health damage is overboard. I think to make storms more engaging, remove the health damage but increase penalties to things like stamina and thirst/hunger. You could also make the zombies more aggressive but also more rewarding to fight in storms.

This way we aren't forced to run for shelter and sit around for 10 minutes.

 

[Rotor]

Hmmm, haven't run into one yet, so can't comment to "excessive", but I believe they should deal damage to health.

Oh, and other than blood moon s I dodn't believe is zombie increased anything.

 

[Riamus]

I think it's fine as it is. The damage doesn't start right away, and better clothing increases that delay. I have plenty of time to run around outside in a storm before needing to take shelter, letting me change locations (POI) or handle outside areas on a POI or even head to another biome even if it's a long distance away if that is what I was wanting to do. The only real issue with storms is if you're in the middle of building a base because it pretty much stops you from doing that until it ends. Thankfully storms don't last all that long anymore.

 

[crayzus]

I believe they should deal damage to health.

Why do you think the health damage should stay? What does it add other than needing to chug first aid kits or run for cover every 3 minutes?

I think it's fine as it is. The damage doesn't start right away, and better clothing increases that delay. I have plenty of time to run around outside in a storm before needing to take shelter, letting me change locations (POI) or handle outside areas on a POI or even head to another biome even if it's a long distance away if that is what I was wanting to do. The only real issue with storms is if you're in the middle of building a base because it pretty much stops you from doing that until it ends. Thankfully storms don't last all that long anymore.

If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

 

[Suxar]

If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

At the beginning of the game, you'll likely be in a forest biome, meaning storms won't bother you at all. And the stamina damage you propose is nothing at all. Already in the middle of the game it stops running out, and at the end of the game it is almost not consumed while running, and is even replenished in some types of armor. Food and water consumption also doesn't affect anything, well, I'll drink not one, but two cans of smoothie during the hike, and so what.

 

[ALEXZANDER]

Why do you think the health damage should stay? What does it add other than needing to chug first aid kits or run for cover every 3 minutes?
If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

Its a typical bad gamedesign and stretching the gameplay moment, what else u expected ?

 

[Sapient6]

If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

The only thing storms have stopped me from doing since 2.5 is driving/flying. If I could remove any part of storms, that is the part I would change.

The damage is fine. You get a decent margin of time before the damage starts, and can take quick shelter anywhere (does not have to be a building) to fill that bar back up. Further, it is not purely risk. Zombies are more likely to drop loot when killed during storms, so when I'm in a stage of the game where I care about loot I specifically do not hide. I run out in it and fight. And because the zombies are more aggressive during storms it is also a good bit more fun.

Storms are not only fine, I quite like them.

 

[Sapient6]

Full disclosure: when I reached the point where I was running T5 missions I turned storm frequency down to 50%.

Why? Because so frequently I'd be preparing to go run one when I storm would start. With the gyrocopter and motorcycle so heavily impacted by storms, and missions invariably being far away from my base, that left me sitting out the storm wishing it would just end. Made me sad to do, because I love when a storm rolls in as I'm starting a mission, particularly missions in mostly outdoor POIs.

 

[Riamus]

Why do you think the health damage should stay? What does it add other than needing to chug first aid kits or run for cover every 3 minutes?

If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

There really isn't any reason not to mine in the storms. Mining is underground. Unless you are directly below the hole to the surface, you are protected. Dig down and then dig sideways a few meters and you can mine as much as you want. As far as scavenging or anything else, you have 1.5-2 minutes before taking damage. It takes half that time to refill the timer in a protected area and then you can spend that much time outside again. So at most, you need to spend about 3.5 minutes inside during a storm. It might mean up to around 4 stops inside a building for under a minute each time, but that's not really a big deal. And for those who don't mind using health kits, you can stay out while taking damage. I haven't tried that, but you might be able to stay out the entire storm without dying, or maybe you have to go inside once. But that is probably all.

Even if you are not near any POI, you can dig a hole to refill the timer and then continue doing what you were doing. You either dig a few holes or stay in the area and keep reusing the first hole. If you are in a town, it's even easier.

The only time it can really be a pain is when you are building a base, like I mentioned. Driving with anything other than a 4x4 is also a pain, and I wouldn't mind that being changed since I rarely use the 4x4. Other than that, it's really not a big deal. And as I said, better clothing and hot/cold mods increase the timer in storms, so if you aren't rushing other biomes, you should have at least low level clothing that will give you enough time. If you rush the other biomes and have a storm, then sure... it'll be more of a pain. But you are basically accepting increase challenge, difficulty, etc. by rushing the other biomes.

 

[Roland]

I think the fact that storms deal damage over time to your health is excessive. They already reduce visibility, make vehicles go crazy. The health damage is overboard. I think to make storms more engaging, remove the health damage but increase penalties to things like stamina and thirst/hunger. You could also make the zombies more aggressive but also more rewarding to fight in storms.

This way we aren't forced to run for shelter and sit around for 10 minutes.

Storms are great the way they are. But I wouldn't care if they added a slider for them to do 0%, 50%, 100%, 200%, 300% damage. I like that they are deadly. But if some people just want a purely aesthetic storm, then a 0% damage option would be good for them.

As for your suggestions to drain stamina or move more slowly, I can't think of two effects that would discourage being active during storms more than these. Move around like I have a broken leg and be unable to power swing my sledge hammer during a storm? No thanks. Best is to leave it as it is and put in a damage slider option for people who want every biome to play out just like the forest....

 

[Roland]

Why do you think the health damage should stay? What does it add other than needing to chug first aid kits or run for cover every 3 minutes?

If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

Health damage makes the storms deadly which is what I think hazardous weather events should be. If you are huddled in your base because you think you must because you're afraid you might die then they are doing what they are supposed to do. Your belief is a false one. You don't have to stay in your base, you can go out into storms. But your belief is evidence that the storms need to be deadly to evoke the fear that you might die. Without it they are just an aesthetic graphics event.

You don't take constant damage while mining or salvaging.
You don't have to stay locked up in a building.
There are rewards for going outside in a storm. Load up on some meat in your inventory and go outside in a storm and you will experience the rewards.
Early game storms in the forest biome are not time gates. By the time you get to the burnt forest where the first deadly storms happen you should have some clothes that allow you stay outside in the storm for awhile without taking any damage.

Driving in storms is incredibly fun. Takes some practice but it is definitely doable and a great challenge.

 

[theFlu]

Hmm, while I don't mind the damage mechanic myself - HP is just an imaginary simplification of "hurt", already a wild mechanic in a way; I can't help but think it would be awesome to have "physical" debris flying around in the storm.
Pick a wind direction, spawn random block parts "upwind" , send them "flying" across the landscape. Rolling tires, pieces of planks etc. Chickens if you must.
If it collides with a wall, stop / destroy it, maybe leave a pile of trash where it landed.
If it collides with a player, do some damage.
A vehicle might just take damage, or be bounced a bit (turned).

This would give another element to the storms, you could seek somewhat realistic cover behind walls; while potentially making the "damage" more reasonable and more importantly dynamically avoidable. Sure, dodging stuff like you do with Chuck-boulders might get old fast, but then you'd seek the cover.

Might not be the smallest of tasks, either to develop or to compute on the fly; but it might feel like "storm damage". And if the compute is there, it would even leave marks in the landscape (debris gathering on one side of buildings, etc).

 

[Double G]

The one thing I'd like to see with storms is variable durations. Sometimes they last longer, sometimes they don't.

 

[grz__]

I think the fact that storms deal damage over time to your health is excessive. They already reduce visibility, make vehicles go crazy. The health damage is overboard. I think to make storms more engaging, remove the health damage but increase penalties to things like stamina and thirst/hunger. You could also make the zombies more aggressive but also more rewarding to fight in storms.

This way we aren't forced to run for shelter and sit around for 10 minutes.

The point of the storms is that staying outside will kill you and you have to seek shelter, putting yourself in dangerous situations that otherwise wouldn't exist. Being inside an enclosed space with zombies running around is more dangerous than being outside. The damage is excessive for you. For me, it was fine before 2.5, but now you can ignore it completely except in the wasteland.

already been done. Zombies are more aggressive and drop more loot than in previous versions.

As others have said, there are ways to face the storm without getting stuck doing nothing. It's up to the player to figure out how.

Why do you think the health damage should stay? What does it add other than needing to chug first aid kits or run for cover every 3 minutes?

If they remove the health damage players would be more inclined to keep exploring during storms. If you want to make storms more deadly then increase stamina drain, reduce movement speed, up zombie aggression. Right now you can't even go mine or salvaging without taking constant damage. You have to stay locked up in a building. Sure late game when you have the best gear and stacks of healing items, it doesn't matter. Early to mid game, storms are a big time gate. There is no reward currently for storms. Its purely risk.

And what do you think people will do with the other debuffs? They will use the buffs available in the game to counteract these debuffs. Megacrush invalidates the movement, stamina, and thirst debuffs. They are cheap and overpowered. Hunger simply has no impact. Not to mention that the movement debuff sucks and penalizes a certain playstyle, while damage over time doesn't hurt any playstyle; it's the same for everyone.

The result is a storm that is only visual, which does not present any kind of challenge for the player.

Armor has no impact on the storm. If you know how, you can prepare yourself even in the early game to face the storms without getting stuck, just by using the resources and tools that the game provides you.

I wouldn't care if they added a slider for them to do 0%, 50%, 100%, 200%, 300% damage. I like that they are deadly. But if some people just want a purely aesthetic storm

this is the way

 

[4sheetzngeegles]

As for your suggestions to drain stamina or move more slowly, I can't think of two effects that would discourage being active during storms more than these.

Gotta agree, Faatal told me when storms were first being talked about,
that players being gimped by wind wasn't happening. Playing in them
now he was 100% right.

Storms are great the way they are. But I wouldn't care if they added a slider for them to do 0%, 50%, 100%, 200%, 300% damage.

Slider would cover everyone. But please don't make storms a default 0 damage only.
Or it becomes an apocalypse of convenience, with clay pigeons and an arcade shooting
gallery.