Thirst / hunger

[Pen N Popper]

Didn't want to hijack this thread: http://www.layonaraonline.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=21748&posts=3#M136908

Getting thirsty, to me anyway, feels very OOC at the moment.  Thirst is:  Message saying you are thirsty, half dozen clicks on your canteen (no matter that you were in the middle of doing prior to the message), refill canteens.  Upping the weight of canteens will only hinder weak PCs and do nothing for stronger ones, in my opinion.

I think it is safe to assume that if you are in a town and are thirsty, you will dip some water from the well.  I would suggest, then, that only out of town do you get thirsty.  Other environmental aspects and activities altering this as well.  Simply put, running across a desert will surely lead to massive thirst.  One returning to a town with a well, your thirst is gone.  Alternatively, thirst should disappear when I go to the well to fill my canteens for surely I'd drink some of the water if I was thirsty.

The system could be as simple as this:  Add an adjustment to thirst/hunger on area transition trigger.  Transitioning into the desert increases thirst dramatically (better have brought juice and water!), entering a mountainous forest bumps hunger (so much walking but probably a stream or two).

On another server, they put colored status bars that clearly showed your thirst and hunger.

Thirst: ||||||||||||||||||||
Hunger: ||||||||||||||||||||

This allows a more realistic "feeling" of your health.

Thanks for listening!

[Pen N Popper]

I still find the hunger/thirst system OOC more than immersive. The colored bars did, in my opinion, give a better feeling of one's state.

[J-ser]

I agree. Its rather annoying to see someone drink tons of water in the middle of a conversation, then go without water for another week, then drink again....

[Dorganath]

Part of what you are suggesting here, the transition/area based hunger and thirst system, would be a fairly major overhaul. It is an interesting idea, and the concept of environment-based changes is very neat.
  This might be something to consider for whatever form Layonara takes next, but I would not expect such a drastic change before that time, if we go that way at all.  
  The colored bars could be done without too much trouble (well, depending where you wanted them to display...heh), though the mechanics of hunger/thirst would still be the same. But like everything, it'll boil down to time and manpower.
  The same kind of goes for all important systems in the game. Major shifts at this point probably won't happen until we officially start down the road to V3. But by no means should anyone stop suggesting.
  The purpose of this message is to give feedback and acknowledgement, not to make a judgement on its merits. All I can say here is "maybe". Please do continue to suggest and refine ideas like this.