Darkness should give Perception & Movement penalties.

[JesusTheAstronaut]

Ever since legacy, I've always appreciated that the devs attempted to make darkness an obstacle that requires practical consideration. Having torches in mines for example added a layer of immersion and gave these items a purpose. However, as most of us know, the majority of the player base uses custom clients that completely negate any penalties from being in the dark at all. I think this is unfortunate. But it's obvious that there is little that can be done about this if darkness is purely a cosmetic consideration.

Therefore I think that darkness should directly affect your character's perception and even movement speed, maybe even depending on the severity of the darkness. Similar to how swamps restrict movement speed. For example, only a mild penalty outdoors on a night with a full moon, but a much more significant penalty in a cave or a mine. Perhaps even being dependant on the cave/mine level you're in, simulating the environment getting darker the 'deeper' down you go. This would obviously have a direct effect on Exploration ability as well as the effectiveness of ranged combat in dark areas, which currently has very few drawbacks and would be an interesting consideration to work around since bows require two hands. This would give much-needed utility to items that are lacking a meaningful purpose outside of being cosmetic for most players. Such as torch-posts, lantern hangers, headgear that provide light, etc.

I know that many players groan at any suggestion that inconveniences them in any way or take additional steps to do things they are already capable of doing with minimal effort. But I believe this change would be in line with the spirit of the game. Ideally, this change wouldn't be needed if custom clients couldn't simply bypass the intended effect of low visibility. But since that isn't something the devs can really control, I think a change along the lines of what I've proposed may be the next best option.

Thanks for reading.

[Nightdawg]

You got that angel halo store hat, don't you?

[Sevenless]

Would that make the game more fun?

I think the game already handles immersion into the world very well from a mechanic standpoint, adding more to it if it's annoying to work around seems un-necessary.

[ctopolon4]

like the idea to make lights stuff more useable and not so useless game mechanic (miners hats with candle, day\night w\o nightvision on custom clients, mb new features in PvP).
but ask everyone to do someth they dont like, sounds not good (like: eat every day up to 2222stats to dominate sprucehats, abuse everything and use custom clients & hacks to dominate nabs, and do the same to be not so Fked as 90% of players)

[terechgracz]

The only reason you guys don't like this idea is because crafting and overall interaction with anything in this game is annoying, almost everything feels like chore and has a lot of unnecessary layers of depth imitating mechanics. Look at minecraft - torches and lights are great, players don't want to throw up from needing to craft some more torches while in haven there are days in which I just won't start playing because that would mean I'd need to make firebrand.

[JesusTheAstronaut]

You got that angel halo store hat, don't you?

Lol I don't know what that is, sorry. But if there are custom hats that have built-in lights I don't see a problem with that since there are hats you can easily craft that have lights on them and actually give defense.

Would that make the game more fun?

I think the game already handles immersion into the world very well from a mechanic standpoint, adding more to it if it's annoying to work around seems un-necessary.

like the idea to make lights stuff more useable and not so useless game mechanic (miners hats with candle, day\night w\o nightvision on custom clients, mb new features in PvP).
but ask everyone to do someth they dont like, sounds not good (like: eat every day up to 2222stats to dominate sprucehats, abuse everything and use custom clients & hacks to dominate nabs, and do the same to be not so Fked as 90% of players)

I honestly think that details such as these ARE what make this game fun. I think it's really neat that exploration is such a driving force behind progression and how many of the existing mechanics interact with each other to create a sense of depth and purpose. Aside from certain foods, it really feels like every item has its own purpose but illumination items simply are redundant for most players due to how prevalent custom clients are with lighting hacks. So if we're all going to collectively agree to bypass the intended effect of lighting, then I guess I'm looking for some ways to still retain SOME interaction with the absence of light, in a way that's not purely visual - as people are just going to bypass it. Ideally, my preferred change would be to have a custom client's ability to see thru darkness removed, but that simply would never happen.

I would love to hear some alternative idea on how to make darkness/light more than simply a matter of cosmetics, when it's actually such an interesting logistical consideration in pretty much all forms of subterranean exploration. I get that a lot of the playerbase wants this game to be a Farmville™/Stardew Valley™ simulator, and HATE the idea of having to do any additional steps aside from the one's they have been botting for years. And that's fine. But personally my appeal to this game is it's actually quite unforgiving despite its outward appearance, and so I welcome any additional challenges or obstacles the devs can come up with.

[WowGain]

You got that angel halo store hat, don't you?

Lol I don't know what that is, sorry. But if there are custom hats that have built-in lights I don't see a problem with that since there are hats you can easily craft that have lights on them and actually give defense.

Would that make the game more fun?

I think the game already handles immersion into the world very well from a mechanic standpoint, adding more to it if it's annoying to work around seems un-necessary.

like the idea to make lights stuff more useable and not so useless game mechanic (miners hats with candle, day\night w\o nightvision on custom clients, mb new features in PvP).
but ask everyone to do someth they dont like, sounds not good (like: eat every day up to 2222stats to dominate sprucehats, abuse everything and use custom clients & hacks to dominate nabs, and do the same to be not so Fked as 90% of players)

I honestly think that details such as these ARE what make this game fun. I think it's really neat that exploration is such a driving force behind progression and how many of the existing mechanics interact with each other to create a sense of depth and purpose. Aside from certain foods, it really feels like every item has its own purpose but illumination items simply are redundant for most players due to how prevalent custom clients are with lighting hacks. So if we're all going to collectively agree to bypass the intended effect of lighting, then I guess I'm looking for some ways to still retain SOME interaction with the absence of light, in a way that's not purely visual - as people are just going to bypass it. Ideally, my preferred change would be to have a custom client's ability to see thru darkness removed, but that simply would never happen.

I would love to hear some alternative idea on how to make darkness/light more than simply a matter of cosmetics, when it's actually such an interesting logistical consideration in pretty much all forms of subterranean exploration. I get that a lot of the playerbase wants this game to be a Farmville™/Stardew Valley™ simulator, and HATE the idea of having to do any additional steps aside from the one's they have been botting for years. And that's fine. But personally my appeal to this game is it's actually quite unforgiving despite its outward appearance, and so I welcome any additional challenges or obstacles the devs can come up with.

no

[Massa]

nah bro sorry

[GamingRAM]

I'm for more environmental stuff like this. I don't necessarily know how I feel about movement penalty (would make running away from wild animals a pain), but reduction of perception is okay for me. Can do all sorts of stuff, like the more the moon is out, the less of a reduction there is, and during midday we can get a slight boost to Perception.

[shubla]

Use search stop reposting my ideas.