World Of Warcraft: Seasonal changes in World of Warcraft

How long should climatic seasons last in the game?

To make an MMORPG feel realistic, the more recent additions to the genre now include weather effects or what can be perceived as seasonal weather conditions. World of Warcraft is sure to be no different with it's rich regional differences in locations which we have already seen by the the regions revealed on the map and in screenshots. We have seen from the screenshots and movies that have been released that the world will lend itself to climatic change, but at this stage we don't have any real knowledge of the game's weather dynamics.

Seasonal disruptions to weather such as a monsoon season in Stranglethorn or Blizzards and high winds in Khaz Modan or perhaps tornado season in Westfall. It's not necessary that the conditions themselves would affect character performance, this is more from an atmospheric and realism point of view. More often in MMOs weather conditions merely cycle with no clear seasons and seasons may well help with the sense of the passing of time. The effects on character performance is a separate matter.

As World of Warcraft is an open ended game with no time limit or ultimate goal, we don't know what Blizzard have planned for seasons. For example would a monsoon season last 3 months real time or would weather just cycle every day or so. Having seasons actually happen real time would certainly make each separate region an interesting place. You may not want to visit Westfall in a Tornado season, perhaps you would find it too dangerous, and the monsoon rains of Stranglethorn might not be your cup of tea, the rain could be rather depressing after all and may not be somewhere you want to visit at that time.

As in real life, weather can effect your every day business such as work and leisure so having longer periods of climactic change may have a positive or adverse affect on the gameplay. Trade routes could be disrupted by heavy snow drifts or even prevent people making their way across the game world to complete quests or meet friends. If weather does have this sort of impact, how long should these climactic changes last?

In other MMORPGs seasonal changes seem rather random and cover short periods of time so what do you think would be the best way to go. Cast your vote in the new Judge's Chamber poll in the right navbar.

Seasons should run for longer periods (weeks) 50.8%
Weather should be real-time (months) 31.7%
Seasons should run for short periods (days) 13.9%
Seasons should be random 3.6%

Total Votes 2835

Voters' Comments

I don't think they should put seasonal changes in World of Warcraft because it wouldn't be very cool if you were in the jungle and it was snowing or something like that. Also, putting in seasonal changes would only make more content the developers need to add and the release date would be delayed. I don't think it is worth it to spend their time working on seasonal changes. It would be much better if weather was sectional, meaning that in the jungle it would either be raining or sunny and in the desert it would always be clear skies. If they had summer time and such then would all the snow melt in Dun Morogh? I just don't think this would be realistic...just my thoughts. - Nitros

I chose option 2. I think climate changes should last for extended periods of time so there is a sense of seasons, perhaps four seasons in the space of four months. I like the idea of a monsoon season in Stranglethorn, when there are periods of torrential rain in the afternoons or snowstorms in Dun Moragh lasting a few hours. You could need to change your route during these times to keep sheltered not necessarily as it affects your characters performance but only because visibility is so poor out in the open and shelter from the pines in Morag and tropical trees in the jungle will help. Perhaps routes could be cut off during these times as in real life a pass could be cut off from snow fall or build up. This would add a sense of being in an ever changing world rather than something static and unrealistic. - Wayne Kerr

Rather than making it a certain amount or real life time, needs to be based to the in game days. i.e......there will be a night/day cycle, make a month in game equal to a specific amount of in game days....could even make it like real life where different months have different amounts of days...etc - Alex

They should be random so players do not know what to expect next. This adds another level of the unexpected and they should last just two or three days at the most - Happyface

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