Storm Code

[drunkendwarf]

I'd like to express my frustation with the new storm code. I don't think it adds to gameplay at all. I know the imms are going for something that not only makes storms more dangerous, but makes the idea of a 'guide' something people should really look for. While I agree with both of these, I think the current storm code is way too much.
Case in point:
I was literally moving to a quit safe room outside, a grand total of 10 rooms away, when I was blindsided by both a tembo and a storm, at the same time. I managed to eventually give the tembo the slip, but had to sit for an HOUR AND A HALF to wait for any way to get out of the storm, for fear of getting lost or running into the same tembo. I eventually just crossed my fingers and wandered through the storm to safety...it hadn't even cleared up yet. What if I HAD to leave, and didn't have an hour and a half to wait? I cut link and pray my character lives until the next time I login? I sit idle and hope for the best? Or I just kiss my character goodbye, and have to make a new one simply because I was hit by a storm with absolutely no warning? How does it make this game fun when, every so often and for no apparent reason, I have to accept my character's death because I don't have the time to wait out a storm? That just doesn't sound like fun to me.  Does anyone else feel the same way? Have you had this happen to you before? Perhaps even lost a character because of it? I'd like to hear some feedback from the players. Also, in an effort to be constructive here, I'd like to offer up a few suggestions to bring some playability back to us non-ranger outdoorsy types.
1) Tone down the duration of storms. Having to wait for 2+ RL hours for a storm to subside is WAY too much, in my opinion. If this route was taken, I think leaving the storm code as is would be just fine, provided the storms didn't last more than 30 minutes to an hour.
2) Make roads navigable, regardless of the severity of a storm. It makes no sense that you can't follow a road, unless the storm is so bad you physically can't see (i.e. tremendous sandstorm).  If you want realism, maybe make it so you can only do this while unmounted. I think it'd be pretty obvious when you've walked off a road, immediately after it happened.
3) Perhaps lean the % of a random exit towards the actual direction you're trying to go. As it is now, it seems that it's totally random which way you actually wind up moving, which seems a little off to me. How would you wind up going south, when you're trying to go north? East or west I could understand...but it stills seems that the majority of the time, unless there's absolutely NO landmarkers around, you'd be able to maintain a somewhat straight line, with a few swerves here and there. Again, the exception being when the storm is so bad, you can't see anything in broad daylight.
4) Maybe some weather echoes to let you know a storm is coming? Going from a light breeze and gritty sand to a fierce storm in a matter of two seconds seems pretty severe to me.  Again, I don't see how that makes the game very playable. I know enough not to get involved in anything serious if I only have an hour to play...but should I have to count on at least 4 RL hours to play, in case I get blindsided by a storm?
Not all of us know rangers..and some of us are loner outdoorsy types. The addition of 'weather n' and such was fantastic, but I just think something else should be done as well. I think the current code is just too much.Comments? Ideas? Critiques? Am I just whining? Do people agree? Lemme hear from ya!

[Praetorian]

Regarding storms I think these things should be implemented in some offshoot way:

1) Roads should give immunity to the 'getting disoriented' aspect.  Even if you can only seek your feet, you still know if you are following the edge of a straight-light or even curved road.  Roads are flagged differently, reflecting their differing movement cost to transverse - perhaps tie that in with the storm code.  Finding a road should be a source of salvation to a wastes-wanderer in a sandstorm, not just another source of frustration.

2) Duration - storm duration should be lessened, having a single storm seal off an entire region of the game to non-rangers for essentially 6 out of 7 days RL (yes, this has happened) is just a bit extreme.

3) Not really a difference in implementation, but I have increasing concern that armageddon-mud is slowly shifting to ranger-mud, due to the severity of the storm code.  Look around you...how many pcs are rangers?  Tweaks could be introduced both magickal and non-magickal that would enhance even for limited durations the playability aspect of non-ranger classes in exterior environments.

[Cavus]

We opened many discussion about storms, but nothing changed. So, they won't think differently, don't expect anything.

On the other hand, if you -have to- log out because of RL stuff, you can just "wish all" to Imms, and they simply logs you out. I mean if this is the only result, it has easy solution without code change.


Note: I died to tembo because of storm before.

[Cavus]

I want to add something. If a game has low playability, then no one plays it. Why don't we have as many players as other MUDs have? Think about it. I am trying other MUDs at EU times, but they have at least 50 players even that time periods, and these MUDs do not have higher ranking in TMS. We should create better balance between -playability- and -realism- (maybe not the realism that we think is not really a realism. We imagine this way as realism.).

In this respect, I am on the side of any storm code change suggestion.

[drunkendwarf]

Tweaks could be introduced both magickal and non-magickal that would enhance even for limited durations the playability aspect of non-ranger classes in exterior environments.

Didn't even think of that one...that's a good idea. I'd like to make sure that was with non-magickal characters as well somehow, otherwise it's really only helping a small percentage of the players. Ideas on that?

On the other hand, if you -have to- log out because of RL stuff, you can just "wish all" to Imms, and they simply logs you out. I mean if this is the only result, it has easy solution without code change.

That's all fine and good - assuming there's an immortal on to do this for you. What about the hardcode players mudding away at 5am? Or the overseas players? Not much of a solution to them. Also sounds like it would be a burden on the immortals. A temporary solution at best, in my opinion.

Note: I died to tembo because of storm before.

I've lost a character to the storm code as well, but that's not really my complaint. As I said, I'm all for the storms being dangerous and icky, I'm simply complaining that the way they currently are just isn't playable, simply because of how long it can take to get over it. And as Praetorian had said...having large chunks of the mud (the southlands, the red desert, etc) completely inaccessible to anything other than rangers for RL days on end just isn't fun either. I really like playing outdoorsy type characters....and due to the current storm code, I really don't want to anymore, unless I play a ranger. Ranger-mud ho!

I've also thought up a couple more suggestions, so continuing with my list:
5) Make EVERY class able to quit in the wilderness. This won't fix the duration issue, but at least people won't be FORCED into playing this mud. (I'm sure some would agrue that's not such a bad thing....and to them I say turn off your computer every now and again, and go experience real life. It's kinda cool. Granted, you don't get to ride a kank.  :? ) Maybe this in a way lessens the severity of a storm, because people would just quit out when one hits. But if they're traveling in a group, the chances of them all logging back in at the same time is pretty slim, so you could roleplay getting separated from the group and having to make it back to safety on your own, which can be a bad thing for many characters. Sure, this takes something away from rangers...but the storm code has added something to them so wouldn't that balance out if the storm code is kept the way it is? I dunno, just  tossing out ideas.

6) If not give everyone the ability to quit out naturally, tweak the tent code so you could do it that way. This forces people to lug those tents around, and be prepared for the storms. I'm not sure code-wise how to accomplish this one, if it's feasable. Give people the ability to quit out IF they have a tent in their inventory?

As it is, I'd whole-heartedly agree with Praetorian on this one. Rangers now have everyone else SEVERELY outclassed while in the wilds. A storm hits...not only can a ranger move through it now, but they can also just choose to quit out and wait for it to pass, while the rest of us are stuck waiting for God knows how many RL hours for the thing to blow over, or scrambling to contact a ranger buddy to come and bail them out (If their character is lucky enough to know one), watching the clock slowly tick down to the hour that you have to be at work, school, etc. Someone tell me I'm supposed to be having fun when that happens...because I don't. At all.

[Gaare]

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12016

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11578

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11999

[moab]

I believe roads should give some immunity to getting lost in a storm.

I think that having characters getting lost (and unable to find their way back to a quit-safe room) is a HUGE deal in a game where you can only quit in certain specific places.

I have lost numerous beloved characters because I had to leave them logged in when I HAD to leave the game.  RL does take its toll.  I put up with this on Armageddon.  If I was trying another MUD and I ran into this, I would have never played again.

The game should, at some level, flex to my real-life work/school/wife's chore list.

I have always thought it would be great to let everyone quit anywhere and see few disadvantages in it.  One could argue that it isn't realistic, but it also isn't realistic to sit there and get mauled to death by a rat or tregil (or whatever) while your player is trying to drive to work, late, because he spent two hours trying to find a quit-safe room in a storm!
:-D

[Kalden]

Is the disorientation fairly new code? I've never had that problem when dealing with sandstorms in the city...it's never been the same as darkness for me.

If they do make you go in a random direction these days, roads should definitely be immune. Think about it. You can stare at your feet or tap the road to make sure you're staying on it. I suppose I should still blind.

I think the intent behind the code was probably to make warriors capable of randomly dying, drunkendwarf. Just look at the threads from the past. "Make it harsher environmentally, don't just add stronger monsters" was the mantra of the newbies. They apparently wanted warriors to to randomly die in the desert, regardless of skill levels or player knowledge.

[Ghost]

I want to add something. If a game has low playability, then no one plays it. Why don't we have as many players as other MUDs have? Think about it. I am trying other MUDs at EU times, but they have at least 50 players even that time periods, and these MUDs do not have higher ranking in TMS. We should create better balance between -playability- and -realism- (maybe not the realism that we think is not really a realism. We imagine this way as realism.).

In this respect, I am on the side of any storm code change suggestion.

Armageddonmud has quite a remarkable number of players online.  That means, we -do- have as many players as other muds have, unless you are comparing it with Achaea or something like that of the record.  But storm code has nothing to do with Achaea's having more players than Arm.

Arm has lower playerbase than Achaea, because Zalanthas is a real brutal and harsh world with a well put realism into it.  And the RP-enforced fact, with permanent death added to the bruteness, that is what makes Arm unique.  Not everybody is playing muds for such a reason.  Most play muds for Hack'n Slash, chat, or just to feel like being in a fantasy world.  So that is where the reason Arm does not have as many players.  Arm is not just for "hanging around to kill" reason.
If it is just to make more people into the game, we could as well remove the perma death, which would make the game less harsh and some hack'n slash minds would flock into the game.  But is that really what we want?

About the original post:  I hear you.  I know Storm code is not as the backbone of Arm as the perma death issue.  But it adds to the game still, and I feel like the Storm code should stay in the game.  It indeed still is not too harsh, because only "blinding biting sand" makes you lose your way around.  And that is really one level lower than the most fearsome of the storms.  Such a storm indeed, would make more than just lose your way around.  It would deal a good damage, it can really temporarily blind you, make you lost completely, and even kill you.
To make it playable, we only lose our way once in a while.  Which is acceptable I think.

The only way that makes it really tough is the duration of the storms.  It is a pain sometimes if it lasts more than a few RL days.   That I agree, and hear you man, but I heard the storm code is something as evil monster as the crime code.  Whoever gets into working with it, gets lost.
And I agree the roads can be immune to it.

[fearwig]

There are items in the game by their description inherently meant to help people fare in storms, hoods perhaps being the very most common among them (though there are others even more specifically aimed at that role). Sadly, at present, they have no effect on storm visibility, as their descriptions would indicate. Perhaps that could be changed, for one thing.

Secondly, I would agree that in a city or road situation, there is little to no chance of you "losing your bearings" every damn time a storm comes up. Sure, hike the stamina cost, or add a significant extra walking lag, if that's codedly feasible. But this "walking back and forth for ten minutes on a one-direction street" stuff is silly, and I've had it happen.

I've regularly suggested that some kind of system by which storms could produce a limited view of your surroundings through an extra (mostly blank) description. This kind of thing could be implemented upon the code by macro, given its simplicity--there's already an allowance for night, after all, one that's generally taken advantage of.

So, in all but the absolute worst blinding storms (which would be very rare, we'd hope, or short-lived as a rule), you'd see your surroundings and the exits, but you wouldn't see the room description or anyone there. Or perhaps you'd see them as shadows, or see only some of them, some of the time as shadows, or what-have-you. Lots of room for innovation, here.

But yeah, most of this would entail a lot of work. I still think hoods, surmacs, sunslits, and similar devices should protect your vision from the sand, though, as they would be indicated to do.


I *love* that we have a harsh environment, guys, but an unrealistic -form- of harshness isn't always admired by the players, I think. For instance, when a computer or console game you're playing has a bug in it that makes playing it damn near impossible (but just barely possible), you consider that annoying, especially when that bug doesn't resemble reality. In the same way, I'm inclined to look on unrealistic "stumble" code in that same fashion. If you are in an alley, on a road, or in some other way in clear view of your path, you are not going to stumble off in an absolutely random direction. Silly. And that tembo that's chasing you? He can't see shit either! And you can't smell a thing with bad wind, so don't pull that one on us. It's a great game, but storm code as it is offers up so many bizarre and unrealistic flaws... it would be lovely to see it one day really worked out, but I think for that to happen the people involved have to admit that something is at least a little bit screwy, right?

It indeed still is not too harsh, because only "blinding biting sand" makes you lose your way around. And that is really one level lower than the most fearsome of the storms.

Well, that sounds very nice, doesn't it? But it does happen once every several days, even in the cities, and can sometimes last until the next reboot, even days away.

[Bardex]

Agreed on the duration. Especially in certain areas, even though those areas are the "obvious hit list" for storms.

A suggestion for reprieve for "naturally stormy areas" that wouldn't detract from the harshness:

Out of every 4 RL hours, let the winds shift 10 rooms to the east. Then have it shift 10 rooms to the west 4 RL hours later. Make it a standardized time shift. This can be easily explained ICly just like it can in real life. Wind bounces through wind-tunnels and there is a real phenomena that causes it to shift at regular intervals, people can almost set their clocks by it. (I used to live in an area like that, trust me, it takes CAREFUL planning to leave at JUST the right moment)

This way, a non-ranger can get through that area IF he plans his day wisely. He could head out a RL hour before the storm is set to shift, risk being stuck for only a few minutes, and then be able to proceed. If he heads out at the wrong time, he's outta luck.

[Cavus]

I am trying other MUDs at EU times, but they have at least 50 players even that time periods, and these MUDs do not have higher ranking in TMS.

Dear Ghost,
If you read my post more carefully you can see this sentence. Of course, I am not talking about Achea. I am talking about MUDs at ranking of 10s. For sure, we can also talk about MUDs other than first three.

In addition, I am not accusing storm code as only factor. Playability is important in all games. Make it harsh, make it harsh, harsher, and more harsher...Wait a sec, and think a little. For example, storm can last 3-4 IG days(and this makes sense ICly), but that makes 4.5-6 RL hours. Who can wait in the middle of storm for RL hours? Or, who can wait for going hunt for RL hours especially if he has couple of hours for that day to play?

Yes, some other features of this game also reduces playability, but those features makes Arm ARM. Those features adds realism and harshness to game, but does not affect RL constraints.

Note: I did not forget CrimCode and some other problems of Player base, but let's stay in original post.

[Gaare]

Why would this code distract some of us this much?

-You both want to play an awesome fighter and hunt anything in wilderness everyday alone?

- You are running a magicker and wish to visit your city daily and trying to not identify yourself so want to be alone?

- You are a non-fighter character and wish to make small walks in the wilderness or collect your own resource for making LARGE amount of sid?

-You are a noble, high ranking merchant and templar and wish to make travels in wilderness with your NPC guards?

Interaction is absolutely good! And IMO anything that creates interesting RP opportunites is a good addition to game. I can not think good reasons why it is hard to accept new code... really.. I mean that code was just a bug and now fixed and part of ARM. I also sometimes get bored because of a few days of storm, it's trade of is much bigger.

detail:
 There are many beaitful hack&slash computer games and really excellent Multi-player ones too.. And I guess some of them have minimum thousands of players online in each hour of the day. That's a genre.. and ARM has its own.

[Armaddict]

Don't go into sandstorms without a ranger or when you're not a ranger.

Check the weather before you leave.

When you do get caught in a sandstorm, find shelter, like normal people do.

3-4 IG days is what, 36 to 48 hours?  I don't think that's an unfeasible amount of time for one to last.

You don't think it's playable and want to inspire some sort of trip by blaming our lack of players on the harshness of the game that we all play for?  Don't play a character type that will have to endure the storms.  Stay in the city, get a job, like most of the zalanthan population does.  There's a reason you don't want to go out in the wilderness unless you're experienced.

[fearwig]

I think the big complaint is about sandstorms that last multiple real-life days even inside the city. I've seen it happen, and do you know what it means? "Okay, Armageddon, see you in a few days." Not a huge tragedy, I guess, but you have to admit it defeats the purpose sometimes. Storms inside the city can blind, disorient, and screw you over just as badly, and while they're more rare, they're all but unheard of, especially in some regions. You can't see a damned thing for two RL days, and you won't play for those days. That's a given.

Rather long, nasty storms outside the city are fine by me, especially in the sandy south. Roads should be harder to get lost upon, still, I say, simply because that's realistic--balance has nothing to do with that, to me. I still would like to see coded ways to combat them as I've mentioned, perhaps at the expense of certain other factors (like a combat disadvantage due to shrouded vision), but that's all fine-tuning.

[Bardex]

Red Storm is a location allowable for new characters to show up in. It's called Red Storm for a reason, but new players with their first characters might not understand the severety of the situation, AND the duration of the severety.

I would suggest, if people really don't think this is a problem, that the Hall of Kings allow ONLY rangers to log into Red Storm with their new characters. Otherwise, there's very little point in showing up there at all, because it isn't *playable* when you have to rely on a ranger to help you around outside, and you're the only PC there for hours and hours on end.

[Forest Junkie]

I'd like to express my frustation with the new storm code.

This is exactly what the immortals -want- from the players, in my opinion. They want us to be frustrated with the storm code. Why? Becase our characters live on a desert world with howling winds that rip the flesh off of any person not properly clothed. Because our characters are traversing through leagues of storms which would make any normal person from Earth its bitch. If that's not realism, spank my ass and call me Charlie.

The code is fine the way it is, to me. It is a perfect balance between the wilderness and the city. Anyone who is blinded in the desert due to a nasty storm obviously isn't meant for desert travel. Only the hardiest of travelers and hunters should be given the skill to navigate through these harsh, deadly storms. If you are not a 'ranger', get the hell out and find some shelter.

1) Warriors are good at whipping ass in the cities as guards, not riding around Zalanthas killing uber critters just because they "can". (You know who you are)

2) Assassins are good at slitting people's throats in the cities as contract killers, not leathery-hardass hunters in the sands who practice their backstab on scrab to beef up their shits. (You know who you are)

3) Magickers are just screwed. Either keep that gem on, or pray to Whira she's nice enough to let your tainted ass on through.

If you currently playing a character in the desert who is -not- a ranger, you have absolutely nothing to complain about. You made that decision on your own, and will have to live with the consequences. You should not be given the same perks as the guild 'ranger', because you do not deserve them, nor need them. You have your own awesome abilities, so go use them where it's viable.

The storm code:

A) Allows for more interaction between players in the game. Trust me, I was just apart of something like this last night. It was played out well, and involved a skilled ranger leading a few others back to their sekrit hideout of mass destrukshun.

B) Allows for the guild 'ranger' to be worth something out in the desert. If you are pissed because your 50 day city warrior cannot traverse a 60-league long sandstorm, for the love of all that is Hindu go hire a damn ranger to help you through it. I'm sure you can afford it. If you can't....tough?

C) Allows for there to be a clear line drawn between desert and city life. Still not clear? Rangers live in the wastes of DEATH, while the other guilds live in the city, where the shadows bring DEATH. The differences are so great, yet so small when you compare both sides.

D) Rangers are given clout. No longer will max warriors lead caravans of merchants beacuse they have mapped the known area and know exactly where to spam past the spear-throwing gith. We actually have a -need- for skilled rangers who have memorized the area about them countless times, and can travel through areas any normal wo/man couldn't.

[Ghost]

Who can wait in the middle of storm for RL hours? Or, who can wait for going hunt for RL hours especially if he has couple of hours for that day to play?
I have never seen any blinding storms inside the city that lasted more than a few hours.  If it is at night IG, yeah, we can lose the sight, but still in the daylight you see where you are going.  So I really have not witnessed the storms crippling the cities.  (It might be my luck, but still..)

Cavus,

Those muds are not RPI muds.  They don't have perma death.  There are few muds with perma death, and in which RP is enforced, and Arm is the one with the most playerbase (Or so it was at least, last I checked).  Surely I can name a few muds with 1000 experience levels and 20-40 different guilds and races that has 50-200 players at all times.  But those muds are not anywhere near Arm, and you can't compare them even in the same league.But to have such a huge playerbase, I would not want to drop the perma death, and the RP environment of the Arm.

Who can wait in the middle of storm for RL hours? Or, who can wait for going hunt for RL hours especially if he has couple of hours for that day to play?

Why I like the storm code is actually here.  I am playing a non-ranger character, it actually codewise gives me the idea that the desert is dangerous.  Not because of the scrabs and gortoks and the gith, but because of the sun and the sands itself.  If you are going outside, the weather code enforces you to seek for a guide.  If you can't find one, weather code makes you pay attention to how the weather is.  If you still have to go, you go, and you take your chances of the survival.  When you are going to outside without a guide, you are taking the risk of getting lost.  You have the option not to take the risk.

You are making your life off the desert?  Then it is better you play a ranger.  While living off the desert, it just tells you in a realistic way, to know your limits.

Why would this code distract some of us this much?

-You both want to play an awesome fighter and hunt anything in wilderness everyday alone?

- You are running a magicker and wish to visit your city daily and trying to not identify yourself so want to be alone?

- You are a non-fighter character and wish to make small walks in the wilderness or collect your own resource for making LARGE amount of sid?

-You are a noble, high ranking merchant and templar and wish to make travels in wilderness with your NPC guards?

It is put here quite in a simple way, why it should not be that much of a trouble.  You are a desert type, play a ranger.  If you are not a ranger, you should be prepared for the desert.

EDIT:  Don't think I did not suffer of this code.  My non-ranger character was stuck in a city state for 4 RL days, while he had to move to the other one.  And this 4 RL days waiting happened three or four times.  He once had a near death experience as well all about this code.  But I believe the desert deserves this much of fear and trouble.

[Twilight]

I've been a bit out of touch, so it may have changed in the last few months, but if not...

The blinding storms would be just fine, except the entire weather code is screwed up by the fact that there are not dynamic storms within zones.  A storm is not a defined area in and of itself.  Weather effects are based on the zone, and are zone wide.  You will consistently notice that weather changes in the same places, again and again, so it is pretty obvious this is the case.

Armageddon zones are absolutely huge.  If you are in the middle of a zone, the weather can be windy but clear.  Two seconds later the entire zone could be enveloped in a sandstorm.  You are screwed.  Okay, but now you have to travel out of the zone, to a zone that might have the same weather?

They should have fixed the damn weather code before implementing anything like this.  Make a real storm, based off of a key object with a random spawn.  Key object moves slowly in the direction of the wind through rooms. spawning weather code in X rooms from it.  Thats a damn storm.  One you can see coming and take the appropriate measures against.  I'm sure there are other ways to make a dynamic storm, which really needs to happen before something like disorienting storms.

The zone wide thing is a cheap hack, sorry.

[Cuusardo]

A bunch of things I was going to say and totally agree with.

You made some great points, FJ.

The game is not about the wildenerness.  It's about the entire world.

[drunkendwarf]

All right, since a few people have interpreted my posts as something along the lines of 'The storm code makes this game too hard, and that sucks.' type whining, please let me clarify. I saw at least one person who lost a characer because of a sandstorm lasting several RL hours, and then RL life taking over, having to cut link...character getting chewed to bits while linkdead. As I'd said a few times, I'm all for making sandstorms all icky and whatnot...I'm just bitching about the PLAYABILITY of them. Does no one else think it really sucks to loose a character like this? How many newbs do you think we might have lost because of this? If you want to make storms all uberbadass, for the love of god at least let people quit out in them, if nothing else. Or cut down on the duration. Or SOMETHING so I don't have to kiss my character goodbye, because I was blindsided by a storm THREE HOURS before I had to go to work. It's just rediculous.

Don't go into sandstorms without a ranger or when you're not a ranger.

Sound advice. How about when one comes to you, with absolutely no warning.

Check the weather before you leave.

Again, sound advice. Does absolutely nothing when you're hit by a sandstorm, with absolutely no warning.

When you do get caught in a sandstorm, find shelter, like normal people do.

And it's just that easy, when you're hit by a sandstorm with absolutely no warning. Sensing a theme here?

3-4 IG days is what, 36 to 48 hours? I don't think that's an unfeasible amount of time for one to last.

Maybe you can sit in front of your computer for 3-4 RL days...I can't.


Here's another idea to add to my list to tweak the storm code (I don't remember what number I'm on):
8? ) Give a subguild that allows people to either quit out in the wilds, or navigate storms just like a ranger, but not both. Then you're forcing people to blow their subguild if they want to play an outdoorsy type and not be a ranger. Why should you have to pick a MAIN class to get this benefit? Why shouldn't a desert warrior, who's never set foot inside a city, be able to navigate a storm...or at least hunker down (quit) and wait for it to pass over? Why shouldn't that nomadic Rukkian, who's never even SEEN a city, be able to do the same? The list goes on. People keep talking about realism...I see absolutely no realism in a storm rearing up out of absolutely nowhere, and I see no realism in having ONE freaking class be able to deal with it at all.

[drunkendwarf]

Just an afterthought.
Why the hell can a tembo, raptor, etc:
A) Navigate completely unhindered through blinding, biting sands.
B) Track you through blinding, biting sands.
C) Track you from room A to adjacent room B when you've made it physically impossible to get from room A to adjacent room B, by going through a room you haven't even left tracks in. It'd be too IC to elaborate on that one...and it doesn't have anything to do with a sandstorm, but I think it helps to prove my point that the track code is also just as whacked as the current storm code, espeically when the two are combined.

[Forest Junkie]

Just an afterthought.
Why the hell can a tembo, raptor, etc:
A) Navigate completely unhindered through blinding, biting sands.
B) Track you through blinding, biting sands.
C) Track you from room A to adjacent room B when you've made it physically impossible to get from room A to adjacent room B, by going through a room you haven't even left tracks in. It'd be too IC to elaborate on that one...and it doesn't have anything to do with a sandstorm, but I think it helps to prove my point that the track code is also just as whacked as the current storm code, espeically when the two are combined.

Friend, npc's are not bound by the same laws as pcs. Mobs can pretty much do anything they want without much lag or failure, due to the fact that they are insanely badass critters. Every animal you listed is, in fact, HARDCORE BADASS. Sure, I agree that a gortok or dujat tracking you halfway across the known world is pretty crazy, but I do believe the code supports animals whose belly's are "full", am I right?

If you don't want to be fillin' that tembo's belly, don't go outside.

If you are not a ranger, don't go outside alone.

If you are not a ranger, plan on the worst happening. It usually does.

If you are not a ranger, be prepared to get pissed off at the game because a sandstorm won't let you move 5 squares northwest back to the gates of Luir's.

Every situation you have given is noted, but I think in every instance, all of this stress could have been avoided by HIRING A RANGER. If I'm not mistaken, is this not what the staff is trying to promote? Golly those dastardly imms are at it again, trying to ruin our fun!

[Malifaxis]

Reading over this, I would like to invite you all to go down to New Mexico, or Arizona, or Texas, or Saudi Arabia, or somewhere with sand and stand there in the open until a sandstorm hits, and then see how well you can navigate.

It aint easy.

I do very much agree that roads should offer a reduced chance of getting lost.  Immunity?  No.  Reduced, definitely.

The one problem I have with sandstorms is the in-city aspect.  Inside a city, there should be plenty of nooks and crannies and whatnot to duck into in order to squint a view of some surrounding landmark to orient yourself before you head off again through the whirling abrasive madness.  There should be virtual immunity from getting lost while travelling in-city in a sandstorm, but there should be a GREATLY increased travel time and movement cost.

[Twilight]

When I started this game, the area around Red Storm permanently had the get lost in the sand code.  This wasn't so bad, because you could hire a ranger.  Of course, the only reason you could hire a "ranger" was because people were a lot more loose in letting people know what hard coded guild they were.

Today is different.  You are telling me I should hire someone based on their hard coded guild?  Because I would need to, if I wanted to get the benefit of someone who could navigate the sands.  Of course, there are roundabout ways of inquiring, but that warrior with a background of nomad, or that desert merchant, or that raised/bred/lives in the wastes desert elf, who might answer yes to those roundable questions, has a good chance of not being a ranger.  They have perfectly good backgrounds to be able to navigate the waste during a storm, they just don't have the coded ability.

So, how is "hiring a ranger" relevant, really?  Because you go so far down the path of OOC knowledge there (hard coded skill to one class, which hard coded class you need, determining someone's hard coded class) I feel like I am in a time machine, going back in time.