Ok so first, I just wanted to say I love this game so much. Play it for hours most days since the moment I could get my hands on it. Ok enough sucking up, an idea occurred to me last night, that it would be super cool if we sort of made sandstorms even more scary. How this would work is, anyone who has the sandstorm debuff for more than say 5 seconds on them would begin spawning Sandbeasts in within melee range of the person (say 1 spawn per 2 or 3 seconds) that would attack the person in the storm. They can either be killed, or would despawn once they’ve killed the person spawning them or once the sandstorm passes. Like the purge, the setting for this system would have a slider in the admin panel to make it more or less severe.
This would be an unique feature that only CE would have, and I suspect any type of community who plays CE would love it.
I totally think that taking more damage would make it more intense yes. Of course the slider would adjust the severity of the sandstorm to suit the server’s general audience.
Protective gear could also be a factor some how as well yes.
What if the reason you take damage all this time was cuz of the sand beasts and instead of them no longer attacking you with gear on, you just get a fighting chance to stop the damage by killing them… it would be an interesting moment to someone trying the equipment to see “so that was why I took damage, it all makes sense…” or the “ Ahhh kill it with fire” response.
TL;DR I fully support it with minor modifications. Thanks for sharing
I used to think there was something in the sandstorm for the longest time. Somehow the game made me think this, through the bits of story and lore you get by playing. So everytime there was a sandstorm, I got super scared that I would be in the middle of it and witness whatever atrocity is inside. When I got stronger, and much more curious, I then ran into it as much as possible hoping to find something…but by now I’m pretty sure there is nothing in it.
That story in relevance to this thread is…I was having fun on false beliefs…make them real!
@Alhambra
“I used to think there was something in the sandstorm for the longest time. Somehow the game made me think this, through the bits of story and lore you get by playing”
I think you are talking about that very first journal we get, nearby the starting point (dead dude being gnawed by giant bat)… It literally warns you that the sandstorm attracts demons, right?
Yes, fully agree with this suggestion! As they are, once you reach a certain level, the sandstorms become just a minor visual nuisance, but when you speak with Klael, he hints that they were developed as a counter-weapon, and are supposed to have a fair bit of destructive power. Spawning sandbeasts is one option, but here is a few more things that might make the sandstorms a little more interesting to contend with, and I think would work well for both PvP and PvE:
Your armor, including the mask, takes damage in a sandstorm. You also take health damage if you are not wearing a mask (as is currently the case).
Thralls and pets caught outdoors in a sandstorm, whether following or guarding, take some health damage. Human thralls wearing a sandstorm mask don’t. Armor on a thrall doesn’t take damage (as is currently the case).
All buildings and placeables hit by sandstorms take some structural damage. Not enough to destroy them the first few times, but if buildings are not monitored and maintained periodically, an eventual sandstorm would knock them over for good. As it is now, PvE players pretty much never have to use the repair hammer, this would force them to break it out every once in a while.
In order for 3 above to be fair for all players/clans, truly randomize the sandstorm path. It should always pass through the Unnamed City, but could originate from any point on the edge of the map, so you would never know for sure which area it will cover, and in which direction it is moving. That way, there would be no obvious preferred locations in which to build.
What @Zozimos and @Broc have said, plus as I recall, I think it is the giant in the Unnamed City or the ghost in the library, but one of them says the sandstorms were created by giant kings, except now they are rogue and running around freely in the lands. Not entirely sure what I got from that that there may be things inside, probably due to that journal and the opening.
