MMOs with diurnal cycles – day and night phases – are a dime a dozen. But MMOs where those phases actually matter to gameplay? That’s a bit more rare outside the survival realm. But Fractured has done it, and players in the ongoing closed beta best bring a coat as of yesterday’s update.
“Now that the temperature and weather system has been released, players will need to adapt to the game’s ever-changing landscape at a moment’s notice,” Dynamight Studios explains. “The Fractured Online world is vast and diverse. Different biomes come with many unique features, including different temperature ranges. A biome’s temperature range is defined by a temperature/time curve that dictates the temperature variation of a biome during the day/night cycle. The combination of biome and time of day defines its base temperature at any given time, which can then be altered further by different weather events, either in a positive or negative direction, depending on the event.”
In a nutshell, if you try running into the snow without your snow gear, you’re going to get “Chilled,” and if you bundle up and head into the tropics, you may get overly “Warmed,” depending on your racial temperature tolerances, consumables, and other buffs. These debuffs accrue in stacks, though we note that the dev blog doesn’t say exactly what these negative temperature effects do to you (it’s probably bad else why bother). But don’t worry; if you forget your weather gear, you can always smack yourself with violent magic.
“This means that in extreme situations, a player may decide to hit himself with Fire or Ice based spells periodically to counter extreme temperatures.”
Ah, MMOs.
The dev blog also expounds on the game’s weather mechanics, which are expected to launch in the beta next week. Essentially, they spawn random clouds with their own life cycles and events like rain, sleet, and snow and make your life hell. “Right now, all the cloud types we have deliver a negative effect on the temperature,” the team says. “In the future, things may change as we add special events like firestorms, meteor strikes, acid rain, and other special events!” Festive.
