[Feedback] Kingsmarch Feels Better with Rain (Images Included)

Doing rain dance for Kingsmarch.

Anyone want to join?

Ambience of towns is important. Some could argue ambience is what made D2 greatest of all time.

I understand GGG is very busy creating content for Patch 0.5, but if it's "relatively easy" to add rain to Kingsmarch, that would be a fantastic improvement to Act 4 town hub.

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CharlesJT#7681 wrote:

Ambience of towns is important. Some could argue ambience is what made D2 greatest of all time.

I understand GGG is very busy creating content for Patch 0.5, but if it's "relatively easy" to add rain to Kingsmarch, that would be a fantastic improvement to Act 4 town hub.

Of course I'm on board with you CharlesJT in adding weather (preferably dynamic weather where it's not always raining). Heck, they had rain in POE1!

And I even saw someone say GGG doesn't have time for decorations ... the same GGG that offers hideouts in their game where decorations are a major component LOL

In 2025, Six Joy Hong Kong Limited (subsidiary of Tencent) received NZ$100 million in dividends and GGG is part of "The Evergreen Project"

Tencent stated in its Q3 2023 earnings report: "Our games strategy is built around evergreen games" that are "popular and successful" over the long term, rather than titles with a finite "product cycle that age and then require heavy rejuvenation."

I agree that they should have the resources to accomplish tasks like this with relative ease and seems to be in alignment with their Evergreen Project goals.

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600lbpanther#3839 wrote:

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CharlesJT#7681 wrote:

Ambience of towns is important. Some could argue ambience is what made D2 greatest of all time.

I understand GGG is very busy creating content for Patch 0.5, but if it's "relatively easy" to add rain to Kingsmarch, that would be a fantastic improvement to Act 4 town hub.

Of course I'm on board with you CharlesJT in adding weather (preferably dynamic weather where it's not always raining). Heck, they had rain in POE1!

And I even saw someone say GGG doesn't have time for decorations ... the same GGG that offers hideouts in their game where decorations are a major component LOL

In 2025, Six Joy Hong Kong Limited (subsidiary of Tencent) received NZ$100 million in dividends and GGG is part of "The Evergreen Project"

Tencent stated in its Q3 2023 earnings report: "Our games strategy is built around evergreen games" that are "popular and successful" over the long term, rather than titles with a finite "product cycle that age and then require heavy rejuvenation."

I agree that they should have the resources to accomplish tasks like this with relative ease and seems to be in alignment with their Evergreen Project goals.

I had AI add rain and puddles to Kingsmarch. I have to say, the town hub looks alot better as a maritime port.

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CharlesJT#7681 wrote:

Ambience of towns is important. Some could argue ambience is what made D2 greatest of all time.

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CharlesJT#7681 wrote:

I had AI add rain and puddles to Kingsmarch. I have to say, the town hub looks alot better as a maritime port.

Looks Awesome. Definitely agree the rain & puddles fit the theme of the town.

Also, 100% Agree that ambience of town is really important. They are oases in the dangerous world.

Dynamic weather in Kingsmarch would be easy as well. Would like to see light rain (80%) & Sunny (20%) or something like that...

This is the low hanging fruit I was talking about in the 5 Pillars post: Dynamic weather has been around in video games for ~30 years!

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CharlesJT#7681 wrote:

Kingsmarch is a coastal port-town. Adding rain and puddles gives it a "maritime port" theme and shifts tone away from "clean and bright" to "dark and gloomy" aesthetic. I imagine the art team could improve town atmosphere quickly for Patch 0.5.

Below is a rainy day in Kingsmarch.

Logic doesn't follow. Just because it's a port, doesn't mean there has to be rain. If they wanted it to be dark and gloomy, they'd have done it that way.

They are going for treasure hunting, e.g. pirates of the carribean, and the current theme fits well.

I like it sunny, it's a town and the purpose of it is safety not depression. The soundtrack also has to fit, and it does right now.

I feel like you're pointlessly trying to control what you have nothing to do with, just enjoy the vision of the developers.

I enjoy the atmosphere of the game generally and don't think about changing the art to suit my whims. I guess highly customizable hideouts aren't enough for some people XD

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Niszczyciel#1619 wrote:

I like it sunny, it's a town and the purpose of it is safety not depression. The soundtrack also has to fit, and it does right now.

All other town hubs are sunny as well except Clearfell Encampment. I think game could use a little more variety to town atmosphere.

I think Kingsmarch would be awesome to have rainy weather for a port town. It leans into the maritime atmosphere and emphasizes the danger of the sea. Rain allows for high-quality wetness shaders on cobblestone streets and wood of the docks, making the town feel lived-in and tactile.

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CharlesJT#7681 wrote:

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Niszczyciel#1619 wrote:

I like it sunny, it's a town and the purpose of it is safety not depression. The soundtrack also has to fit, and it does right now.

All other town hubs are sunny as well except Clearfell Encampment. I think game could use a little more variety to town atmosphere.

I think Kingsmarch would be awesome to have rainy weather for a port town. It leans into the maritime atmosphere and emphasizes the danger of the sea. Rain allows for high-quality wetness shaders on cobblestone streets and wood of the docks, making the town feel lived-in and tactile.

Absolutely logical for a port town to have rainy weather.

I'm not sure if a lot of posts (in general on the forum) are people being unintentionally obstinate or if being obstinate is a strategic choice (i.e. - taking the completely opposite side automatically implies adding value to the conversation). One day, I will explain that some of us view GGG's "Early Access Feedback" section of Path of Exile 2 as a place that welcomes people to provide feedback on Path of Exile 2's Early Access but, a las, that's a conversation for another day.

Quite a lot of forum responses (again, in general also on the forum) that are seemingly by people "shooting from the hip" (more like "shooting themselves in the foot") who absolutely do no research or fact checking!

For example, "the logic" as to why rain (in some form) should exist:

Coastal areas get more rain because the nearby water constantly feeds moisture into the air, so when weather systems move through, it’s more likely to turn into precipitation. Also, there is "lake effect" as well. So That would affect how intense the rain gets!

Your proposal is the middle-ground between no changes & dynamic weather. If we are going to get "logical" (which was brought up a few posts above), then it would be Dynamic Weather where it would be more like:

45% — Overcast / heavy clouds
25% — Sun / clear to partly cloudy
20% — Light–moderate rain (drizzle, mist, passing showers)
10% — Heavy rain / storm events

Dynamic Weather has only been a thing for like ~30 years in video games!