Would You Welcome Real Life Weather Events in Game?

With the amount of snow that has been falling in my area the past few weeks it made me think, not only how annoying it could be, but what would the game be like if there were weather events in game.  Sometimes like earthquakes, snow storms, torrential downpours, floods, and the like.

Of course some areas would be prime for some weather events that others could never have.  Like we are not about to see a snowstorm in Uldum because it would not fit but a sand storm where you could not even see 2 feet in front of yourself would be fitting wouldn't it?  No walking around mobs when you can not see them.  Also, no flying during extreme weather like this events because apparently our mounts are smarter than we are.  You might think it is okay to fly but when you go to mount your mount says, hell no.

One day you log in and the streets of org are filled with water up to your knees, or up to your chin if you happen to be a goblin.  It would slow down your walking if you are one of those under level 60 and still using ground transport but it would allow fishing anywhere you manage to be.  That is if you can find a piece of land where you could stand to cast your pole.

At the same time someone else logs into stormwind and it really starts to fit its name with hurricane type winds blowing through the city.  Better hope you are walking with the wind, so you can get the massive speed buff it offers because walking against it would mean moving at 10% movement speed and it will take you forever to get where you are going.  And do not even think about mounting because a hurricane in an area is one of those conditions where you will not be allowed to mount a flying mount.  A ground mount, sure, but not a flying one.

Then over in thunder bluff there is a lightning storm, fittingly enough, where not only do you see your tauren friends running around trying not to get hit by a stray bolt but you also learn to dodge lightning strikes coming from the sky that will hit you for 50% of your health.  You might be passing through and think flying would be the best option but remember at the very last moment that lightning will take the first target it sees which means the highest target which means you.  But do not worry about fall damage after the lightning hits you because if you get hit by lightning while on a flying mount you die instantly and get to watch your already dead body fall from the sky and land with a huge splat.

While over in ironforge you are fine until you step outside and see what a real snow storm should be like in warcraft.  Varied degrees from the general annoyance of movement speed in the zone reduced 25% on all forms of travel to a 50% movement deduction where you can not even use a flying mount.  However, if you have the right mount for snow, like a ram, you can move at maximum normal travel speed, but only on a ram.  Oh, and in case you want to just go AFK, think again, for every 30 seconds you stand still you get a 5 minute debuff called freezing that stacks, if you get 10 stacks, you are actually frozen.  And the last thing you want to be in frozen and waiting for that 5 minute debuff to wear off because as soon as that 5 minute debuff wears off, you die of frostbite.

There are so many little weather events that can be added to the game and even achievements and special events that can be tied to them like get hit by 3 lightning strikes in 10 seconds without dying or walk against the win in a hurricane for 2 minutes without stopping.  Stupid silly little things that achievement hunters like me would love.  Ones for your own faction such as visit stormwind during a hurricane and ones for the opposing faction like visit org during a flood.  Even ones that inspire PvP.  Kill 5 invaders in stormwind during a hurricane or kill 5 invaders in org during a flood.  Then one for defense, kill 5 people in stormwind while they are invading it during a hurricane or kill 5 people in org while they are invading it during a flood.

How about special events like there are holiday events.  Fish up missing documents washed away during a flood during the world flood event.  Have quests and dailies that give you items you can collect and trade in for special flood gear like fishing waders or a bright yellow rain coat and a cool yellow floppy hat and even a pet fish made just for the event.  How about a new water mount for moving around at full speed during a flood?  It floats on the water.

And don't make every event about just doing dailies, how about something a little different for a sandstorm where we can not see 2 feet in front of us.  Have sand dunes all over the place that you have to accidentally walk over and uncover. When you do walk over one you a random mob appears, based on your level and tagged for you only to see, once you beat it it will drop the items you need to collect for this events turn ins. 

This would mean for a very active zone with level appropriate battles for people of all levels as every one is farming for sand covered artifacts they can collect to trade in for a dune buggy mount, made by goblin technology, so be careful as they are known to blow up.  And actually have them blow up from time to time dismounting you and sending you flying 50 feet in one random direction or another at the speed of light.  It could make for very quick travel and very dangerous travel at the same time.  Other fun items could be a vanity item that creates a mini sand storm at your feet while you walk or a flare gun, because we might have to try anything we can to get others to help find us so we do not get lost.

Weather events that mirror some major real life weather events could be a lot of fun and treated like holiday events they could be even better.  One thing I would say is that they do not come at predictable times like holiday events where we only get one sand storm a year and we know when it is coming.  We could get one or two or even four, whenever blizzard feels like activating it, just for fun.  It would be something great for them to active one weather event or another during those down times between patches and events when they know people are looking for something to do.  And being they can be at any time any where it would inspire people to log in every day to see if one of the events are going on.  I could really dig something like this, I could dig it a lot.

Would you welcome real life weather events in game?