How hard/much is the survival aspect (food/water/etc.)?

[yayokay]

see title

[Nerevar]

not really difficult to handle. it takes a bit to get used to it but its not serve at all.

there is also a passive tier 1 skill (that anyone can learn freely) that reduces the decay % rates for all 3 of these by around 20%.

example :
sleep. you have 100% sleep total. without the passive it goes down by around 35% per REALTIME HOUR (thats 1 full day ingame). until you reach 50% there is no downsides to it. below 50% it has some rather interresting side effects which actually arent all negative.
sleeping in a decent tent for only 1 hour (the minimum you can sleep) restores 12.5% sleep pretty much instantly. there is also some potions which instantly restore sleep %.

thrist:
water goes down the fastest of the 3. however its also the easiest by far to keep above 75%. as all you need is a waterskin which can hold up to 5 charges of water. drinking once restores around 20% water. you can carry multiple waterskins with you if you want. but more than 2 are NEVER needed really. very easy to manage.

food:
goes down REALLY slowly compared to water. you can eat nearly anything to restore food. the penalty for going below 75% is rather small aswell. dont go below 50% as youll get a dmg penalty then. also pretty easy to manage but unlike water in waterskins food does decay over time slowly depending on food type. there is a crapton of different foods.

youll eat food ANYWAY as food provides some seriously strong BUFFS to your character for longer periods of time depending on food type. so youll use it anyway and thus it manages itself once you get used to how it works. there is an entire crafting section in the game just tied to food.

and makeing good use of that has actually advantages instead of downsides while at the same time dealing with the survival aspect naturally.



long story short :
dont let the survival aspects scare you. they sound harsh but are very handleable aslong as you dont fully ignore them youll never have trouble. just make sure you bring with you the basics on longer trips outside. for example dont leave town without a filled waterskin.

[Katitoff]

Its very simple to keep yourself fed.

It takes bit more effort to keep yourself fed efficiently for what you need.

[Aegix Drakan]

You'll typically be eating and drinking for the buffs more than for survival needs, unless you're really neglectful.

Seriously, don't ignore the buff from drinking water, it's phenomenally powerful, especially early on.

[Cadeyrn Dragheim]

Always hydrate before a fight. Food is mostly for buffs/stamina regen and plentiful. But different ones have different buffs.

[aelfwine]

It's very light.

You'll be eating food and water constantly anyway, because you want the buffs and regen.

And as for sleep... you'll either want to sleep whenever you get the chance to buff, repair and regen.

Or you'll want to not sleep because of particular character builds that benefit from no sleep.

Generally you can be out in the world a good time before needing to sleep, and you can (should?) bring a tent anyway and camp out under the stars.