I'm a player that almost never battles with NPCs unless I have a quest that requires it, or I need a quick little boost to my EXP. So the August event with the added Thirst bar (TB) feels a little... empty to me. Since I nearly never battle (seriously, its about once a week) the TB is kind of lost on me, and I don't think I'm the only one. So, I have a few proposals.

1. Breeding- If the TB affected the males ability to breed, I think that would impact the game a lot more than it currently does (which is... not at all). Say, for instance, a male with thirst exceeding 40% would not be able to breed, just as a lioness with 40% hunger or more, or 80% mood or less, cannot breed until both of these needs are fulfilled enough.

2. Energy- in explore, energy decays anywhere from 1-3% with every click of the Explore button (with the exception of some encounters). But dehydration greatly affects the body, and this could be reflected in explore actions. For instance, if a male got to a certain % of thirst, this decay could move from 1-5% with every click. If possible, it might also be an idea to change the random energy boosts, which fall anywhere from +2% - +4%, or +15%. These could simply become less common than they are when your male is dehydrated.

3. Lionesses, adols, and cubs thirst- just like the TB is added to male lions in August, this could be implemented for every single member of the pride as well. A drought would not only affect one lion out of a potential several dozen, depending on the size of your pride- all the lions would be affected. So, they could all potentially have a TB that has to be fulfilled just like hunger and mood bars, with the chance of them leaving the pride if they are not satisfied. Unweaned cubs could probably remain unaffected by this, just like their hunger and mood tends to- but on the other end, a nursing mother might cop a penalty, because she is expending energy and milk on cubs.

4. Less handouts- One of the things I find most irritating about this month is the sheer amount of thirst items found in explore. Sure, in a drought, some plants might take to storing water to keep themselves alive, but other animals would seek them out too, not just lions. Making African cucumbers, aloe roots, stripped cacti, and water roots (especially water roots) more hard to find in explore shows more of what a drought really looks like- fierce competition for even the most insignificant of resources. There are plenty of places to find thirst items, be it on the market, branches, or bought from the beetle grounds, but the drop rate in explore seems a little unrealistic and makes this event too easy.

ETA: Not all of these things need to be implemented to make a significant change to the way this event functions. Even a mild alteration to the drop rate of thirst items would boost sales and improve the overall economy of the site. I definitely wouldn't expect all of these things in the one month anyway- what a nightmare for the coders and the players alike.

Please, give me your thoughts, and if you disagree, I'd love to hear why!