These suggestions are not new ideas -- many games have them. And they do wonders for character and immersiveness.

Ambient sound effects

In the wilderness, birds twitter and bees buzz during the day; owls hoot and crickets chirp at night. Near running water you hear the sound of, um, running water. In wooded areas, wind in branches and leaves.

Combat sounds/music

When a mob has locked onto you dramatic fighty music starts up. If you kill him it ends in a happy way; if he kills you it ends very, very unhappily.  :cry:

When you get pummelled enough that the flashing red cross appears above your head, a heartbeat sound starts. As your hp decrease further, the heartbeat becomes more rapid. This really adds atmosfear to combat!

Seasonal greetings

Is the long-term plan to have outside graphics reflect the time of year? Ie, snow in winter, blossoms in spring, the effects of autumn, etc.

Weather effects

ISTR reading somewhere that B4 already has this. Does it? If not, could it?

Edit: Changed subject

Good idea! I like the heartbeat idea the best!!
Wouldn't the seasonal thing have to be generated by the client? The game is international and it's winter in Moscow when it's summer in Sydney. Plus, some players in Fiji may never have seen snow!

Come to think of it, isn't it always winter in Moscow? Y'know, like Scotland.....

@Bob, whoops! Guess I should take the marmots out of my ears.  :oops:

@Sambeaux, try the command "/time". The game has an internal clock.

But I think you're right about Moscow and Scotland. And while Fijian players may have never seen snow, to us Brits sunshine is a novelty. Ah Daimonin, broadens all our horizons.

Thank you very much for your good ideas.

Well, these ideas are obvious, but I'd say we pretty much lack resources We need more coders and artists.

@smacky: googling for sound is not a good idea. We have to respect copyright.

@Cher, absolutely, but there are repositories of uncopyrighted sfx on the net aren't there?

Hmm, well as you probably know I'm a musician Irl, but obviously its different using the computer... If anyone knows of a computer program (free, small download maybe?) I could get, I would be more than happy to mix something up... I have some ideas in mind already, things that I wish we had, maybe nows my chance to get what I need for my maps. Heh wow add a fourth side to Ratix. Player/Mapper/Gfxer/Sfxer...

Ratix, here's a freebie music program that might not be what you expect, but you will definitely have fun with it:
 http://poodlesandflan.com/
It literally generates random tunes in midi according to the settings you adjust, wild stuff! I've forgotten how big the file is but I downloaded it with dial-up so....
Since the music it makes is random, it's all original and thus no copyright hassle.

This one can record everything that comes out your speakers, edit it, mess with it, and turn it into loads of formats:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
It's Open Source software so, Yay, all free. I found these with Google, there's tons more out there....

Warning!! This stuff can get more addictive than Daimonin!!!