Day and night cycle

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by Sturmlocke, Nov 26, 2022.

  1. Sturmlocke Linux enthusiast playing EQ2 via Proton.

    Hail and well met,

    question, are ya'll satisfied with the current day and night cycle timeframe or would you instead prefer a realtime day and night cycle - or - a cycle that changes a bit slower / quicker? Been filming a few videos again lately, and while I feel the current day and night cycle is perfect when filming different regions and moods, I do feel it's a bit too fast from a players perspective. Personally I would enjoy a realtime day and night cycle tbh, makes it feel more natural.

    Cheers
  2. Dude Well-Known Member

    Real time day/night cycle would be a disaster. If anything the cycle should be sped up. Many quests require actions at a specific time of day. Waiting for the current cycle is annoying. Waiting for up to 23 hours (and possibly having to wake up in the middle of the night) would be game breaking.
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  3. Sweety D Well-Known Member

    I agree with this. Either leave it or speed it up slightly. I like more variety in my gameplay. If the cycle was real-time, people that only play at night would never get to experience the game during the day and vice versa.
    Lateana likes this.
  4. Cusashorn Well-Known Member

    It takes 22 earth minutes for 24 hours to pass in Norrath. There are numerous zones such as Mangavi Wastes in Vetrovia, all three Overrealm zones, Zek Scourge Lands, and the Planes themselves where there isn't even a day/night cycle because they're permanently stuck at one or another.

    I'm happy with the 22 minute cycle, because there are parts of the game's lighting system that makes things way too bright and blurred at specific times (most often at sunset).

    There are also a handful of quests in the game that requires waiting until a set time of the day before you can find a certain mob or NPC to spawn, and a 24 hour cycle would mess everything up there.
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  5. Sturmlocke Linux enthusiast playing EQ2 via Proton.


    Old list, but still a few interesting points and videos: https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/3da7rf/collection_of_mmo_daynight_cycles_weatherseasons/

    Hm, speed it up even more? That would make it look like I'm time traveling or in fast forward all of the time. It would also feel completely unnatural and out of balance with my other body functions in real life. Quests needing a specific time of day is an issue though, agreed. I actually completely forgot about that one tbh. How many of these quests exist, does anyone have a number at hand?

    Ppl playing only at night is another interesting argument against it for sure. I used to work at night exclusively for many years, so what is being said here is basically what I experienced IRL as I became a vampire and a creature of the night during this period of time in my life. The thirst for warm blood made things even worse. That said, I will probably be working lots of night shifts in 2023, and I wouldn't mind being limited to whatever virtual cycle I am living IRL, but that's just me. I'm sure there will be lots of ppl feeling different about this.

    So, two strong arguments against doing a real time cycle. That said, maybe slowing things down a bit could be agreeable? Rn it seems that night lasts about half an hour before sunrise. It feels totally unnatural to me and I wouldn't mind seeing this number doubled or even trippled. Wasn't EQN going to be doing 2h cycles? I feel like having longer sessions of both day and night makes me appreciate both light and darkness even more per session. Another thing that I have also noticed is how it rarely ever rains in regions that support random rainfall, like Qeynos or Antonica. Did New Tunaria ever have rain? I could have sworn that it did. I can often see the sky turn grey in NT and Antonica, but no raindrops. This is one part where I would actually agree with speeding things up a bit - or - allow them to occure more frequently. What's your take on this?

    Cheers
  6. Sturmlocke Linux enthusiast playing EQ2 via Proton.

    Another good point against doing it for all regions. I agree that the regions you mentioned, which are basically stuck in time, should be left out of this. Wouldn't mind ignoring some of these regions that are meant to be stuck in a specific timeframe. That said, the issue with things being too bright or blurred could be worked on. Personally I would love to see the effects you mentioned tweaked, optimized and enhanced a bit with more natural looking colors, lights and clouds like the ones we saw in Vanguard Saga of Heroes:


    Looks good, doesn't it? Even after all these years, it still looks beautiful. And all of that using Unreal Engine 2.
  7. Sweety D Well-Known Member

    I didn't realize the cycle was only 22 minutes. I guess I never paid attention all these many years, lol. Now that I know that, I changed my opinion. Shorter is certainly not the way to go. Seems like 45 to 60 minutes would be ok.
    Sturmlocke likes this.
  8. Sturmlocke Linux enthusiast playing EQ2 via Proton.




    True @SweetyD. Imagine speeding things up more and ending up with something like this, lol.
  9. Sigrdrifa EQ2 Wiki Author

    I don't see any reason whatsoever to change the existing day/night cycles.

    There's a full breakdown of time in Norrath on the wiki.

    Norrath to Earth Time Conversion
    [IMG]

    Earth to Norrath Time Conversion

    [IMG]

    Norrathian Days of the Week
    Norrath utilizes a ten-day week:
    1. Feastday (roughly equivalent to Earth's Sunday, a day of rest)
    2. Darkday (roughly equivalent to Earth's Monday, the first day of the work week)
    3. Burnday (the day trash is burned)
    4. Soulday (a day of remembrance, many lives were lost throughout the Shattering, and many survivors' descendants feel honor-bound to weekly remembrance)
    5. Windday (fresh winds and weighed anchors fill the bustling port cities with the raw stuff of industry, traditionally caravanned inland on this day)
    6. Steelday (a day of full-blown productivity among craftsmen, the forges are lit early on this day)
    7. Spryday (teamsters rush to deliver newly produced wares to merchantmen and the docks today, general considered the busiest day of the week)
    8. Moorday (dockworkers load cargo onto ships destined for far-away lands)
    9. Brewday (with much of the week's work done, attentions are turned to the local traders and merchants)
    10. Mirthday (a final day of work, then a night of fun!)
    Seasons
    The three seasons of Norrath are imbued with a more agrarian understanding of life.
    • Decay (cold, damp, and windy - little of what's exposed to the weather survives)
    • Growth (a time of renewal, Ro seems to find his heat as Norrath blossoms)
    • Harvest (the peak of the warm season, when foodstuffs are gathered and stored away against the Decay)
    Norrathian Months
    1. Deepice (Decay) - The doldrums of winter, all the world seems encased in cold and shadow.
    2. Grayeven (Decay) - Dawn breaks on the wintry scene, life stirs and finds its legs.
    3. Stargazing (Growth) - The clarity of the cold night offers an unhindered glance deep into the heavens, as the warming days make the out-of-doors habitable again.
    4. Weeping (Growth) - Rain and wind sweep across the lands, a tempestuous mix for mariners, from which new life finally springs on land.
    5. Blossoming (Growth) -Norrath in full flower, the air warm and sweet at last.
    6. Oceansfull (Growth) - The tides are most favorable for mariners as what's left of Luclin reaches its perigee.
    7. Scorchedsky (Harvest) -The heat feels closest as it ripens the fruits and grains of the fields.
    8. Warmstill (Harvest) - The days are still very long and the climate yet favorable for returning home from far-away adventures.
    9. Busheldown (Harvest) - When the last fruits of the growing season are gathered in and stored away.
    10. Lastleaf (Harvest) - Feasts abound as Norrathians celebrate the bounty of the far-distant gods' favor.
    11. Firstchill (Decay) - Winter signals its coming as the days grow long.
    12. Deadening (Decay) - Life settles indoors and deep in-ground yet again.
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  10. Breanna Well-Known Member

    Nice list :) Thanks for posting. After all these years I never knew some of that stuff.
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  11. Cusashorn Well-Known Member

    ahh, right, I knew I should've double checked. Not 22 minutes per day cycle. 72 minutes instead. That's still pretty good though.
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  12. Sweety D Well-Known Member

    72 minutes make more sense and I would not want to see a change. Thanks for the info Sigrdrifa.
  13. Avirodar Well-Known Member


    Did you suggest that speeding up the day/night cycle of an MMO, where we can do things like fly, cast spells, fight dragons, and get resurrected after dying, would feel completely unnatural and out of balance with your other body functions in real life?

    I think there are some good cases that can be made for keeping the cycle the same, speeding it up, and slowing it down. But it may be best to leave real life body functions (whatever they may be) out of it.
  14. Sturmlocke Linux enthusiast playing EQ2 via Proton.


    First of all, thanks @Sig for posting all that detailed info and putting so much effort into that post. Appreciated big time. Overflew some of it rn, gonna read extensively tonight. Same boat as B and the others here, even after nearly two decades, I honestly didn't know how much effort went into all the small details per month, season, event. It leaves me wondering why or how some of us, including myself ofc, haven't noticed all of these small details to that extent yet. When you look at the list like that, it does make you appreciate certain things even more than before. Could this also explain why it rarely / never rains when "out of season"? Am I getting this right? Bc going by that list, it seems there is a time for heat alias summer, cold alias winter, and fall alias decay alias grey, windy and... rainy?

    If this is the case, does this also mean that randomized rain is only possible "in season" - or - does that mean that the % likelyhood of rain increases during the rainy and windy season of the year? Also, is there a list of regions that shows where rainfall is possible and are there any infos on why certain regions, like Greater Faydark, don't have any rain at all? In addition, before I forget, Frostfell is around the corner, wouldn't it be cool if more regions could experience randomized snowfall to the point where the land slowly transforms with the weather, in this case snow, and gets filled with ice and falling snow? For example, imagine it snowing during the winter season, which could lead to the waters in certain regions freezing up and the land itself getting all snowy and icey, the trees turning white with snow etc.

    [IMG]

    Example - Black Desert Online seasons change the overall look and feel of the land:

    Going from beautiful green landscapes to a white, grey and snowy feeling

    Another question: Do the live seasons also mean that the daytime (sunlight) is shorter in the winter season, which should be the case rn? For example, it should be getting darker much earlier and maybe even for longer periods of time rn, correct? In other words, is this feature inspired by RL and the seasons that you listed above? That said, even if this is the case, currently night time isn't even an hour long. I have been filming timelapses recently, and our night lasts about 25 - 30 minues, plus-minus, which is way too short for my taste. Example, I was taking in all of the beautiful atmosphere of the sunset and looking forward to the night time full of stars the other day, fully immersed and surrounded by the nature ambience sounds and beautiful light play, when I randomly had to go afk for a few minutes bc my kids needed my attention. After a short diapers break, and after getting myself a latte chai tea, I came back to a full blown daylight cycle and had to wait another 30 minutes for it to become dark again. That's super fast IMO. Basically going afk to the toilett for a longer session equals shifting through day and night all of a sudden.

    Yeah, pro and contra for sure, worthy of another discussion. In regards to the body stuff: It was a joke. I was humoring around with that statement which is primarily inspired by a line from the movie Terminator 3 where the cpu is intact and the other body functions are not. Another point of inspiration was myself needing to randomly go afk the other day whilst filming in game, see above.



    PS: But yeah, even when taking the magic, RP elements and mystical, mythical or magical creatures into consideration, it still feels out of balance, especially if things were to be sped up even more. Lotro is full of this too and their full day and night cycle is around three real world hours long IIRC.

    Cheers
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  15. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    I thought it was 90 minutes, but 72 minutes is okay. I hadn't actually timed it.
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