How much should the world of EQ Next change based on time of day?

I'd like to see something that toes the line between #1 and #2, especially if the outcry for a longer day/night cycle has been heard. (Official Round Table topic, Dexella?)

However, there should be places that fall on both sides of more/less dangerous based on time of day; some should be more dangerous at night, others should be more dangerous during the day, and others should be relatively unaffected -- exactly as is seen in the real world.

On that token, using the AI in a way that brings nocturnal creatures out at night while diurnal creatures retreat back into their nests/lairs/etc. (and vise versa during the day) should be taken full advantage of -- but it doesn't necessarily mean that night time should always be more dangerous.

I'd also definitely like to see NPCs in the cities/towns/villages respond to the change from day to night.

The world should be harder at night time. That is when evil comes out!

My Vote: The world should be significantly more dangerous at night, for the night is dark and full of terrors!

The best thing about "The Original Everquest" was when night time came. The world would get scary! From the undead spawning only at night in Kithicor Forest, to the werewolfs coming out to play along the Qeynos Hills border. I also wouldn't mind them expanding on this using other evil creatures at night fall. Vampires could be seen wandering the landscape or in town? Maybe witches entering the forest to hold some kind of worship or sacrifice? I would also like to see night time play a major role again with certain races not being able to see, unless they have a torch or magical item with them. This made my Barbarian very fun to play! I want Skeletons!

Make racial choices important again! Make all these little details have a purpose in the game. Greater Lightstones was another form of seeing better at night! Maybe have torches here and there along the road that the guard lights as he does his night time patrol. Give us campfires we can put out at night time to light the area up around us! Give us guild camps that have giant campfires to keep the creatures away! Maybe when the moon is out, it becomes easier to see if your human. But no moon.. well.. well.. well.. Dark!

Night time is when creatures feed, it's very important for it to be more dangerous at night! Give us campfires please!

I'd actually like a combination of the first two options.

The world should be significantly more dangerous at night, for the night SHOULD BE dark and full of terrors!

I would love to see night playing a more significant roll in game content and difficulty again. Darkness sets such a foreboding atmosphere, and it has been so underutilized in the past.

In my opinion, it goes without saying that AI should absolutely calculate time of day (...night, evening, and/or morning) into their activities. I would have thought that was a given.

Undead Legions exhuming themselves for their nightly reign of terror, Vampires retreating into their sanctuaries as sunrise approaches, Bandit Incursions by day, and Orc Raiding Parties in the evening. Of course Lycanthropes only appearing during the proper night(s) of Drinal's lunar cycle. Maybe that last one is a different topic, but it still feels like it needs mentioning!

I agree with many posting here so far. I'd love to see a good balance between both 1 and 2.

Yes. A certain forest in EQ comes to mind for that. Tales of people needing to cross it at night, or crossing it as day turned to night are among some of the best ones.

I like this question.


Initially I was thinking "Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - night time is when you know you need to find town, or at least a safe spot to farm gold and experience." and thought of going for the option for decidedly tougher encounters at night.


However, there's more to including nighttime than just tougher creatures or not. The AI behaviors, and where enemies may be located, should change dramatically. Bandit camp patrols will be fewer but tougher, and bandits at the camp will generally be resting or keeping watch rather than doing their daily work and preparations. Nocturnal creatures of all shapes and sizes and levels of difficulty should be prevalent at night, trying to scavenge for food or hunt one such scavenger, trying to stay warm on particularly cold nights. Just the same, creatures that sleep at night would want to be back in their dens and homes, trying to rest up and stay warm. After all, if this is a living and breathing world that is free from the scourge of static spawns, and instead has NPCs who have to manage their daily lives, it doesn't make sense for all the world's wildlife and outcasts to magically disappear and be replaced with skeleton and werewolf creatures.


To that extent, the idea of AI being responsive to day / night, and even having different types of activities as the day transitions from one phase to the next, would greatly enhance the EQN / EQNL world. Night doesn't necessarily need to bring tougher enemies, but the varieties and behavior patterns and group dynamics of creatures should be decidedly different at night.


The poll option for environment change with no objective change is almost totally incongruent to the discussion. You still have to make that courier delivery, day or night, rain or shine. You still have to survive in the wild. The only "objective" that might change is being able to see something that only shines in the moonlight, which is the same as that objective in the daylight except its impossible to complete during the day. Other than that, if the player's objective is to hunt X enemy but all they find is Y enemy because X is asleep at night, they might need to search harder and find a sleeping family of X to try to complete the objective.


There's no way time of day won't impact gameplay. Unless everyone has perfect Heroic Night Vision, the darkness will obfuscate many objects easily seen in the distance (or even close by) during the day. There wouldn't really be a point to a day / night cycle if nothing changes but the lighting. The EQNL world might not be as affected by time of day, but it will still matter for players who want to capture a certain aesthetic (especially if they wanna try pulling off some Thomas Kinkade day / night color studies on their structures).


One compromise that could work for people who do and don't want tougher creatures is to have both. Let's say there's 3 day / night cycles in real-world 24 hours. Every 5th night, so it happens every other day, is a special type of night with tougher creatures. Maybe it is represented by a blood moon, or everything has an eerie crackling blue glow to it, or otherwise indicates to everyone tat it is a more dangerous night than the usual ones. My worry is that it might throw off the rhythm of players who log in at consistent times every day, as every few sessions will have a bad night, though that might also be encouraging for them to have variety despite a static real-world schedule.

I absolutely believe that having a real, exciting change from day to night is one of the things that made EverQuest amazing. Dark nights are a very good thing, and they help set mood.

This also comes into play underground in some cases. There should be good, deep, dark holes in the world.

That said, crippling humans at night needs to not happen if other races have it easy. Humanity should have some decent options for visibility. That's just good gameplay balance.

(And Kithicor at night was AWESOME...so let's have at least SOME of that...)

Back in original EQ I played a barbarian, for barbarians, nighttime was a huge challenge. You'd get lost in everfrost or the tunnels of blackburrow completely unable to see where you were going, or just a tiny little area around your feet if you took your weapon off and equiped a lantern. Night should be something that brings out unknowns and which inspires trepidation into adventurers. Bring back mystery and suspense!

Same here.
Wilderness at night is more dangerous.
But it should not be the only change.
Shops closed during nights. ((Bot the black market operations are open))
More guards patrolling the streets. Farmers go to their homes to have some rest.
Temples having special rituals like welcoming the Dawn with a bell-tolling.

On the other hand - Once you're below groung - Day/Night cycle stops to have that much of difference.

I would also like to see a mix of the first two. The night should be more dangerous, at least by virtue of the fact that it's harder to see. I think it would be awesome to see nocturnal creatures that sleep during the day (and can be attacked in their dens during the day) and hunt at night. Likewise, it would be nice to see orc camps settle down at some point in the night time, I could see them sleeping from 3am to noon and then rabble rousing when they are awake.

Night time is traditionally when people would hide in their houses from all manner of things that go bump in the dark. The game should embrace that.

I agree with most, I'd like to see a combination of the first two options. Night time should not only be more difficult because it is harder to navigate, perhaps there are nocturnal hunters that only come out during the night. Light sources should be important and available whilst traveling but maybe should have a negative effect with their visibility. In PVP, players often took off their player torch to keep other players from hunting them, I'd like to see this also true come PvE with the enhanced AI. Perhaps at night, NPCs head to bed where you can awake them (a-la Elder Scrolls), perhaps they can get angry and /trout you as well.

The AI is the perfect place to control how the mobs behave at night. They can gain access to extra spells, attacks could get more powerful, etc... The devs may need to control what areas behave that way, newbies shouldn't be subjected to dragons, but skeletons and rats may get more bold and numerous in the dark. I'm wondering if time of day will affect materials that can be collected? Can I harvest moon beams or jars of fireflys to use at light sources? The only thing i'm sure of is I love Kithicor but I don't want it in every area. They would have to change the day/night cycle to be an odd number like 18 real time hours so the same customers didn't get night all of the time. Maybe a "light source" could be one of the available equipment mods so that players wouldn't have to try and fight with a torch. Other monsters, spells etc might also be more powerful during the day as well. Then you would fight the Sun Dragon of Doom at night when he was weaker.

The freaks come out at night. I say it should be more dangerous at night!

I don't think it should change much at all, other than lighting and such. The darkness holds no powers over the light, other than contrast. I don't want to be out questing and have to worry about what time of day it is. It might be appropriate in certain zones or instances, but I really do not see the need for it. If the darkness is to be more challenging, it should also provide greater rewards or experience, etc.

I like the idea of it being more dangerous at night. It would be a way to make the hard areas even harder. I'd like to see the difficulty difference scale into the harder areas.

The only downside that I see would be for people who can only play at certain times of day potentially being stuck not seeing the other content dependant on how variable the day/night cycle is.

The world should be significantly more dangerous at night, for the night is dark and full of terrors.

I LOVED this aspect of EQ1. Then again I'd also like to see weather systems incorporated into game play as well.

I choose the AI one however I do agree with the first option as well, so I'm kinda both. I choose AI as I think that there should be things that are as dangerous during the day as well. To explain further though I do agree that the night should be more dangerous as typically its associated with predators. I think one of the reasons that nighttime is considered more dangerous is due to the restriction on vision, not being able to see as far without a light source heightens the sense of danger.

I'd love to see light sources as a huge advantage. Another benefit to grouping.