How long should one full day/night cycle be in EverQuest Next?

I would like longer day/night cycles. Something between 3 - 6 hours for a full cycle.

Short enough to allow most people to experience both night and day, but long enough to enjoy the passing of time; 72 minutes is barely enough time for me to enjoy a good cup of coffee.

@Jeffrey Butler: If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
I don't think it's about whether or not it's broken; it's about exploring other options instead of making the same design decisions that have been done in the past.

I voted for 72 minutes. I like how EverQuest & EverQuest II handled day and night. But whatever you choose it should be an odd number that is not divisible by 24 hours.. so we can experience a different in-game time If we log on the same time everyday.

Example: If I log into the game after work at 7:00pm everyday.. I don't want it to always be morning in the world. You change things for everyone who has a set game time, and that resolves some issues others may have. Do not make cycles so short that it ruins the game! The longer the cycle is.. will make it feel more like a living world.

72 hours days and nights? How horrifying. (I'll assume you meant 72 minutes. )

I want day / night cycles to be long enough to accomplish the goals associated with them, but not so long I'm going afk for several hours waiting for the sun to rise.

Perhaps 2 hours or so each would be adequate.

I'd double the EQ1 timeframe - a day/night cycle a bit over an hour each, with some transition time between. Enough time to enjoy the night, get some night only questing done, but not so much that my whole evening playtime is stuck in the light or dark.

I want to be able to experience both daytime and nighttime without having to pull an all-nighter, but 72 minutes definitely seems too short. I'd vote for anywhere between 3 to 6 hours cycles.

Yes there have been various answers, whether it is 72 minutes like eq1 or longer, it does need to be some cycle where if you log in at the same time every day, you get a gradual variance of conditions.

I would say a complete cycle should be about 3 1/2 hours. Enough time to where you can enjoy the differences, and perhaps even have some play sessions be mostly during the day or night if you choose, but not so long (like WoW) that you will never see the sunrise if you have a consistent playtime.

Im comfortable with a day-night cycle that lasts a few hours. No more than 3 hours for the full cycle, however. I want to be able to experience a full cycle during an average play session, but I dont want to be waiting around for hours to get to the night setting, which is my favorite.

Naturally, make the cycle an odd number so that it changes from day to day in comparison to the real world. Oh and most importantly... MAKE IT DARK. Im so very tired of MMOs that dont have a true night, just a slightly darker day. I want real darkness so torches and campfires are needed and really set the mood.

Not that it really matters in WoW... theres not a huge difference between the day and night in that game other than some dim stars in the sky. Im sincerely hoping EQN goes back to a genuine day night cycle with stark differences between the two.

I like the idea of 4 hour days, 2 hour nights (real-time) in cycles of four days per IRL day. Granted, I'm not really set on any particular model, I just feel that 72 minutes is a bit short of a period to restrict a world to. Slightly longer is better, imho.

Extremely long, and you might not get to experience a day/night cycle within the frame of time that you actually play. I generally tend toward 3-5 hour play blocks, when I play, so that day/night cycle would work for me, personally.

From a development standpoint, most of it depends on how the day/night cycle and (if any) changes are implemented. It would be rather jarring to have mobs suddenly stop appearing because the day turned to night as frequently as an hour and change. If there is literally no impact on the world in this sense, then it frankly doesn't matter what timeframe you set for a day/night cycle (because it's solely cosmetic at that point).

I've been playing EQ for 14 years and EQ2 for 9 years, and I can honestly say I've never really had a complaint about the length of the Day or the Night. Nor have I ever heard a compelling argument for a change to be made.

It would be interesting however, if EQNext were able to create a world in which I truly felt the need (or desire) for an extended Day or Night.

I like the "same as in EQ1 and EQ2, around 72 minutes" and "Slightly longer" - so option 2 and 3.

I wouldn't mind the "day" part of the cycle to be slightly longer then the combined "night" and "dawn/dusk" cycles.

It always seems like "Day" goes by the fastest and it seems like it's always dark. I know this is mainly a perception issue as I'm sure Day and Night are roughly the same duration in length. That said, I, personally, wouldn't mind if the Day part of the cycle were a little longer. It doesn't have to be insanely longer but just a little would be nice.

I also agree with others, I want night to be actually be dark - not just slightly darker.

It needs to be about 6-12 hours per day/night so that a person can experience the time. I dont like fast shifts of day and night every hour or 2.. It needs to be more realistic with time occuring slower and more pronounced. Stalking through the dark should be something a person has to do...

Personally, I favor a slightly longer day/night cycle than what is currently used in EQ(2). A full day in two to four hours, for instance, sounds about the right cycle time. Two hours of day, two hours of night.

I think it would be great if we had a concept of what the sun is in Norrath. Since these cycles are dependent upon the Sun and how quickly Norrath spins, are there winters where Norrath moves around the sun on an axle? Does the rotation around its Sun have a perfect circle? Is it possible to have years defined where during the 'winters' the days are shorter than the nights and in the summers the days seem longer? This would be a really neat concept to do since fantasy doesn't have to be EXACTLY like Earth.

I'm sure the lore is out there somewhere, but including it to tell us about the Sun would be something really interesting.

I would like it if day - night cycles lasted either 2 hours - 1 hour for day 1 hour for night OR I'd even more greatly enjoy 4 hour cycles such as 2 hour days 2 hour nights. Up to even 6 hour cycles.

When roleplaying especially - it can be weird if you're sitting around and all of a sudden day has turned into night and then back into day when it's broken up into single hour cycles. So 4-6 hour cycles would be my preferred longevity for cycles.



As an edit: wouldn't it be nice if Seasons effected the day/night cycles - much like in real life? Please take this into consideration. It may breach the gap for many players to "get what they want".

4 hour days to 6 hour days. More or less is too long short.Would like to see night and day while i play.

Currently, longer cycles is leading by a wide margin, so in keeping with current trends they will decide that 3 minute day/night cycles are best for the game. So even acute Narcoleptics with ADHD will be able to enjoy the fruit fly scaled splendor of the day/night cycle.

(I'm holding a grudge for all the rampant ignoring of the poll results.)

Personally, I would like to see quite long days and nights...but with a time offset from the real-world 24 hour clock, so that each day, at 2PM EST (or what ever), it will be a different time in-game. I do prefer the days and nights to be long, because that's...I don't know how to describe it other than "consistent."

I think a lot of people appreciate the "world," and "atmosphere," of a fantasy game, especially one like Everquest. Also, in a role playing game, it's not uncommon to have role players - that being said, it's very strange in a game, when you're talking to someone, and your conversation lasts for 3-4 days, you know? I think ,even for people who don't role play, many like to be "immersed," in the world, which is a similar concept. Fast cycles take away from that.

For these reasons, I picked the final option - the longest possible cycles. (Again, still offsetting the real/game times!)