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

All fair paints. I concede to your arguement.

I am so glad you are looking to alter this.. I have always felt the days and nights were waaayyy too short...

While i have a fond memory of the pitch black it would truely be unrealistic if every night was like that. I live in a secluded valley in the mountains and when the stars are out along with the moon its not difficult to navigate in. Sure a moonless night when the stars are blocked by cloud cover can be very dark but most nights where i am from are not like that. If you have snow on the ground its even brighter then a normal night with the stars out and a moon.

Obviously having a moon cycle and weather systems would certainly change how dark it gets. At the very least if it rains have stormclouds blocking the stars and moon making it darker then normal from time to time.

Sure, inconvenient once and then you never have to worry about it again. And yes, cheating, I mean adjusting your gamma will fix the issue indeed. But I never did that. Having lightsourcs determine if something is in range for you to see it in full color, or just see it in gray or be blacked out would be better. With the new engine it should be possible.

Removing lightsources because it's an inconvenience for new players, it's sad. The saddest part is that Omeed Dariani first says darkness is less information.Then they go on and say but we give you all the information, make smarter enemies and have enemies who only act at night. So where is this less information gone?

Yes, at some point players will not have to deal with it anymore, or be better equipped versus it. But remember enduring breath, it was a spell, every caster could get it, but there was a chance it would be dispelled at phinies. So yes a trivial thing that got interesting because enemies were prepared. If you do that with light sources as well, like say an enemy that removes all light, then hides and have players run around looking for him, isn't that a fun mechanic. Maybe not for everyone, but I would love that. Maybe a blindness where my screen turns black again (including your UI), darkness with everything being black until you relight your torch or cast a daylight spell or something.

Don't limit yourself, open more dynamic options now that dynamic play is an option. With all the new tech, companies have done the exact opposite of what the old school kids wanted. They had to make up worlds from lines drawn, now the best world can be created but it's empty and dull.

Am I peeved with the response: absolutely. Do I think it was a forgone conclusion, with little that would influence/change the outcome: yes. That being said, here are some videos to put it into perspective a little tiny bit:



And some more vids to help put things in perspective of how it can impact your character. Take notice of the lighting of the gear to get an idea of the contrast (and yes, I could have used the commander gear for example, but the light there I think confounds the contrast a bit more):



Now, don't get me wrong, I am plenty upset that they basically pulled a fast one over us expecting more intense lighting for nights. And these vids more than prove that they really did have something in mind when they posed this question, further causing me to lose faith in the round table. But that's what I'm most upset about here. If the night is as intense as the first vid, I can deal with that, or even the 2nd vid wouldn't be too bad, as the lighting is still dramatic enough to obscure our vision moreso than most other games.

Could it be better: Yes. Do I wish it were better, further emphasizing light source importance: Yes. That said, by giving us a little more light (I'm assuming that they aren't increasing the light level from at least the 2nd vid) it does give us a little more play time so that we aren't "crippled" or "handicapped" in gameplay by lighting. I'll take that as a positive to take away from this, though I am upset at the immersion and experience they are excluding us from (would be wicked fun to play some flashlight tag or from some truly creepy/freaky scenarios during the night). By having a less dramatic night, that also allows for them to increase the night and day cycle, which would be fantastic, and more important in my opinion. Instead of having the sun and moon race across the sky such that the light show has me reaching for Advil or Tylenol, they can lengthen the period of time of day and night so there is a good amount of time to enjoy both, as well as the emergent AI and environmental changes that comes with both. I think that would be much better, so that I don't get a headache from not only the light but from suffering from "temporal displacement" (you mean in the time it took for me to eat breakfast, IT'S NIGHT ALREADY?!!). I'm reaching for positives from this, as the dev's have their minds made up, and given the material from before, it may not be as bad as we think.

Here's the last vid for example...it does seem brighter here than the other 2 though, but that may be the lanterns or the snow...I certainly hope they don't go brighter than this...would prefer darker, tbh (skip to 2:20 or 2:25)

I'm really disappointed by the "bright nights" philosophy they seem to be adhering to, I would have really enjoyed very dark nights, the catacombs was one of my favorite areas in dark souls, as it forced me to play differently than normal and put a huge emphasis on light sources, which are too underplayed in most games. This also probably means we won't have any kind of night vision for certain races, which was something I thought was awesome in everquest. I am glad that they're having AI behavior change for nights, and that some areas will actually be safer at night because of daytime monsters. That being said, however, I hope that those areas are safer at night only because they are so dangerous during the day. Maybe from the cold-blooded giants that emerge during the day or something. I'm also hoping that those areas are the minority.

Good luck...it's a long time till then. I loved RIFT....till I reached the final zone and suddenly realized I didn't care much any more. Ran out of places to explore and didn't feel like I had incentive to, anyhow. *shrug* but that's just me.

I want to see fairly dark nights, and distinctively different environments based on AS MANY factors as possible. Day and night, absolutely. If I thought it'd be reasonable, I'd also like to see some creatures that didn't come out in the rain, and some that only came out in the rain; I'd put in a seasonal cycle as well, and have some creatures that only come out in Summer/Winter. I'd change behavior based on this too...the Orcs will pursue you much farther from their camp in summer, but will only chase you a short distance in the winter because they want to get back to their campfire, maybe. Variation based on circumstances. Awesome.

Nights should be dark enough that you should really be using a torch, I think.
Skeletons, trolls, thieves, ghosts, wraiths, zombies, wolves, owls and bats should all come out at night or be much more prominent and assaultive, I think.

Yeah, its been up and down for me. Planebreaker Bastion is the new Hammerknell in terms of difficulty (only 1 or 2 guilds have cleared it). Sort of interested in 3.0 which will be free but you will have to buy the new Souls if you want to use them. Definitely even more grindy with the some of the reputations you have to gain. but its something to pass the time.

I'd like to see nocturnal creatures and predators, creatures that go to roost at night, a sense of menace being out in the dark. Perhaps intelligent NPCs could return to camps, make camps, have night watches that wake up the camp if they're attacked... if you don't kill the watchmen before they get the chance.

It could lead to some fun area based events, where some small town or fort somewhere is fine during the day, but becomes a desperate fight for survival at night... there could be things you could do to help the town during the day, help them build defenses, help train and equip their guards/ citizens, help heal their wounded, help them rebuild building destroyed on previous nights and of course help them protect it at night.

DARK NIGHTS!

i remember having a "wisp stone" (or whatever it was called) to light my way at night at low level in EQ1. time of day should be just as big a factor as in real life. some areas are unaffected, some highly affected either for better or worse.

I love the looks of nighttime
but since I see some people are sad because it is not "dark enough" and they want to use torches
why not have light pollution.And in some parts of the wilderness it can be pitch-dark

This way everyone is happy perhaps..
at nights thieves might find opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have,different background sounds like crickets at sunset to give the right atmosphere
Perhaps there could be other interesting creatures that come out at night,not all monsters but also little lightbugs and stuff
Perhaps day/night time could affect the aggression of certain creatures?
Some flowers might be open during the day and close/glow during nighttime
Tracks in the sand might be easier to follow/find during day than during night,...

torches, in combination with light pollution, great idea.

I just wanted to say (and sorry if I'm repeating someone else's post)..

Assuming the lighting will be the same as in Planetside 2, since EQN will use the same engine, the darkness at night will be most satisfying. I recently started playing Planetside 2, and nights are pretty dark. As a noob, it is virtually impossible to see anything. Here are a couple of examples:





For those unfamiliar, the red targets first have to be sighted and marked, otherwise there is nothing indicating their presence initially. As always, watch in HD. If nothing in EQN indicates NPC locations, then the night is already more dangerous with this visibility.

Crazy, but I have fond memories of killing countless wisps to try to get the greater wisp stone so my barbarian shaman could see easier. Fun times of grinding, heh.

Why shouldn't day time be just as dangerous? Not all monsters are nocturnal.
For example maybe during the day wander down a road would be very dangerous because the Orcs from a nearby camp could spot you a mile away, but at night they couldn't see you and might even be sleeping or something. In which it would make night time a safer time to sneak by or even raid the sleeping monsters.
I'm just saying that both day and night can be equal dangerous and fun. Just in different ways.
Regardless the AIs should most definitely behave different in night than in day.


Hope this helps. =)

Whether day or night is more dangerous will depend on the biome, I imagine.
Generally, though, nighttime will be more dangerous for human-types because humans rely mostly on sight to navigate the world and darkness greatly reduces that sense.

Predators that take advantage of that will be more dangerous.

The only game I've ever played in where the day/night cycle mattered for anything was FF XI - and there it wasn't so much day or night, but the hour of the day that mattered (each hour corresponded to an element, so fire magic was stronger on fire hour and even stronger on Firesday).

Moon phase had an effect too. I doubt will get anything that involved in Next, but hopefully there will be some noticeable differences, and not just a few things in a few zones so they can say day and night pose different challenges.

In EQ 2 everyone has a torch, but I haven't used mine in so long I doubt most people even know it's there. Unless you somehow make it 'gamma' proof, I don't think it's worth the trouble of trying to make really dark nights. We should have enough to worry about as it is. Assume adventurers just have good eyesight.