Day and night cycle

[Faithbreaker]

Are they going to include a day/night cycle?
Yes. The cycle will be faster than real time. Events and monster spawning will change based on the time of day. Centaurs might attack a camp at dawn, and ghosts haunting an ancient battlefield might only be visible at night. Currently, the cycle lasts 2 hours with 80 minutes of day and 40 minutes of night, but this is subject to change before release.[26]
^thats from the wiki.

I love the way it works in WoW and HATE that SWToR doesn't have any cycle. When I get to play games it's usually a marathon session starting in the morning and going into the night. I enjoy the game world mimicking the natural world.

I'm just curious what others think about a 2 hour day/night cycle.

[Soutalgon]

Not a fan at all

[Delias]

I love the way it works in WoW and HATE that SWToR doesn't have any cycle. When I get to play games it's usually a marathon session starting in the morning and going into the night. I enjoy the game world mimicking the natural world.

I'm just curious what others think about a 2 hour day/night cycle.

Could you imagine a day/night cycle in SWTOR?
Different planets would have to have different cycles, it's not like it could just be night everywhere at the same time. :P

But I look forward to the day/night cycle being short, mostly because events change based on the cycle's time of day and since I mostly play at night, I look forward to being able to enjoy all of the content regardless of when I play.

[Faithbreaker]

Ya I'm thinking I prefer a more natural cycle. I've played games with the short cycle and always find myself waiting around for nightfall to get a quest done while I'm in the area.

[Deleted]

I love the day/night cycles but it's to early to talk about if they are to long or to short.

And two hours seem to be a good amount of time. I guess there are pros and cons for a system like that, but they have to make it faster than real life anyway and with two hours, everyone will experience the night time at some point.

[Faithbreaker]

Could you imagine a day/night cycle in SWTOR?
Different planets would have to have different cycles, it's not like it could just be night everywhere at the same time. :P

But I look forward to the day/night cycle being short, mostly because events change based on the cycle's time of day and since I mostly play at night, I look forward to being able to enjoy all of the content regardless of when I play.

My brother pointed out the different planet thing to me. I just feel like ANYTHING would of helped SW. I also see where you are coming from if you can only play nights.

[Deleted]

I don't really care if it's real-life based or not, but I think it's actually a good thing.
Like Delias says: most of the people don't play all day and night and since in gw2 some events may occure in day time and some at night people will still be able to participate in the events.

[Deleted]

There's a thread on about 20 pages about this...

But what I think about this is that it's strange how the night/day-cycle (for us gamers) have changed since GW1 (i.e. 250 years ago)... haha :P

Otherwise I like it

[Delias]

There's a thread on about 20 pages about this...

But what I think about this is that it's strange how the night/day-cycle (for us gamers) have changed since GW1 (i.e. 250 years ago)... haha :P

Otherwise I like it

Tyria is slowly spinning faster and faster..
WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!

[Deleted]

I haven't been in the Beta of Guild Wars 2, so I don't have any experience to back this up; But two hours for one day seems a little short to me, especially if the night ends up to only last 40 minutes.

I feel that a cycle of three or four hours might feel a bit better, with more of a balance between the length of day and night. Something along the lines of 100 minutes of day, followed by 80 minutes of night.

[Deleted]

There is this "wonderful" thread on the day and night cycle: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-Your-Opinion?

[Deleted]

Tyria is slowly spinning faster and faster..
WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!

Ooooh noooeeeeeeeeees!

On a serious note; I'd prefer a 3h cycle (1h night, 2h day)

[Allanon the Mystic]

I'd prefer a 6 hour day night... Makes it long enough to feel long, but short enough so that events will come and go.

[Deleted]

There's a thread on about 20 pages about this...

But what I think about this is that it's strange how the night/day-cycle (for us gamers) have changed since GW1 (i.e. 250 years ago)... haha :P

Otherwise I like it

it's also strange why there are only 40 minutes of night and 80 of day

nom

[Delias]

I'd prefer a 6 hour day night... Makes it long enough to feel long, but short enough so that events will come and go.

I think they specifically said at some point that the day/night cycle was short enough that people who couldn't play much each day were still able to access any day/night specific content during that time.
Most people who play MMOs can play at least 2 hours at a time, so I think it's a pretty good number they settled on.

Being one of the people who CAN play 16 hours a day, though, I wouldn't mind a 6hour day/night in the slightest. I would actually prefer it, if not for their reasoning. As long as it doesn't match up to the ACTUAL day/night cycle in length, because it would be night for most of the time I play.

[Zem]

What about the NPC, do they close up shop and go to bed when night comes or are they still just standing there 24/7 ?

[Allanon the Mystic]

I think they specifically said at some point that the day/night cycle was short enough that people who couldn't play much each day were still able to access any day/night specific content during that time.
Most people who play MMOs can play at least 2 hours at a time, so I think it's a pretty good number they settled on.

Being one of the people who CAN play 16 hours a day, though, I wouldn't mind a 6hour day/night in the slightest. I would actually prefer it, if not for their reasoning. As long as it doesn't match up to the ACTUAL day/night cycle in length, because it would be night for most of the time I play.

2hours just seems to short for the people like us who will be playing quite a bit. And it's slightly hard to do an extensive RP with a daynight cycle of 2 hours as well.

2 hour cycle seems so short that the shading of the game will come and go and change constantly, oh just became morning, 45min later, oh it's noon then night.

[Delias]

What about the NPC, do they close up shop and go to bed when night comes or are they still just standing there 24/7 ?

I would assume major vendors sell at night for convenience in favor of them closing up for immersion, but don't quote me on that.

[Hockeyhacker]

I haven't been in the Beta of Guild Wars 2, so I don't have any experience to back this up; But two hours for one day seems a little short to me, especially if the night ends up to only last 40 minutes.

I feel that a cycle of three or four hours might feel a bit better, with more of a balance between the length of day and night. Something along the lines of 100 minutes of day, followed by 80 minutes of night.

2,3,and 4 hours are all bad ones to pick for the case say someone always plays from 12:30am to 1:15am after they get off work, if the cycles are 2,3, or 4 hours it will always be the exact same cycle for said person and if said 45 minutes is just day or just night then it wouldn't help that it was fast cycles... something like 2:30, 3:20, 3:50, etc would be better so that it isn't the exact same cycle based upon if you play at the same time each day.

I would assume major vendors sell at night for convenience in favor of them closing up for immersion, but don't quote me on that.

I agree with this, but heck they could keep vendors open 24/7 and yet still not break immersion by having the vendors take "shifts" aka, its about to turn night NPC Bobthemerchant comes in and yells to NPC Archythemerchant "Hey I'm here for my shift see you at next shift change"... Not saying that they will, infact probably low odds that they would (this iteration anyways, more likely in an "expansion" they would add this), but comparing they are making the questing and towns dynamic it would not be hard for them to make the vendors dynamic as well (well the non heart vendors anyways).

[Gisei]

I much prefer the way the game looks at night, so a 40min night is a bit disappointing, even though night time isn't in the least bit dark. I'd like the cycle to be 3hrs and 30mins though, 2hrs day, and 90mins night. The chance of someone spending their whole two hours during the day would be very small. When I sit down for a long gaming session, the 2hr cycle is going to feel a bit weird.

Then again, with the bright nights, I may not notice at all. I'd like Anet to take advantage of the darkness the night should bring. Could make a really sweet DE off in the forest. Nothing but a small torch lighting the area, can only see a few feet ahead of you. Monsters just leaping from the dark, only a split second to react.

Oh look, I've gone off topic.