Hrose's post on the beta forums of Wow

[HaemishM]

I'm more than sure that a brainstorming process involving the whole community could do very good to the design itself. You'll be able to see things from a new prespective, players will suggest you a better solution and so on.

No, no it wouldn't. Sure, you'll be able to see things from a hundred new perspectives, 99 and 1/2 of which would probably be completely fucking stupid.

Design by community on an MMOG, with the vast amount of mouth-breathers out there would be a cluster fuck of epic proportions. No amount of Vault-esque posters is ever going to be able to agree on a design. The place to put community involvement in is early alpha. Once you get into the third or fourth stage of beta, nothing can be gained designwise by calling on the community other than catering to the loudest whiners. If your design isn't solid and fun by early alpha, it never will be.

[HRose]

I've posted two screenshot for the italian website about night/day cycle.
You can see that during the night the light changes and transforms the colors, but it doesn't affect the visibility.
(and notice the light at the window of the house)

http://web.tiscali.it/hrose/wowday02.jpg
http://web.tiscali.it/hrose/wowday03.jpg

Probably you need to copy and paste the link to see the images.

[Alluvian]

Yeah, I have seen a ton of day/night images and all they do is change the color pretty much, but I like the variety of the day night sequence in my play session.  Not all night all the time except on weekends.  I see no reason at all to make the day/night a 24 hour schedule.  I have yet to hear a single argument for it.

[tanandae]

Yeah, I have seen a ton of day/night images and all they do is change the color pretty much, but I like the variety of the day night sequence in my play session.  Not all night all the time except on weekends.  I see no reason at all to make the day/night a 24 hour schedule.  I have yet to hear a single argument for it.

I hated the 24-hour schedule when I started. It fell off to mild dislike over the 5 months I played. I only play at nights; on weekends I tend to have to get family stuff done before I get to play, so it's usually late afternoon before I'm in game. I don't want to see the same thing all the time; I want to see variety.

Two things have happened in the last month or so that have caused me to rather like the cycle. One thing is what Blizzard did: the cycle used to be on about the same "sunset/sunrise" cycle as California (where I happen to be). They changed this to a sunset about 2 hours after our California sunset. So, even when I get home late, I've got an hour or so of sun and a sunset in game. The second is what I did: I found myself getting more addicted to the game rather than less (dammit). The moon coming up gives me a clue "it's late, get yer ass to bed."

That's not a terribly good argument "for" the strange cycle (why would a gaming company care if I sleep?). But eh, it's all I got.

[Alluvian]

So, even when I get home late, I've got an hour or so of sun and a sunset in game.

Invalid argument.  If the game did a more standard day/night schedule you would probably get a sunny day, a sunset and a sunrise in your gaming time.

The second is what I did: I found myself getting more addicted to the game rather than less (dammit). The moon coming up gives me a clue "it's late, get yer ass to bed."

That is bizaare, but at least is a positive point.  I don't think it outweighs the negatives, but it is at least something.  And the first and only positive thing I have heard about it.  Moon alarm clock.  The sucky thing is, my favorite time in gameworlds is sunrise.  And I will never see one.

[Mesozoic]

That is bizaare, but at least is a positive point.  I don't think it outweighs the negatives, but it is at least something.  And the first and only positive thing I have heard about it.  Moon alarm clock.  The sucky thing is, my favorite time in gameworlds is sunrise.  And I will never see one.

That depends on what timezone your server is on, doesn't it?

[Alluvian]

Yeah, but the problem with timezone is a big reason to NOT do a 24 hour gameclock.  It is even more freaking pointless if day is night and night is day.

[daveNYC]

I'm assuming that there are no quests that require being in the graveyard at midnight?  Basically, does the day/night cycle have any effect on the game other than the color?

[Alluvian]

I'm assuming that there are no quests that require being in the graveyard at midnight?  Basically, does the day/night cycle have any effect on the game other than the color?

Sounds like the day/night cycle is utterly pointless other than colors used.  Which makes me dislike the system even more.  I like the idea of the world changing with the day/night cycle.  Pretty much forced into making the world static with a 24 hour clock or you are restricting content in a big way to those in other timezones.

Most MMOGs are pretty static with day/night anyway.  Eventually ease of use trumps immersion in this regard.  If merchants had a schedule, people would bitch up a storm about having to wait till morning.  It would be worse than the EQ boat bitching.  I don't necessarily disagree with any of this bitching by the way.  Game should be fun.  Wish we could do realism and fun at the same time, but in many ways they clash very strongly.

[Margalis]

In FFXI some shops are on a schedule (mostly crafting guilds) and different enemies appear at different times. It's pretty cool that in some areas once dusk starts to settle players retreat back into safe cubbyholes. (Quifim comes to mind)

That sort of thing doesn't make sense with a real 24 hour in game day. That might mean that during my typical playing hours the guild I want is ALWAYS closed.

If you commit to a real 24 hour cycle, I think you are forced to erase major distinctions between day/night.

[Fargull]

Only thing I can see really positive in a 24 hour cycle is the scheduling of game events in days and it actually being in game days.

That is one positive thought, all though I do get a chuckle from the need to hit the sack by seeing the moon rise.

[Alluvian]

In FFXI some shops are on a schedule (mostly crafting guilds) and different enemies appear at different times. It's pretty cool that in some areas once dusk starts to settle players retreat back into safe cubbyholes. (Quifim comes to mind)

Yeah, about 3 years ago undead invidaded Kithicor in EQ.  By day the zone is newbie level, Mobs max out at maybe level 5 or so (with exception of a few fixed camps of dark elves).  During the night it becomes level 30-40 undead.  Maybe higher even.  I forget.  They kick your ass if you are not pretty high level and grouped though.  Especially since many are shadowknights and have huge harmtouches.

The result was a ton of bitching because kithicor is a zone that needed to be traveled to get across the continent.  Even though the bitching was stupid because you could stay up on the zonewall and be safe even at night.  I never died except the first day where I failed to read the patch notes warning about kithicor...  That was a brutal shock.

I like a game that changes with the day/night cycle, but I know that at least a very VOCAL group does not.  I don't know if they are minority or not.

In FFXI, do people bitch and complain about having to wait till the shops/guilds open up?

[Margalis]

In FFXI, do people bitch and complain about having to wait till the shops/guilds open up?

I think this almost solely applies to guilds. When the guild is closed you can still go into it, you just can't buy the items you need for crafting. It is a bit annoying but no biggie.

Now, if that applied to the auction house (where people do most of their shopping) I'm sure everyone would be complaining.