Poll about the day/night issues.

[Toppopia]

This is a poll about the current topic of what length night and day should be and whether there will be timezones and whether night should be shorter than days.

Please choose only 1 option for the length of days, then please only pick 1 of the yes and no questions for each question so nothing weird happens with the results.

I would have had more length options but i was at maximum number of options and i was saving space.

And please no complaining about this being a bad poll, because i saw no one else trying to make one.

[Soothsayer]

I hope I voted right! :)

I want to have ample opportunity the see night and day so it needs to cycle through so that different night/day patterns are offset with with when I'm playing.

[EDIT: That is to say, offset from a regular schedule assuming a person plays at the same time of night on a regular basis.]

[Vancha]

Shouldn't it be 3.5-7 and 9-23?

To the people who voted nights should be as long as days - why? Did you vote for a short day as a whole?

Maybe the reason no one else was making it a poll was because it wouldn't be useful as one? We have a thread full of nuanced answers, that in itself seems like as good a poll as you'll get, but I guess we'll see. ;)

[capiqu]

Nice you managed to get all 3 in.

[Sifer2]

I want to say Night should be shorter than Day. But then if they have different time zones I guess it wouldn't matter. You could just go somewhere it was daytime if you wanted that. But then again one advantage of the shorter night also would be so that it wouldn't always be day or night at the same time in the real world each day. Which might be annoying for players who only get to play at certain times of day.

[Toppopia]

Shouldn't it be 3.5-7 and 9-23?

To the people who voted nights should be as long as days - why? Did you vote for a short day as a whole?

Maybe the reason no one else was making it a poll was because it wouldn't be useful as one? We have a thread full of nuanced answers, that in itself seems like as good a poll as you'll get, but I guess we'll see. ;)

oops, i forgot to change the 7-23 to a 9. oh well, people should beable to notice, its only a difference of 2 hours and its such a large gap that i wouldn't affect people's choices.

[Stardouser]

The only thing wrong with the poll is that 3.5 to 9 hours is a long spread. I think a 5 hour day/night is right. In any event the day night cycle should vary from one continent to another and, it should be an odd number. Why should it be an odd number? That way it will vary a bit from day to day, so no one has a situation where they can only play from 9PM EST to 11PM EST on any given day and they always see night or day.
Edit: Actually, to make it an odd cycle, I guess it would have to be a 4.5 hour day/4.5 hour night cycle, right?

[Toppopia]

I want to say Night should be shorter than Day. But then if they have different time zones I guess it wouldn't matter. You could just go somewhere it was daytime if you wanted that. But then again one advantage of the shorter night also would be so that it wouldn't always be day or night at the same time in the real world each day. Which might be annoying for players who only get to play at certain times of day.

Thats why the length of sunrise to sunrise needs to be and odd number to the 24 hour cycle we have. So that when people log on it will be different almost everytime, someone said that 7 hours is good because everytime you log in a week its different, but once 7 real life days has passed, the cycle starts again.

[Xyntech]

3.5 - 9 hours

Different time zones on each continent

I am undecided if day and night should be different lengths, so I didn't vote

[Toppopia]

Hmm, i did forget an undecided option.

[Xyntech]

Hmm, i did forget an undecided option.

Nah it's cool. I just didn't feel strongly so I didn't vote on that part.

Let them who think they know what they want make a choice.

Undecided is more useful on single answer polls I think.

[capiqu]

Well so far it shows that :

1. 80% feel more then 7 hours is to much
2. 93% like different time zones for conts.
3. Length of day or night cycles almost even.

[Toppopia]

Even after 30 minutes this poll has been very informative. Maybe a poll after beta has been out for a month to see if anyone has changed their mind or think its good.

[Vagabond]

I think the length of day/night should depend on a continent's location and the type of environment the planet is (note that I have never played Planetside, so I don't know if there are different planets and whatnot), as it is with the real world. If I remember correctly, the night lasts much longer the more northward you go on Earth, so it should be something like that.

[Mechzz]

I think the length of day/night should depend on a continent's location and the type of environment the planet is (note that I have never played Planetside, so I don't know if there are different planets and whatnot), as it is with the real world. If I remember correctly, the night lasts much longer the more northward you go on Earth, so it should be something like that.

Different time-zones for different continents was confirmed somewhere, at least it's lodged in my mind.

Both daylight and darkness vary over the year the further north you go. Where I live it's dark by 4pm mid-winter but light until 11pm mid-summer.

I'm agnostic on exact length of daylight, should be long enough to make night-ops worthwhile is all.

[Warborn]

Having day/night last 4-5 hours or so seems reasonable. Long enough that days feel substantial, not so long that a single big fight will go through multiple day/night transitions. Making one last longer than the other might be okay as night lasting too long might be annoying. Different times of in-game day for each continent seems like a good idea, especially if you really like/dislike night time and want to actively pursue or avoid night fighting.

[asdar]

The only good option is less than 4, even 4 might be too long. That's not because I want it but because people who aren't hardcore will be turned off if all they see is night.

I have a lot of time so I wouldn't mind longer periods, but some will. If they did something like 2 hours of night, 4 hours of day and then 2 hours of transition that might be a great way to go. (1 morning 1 evening)

Different time zones to me is just asking for extra that doesn't mean anything. It's one of those things that people ask for that get all upset because of immersion issues. I wouldn't mind it, but it doesn't add to the game in any way for me.

[Vancha]

The only good option is less than 4, even 4 might be too long. That's not because I want it but because people who aren't hardcore will be turned off if all they see is night.

I have a lot of time so I wouldn't mind longer periods, but some will. If they did something like 2 hours of night, 4 hours of day and then 2 hours of transition that might be a great way to go. (1 morning 1 evening)

Different time zones to me is just asking for extra that doesn't mean anything. It's one of those things that people ask for that get all upset because of immersion issues. I wouldn't mind it, but it doesn't add to the game in any way for me.
Time zones is so people who don't like night can go somewhere else to see something different.

You say the only good option is less than four, but then you seem to advocate 6 hour days, which is the absolute worst in terms of people always seeing the same time of day.

[capiqu]

I would say its a pretty successful Poll .

So far:

1. Over 80% prefer a complete day cycle of 7 hours or less with 57% for a
Cyle between 3.5 hours and 7 hours and 26% 3.5 hours or less.

2. Different time zones per continent clear winner at 90%.

3. Daylight and night length has equal time slightly leaning.

[Vancha]

I would say its a pretty successful Poll .

So far:

1. Over 80% prefer a complete day cycle of 7 hours or less with 57% for a
Cyle between 3.5 hours and 7 hours and 26% 3.5 hours or less.

2. Different time zones per continent clear winner at 90%.

3. Daylight and night length has equal time slightly leaning.
Or, for all we know, 75% of people want a day length between 7 and 9 hours. :P

[Ruffdog]

4.5 hours for day time.
180 degrees for the top of the sun to rise, arc and fall from horizon to horizon = 1.5 minutes (90 seconds) for the sun to move every degree. How's that sound?

Night time I'm not sure. The darkest part of the night should have at least 2-3 hours, the only reason being that tracers in Forgelight look that epic.

[capiqu]

Ok those of us who prefer a seven hour cycle (uneven number) is because a 7 hour in-game cycle would give us three seven hour cycles. That is 3x7= 21 hours. The remaining 3 hours left from the 24 hours will go on to the next in game cycle. This way if I play everyday after work at 6pm on Monday I will jump into play at 6 am in-game time that is sunrise. By Friday i will jump into game around 7 pm in-game time that is the evening cycle. This would allow me ,a player with limited time, to experince all 4 cycles , sunrise, day, evening and night every week.

As far as the length of the daylight/night cycles, I now see no reason for it not to follow a natural process. The night play looks pretty good and if different time zones are given to each continent together with the variety that a 7 hour cycle will bring only gives people more choices as to where they want to fight and when.

[Saintlycow]

I think its important for each continent to have a different time of day. This would allow night ops outfits to be active all the time

[headcrab13]

I'd like to see the sunrise-to-sunrise time around 2-4 hours. Many people will be playing after work or for a few hours at a time, and it would be nice to actually see the day/night cycle changing rather than just playing at night for hours on end.

Don't get me wrong, the night combat looks awesome but I just don't see the point of having a day/night cycle if the average player won't even see it changing. It looks incredible and shorter "days" will allow everyone to take advantage of daytime visibility, night ops, morning fog, evening sun glare, etc.

[Toppopia]

So the majority of people think that a sunrise to sunrise time frame should be roughly 3.5-7 hours long.

Basically everyone thinks that each continent should have a different time zone.

And people are mixed about whether nights should be shorter than days.

There we go devs, when Beta comes out have this as the beginning values for day/night time, after a while, we will have another poll seeing if people think the same way afterwards or if times need to be changed.

[Red Beard]

If continents have different time zones, the's no good reason to have the sun cycle lopsided...How hard is it to sawn elsewhere...?

[capiqu]

If continents have different time zones, the's no good reason to have the sun cycle lopsided...How hard is it to sawn elsewhere...?

Well lets say that Indar becomes my favorite continent and my preference would be night battle. Lets also say that I have a very limited schedule and can only play evenings after work lets say 2 hours from 6 pm to 8 pm. On an even number cycle that means that I will always play the same in-game cycle every day. So if its day all I will see is day play. And since Indar has become my favorite continent why should I go to another continent to experience night play. I mean this is just an example.

[Red Beard]

Well lets say that Indar becomes my favorite continent and my preference would be night battle. Lets also say that I have a very limited schedule and can only play evenings after work lets say 2 hours from 6 pm to 8 pm. On an even number cycle that means that I will always play the same in-game cycle every day. So if its day all I will see is day play. And since Indar has become my favorite continent why should I go to another continent to experience night play. I mean this is just an example.

In that case, all you have to do is have the day/night cycle that isn't in step with the day in real life, no?

Edit: Also; practically speaking, the more conditions you put on things, I think the less expectations you should have, but I think my answer solves your circumstance anyways.

[Toppopia]

In that case, all you have to do is have the day/night cycle that isn't in step with the day in real life, no?

Edit: Also; practically speaking, the more conditions you put on things, I think the less expectations you should have, but I think my answer solves your circumstance anyways.

I am confused as to why people keep saying "But what if i want to play at different times of day, but can only log on at a certain time."

The answer is an odd/uneven length of day so it takes 1 week or more to reset again. Thats why it has to be something like 5,7 or 9. But i think people have explained that 7 hours is better because of various reasons. So yeah, please stop repeating the problem about logging on at same time and seeing same time in game. It has been noted. So thanks for understanding.

[maggymoo]

I think it would be cool to have days/night cycles exactly the same as real life. But each continent has different time-zones like, GMT, EST or whatever. So you can try to play on a continent that best matches your time zone, so when its night its night in game. I think that would be way more immersive. And you'll still be able experience cool times like dawn, just go a different continent with a different time-zone :D

[Toppopia]

I think it would be cool to have days/night cycles exactly the same as real life. But each continent has different time-zones like, GMT, EST or whatever. So you can try to play on a continent that best matches your time zone, so when its night its night in game. I think that would be way more immersive. And you'll still be able experience cool times like dawn, just go a different continent with a different time-zone :D

Yeah... no.:rolleyes:

I would rather not that because people will get very annoyed at night all the time or day all the time, you need night in small doses or people will probably begin to hate it. But not enough and people will crave it. But different timezones is good, but real life day lengths is crazy. Even with 3 continents thats not enough of a difference to have everyone beable to experience all the different cycles. And night won't always be pitch dark, only 1-2 nights of the cycle will be that dark because of the moons and such, and some nights will be almost as bright as day time, and it will be cool to have a battle transition to night while fighting, and if night is 5 hours, that gives outfits a good enough time frame to plan awesome night assaults on bases.

[Dreamcast]

I think sunrise to sunrise should be around 12 hours-15 hours.....If it is less than time of days like evenings/noons/etc will be way too short.


I do love the continents having different times.


I would like to add one idea who...I hope the time isn't constant so like in real life, the times should change thru out the game....An example of this is that perhaps after a month night comes 3 hours earlier in correlation with our Human world time.


This will fix issues with people who can only play at only a certain time of day..I mean it will suck if u could only play at noon but noon was the time amerish was always night...So if the time adjust, that person could finally play it in the day.

[Karrade]

7 is an excellent number.

7 is good for me :), 5 hours day time, 2 hours night time would work best in terms of immersion and feel. Night is fun but will perhaps work as a feature rather than a staple best for the majority.

If you can picture outside your own bubble of life, for the majority, how many of them are active more at night? Night is fun but not a staple of their day.

[Sabrak]

If you can picture outside your own bubble of life, for the majority, how many of them are active more at night? Night is fun but not a staple of their day.

During a war?
From a soldier's point of view?

I'm not sure the answer is what you're expecting.

[Karrade]

During a war?
From a soldier's point of view?

I'm not sure the answer is what you're expecting.

Interesting perspective, however I am not and never will be a soldier. I was meaning for the average player, as universal a thought as you can make it. Does most of their life take place in the day or night?


Also I am strongly in favor of varying time zones for more unpredictable and distinct gameplay.

[Kipper]

All I am looking for is that the length of day/night is enough to be able to properly use and enjoy it. Each one needs to be an hour or two hours long imo, otherwise the sense of scale will be lost.

I want stories to be told of the battle that "raged through the night" or the base that took "4 days of fighting to capture!". If the cycle is too short, those stories will be silly and meaningless. If too long, then it won't be enough variation in an average play session.

I could see a full day-night cycle being something like 3 or 5 hours, to give either 90 mins (1.5 hr) or 150 mins (2.5 hr) of each and keep it an odd number so that people logging in at the same time of day don't always play at the same time of day on Auraxis.

I suspect this might be another beta thing. Maybe one of the things they want to find out is the optimal length to make it enjoyable and usable.

[capiqu]

I will make a last suggestion don't know what you guys would think of it.

Continent A: 5 hour cycle.
Continent B: 7 hour cycle.
Continent c: 9 hour cycle.
Continent D: 11 hour cycle.

This would give us 4 unique continents and Variety.

[Toppopia]

I will make a last suggestion don't know what you guys would think of it.

Continent A: 5 hour cycle.
Continent B: 7 hour cycle.
Continent c: 9 hour cycle.
Continent D: 11 hour cycle.

This would give us 4 unique continents and Variety.

Unless the developers put them on basically the same place on the planet then you can't have different lengths, but that sounds good, so people that enjoy night can check the time on all continents, and go "Oooh, Continent C still has 5 hours left of night, i shall go there now."

And people that don't like night or like battles that take 'several days' can go to continent A and see the day change in the middle of the fight.

[Khrusky]

I think it would be cool to have days/night cycles exactly the same as real life. But each continent has different time-zones like, GMT, EST or whatever. So you can try to play on a continent that best matches your time zone, so when its night its night in game. I think that would be way more immersive. And you'll still be able experience cool times like dawn, just go a different continent with a different time-zone :D

I completely agree.

Immersion is more important to me than variation.

[Malorn]

Roughly 3 hours seems the right number to me. Less than that and you won't get a significant amount of time for any given time period. More than that and you won't see a cycle in a typical play session.

It needs to be long enough that you can plan attacks to occur at certain times to take advantage of light, darkness, or the way the sun is sitting. If the cycle is quick that opportunity will only be a short period of time and so there won't be much tactical value in utilizing day/night cycles.

It shouldn't be too long though and you want to allow someone to see most or all of a cycle in a given play session. I'd say most fans, even casuals, will probably play 2-3 hours a day, which fits that criteria.

You have to have continents with different time zones to give players the option of only fighting at night or during the day if they desire. Being forced into one or the other is rather lame and there's no harm in splitting it up. It is a global conflict and not all continents get the same exposure so it makes more realistic sense as well as gameplay sense.

[KTNApollo]

Dawn - 1.5 hours
Morning - 1.5 hours
Afternoon - 1.5 hours
Dusk - 1.5 hours
Evening - 1.5 hours
Night - 1.5 hours

I feel that this is how the day/night cycle should be.

[xIIDeAdLyIIx]

I want a 6ish hour long day/night cycle I don't want 1,2,3,4,6,8,12. because players who play the same time a day will constantly be playing at the same in game time.

So for me it should be either 5 or 7.

it was said that the cycle would last a players game time, so 5 or 7 sounds about rite :D

[kaffis]

5 hour day/night cycle, with roughly equal time for day and night, please. Minor fluctuations between day:night ratio are permittable by season and continental location on the planet. ;)

Why 5 hours?

It's long enough that entire battles can happen in the day, or at night. It's also long enough that waiting for a specific time of day is a tactical option balanced against, well, waiting.

5 hours doesn't divide evenly into 24, so what you'll see is that every day, game-dawn will come 1 hour later in the day. Likewise, the 1:5 ratio doesn't divide evenly into a week, week-to-week, dawn will shift by 2 hours on the same day of the week, as well.

This means that people with specific playtimes will experience different times of day each session, rather than get stuck on their 7-9 pm playtime (or whatever) always being daylight, ending with 30 minutes of dusk or whatever.

Finally, different time zones for the different continents makes it so that people who want to specialize in night fighting, or people for whom the visibility hindrance of night operations is a deal-breaker can simply migrate from continent to continent to avoid or seek out their preferred lighting conditions.

Edit: If 5 hours is too short for somebody, then 10 or 11 hours would be my second pick. It will also cycle night to night, and week to week. 7 doesn't work for me, as it doesn't change week to week (dawn will always be at the same time each Saturday, for instance), and 9 hours will yield the same dawn-time every three days, which seems a little too often. 3, 4, 6, and 8-hour rotations, of course, don't change at all.

[PoisonTaco]

First off make it an odd number so that the time of day will be different for people who play specific hours of the day. That way folks who work 9 to 5 get home and see something different every night, it makes it dynamic and would definitely keep people playing for longer.

I'd say 5 hours would be great for a cycle. That way for folks who get off work/school can enjoy at least one day/night cycle before going to bed.

[wraithverge]

just make different timezones as higby has already stated hes doing. That way if you are one of those people who can't stand night fighting, go play on solsar or cerryshen or whatever continents they are releasing. I think the day/night cycle should be minimum 3 hours, max 5. Enough for a 9-5 bloke if he wants to play a full day to be able to do some day and night fighting after work and not be dead the next day.

[Tiberius]

I would find it annoying if I was playing in the dark (dusk-sunrise) for more than 2 hours.

[Kaw]

Even though I seem to be in the minority, I really hope nights are shorter than days. The engine is absolutely beautiful, but I see the novelty of "night ops" quickly fading into frustration as I am forced to strain my eyes to see what I'm shooting at. I will reserve final judgement until I can experience it first hand, but the nighttime combat in just about every other game makes me want to gouge my eyes out after a couple of hours.

[capiqu]

Even though I seem to be in the minority, I really hope nights are shorter than days. The engine is absolutely beautiful, but I see the novelty of "night ops" quickly fading into frustration as I am forced to strain my eyes to see what I'm shooting at. I will reserve final judgement until I can experience it first hand, but the nighttime combat in just about every other game makes me want to gouge my eyes out after a couple of hours.

I'm sure SOE is aiming on pleasing the most over the majority.

[Kaw]

I'm sure SOE is aiming on pleasing the most over the majority.

I think you mixed up a word but my point was that I think once the novelty fades, people are going to get sick of 3.5-9 hour nights very quickly.

[Toppopia]

I think you mixed up a word but my point was that I think once the novelty fades, people are going to get sick of 3.5-9 hour nights very quickly.

I was trying to not have too many options because i can only have 10, so i think when most people voted for 3.5-9 hours, i think that is most of them thinking along the lines of maybe 5 hours or something. But we will have to see in Beta whether night fighting is as awesome as i think it will be or whether it will be annoying.

[Rumblepit]

3 hr cyc, 1 hr of dusk, 1 hr dark, 1 hr dawn. set it up a 1 hr different on each of the 3 conts and it will always be dark,light.dusk/dawn on 1 of the 3.

[Jayballz]

Length of sunrise to sunrise: 3.5-9 hours.
I think 3.5-9 hours is a good length of time. That is usually how much time I get in a day of gaming so I could see how it would work out really well playing through a whole in game 24hour cycle.

Different time zones in each continent: Yes.
I think it would help make the continents unique and would be good for lets say people who just like playing in the night, if all the continents were on different timezones I could just go the the next continent to keep playing in the night.

Should nights be shorter than days: No
I think that the game at night brings out all new content. you get to use flashlights, laser dot sights, night vision, headlights, tracer fire... The list goes on. I think it should be the same if not more!!!!!! I love the tracer fire in the night on this new game engine it looks AMAZING!!!!!

[capiqu]

Bringing this back up because I'm seeing question about this subject creeping up in other threads so before they Duplicate it I rather us build on what we already have.

[Dagron]

I feel that nights should take a long time to pass, but not too much. Just enough so you'll look to the horizon across a canyon while the sun rises and think "wow, we've been fighting for this bridge all night... time to end this!" and heroically charge one last time.

So 7 hours sunrise to sunrise (3.5 hr of day, 3.5 hr of night).
Yes to different time zones on each continent in case some people want to escape the night (or day).

[Xyntech]

Nights that lasted about 2 hours would probably be long enough for that "I fought all night" feeling.

For the sake of not too short, not too long, and for the sake of players who play at the same time every day, or on the same single day every week, I think 5 hours is probably best.

The devs seem to be going for shorter day cycles than that right now. Easy to tweak in beta, so we'll see.

[Dagron]

I'd prefer it was a little longer than 2 hours but would be fine with it... what i'd really hate would be 30 minutes or so nights. It would be seriously disappointing.

[Vancha]

I'd be okay with shorter nights in a 7 hour day. You could still get 2-3 hour nights which is long enough to utilize, but there'd be less of them, making them more valuable.

7 doesn't work for me, as it doesn't change week to week (dawn will always be at the same time each Saturday, for instance)
Why is this not a good thing?

[SpcFarlen]

I think 4-5 hours cycles would be the sweet spot for me. Thats about how much id be able to play on a good day. So it would be nice to play through the whole cycle at once. Though i feel any shorter and it would feel weird, so longer is okay with me.

[Xyntech]

Why is this not a good thing?

It's the same problem as having a number that divides into 24 real life hours. Players who only play one day a week (like on the weekend) would potentially be stuck playing in the same time of day all of the time.

Better to have it rotating for everyone, around the day and around the week. There are reasons why it would be fun to have it synced with weeks or even days, but the bad probably outweighs the good in this case.

[DirtyBird]

It definitely has to rotate so its not dark at 5pm every Saturday etc.
The changes from a dawn to dawn cycle will be gradual anyway.
1hr sunrise
1hr morning mist
3hr daylight (weather permitting)
1hr sunset
1hr dark (as dark as it can get)

[Unforgiven]

it only seems right for a complete day/night cycle to be about the length of an average play session, which i believe is going to be somthing like 3 to 4 hours.

[Vancha]

It's the same problem as having a number that divides into 24 real life hours. Players who only play one day a week (like on the weekend) would potentially be stuck playing in the same time of day all of the time.

Better to have it rotating for everyone, around the day and around the week. There are reasons why it would be fun to have it synced with weeks or even days, but the bad probably outweighs the good in this case.
I can't even imagine how small a percentage of the userbase consists of people who not only play one day a week, but then play at the right time for as short a time as to only see one time of day. It seems fair enough to avoid a daily cycle to accommodate people who play at the same time every day, but does the accommodation of variety for people who play two or less hours a week outweigh the convenience of a weekly cycle for all? Not to mention, if all the continents have their own timezone, it's even less of an issue.

[capiqu]

Just bare in mind that if its Sunday and you want to schedule a night ops operation for your outfit on Saturday, the shorter the cycle the more calculations you have to do. Add to this that your outfit may consist of players from the US, Europe, Australia and different time zones throughout the world and you will see it could become quite messy. So a 7 hour cycle or any other cycle that would repeat itself every week would be easy since you could work out a weekly table that will never change. This in my opinion would be better for planing such operations along with the outfit selecting a real world time zone from which all could sync their watches to avoid as much confusion as possible.

[Dagron]

Just bare in mind that if its Sunday and you want to schedule a night ops operation for your outfit on Saturday, the shorter the cycle the more calculations you have to do. Add to this that your outfit may consist of players from the US, Europe, Australia and different time zones throughout the world and you will see it could become quite messy. So a 7 hour cycle or any other cycle that would repeat itself every week would be easy since you could work out a weekly table that will never change. This in my opinion would be better for planing such operations along with the outfit selecting a real world time zone from which all could sync their watches to avoid as much confusion as possible.
I think you hit the spot right there.
I'd even gladly accept shorter nights (2h or 2.5h nights) to see this 7h cycle implemented.

Alternatively a 14h cycle could work (maybe 10h day / 4h night). Nights would be long for those who want them to be, but they'd be more rare and hopefully not bother some people so much. Just a suggestion, let me know what you guys think about it.



As for:
Players who only play one day a week (like on the weekend) would potentially be stuck playing in the same time of day all of the time.
This:
... if all the continents have their own timezone, it's even less of an issue.
Because you are most likely going to fight on different continents every now and then... unless you only play let's say on saturday 3pm AND only at Indar.
Although i think that would make you farily unique and sadly "the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few... or the one".
Now see what you did? Making me quote that was inhumane. :p

[Raka Maru]

Come on people, this is sci-fi. Go ahead and make a planetary system with real sun and moon cycles. Add asteroid impacts while you're at it.

This will make day/night cycles seem random to earthlings. We will eventually figure it out as players.

Check out real physic models for solar systems. How hard can it be? ;)

[Fable]

I've been thinking about this and I think 3,5 hour or 4,5 hour day (which means 7 hour or 9 hour day cycle) would be the best.

It's long enough to enjoy the part of the day it is, but it's not too much.
One big fight would propably last for the whole night/day.
For those people who play at the exactly same hour every day, it will change the part of the day.

This is 3,5 hour cycle with 3 hour game session
http://i.imgur.com/Ff8aJ.jpg
This is 4,5 hour cycle with 3 hour game session
http://i.imgur.com/Yqc6a.jpg
(Black is night, white is day obviously)

Anything less that 3,5 would be weird, wouldn't it? I know it's a game, but night that lasts for, let's say 1,5 hour would be really short.

[Dagron]

About that, this:
Just bare in mind that if its Sunday and you want to schedule a night ops operation for your outfit on Saturday, the shorter the cycle the more calculations you have to do.
... a 7 hour cycle or any other cycle that would repeat itself every week would be easy since you could work out a weekly table that will never change.
So, yes: any cycle based on a number that is a multiple of 7 would be nice, but 9 would make a messy cycle imo.


With this i agree:
I know it's a game, but night that lasts for, let's say 1,5 hour would be really short.

[Dagron]

Since Goku kamehameha'd the other threads about this subject, i think he wants us to keep to this one instead?
I still don't like the poll options here either though, but some interesting things have been pointed out.

[WaryWizard]

I'm just going to copy paste my comments from the other topic to this one.

7 hours is the length it should be. 3 hour nights and 4 hour days. The cycle would reset every 7 days. If you were to log on at the same time every day and play for 1 hour, you would experience a total day in one week.

Each Continent should be in their own time zones as well. So if it is 5 AM on Indar it could be 7 PM on another continent.

The shortest I would want it would be a 5 hour cycle with 2 hour night and 3 hour days. I will also accept a 9 11 13 and 24 hour cycle.

I have thought about this quite a bit, and I believe these will work. The night doesn't look so bad that it is unplayable, and with each continent in different timezones, you could easily swap over. They just need to make sure to leave room for other continents in the time zones, but they always just say it is farther south or such.

Also I think day should last longer than night. Either that or have seasons. That way during Auraxian winter, nights are longer than days, and in summer, days are longer than nights, with spring and fall equals.

When I sit down to play a game, I'll be there for a while. I don't want the day and night swapping every half hour. It would be more annoying than anything, if it's too fast. It makes the night feels like a novelty instead of awesomeness. It has to be something that you think about, and take into account when playing. Not something that you notice when it's almost gone. They want to make night something you have to plan for, but if it lasts for almost nothing, then there is no reason to think about it.

Then they just need to decide how long an Auraxian year is.

TLDR: 5 7 9 11 13 or 24 hour cycle. In-game Timezones, and seasonal changes such as shorter days in winter.

[Dagron]

7 hours is the length it should be. 3 hour nights and 4 hour days. The cycle would reset every 7 days. If you were to log on at the same time every day and play for 1 hour, you would experience a total day in one week.

Each Continent should be in their own time zones as well. So if it is 5 AM on Indar it could be 7 PM on another continent.

I completely agree with this part.
What i like about a 7 hour cycle is that it makes it easier to create a weekly day/night cycle schedule.

See my post near the top of this page where i quote the guy who pointed that out.



Also I think day should last longer than night. Either that or have seasons. That way during Auraxian winter, nights are longer than days, and in summer, days are longer than nights, with spring and fall equals.

Previously i didn't care for days and nights having different durations, but the seasons thing does sound interesting. It'd be great to have a time of the year when nights were longer than days.


When I sit down to play a game, I'll be there for a while. I don't want the day and night swapping every half hour. It would be more annoying than anything, if it's too fast. It makes the night feels like a novelty instead of awesomeness. It has to be something that you think about, and take into account when playing. Not something that you notice when it's almost gone. They want to make night something you have to plan for, but if it lasts for almost nothing, then there is no reason to think about it.

100% with you in this too.

[NewSith]

I'm just going to copy paste my comments from the other topic to this one.

7 hours is the length it should be. 3 hour nights and 4 hour days. The cycle would reset every 7 days. If you were to log on at the same time every day and play for 1 hour, you would experience a total day in one week.

Each Continent should be in their own time zones as well. So if it is 5 AM on Indar it could be 7 PM on another continent.

The shortest I would want it would be a 5 hour cycle with 2 hour night and 3 hour days. I will also accept a 9 11 13 and 24 hour cycle.

I have thought about this quite a bit, and I believe these will work. The night doesn't look so bad that it is unplayable, and with each continent in different timezones, you could easily swap over. They just need to make sure to leave room for other continents in the time zones, but they always just say it is farther south or such.

Also I think day should last longer than night. Either that or have seasons. That way during Auraxian winter, nights are longer than days, and in summer, days are longer than nights, with spring and fall equals.

When I sit down to play a game, I'll be there for a while. I don't want the day and night swapping every half hour. It would be more annoying than anything, if it's too fast. It makes the night feels like a novelty instead of awesomeness. It has to be something that you think about, and take into account when playing. Not something that you notice when it's almost gone. They want to make night something you have to plan for, but if it lasts for almost nothing, then there is no reason to think about it.

Then they just need to decide how long an Auraxian year is.

TLDR: 5 7 9 11 13 or 24 hour cycle. In-game Timezones, and seasonal changes such as shorter days in winter.

9 is weird simply because it loops faster than others, - 9/24=3/8. You have to take x/24 fraction that you can't cancel down.

[Boltzmann]

I feel like the day/night cycle should depend on continents, just like in our planet and also so that players who for example prefer longer nights can go to one continent and players who prefer short nights can go to a different one.

Over all I think a day's length should be 6 hours, so that in a day, we'd have 4 game days, which means people from different timezones get to play during both ingame daylight and ingame night time.

-On the more icy continent the nights should be longer, so imagine 4 hours night and 2 hours day
-On the more desert-like continent it would be reversed, maybe even 5h daylight and 1h night
-On the more tropical continent the day and night times should be balanced, as in 3h/3h.

Something similar to this would be cool.

EDIT: Also:
-An addicted player would play all day, meaning 8-10 hours of gameplay, which means he would play through 2 days and 2 nights at most.
-A casual player can play from 1 to 3 hours, so he could play through a day, through a night or at most through a day and a night. If he finds that he only has 1 hour to play and its night and he hates night, he could always play on a continent where the night is 1 hour and he might end up seeing the sun for half of his play time.
-A balanced player would play from 4 to 6 hours and play through a day and a night, or maybe two days and a night, or two nights and a day, depending on the time he starts playing.

This means everyone gets to see the day/night cycle change whenever they play and at most they'll see that change two or three times which is not annoying, lower rates would mean that casual players would be forced to play through day or night, and not experience the change so often.

[berzerkerking]

moar epic night battles

[Lord Paladin]

I really prefer the 7 hour cycle.

1) because it would vary day by day (I'm a player who would play when I get home from work, so say 7-11 on a good night).

2) I can schedule it week to week. (This week, my outfit is doing a night raid on Indar's tech plant!)

IMHO it's the best option across the board to please as many people as possible. Plus, you get 2 days a week we're you're in that transition, 2 days where you're full day, and 2 days where you're full night.

+1 internets for the guy who made that awesome graphic showing the cycles and play time.

[Rat]

I also think the day cycle should be longer than the night, while the night fighting is going to pertty cool at first, I feel that it isnt going to take long for that novelty to wear off, and the night fighting is going to end up being a pain in the ass.

[SFJake]

Gah, make an in-game calendar or something that tells you when day and night starts exactly and we can avoid all that messy "planning" mess.

[RoninOni]

well I voted with the majority it looks like :P

I think a 6 hour cycle would be best off hand.... with 2 hr nights and 3 hour days and 30 minute Dawn/Dusk transitions.

Maybe 8 hour cycle, 2 hour nights, 4 hour days, 1 hour dawn & dusk.


These are arbitrary, pulled out of the air figures... but I think 3-4 cycles per day would be best.

[Papscal]

Silly and impossible poll to answer if your not in beta.