Guild Wars 2

Pretty much what it says on the tin. The way the day/night cycle is currently implemented (each individual zone has its own clock) is just plain silly and counter-intuitive. This is a far cry from a show-stopper, but that’s why I’m putting it into “Suggestions.”

For the people who care about immersion, it’s very jarring to, for example, walk through the Divinity’s Reach Asura Gate at high noon and find that it’s almost midnight in Lion’s Arch.

I haven’t been able to definitively verify this, but I’ve read and observed that certain events and mob spawns are tied to whether it is currently day or night. At least one entire weapon set changes appearance based on day/night status, and I’ve been told that the same set also has varying status effects based on whether it is day or night (though my own research seems to indicate that these effects were removed during beta). In any event, it’s clear that ANet wanted the day/night cycle to be more than just a moving skybox.

My suggestion is that day/night cycles across all zones an outdoors instances be tied to a single serverwide clock, rather than the individual instance-by-instance clocks in use currently.

Agreed. I’d go one step further and suggest that the full cycle fits exactly into a 23 hour period (eg an 11h 30 min cycle, or a 7h 40m one) so that people who can only log in at a specific time of day still have variation in what part of the cycle they play.

+1 for time synchronization across the server
Also would like to have a way to determine in-game time

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

Agreed. I’d go one step further and suggest that the full cycle fits exactly into a 23 hour period (eg an 11h 30 min cycle, or a 7h 40m one) so that people who can only log in at a specific time of day still have variation in what part of the cycle they play.

Good suggestion. I’ve heard that it’s currently on a two-hour timer with 80 minutes of day and 40 of night. Of course, with each instance running individually as they do currently, players presumably end up spending approximately 1/3 of their gameplay at night, regardless of actual real time. But yes, it would be a fantastic idea if we ever see time unified cross-instances.

Orion Templar.4589:

+1 for time synchronization across the server
Also would like to have a way to determine in-game time

I agree, it would be nice to be able to tell the server time. Possibly a variation on the /time command?

Another interesting thread (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Day-Night-Cycle/first) discussed this same topic and the possibility of making night more distinctly nocturnal. I agree with synchronizing the cycles, but I do feel that a lot more can be done ontop of it.

CureForLiving.5360:

Another interesting thread (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Day-Night-Cycle/first) discussed this same topic and the possibility of making night more distinctly nocturnal. I agree with synchronizing the cycles, but I do feel that a lot more can be done ontop of it.

Thank you for that link. I had found an even older thread upon using the search function, but it had been inactive for at least two months and didn’t bring up the specific issue of cross-instance synchronization. Somehow I managed to miss the one you posted.

There are some excellent ideas in there, and I hope that some of them have by now made it to ANet’s ears.

I don’t know if it’s already been said or not, but maybe have different time zones divided across Tyria, so it’s half and half

THExMUFFINxMANx.1204:

I don’t know if it’s already been said or not, but maybe have different time zones divided across Tyria, so it’s half and half

Not a bad idea, but I for one would prefer to see an asymmetric server/real time clock, like Snoring suggested. One of the primary points of unifying the clocks across instances is to restore immersion, and the world map is certainly not large enough to be half in day and half in night at all times.

THExMUFFINxMANx.1204:

I don’t know if it’s already been said or not, but maybe have different time zones divided across Tyria, so it’s half and half

You haven’t seen how little of the planet we have access to.

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

THExMUFFINxMANx.1204:

I don’t know if it’s already been said or not, but maybe have different time zones divided across Tyria, so it’s half and half

You haven’t seen how little of the planet we have access to.

and that’s just Tyria never mind Cantha or Elona. I would however suggest that different regions ( Ascalon, Kryta etc ) be more uniform

And can we please have names for the Days! What kind of moronic oversight is that? Everyday is always today because my clock doesn’t display a named day.

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