How DARK do you want the "Dark of Night" to be?

ArchivedUser

I've played a few RPG's where the idea of nighttime was 2 to 3 times brighter than the full. moon.   This has me thinking, what should the darkness of night, instead of being the same... vary with the phases of the moon and heavens in Verra?   Will there be phases of the heavens even in Verra?
Full Moon  = Standard MMO overly bright but enough dark to give the concept of night
Phases of moon = Corresponding percentage of darkening compared to the full moon
New Moon = Think dark, way out in the country, only the stars to light you (and maybe an occasional aurora)  hardest phase to find things.


OR 

perma bright night, no moon phases: aka "lemme grind on my monster mats, screw nighttime"

ArchivedUser

Well, we do have the multiple statements by Steven during the mmo reveal footage that the dynamic lighting was broken and first pass iteration, that night will not appear like it did in the video. So more a wait and see. We do know that they have said that spawn tables will vary based on time of day. So before you ask for it to be pitch black think about whether playing a version of some horror jump scare constantly is what you want.

ArchivedUser

I would like it if during the night, out in the open it wasnt too dark.
Within a couple of days it gets annoying having to use a torch and look silly like a firefly.

I would like it if inside most forests it was really dark. This would make forests very interesting to be in. Scared of dark forests? Get a torch and go in.

I would like it if inside caves (not underground areas), it was really really really dark.

ArchivedUser

I don't want it to ever be so dark that you need a torch (except maybe in caves, id prefer a light spell)
In real life if never gets so dark you cant see anything, our eyes adapt.

ArchivedUser

gb1990gaming said:

I would like it if during the night, out in the open it wasnt too dark.
Within a couple of days it gets annoying having to use a torch and look silly like a firefly.

I would like it if inside most forests it was really dark. This would make forests very interesting to be in. Scared of dark forests? Get a torch and go in.

I would like it if inside caves (not underground areas), it was really really really dark.

Would be awesome if somehow some tree creatures would be more likely to start attacking you because of your torch. Trees hate fire

ArchivedUser

Moomoomilk said:

gb1990gaming said:

I would like it if during the night, out in the open it wasnt too dark.
Within a couple of days it gets annoying having to use a torch and look silly like a firefly.

I would like it if inside most forests it was really dark. This would make forests very interesting to be in. Scared of dark forests? Get a torch and go in.

I would like it if inside caves (not underground areas), it was really really really dark.

Would be awesome if somehow some tree creatures would be more likely to start attacking you because of your torch. Trees hate fire

Would be awsome if forests were trully intimidating. True fear

ArchivedUser

It would be a great feeling that depends on the moon there is more or less light, although it would be a problem to get into a forest full of monsters without seeing!

ArchivedUser

I like the dimming/darkening aspects mentioned here, but there are those that just adjust the settings on the monitors/pcs to account for that. As @Grimseethe stated, if we are outside as the sun sets and night comes in our eyes adjust.

Are we reading without light? No.
Do we need a torch to walk on a clear and opened path? No.
Do we know who is on the road if they don't have a torch? No.

In this case it could be fun to go dark or go home. Is that shadowy thing running towards you a player or a creature? Better attack it just to be sure..

I do like the considerations given to thick canopies or being underground, outside of bio-luminescence those places should be dark.

ArchivedUser

I appreciate the idea of a darker night then in most games alot . Would level up the immersion for sure . Also creatures that are more likly to hunt at night would be awesome .

ArchivedUser

I'd like my night dark and bitter. On Halloween it's a jump scare night.

ArchivedUser

It's gotta be dark alright. Players should be forced to carry a torch of some kind with them. Forget your torch before venturing? Sorry but you're sitting in the dark

ArchivedUser

Grimseethe said:

I don't want it to ever be so dark that you need a torch (except maybe in caves, id prefer a light spell)
In real life if never gets so dark you cant see anything, our eyes adapt.

Those last couple lines made me facepalm so hard that it left a bruise.

ArchivedUser

Their underrealm is fairly dark. Something close to that would be fine with me.

ArchivedUser

VoidShadow said:

Their underrealm is fairly dark. Something close to that would be fine with me.

The underrealm has a lot of bioluminescent plants but I see what you mean

ArchivedUser

nagash said:

VoidShadow said:

Their underrealm is fairly dark. Something close to that would be fine with me.

The underrealm has a lot of bioluminescent plants but I see what you mean

Yeah i imagine night in a forest to be the equivalent of the underrealm if you removed 50-60% of the bioluminescent plants from there. Of course they can always add lighting plants and animals just about everywhere if they wanted.

ArchivedUser

A very Dark night, even darker than what BDO's night used to be where you actually needed some form of light or you would get completely lost before they removed it!!

ArchivedUser

Azrael007 said:

Grimseethe said:

I don't want it to ever be so dark that you need a torch (except maybe in caves, id prefer a light spell)
In real life if never gets so dark you cant see anything, our eyes adapt.

Those last couple lines made me facepalm so hard that it left a bruise.

That's your burden kid, nothing was to said to warrant such a response.

ArchivedUser

Were going to have seasons so might as well set it up around them.
Summer you can handle easily without light sources and would be the optimal time for discovering.
Autumn, winter and spring require a light source if u want to go wandering in the woods at night. When theres snow the visibility is a bit better. Daytime lasts only a few hours near the polar circles during autumn and winter.

What I think is more important than that is what the light sources will be and how you gain them.
Will light sources be perks from quests, crafted, light magic from religious node, wizards fire magic trapped in a jar, fireflies..?

ArchivedUser

Torches, lanterns, and magical lighting effects should be useful and sometimes necessary. They should also make you a target for anything that stalks the night or dark places.

ArchivedUser

If I can see anything at night , I will stop playing!

ArchivedUser

BCGiant said:

If I can see anything at night , I will stop playing!

Guess you shouldn't play video games anymore because they make sure you can always see your UI

ArchivedUser

BCGiant said:

If I can see anything at night , I will stop playing!

They already released a nighttime Addon for this to make shure you can't see anything at night:

ArchivedUser

I would love real darkness, enchanting an item to glow or make a simple torch shouldn't be an issue. I'd be stoked for that.

Also this would make skills or racial traits like night vision an option. Really gives me a D&D vibe, love it^^

ArchivedUser

BCGiant said:

If I can see anything at night , I will stop playing!

@BCGiant Maybe just throw some salt in your eyes at night.  

ArchivedUser

I think there is potential to play with darkness in many ways than just light levels.

View distance or more accurately silhouette range.

How rapid the fall off is between silhouette and some semblance of colour.

Out in the open the silhouette range could be far, but colour falloff might be within a few feet in a cave without light of any kind.

Essentially what we need to get really interesting is...

1. View distance (black&white silhouette).

2. Black & white falloff (50 shades of grey).

3. Colour falloff.

Supplementary corporeal of aetherial lighting could enhance falloff range as well as racials.

ArchivedUser

BCGiant said:

If I can see anything at night , I will stop playing!

Some warlock you are ^^

ArchivedUser

I hope that the middle of night is very dark. Not complete black, but pretty close.

I also hope that various abilities exist to help with night time visibility. Glowing effects, magical lights, improved nightvision, etc.Maybe as simple as including equipment like a torch.

Imagine Tulnar have improved nightvision, for example, because of living underground for so long. So for a Tulnar it doesn't seem to get quite as dark as it would for a Human. There is thematic precedent for Elves or Dwarves to have something similar. Heck maybe even rangers do too.

Or a Mage/Summoner/Cleric can create magical floating lights that illuminate the area or have glowing auras/pets etc. 

There could even be the possibility of spells/effects that do the opposite too! Make it darker and harder to see.

Keep in mind, with action combat, visibility is crucial to accuracy. If a Mage/Rogue or similar class can make flickering shadows all over the place, it'd be one heck of an advantage.

I hope they make the whole range of lighting from dark to super bright. And hope there is a variety of effects that interact with it.

ArchivedUser

In case people had not read this:
"Darkness also functions as a really interesting environmental obstacle, and we’ve had some happy accidents in the office to move us in this direction. How deeply we take this though is really going to come down to how much fun it actually is, which we’re still in the process of discovering. As long as we can nail some interesting mechanics, and it’s not more frustrating than fun, make sure you bring your torch." 
https://www.mmogames.com/gamearticles/interview-ashes-of-creation-on-building-their-virtual-world/

I for one would love darkness mechanics and multiple ways of addressing them (potions, magic, torches etc). But I like a lot of the ideas mentioned here, the effects of darkness and its interaction with light does not need to be one dimensional.

I do really think in dungeons/caves there should be some lighting mechanics (for some dungeons/some parts). I personally like the idea of having to prepare for a dungeon experience. Making sure you have torches, the right equipment, sufficient resources to repair gear in case you die too much or similar mechanics where you can invest/prepare for a nice dungeon crawl experience.

ArchivedUser

Personally I would like to see the nights being actually dark, where players will have to use either items or spells to illuminate the path. 
My experience comes from Skyrim where I modded the nights to be realistically dark. 
Full moon and clear skies? you can see pretty decently. 
Cloudy weather at night? good luck without a torch. 

This paired with a dangerous world, created some really cool gameplay moments and choices. How much gear do I bring with me? do I risk to travel at night? 
I got some really exciting moments when being ambushed by wolves standing on a rock and just trying to guess which directions they where coming from while I was at 10% health. What made it even more awesome was there was thunder storm going on, so small flashes gave me little hints on the exact location of the wolves. 

However, that was in a single player game where I modded a lot of survival mechanics into it, which blended well together. 

Ashes is different it is a MMO, So I would just stick to what IS stated, try it and see how it pans out. If it works and adds to the game play and immersion then iI am all for it. 
If it just turns out to be annoying and a arbitrary obstruction chuck it out of the window.

But in my opinion it does warrant at the least testing.  

Here are some screenshots, of different variation of intensity affected by weather conditions, sadly don't have an example where it is clouded/raining in the night, but you would not see anything anyway :P. 

ArchivedUser

Dark enough so you notice it is night time and light sources are appreciated, but not too dark so you actually can't see anything and are instructed to carry lanterns as in BDO.

ArchivedUser

.I want a variety of darkness. I love the feeling of using a torch, and you have very limited sight. Makes it scary in the right atmosphere. I remember playing swg and one of the best moments was being on a very hostile planet with monsters, hiding in the dark with your group under a small light, raining around you, sounds, eyes suddenly appearing at you in the darkness.. it was super awesome. And only achieved through realllllly darknessss.. Please allow for realistic darkness in this game. People worrying about not seeing, dont.