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Lets talk seasons

VeeshanVeeshan Member, Alpha Two
in General Discussion
So we know seasons are gonna effect game play/resources/events and i wanted to know what do you guys think the ideal ingame year length (So all 4 seasons) in Real time, i feel currently its too short which has problems players who cant log in often will be seeing a new season every time they log in, resources that are season bases never in real demand cause by the time stock gets low that season you find them in is already back, i think you benefit better with longer seasons to allow people to stockpile spring resources to sell at a higher rate when there harder to come by such a winter

I feel the sweet spot is either 2 Months or 4 months fur an ingame year, this way there long enough for off resources to get used up and become scarce aswell as season based events/mobs to be played and long enough to feel the season are wizzing by for casuals. It also allows you to line up seasons so RL Christmas time always fall in a winter season which most people recognise as the christmas season (not me though im summer for me haha)

Here a poll if you wanna vote or you can comment below on what you think about the current season length of 1 week
https://strawpoll.com/polls/Dwyoqv5kLgA


Comments

  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    We've had this discussion here before, and for the most part people were split between wanting one week or two week long seasons - making for either 4 or 8 week long "years".

    The key thing to remember is the possibility of crafting components that may only be available in one given season. If this is the case, having 3 weeks where they are unable to be gathered is already a stretch. Extending that up to 6 weeks where they can't be gathered (or 12 weeks in your suggestion above) would necessitate those components be completely restricted to seasonal applications.

    If there is a 3 week period in which they are unavailable, that is able to be worked around even for crafted items that players consider essential to have.

    As to your point about some players that log in to the game infrequently having a different season each time they log in - keep in mind that the game is not designed with such players in mind and so they really don't need to be considered in such discussions.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Does Verra ony have 4 seasons?
  • NerrorNerror Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    1 month minimum per season, is what I want. 1 week is just way too short.
  • CawwCaww Member, Alpha Two
    If they could decide to do Northern and Southern Hemisphere seasons somehow by breaking up the map a little bit, then seasonal materials could be obtained but require some caravaning to move to the season-locked markets. If Verra is a flat planet then maybe the flat-earthers have a point....
  • GoalidGoalid Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Noaani wrote: »
    We've had this discussion here before, and for the most part people were split between wanting one week or two week long seasons - making for either 4 or 8 week long "years".

    The key thing to remember is the possibility of crafting components that may only be available in one given season. If this is the case, having 3 weeks where they are unable to be gathered is already a stretch. Extending that up to 6 weeks where they can't be gathered (or 12 weeks in your suggestion above) would necessitate those components be completely restricted to seasonal applications.

    If there is a 3 week period in which they are unavailable, that is able to be worked around even for crafted items that players consider essential to have.

    I think having resources be only available for 2 weeks out of 8 is actually a great way to make the economy dynamic. As long as there are sufficient, inferior substitute goods as well, it's not as if the whole server is suffering from a lack of that good. You have to remember as well, that the goods will be held by speculators who think they can make a profit from buying those resources to sell during a season they're not gatherable. And lastly, the game is basing the gathering / crafting off of Star Wars Galaxies, a game in which you may never see the same resource with a particular quality spawn again. Ever.
    Noaani wrote: »
    As to your point about some players that log in to the game infrequently having a different season each time they log in - keep in mind that the game is not designed with such players in mind and so they really don't need to be considered in such discussions.

    Where has this ever been stated? "The game isn't for everyone", but that doesn't mean the game is designed to have no place for casuals. All Steven means by the quote I believe you're thinking of, is they're not catering to casuals who want to change the core game design or trying to copy WoW.

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  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    Goalid wrote: »
    Where has this ever been stated? "The game isn't for everyone", but that doesn't mean the game is designed to have no place for casuals. All Steven means by the quote I believe you're thinking of, is they're not catering to casuals who want to change the core game design or trying to copy WoW.
    Keep in mind, the quote I am talking about here is in relation to a person logging on no more than one time per week.

    The game is very clearly not designed for this type of player.
  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    Dygz wrote: »
    Does Verra ony have 4 seasons?

    While it is possible there could be more, Steven has talked about all four seasons in the past, and has made no mention of the possibility of any additional seasons.

    It wouldn't be all that unique to have more than 4 seasons though - some EQ calendars (there were many in the original game) had as many as 16 seasons. I wrote a fairly detailed post about this back on the EQN forums when the developers asked how long an in game day should be (I gave them the "correct" answer down to the second).
  • CROW3CROW3 Member, Alpha Two
    Dygz wrote: »
    Does Verra ony have 4 seasons?

    Right on. Seasons are entirely arbitrary anyway - why not have 6?
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  • tautautautau Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Don't forget that seasons will not impact all biomes equally. Winter in the far north may prevent agriculture but in the tropics minter might not - though the pumpkins you grow up north might not grow very well at all in the tropics.
  • JustVineJustVine Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Now I really want a season called minter.
    Node coffers: Single Payer Capitalism in action
  • DrunkninjaDrunkninja Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I feel that 2 week long seasons are more reasonable than one. A lot of great examples here as to why, but I’m going to add a very practical one.

    I know a lot of people who work seven days straight and then have seven days off. While working 12 hour days they won’t have time to play what so ever. These players despite being a minority would only ever see two seasons a rotation for ever.

    I think bi-weekly seasonal change is def the way to go.
  • VoidwalkersVoidwalkers Member
    speaking of more than 4 seasons ...

    RL seasons are more or less combinations of hot/cold + wet/dry + wind direction climate cycles, it's the way it is becoz ... it is the way Earth is.

    So on Verra may be we could have some otherworldly climate cycle factors that also contribute to these combinations, e.g. seasonal variations in strength (or element, alignment, whatever) of ambient magic, creating some unique seasons like warm + humid (supposedly spring) but with a gusting flow of death magic through the area, resulting in a "spring of death" or something ...
  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    Voidwalkers wrote: »
    speaking of more than 4 seasons ...

    RL seasons are more or less combinations of hot/cold + wet/dry + wind direction climate cycles, it's the way it is becoz ... it is the way Earth is.

    So on Verra may be we could have some otherworldly climate cycle factors that also contribute to these combinations, e.g. seasonal variations in strength (or element, alignment, whatever) of ambient magic, creating some unique seasons like warm + humid (supposedly spring) but with a gusting flow of death magic through the area, resulting in a "spring of death" or something ...

    Yeah, assuming the game has more than four seasons, I am a fan of this.

    The multi-month calendar from EQ that I talked about above (I was mistaken, it has 12 seasons, not 16) has a period where volcanic activity is more pronounced. Sadly, this has not been represented in any EQ game to date.
  • JhorenJhoren Member
    Longer seasons than 1 week for sure. Around a month seems ok. Especially for the economic gameplay, 1 week is not nearly enough to feel the scarcity of crops not coming from a specific area due to winter, for example.
  • Enigmatic SageEnigmatic Sage Member
    It's really simple. four seasons, 12 months, the math works out.

    Doing it this way too can tie in some overlapping with some real world holidays/festivals as well as leave room for in-game events holidays in-case the developers wanted to do anything with that kind of stuff. Additionally to this, we dont really know the geography of the world of Verra.

    Spring = January - May - September
    Summer = February - June - October
    Autumn = March - July - November
    Winter = April - August - December

    Obviously not all months have the same amount of days so there could be some over lap in that sense.

    Having a season each month encourages trade between biomes/zones during off growth/harvest seasons. Gives players something to do and look forward to with planning for upcoming seasons.

    To me, this is the most obvious solution to it but that said, judging by the gradual change of weather presented lately, it could easily show it the transitions smoothly over a day to a week.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    No.
  • Enigmatic SageEnigmatic Sage Member
    Dygz wrote: »
    No.

    what an interesting rebuttal.. LOL
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