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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
The night was much too bright imo.
Love the night/day cycle, I feel it's important for breaking up the world and ambiance.
What aspects of the day & night cycle w/ constellations are important to you?
The fact that the night actually means something is a great addition. Seeing constellations and interacting with them is great.
Are there examples of day & night cycles in other games that you feel are done well? If so, in what ways?
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the day & night cycle w/ constellations?
Would love to see that night brings on a higher difficulty in some areas much like Kithicor Forest was in EQ1
Keep it all hush hush and mysterious!! YES!
The night was brighter than I expected, so I don't mind if it's darker - but certainly not any brighter.
Night sky was BEAUTIFUL! And cool to see that the big moon has phases.
edit: perhaps the brightness of the night can be influenced by the phases of the moons? (kinda like IRL)
Can I suggest that when you're designing Summoners, please consider a "Celestial Summon" that takes the form of the Verran Zodiacs - or perhaps make it a Vek racial augment that supports can attach to their buffs to apply bonuses that vary with the stars?
This is a really fun idea!
Also would love to see how it looks like at night when it's snowing.
I think on a nice clear night, maybe during certain stages of the lunar cycle, nights should be relatively bright with good visibility.
However, different points in the lunar cycle or if there is overcast/rain you could darken the night to the point where carrying torches might be necessary. Would also be cool to get a potion or something that increases night-vision during these conditions aswell.
I could agree on that, but there's at least 3 moons right now.. and they seem to be dangerously close to Verra's orbit
Stephen said they will still work on the moons anyway
Since moons are a work in progress, let's talk moons for a little bit
Moons need the idea of Rayleigh scattering or be faded or have a layer of the same color of the sky or do the whole thing:
For now it is a sticker glued to the sky, I can see it's just a placeholder for now
LMAO
AoC placeholder, the placeholder itself is bad because Verra's shadow on the moon is a straight line and not curved shadow LOL
Is Verra a flat earth?
That shadow proves it is
Witcher 3 final product, this is the goal boys
Here is an image and video from red dead redemption 2.
I think this is good because it gives immersion to the world. Examples: Casters using magic can give away their location, stealthy characters can hide in the shadows, Transporting goods with caravans at night would be a bad idea and very risky, being spotted by another ship in the ocean because they see your lights, the idea of using spells that light up an area around you, or attach a lantern to your hip (or hold a torch). Etc. Just dark enough to want to use torches, lanterns, and magic. Just my thoughts on the matter..
Anything darker would make an MMORPG annoying to play for the average person. Like... I don't want to log in to the game and find out I want to wait an hour for daytime to do wilderness activities. I'm looking forward to having a few dungeons that are dark, but I don't want to deal with darkness on a daily basis. It would be exhausting. I play MMOs to relax most of the time, not to suffer from repeated fog of war anxiety.
I have to be honest & brutal here Constellations are Useless, Not Important in any way shape or form!, a meme that only lore junkies & RP'ers who are the literally scum of the MMO world & ruin MMOS, would actually care about it. So to bring that into perspective as long as it doesn't affect my ability to play with stupid buffs, stupid events, stupid need to find them or items, During night hours rather than anytime at all e.t.c. they should remain a great optional novelty to please everyone.
As for day to night I want to say a balance in time, but that's not correct as you have Evening & Dawn so night is realistic 9 hours & Daylight 15 hours Ruffly converted into game time, Assuming you want a Earths rotation in game. To much night play is tedious, but if you are going for tedious then buff the mobs at night & give us the full cancer experience.
The only important part of a night cycle is the ability to actually see in it, As Black Desert Online KR with its lanterns showed us, Pitch black & even with a lantern was Pure Cancer to play in a game with repair costs, hence the nerfing to greyscales & eventual removal.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the day & night cycle w/ constellations?
Are you familiar with ArghanionsPuzzlebox work in space settings with UE5? It shows the night cycle & sky would be taken up another level entirely.
I felt the brightness levels during the night were too high. I didn't feel much of a change in
atmosphere or tone when it transitioned from day to night, even in the cemetery with the fog.
What aspects of the day & night cycle w/ constellations are important to you?
Darker nights create more tension and force a higher level of alertness on the player due to
lower visibility. I am picturing caravan raids or other pvp battles having a different feeling
at night than during the day. It doesn't need to be pitch black but at least dark enough
that it has some kind of impact on the player.
Darker nights can also affect the gathering experience. Trees/plants/animals could be more difficult to see
if the nights are darker. This could lead to a different experience for gatherers playing at night.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the day & night cycle w/ constellations?
I am excited for how the day/night cycle affects the ingame systems, events and monsters.
I am concerned that the night will not feel much different than the day and the entire day/night cycle
will not amount to much in the end. Especially if the day/night is cycling every few hours as mentioned
on the stream.
True.
But all 3 moons do appear to vary on their size hence they are likely not sharing totally similar orbits. So at some point its probably not unrealistic that they may be low in the sky or not present at all.
I think if this where to become a thing, The darker nights would be a lot rarer (again 3 moons) occurring only once or twice during a season. So maybe once every other week there's a day where nights are exceptionally dark. If there's a lunar calendar to go along with the astrology elements that have already been talked about, It would be something players would know is coming. Maybe have some cool event tied to it, to encourage players to wander out in the pitch black night.
Even tough the 3 moons were in the stream... would be EXTREMELY odd having all 3 moons in the sky after launching the game since they SHOULD have different orbits and speeds
Even our Moon around Earth can traverse in different speeds and I met many people who are +20 years old who never noticed that sometimes the moon is in the sky during the day
The night cycle is too bright. It looked like the day brightness even though it had darker colors.
I agree with Steven in that truly dark night cycles should have an option for torches; and, since torches and such will not be in the game the game should not be truly dark at night. However, I do like darker night cycles. IMO, reducing max view distance by 50% at night and having players actually fade into the shadows (at least at a distance) is a good thing. It just looks right.
What aspects of the day & night cycle w/ constellations are important to you?
Even though it was not mentioned, I like the idea of navigating by constellations. Of course, that would mean no compass and another method of navigating during the day. I'm guessing that were probably not going that way.
Are there examples of day & night cycles in other games that you feel are done well? If so, in what ways?
I'm pretty sure I liked the appearance of night in Oblivion; but, its had to remember as it has been a long time. Plus I'm pretty sure it had torches.
Night isn't Night in this game. So many MMOs prior to this one never truly designed a night time environment where it was truly dark, and one couldn't see much farther than you could throw @StevenSharif ..
Thus AoC isn't doing anything new here truly. In fact, it even seems a bit brighter than a lot of MMOs.
Look. I'm all for *times* where the whole night sky is lit up by a moon or two. I'm not saying night should always be perpetual darkness.
What I am basically saying here, is that so much opportunity is being lost in regards to gameplay and immersion without a true dark night.
Torches or Lanterns would be required, and or bringing along your trusty wizard who can cast a light spell..
Monsters and weird sounds lurking around in the night, where you don't know if you'll be suddenly attacked from something from behind you or out from some bushes.
There's nothing ground-breaking or interesting when mobs are just standing around waiting to be killed, with large tags above their heads, clearly visible in the night time..
Mobs having a day/night cycle would be amazing. You'd only find certain nocturnal creatures at night while typical day time creatures may be slumbering. Perhaps humanoid mobs might camp and be less aware at night. Night could buff player stealth abilities. Like someone suggested, maybe undead mobs could be buffed at night.
Great work so far!
I would like to see the dynamic lighting have more of an effect on the level of brightness. It feels too bright and generally glowy for me.
Night sky looking good!
I think the shown level of darkness is good if all the moons were in the sky, but still have it become darker in forests.
When there are no moons in the sky, i think something a touch darker than Darkfall's level of night would be interesting
Dark enough that someone wearing dark clothing with no metallic bits can blend into the shadows without using any skills (active or passive).
I remember at the launch of Darkfall (1), we had large roving groups looking for pvp and when night fell, it wasn't uncommon for groups to suddenly find themselves ontop of each other sparking quite a bit of chaos (and fun). It's sad how that game was handled....
Overall would not be overly upset if everything shown was kept as it though.
A) I like the outside darkness level as it was in the stream. It's dark, but not too dark i have to slide the gamma slider to max.
Q) What aspects of the day & night cycle w/ constellations are important to you?
A) Merely that the periods of time during the day and night get different ambience. I'm indifferent about the constellations at the moment.
Q) Are there examples of day & night cycles in other games that you feel are done well? If so, in what ways?
A) The only thing i can think of is the beautiful nightsky of Skyrim. Auroras, galaxies, stars and gorgeous colors.
Q) Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the day & night cycle w/ constellations?
A) It's not very "fantasy". I'd love for the skies/nightskies to be something you'd only experience on Verra. This image from Skyrim's nightsky just screams fantasy to me. Something you could only really experience if you'd or play in that world
It would also be really cool if some places, like the graveyard here had more of a fog, that could prevent players from seeing far. Like the fog maps in pubg for instance. Something like that could add a lot to the immersion and "creepiness" of being in a graveyard, while also adding another layer to gameplay like having to progress more carefully to not pull too many mobs or running into an ambush by other players or npc:s.
1.) The day night cycle looks great but I think the brightness could be turned down a bit. Even better would be varying levels of brightness depending on cloud coverages. Making nights darker will make other light sources more pronounced which can great a very good atmosphere.
2.) What I do like about day/night cycles in other games is the impact on the game itself. Not only varying what kind of mobs can spawn but perhaps even altering the behaviour of some mobs (Zombies might be more sluggish during the day but faster at night for example). Likewise time of day should impact whether a certain quest is available or not.
3.) I don't have a whole lot to add regarding constellations other than the fact that they look great.
I don't think you should go survival levels with night time, but I think it should be darker and more dangerous.
[A] Every game should have this, nice to see you're doing it and making it visually interesting on top of the standard game. But please make night darker. Give people light source options, but make it hard to see at night. As others have suggested, adding varying levels of darkness via cloud cover or weather should be a thing. Maybe it's brighter on a full moon and the stars are a bit harder to see. If there's a storm with lightning, have flashes of light that illuminate the darkness that, due tot he cloud cover, is VERY dark.
[Q] What aspects of the day & night cycle w/ constellations are important to you?
[A] I would like to see more done with this. For example, spells that are strong during different phases of the moon, maybe have blood moons that do or have unique impacts on magic and the world. Same with the constellations, but maybe they're more like guides or used in types of in game rituals. Monsters that are stronger at night vs in day light would also be a neat add.
[Q] Are there examples of day & night cycles in other games that you feel are done well? If so, in what ways?
[A] A lot of games have done it, but only a few have ever added aspects of the day/night cycles that impact actual gameplay in a meaningful way. Like V Rising is an example of a recent game that did it well.
[Q] Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the day & night cycle w/ constellations?
[A] My only concern is that this won't be utilized in a meaningful way and it'll just be cosmetic in nature.
I love that you guys plan to have a night and day cycle in addition to a season cycle. However, this game is not supposed to be a simulator if I understand it correctly, so I strongly believe this is just an aesthetic effect that is supposed to immerse the player and if this is correct you should not force it every few hours, it should definitely be 1:1 to a server/region time with one day cycle and one night one during each day. I'd apply the same principles to seasons as well.
I play dayZ (simulator) where this feature actually affects gameplay a lot and most people just log out during the night cycle which is a shame but what I'm trying to say is just do not make this change often, it will feel bad.
However you can use these (including the time speed you can do) as a part of events, or something "local" so there could be a night in a certain area as a part of the quest and we can "cure" the region or something like that. This would feel good I bet.
the constellations part is really not something that interests me in particular but if you tight it to some rewarding gameplay I'd at least give it a try... perhaps some treasure hunt, making stars to pinpoint location perhaps... some Nicolas Cage stuff would feel nice I think, add puzzles to it and I'd love it
keep up the good work
As for the day/night cycle, I love that the cycles will shift multiple times within 24 real life hours. I'm hoping maybe every 3 hours for the shift so that you can get a variety of gameplay experiences.
I loved the constellations! I think they're going to be really interesting! I want to know more about them!!
For games with a day/night cycle that I really like I think what stands out most for me are the second gen Pokemon games that have different spawns at day and night and Final Fantasy 11 that had additional, more dangerous mobs spawn during night also obviously fishing mechanics in many, many games are depended on day and night cycles too.
I do like the idea of constellations and them having an impact on node progression but Im not sold on the idea on them being based on jokes and memes so I hope what we saw on stream was just a placeholder or that the joke constelations will just be a small portion of that content.
I don't think the lighting was too bright. It looked like a night with a full moon. However, it would be nice for this to be the upper limit on brightness. Other nights could be slightly darker depending on what the moons and clouds are doing.
I do not understand how the constellations work. I'm excited for items/abilities to be affected by constellations/seasons because they will make the state of the world important, but I'd like to hear more details.
The constellation system has huge potential for treasure-hunt style quests. Perhaps you can reveal a secret door by playing a particular song in a special location while a certain constellation is active in the sky...
I'd also like it if astronomy caused some nights to be extra-special. Perhaps you can only forge the Dawnhammer using an anvil on top of Verra's highest mountain during a conjunction of the shattered moon and Dawnbreaker's eye.
It's cool. I think the level of darkness at night is about right, because you're not trying to make a horror/survival game here. At least, not in general. You could still have areas that get darker if that sort of ambiance fits the tone of the story around that area.
- What aspects of the day & night cycle w/ constellations are important to you?
One thought/question I had was how will this interact with the weather/seasons systems? If it's winter and there's a big blizzard going, with the sky be further darkened with clouds? One of the reasons I think I like the general level of darkness at night with a clear sky and no weather is that it gives you the opportunity to go darker with heavy clouds/weather, rain/snow, fog, and other effects
- Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the day & night cycle w/ constellations?
Just how integral are the constellations to quest objectives? Would I potentially be sent on a mission to observe the "Sun Dahl" constellation? What happens if I arrive too late and am unable to observe it? Am I stuck waiting around for hours for the day/night cycle to repeat in order to complete the quest? Or would it be more along the lines of an optional/bonus quest where if I miss it, it's not that big of a deal?
- Final Thoughts
I hope you find a way to "stagger" the day night cycles from day to day so that, if I always log in at say, 7 PM, I'm not always logging in during a night cycle or day cycle. Especially if there are going to be quests that require being completed during a certain part of the day/night cycle. While your hardcore players that play for 8 hours a day won't have a problem with it, those who only play 1-2 hours a day (or less) might.
I would also say it's probably best to minimize quests/things that require completion at specific times of the day/night cycle. While it is a cool gimmick that could be used for some interesting mechanics, I can also see it wearing out it's welcome real quickly if you lean too hard into it.
For constellation mechanics I have more questions than answers so I'm wait an see at this point. I did have some input on usage that I posted in someone else's thread:
- I love the idea of a day night cycle being important. It's a relatively simple mechanic, that if done properly can add a lot of depth to gameplay. You're adding at minimum 2 different world states, and can easily expand this to a multitude of different states. (Using a "clock" can allow for the addition of specific time based spawns. Particular wraith only appears at 3 a.m., particular plant only blooms at exactly noon. A moon cycle can also add a special rarity to certain constellations and spawns, particular constellation is only visible when one of the moons are in their new moon state, or a spawn only appears at midnight when all moons are full etc...)
- Immersion, meaningfulness, and variability. While I agree that having a darker night cycle can be problematic, I don't think that should be looked at as a bad thing. Nighttime should be a more dangerous time to adventure, and the rewards for doing so should be greater.
This allows for more in depth mechanics, and adds another level of planning requirements. If you're going to venture outside of town, make sure you talked to your crafting friend and stocked up on torches/scrolls of candlelight, got a light enchantment on your staff/shield/ring, etc...
For PVP, sure the rogue will have some advantages to trying to use nighttime to their advantage, but it will be just as dark for them, and if they use something to generate light, they lose that advantage. Make magic/alchemical items that give night vision non existent or very rare.
I personally love beating something that is more difficult, and I believe that many other players also feel this way. Making nighttime dark enough that it's necessary to plan for it, adds some of this in zones that don't always have to have high levels of difficulty. A zone can be moderate difficulty during day state, but the lack of light can cause this to be high difficulty during the night state. If I have my torch out I can't use my bow, or shield, or cast certain spells that require two hands, etc... Did I bring enough torches, scrolls etc... Should I spend the money to get a light enchantment on my equipment instead of buying that new sword? Which piece of equipment should I spend an enchantment slot on?
Consumables, for lighting can be low level, which will keep low leveling artisan crafts in the economy for high level players.
-Final Fantasy XIV did a great job of making the day night cycle important in relation to crafting/questing. Certain resources/mobs only spawn during specific time windows.
I'd like to preface this one by saying that I don't think this light level should be limited to only cave environments.
Elden Ring caves give a good example of how dark environments can add depth, danger, and immersion. (I hope it's okay to do this, here is a link to a video showcasing what I'm talking about https://youtube.com/watch?v=ocUHGxIhczM). In particularly I like how the spells and magic affects light up the area, and you have to consider whether or not you're going to use one of your equipment/skill slots for an item that gives off light, or pursue the enemy outside the zone of a static that gives off light.
- I'm excited for the layering of mechanics and immersion that the systems can add to the game. I'm concerned with the possibility of the systems not being as meaningful as they can be.