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Too bright? Needs to be darker in nighttime

I think even though it was only 7:30PM it should have been abit darker, hopefully when it gets to midnight it's muhc darker and perhaps you need skills or items to be able to see that far into the dark mists. Having a wolfs eyes just start to glow at you before you know how many mobs come from the darkness would be so good. Just seems you can see forever and have a spotlight currently on you even though it's suppose to be dark. The moon just seems too bright, hopefully it gets a change for the future. Also mob densisty needs a big increase :)
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Comments

  • I feel the dark just slows gameplay. Considering nighttime will work with servertime, so approx a third of the day will be night (although not sure yet), and night time is actually when most players are active, I feel this would cause more harm than good.
  • HalaeHalae Member, Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    Gui10 wrote: »
    I feel the dark just slows gameplay. Considering nighttime will work with servertime, so approx a third of the day will be night (although not sure yet), and night time is actually when most players are active, I feel this would cause more harm than good.

    Did they actually say it was directly linked and temporally locked with server time? I thought the way Steven phrased it meant that we were looking at a day/night cycle measured in "hours", rather than a one-to-one time with the day itself. I'll admit I was distracted at the time, though.
  • SerazeusSerazeus Member, Alpha Two
    I think they said when they were fast forwarding time that the day/night cycle would be every few hours, not tied to real-time/server time
  • Someone asked "is the day night cycle based on server time" and the answer was "yes".

    However, this remains unclear, since server time could also be accelerated, example 4 Verra days per actual real-time day, so I am unsure atm.

    Regardless, night time is a third or a fourth of the time if we take a 24 hour cycle, more or less. Which is a lot for it to be that dark outside!! Imho

    Maybe a peak darkness between midnight and 1 am ok that would be more acceptable.
  • SerazeusSerazeus Member, Alpha Two
    Gui10 wrote: »
    Someone asked "is the day night cycle based on server time" and the answer was "yes".

    However, this remains unclear, since server time could also be accelerated, example 4 Verra days per actual real-time day, so I am unsure atm.

    Regardless, night time is a third or a fourth of the time if we take a 24 hour cycle, more or less. Which is a lot for it to be that dark outside!! Imho

    Maybe a peak darkness between midnight and 1 am ok that would be more acceptable.

    Yeah, would be happy with that. Not the whole night for it to be dark, but in some areas, such as a graveyard, would have some cool benefits!
  • HalaeHalae Member, Alpha Two
    There is some sense to the nights being brightly lit, at least. Specifically, full moons tend to illuminate the night fairly well, and with three different moons, Verra has a severe leg-up in that regard. The debris from the shattered moon in particular could be a huge contributor to light scatter.
  • It's true that I personally felt the night as just a rainy day in the daytime and I would like to be able to tell the difference between the two. Although I agree that there is no need to make the luminosity so much darker in order to keep the darkest luminosity for specific places.
  • Clear sky, big moons, open space... it was fine.

    And it leaves room to go darker in some places, like underground or inside close spaces with no windows. Places where there are pools of lights and deep shadows.
    Be bold. Be brave. Roll a Tulnar !
  • IskiabIskiab Member, Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    I swear forums for pre-release MMOs always draw a crowd who want things that are diametrically opposed to those who stay with MMOs. When I saw the livestream I had the exact opposite impression - perfect; the nighttime was playable and not annoyingly dark.

    The goal shouldn’t be for the day - night schedule to have an effect on gamplay, where most of the population doesn’t want to play because they logged in during nighttime.
  • DiamahtDiamaht Member, Braver of Worlds, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I would have to disagree with it needing to be darker. In Ark or Valheim that works, but in an MMO you want thing to stay wide open and visible. You want to see what's on the horizon to be explored and you want to clearly see others as they move about around you. You don't want to world to be a mystery and you don't want day/night cycles to dictate game-play. You want things to feel open and alive.

    What if I can only play during the hours of 8pm and 10pm each night and most of those hours tend to be in game dark. Should I have a less visible game-play experience than the person who can play from 6 pm to 8pm?

    Heavy darkness closes things in and hide items in the world. Again that works great in Ark when the pace is meant to be very slow and methodical. But in an MMO you don't want that.

    Most open world single player games have settings that can be adjusted for this sort of thing so you can tailor your experience, MMOs do not have that luxury and lots of people don't want to play a game with heavy darkness. MMOs have to appeal to a much wider audience to survive. Open world survival and open world MMOs are simply not the same animal and they cannot be treated the same.
  • GarrtokGarrtok Member, Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    Should definitely be darker. Night should be night. There is a huge difference between everything is visible and THAT bright.
  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    It's 3:33 am here right now. Literally an hour ago I looked at my window and thought to myself "why da fuck is it this light outside". I went to look through the window and noticed that it's full moon today. It was literally as light as it was on the stream. And Verra has 3 moons, 2 of which A FUCKING HUGE IN THE SKY.

    I'd be just fine if Ashes had a moon cycle where it becomes a bit darker once a week or so, but please, people, don't go yelling that it's too bright in the game when the game literally copies reality (and when the change would add nothing to the gameplay and would only hinder it).
  • Arya_YesheArya_Yeshe Member
    edited December 2022
    NiKr wrote: »
    It's 3:33 am here right now. Literally an hour ago I looked at my window and thought to myself "why da fuck is it this light outside". I went to look through the window and noticed that it's full moon today. It was literally as light as it was on the stream. And Verra has 3 moons, 2 of which A FUCKING HUGE IN THE SKY.

    I'd be just fine if Ashes had a moon cycle where it becomes a bit darker once a week or so, but please, people, don't go yelling that it's too bright in the game when the game literally copies reality (and when the change would add nothing to the gameplay and would only hinder it).

    Because you live in a city with thousands or maybe milions of light sources?

    If you got to the country or to the middle of a road between two cities, it will still be dark enough
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • LinikerLiniker Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Iskiab wrote: »
    I swear forums for pre-release MMOs always draw a crowd who want things that are diametrically opposed to those who stay with MMOs. When I saw the livestream I had the exact opposite impression - perfect; the nighttime was playable and not annoyingly dark.

    The goal shouldn’t be for the day - night schedule to have an effect on gamplay, where most of the population doesn’t want to play because they logged in during nighttime.

    This!!!!!
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  • LinikerLiniker Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    this is not a survival game - mortal online 2 made nights dark, guess what? instant meta to change your monitor settings, boost gama and all that and problem solved... now everyone plays with a grayed out game at night because of that... unless you want to be the noob that dies since he can't fight at night because you want "immersion" and don't change your settings

    AoC is doing the Perfect move, visible nights 👌

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  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    Arya_Yeshe wrote: »
    Because you live in a city with thousands or maybe milions of light sources?

    If you got to the country or to the middle of a road between two cities, it will still be dark enough
    No, I live in a city that literally has its electricity turned off for 4h every 2h. It's exactly because of the lack of artificial light that the moon was that bright.
  • AzheraeAzherae Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    NiKr wrote: »
    Arya_Yeshe wrote: »
    Because you live in a city with thousands or maybe milions of light sources?

    If you got to the country or to the middle of a road between two cities, it will still be dark enough
    No, I live in a city that literally has its electricity turned off for 4h every 2h. It's exactly because of the lack of artificial light that the moon was that bright.

    I have an entirely different complaint about this sort of thing in games actually.

    Even if your game's soundscape is quite good, it doesn't compare to human senses in specific ways, particularly when characters are supposed to be quite honed.

    Humans hear REALLY well. They notice movement in shadows so well it scares them. They literally have echolocation subconsciously after enough training sometimes, not like 'superhero' level, but we DO get this ability.

    A game's visuals can't give me any of that. Not scent, not echoes, not mild thermal shifts, not 'perfect soundscape'.

    It's not immersive to me when it's darker because you've 'taken away one sense but not given any of the others that are naturally available to compensate for it'. I don't much mind if you give the 'pulse scan' style awareness or expect me to be able to see well on the minimap, but even this still doesn't feel right. The night 'not being dark' to me is a representation of something a lot of the time, not to mention how well our eyes actually DO adjust sometimes.

    I could rant a ton about this, but I'm not gonna. If someone wants the night darker, I want an ability to 'pulse magic or sound' to make it 'visible greyscale'. Don't even care if this makes me detectable to mobs. If you want visual immersion, I want echosonic immersion to make up for it.
    Y'all know how Jamberry Roll.
  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    Azherae wrote: »
    Humans hear REALLY well. They notice movement in shadows so well it scares them. They literally have echolocation subconsciously after enough training sometimes, not like 'superhero' level, but we DO get this ability
    Just yesterday I was thinking about whether any games have ever tried using visual illusions as a tool for scaring players. Stuff like faces in the tree outlines and branches, using light to move shadows in a very particular way, and other stuff like that (especially the face in things stuff).

    I think that with the latest UE updates this kind of stuff might be way more widespread in the upcoming games, but I'd assume those would still be a few years off from now. And I don't think I've heard about games that have done stuff like this in the past.

    I'd looooove if Ashes had a spooky location with these effects, though it could definitely be an "in a later expansion" thing rather than a release one.
  • DiamahtDiamaht Member, Braver of Worlds, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    Liniker wrote: »
    this is not a survival game - mortal online 2 made nights dark, guess what? instant meta to change your monitor settings, boost gama and all that and problem solved... now everyone plays with a grayed out game at night because of that... unless you want to be the noob that dies since he can't fight at night because you want "immersion" and don't change your settings

    AoC is doing the Perfect move, visible nights 👌

    Actually yeah, I didn't think of monitor gama rolf. So unless Intrepid make objects just not render in certain lighting conditions players will find a way to see them, haha.
  • EzoEzo Member, Alpha Two
    Even though I would like it darker, I want nights that I can see too. I don't want a survival game. I don't know why people keep repeating this. I'm very sure (reading posts from people that want a darker night) they know that it isn't a survival game. It would be nice to meet in the middle with other people's opinions and not disregard them completely. I'm feeling like my response doesn't matter and that I'm just in a minority group that doesn't have a clue. Is what I'm reading from some peoples posts.. :(
  • akabearakabear Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    Just a Goldilocks wanted; not too bright, not too dark!
  • DiamahtDiamaht Member, Braver of Worlds, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    Ezo wrote: »
    Even though I would like it darker, I want nights that I can see too. I don't want a survival game. I don't know why people keep repeating this.

    The OP was suggesting that it would be so dark that we would even need abilities to see. That is why it's getting repeated.

    Saying it could be a bit darker than what was show isn't unreasonable, and thus far in this thread was not suggested, but you shouldn't be so sensitive about it.

    Forums threads will turn into mosh pits at times. Just think about it like a New Yorker, throw a few jabs back. It's not a big deal. One thing about this group is even the vitriol has some substance and the debates center around game features instead of personal attacks like in other places.

    In the end we'll all be battered and bruised by launch, but if we keep throwing enough good punches we might just wind up with a good game for once.
  • akabearakabear Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    @Diamaht agree

    Personal thoughts though, for general areas the ambient light was great for day and night.

    However, I do like the idea of, which was partly hinted at, that deepest parts of forests, ravines, caves, spaces between built structures to have a considerable difference in lighting than just open spaces.

    Do like the idea, raised in another thread, for some additional variance to castle siege mood and even impact by having a night and day cycle that did not always align to the same time as a seige and thereby create the potential for different tactics, advantages, and disadvantages.

    And then for daytime, well, not much beyond weather, and cloud effects making it vary just how dim / bright.

  • Maybe dark nights are more realistic, but they're bad gameplay and are bad for the eyes. AoC nights should be bright and have good visibility, at least within close proximity.
  • The current mob density is realistic and more inmersive. We are accustomed to the ridiculous overabundance of creatures everywhere in every place from most MMOs but that's not how a convincing inmersive world works... Need some empty space here and there with just vegetation and some insects flying around for ambience and inmersion.
  • GarrtokGarrtok Member, Alpha Two
    edited December 2022
    hleV wrote: »
    Maybe dark nights are more realistic, but they're bad gameplay and are bad for the eyes. AoC nights should be bright and have good visibility, at least within close proximity.

    While I agree, that it's good when darkness during night is not annoyingly dark, this super bright like in the stream is also not necessary. It could be alot darker without being frustrating.
  • VeeshanVeeshan Member, Alpha Two
    Can see to far i think in the night time here now i dont want to be blind as a bat but you can make out to much to far away currently.

    Also could give racial bonuses on how far you can see too aka night vision for elfs and crap human vision for example. I did like that about old EQ 1 where different races had better or worst vision at night.
  • FantmxFantmx Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Seems just fine, especially with the number of moons present.
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  • SummpwnerSummpwner Member, Alpha Two
    Although I wouldn't want BDO levels of darkness, It does feel like the lanterns do not pop quite as much as I would hope here. Perhaps 10-25% darker would really let light sources pop more.
  • IskiabIskiab Member, Alpha Two
    After this thread I saw a stream of Asmongold playing Elden Ring again. He goes into a cave and can’t see anything, even with a lantern.

    Now there are 2 different takes:

    1. How immersive, it’s dark and creepy like a real cave.
    2. I’m being hit with ranged attacks and can’t see jack. This blows, I’m leaving.

    Asmon was number 2, and I think a lot of players would feel the same.
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