User:Veron/Day-Night Cycle Research

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The existing information about the day-night cycle on wiki is very limited. Understanding the day-night cycle is useful for Sigil of the Night and potentially for the new Outpost event content in Heart of Thorns.

Articles to improve[edit]

Research[edit]

Basics[edit]

Personal testing:

The day-night cycle has a two-hour period. There are two important distinctions in classifying stages during this cycle:

  • Functional. There are two stages: day and night. Weapons that change appearance and Sigil of the Night depend on which functional stage it is.
  • Cosmetic. The appearance of the sky has four different stages: day, night, dusk, and dawn. During day, the sky appears bright and the sun is visible. During night, the sky appears dark and stars are visible. Dusk and dawn are short transition stages in which the sky smoothly transitions between day and night in the appropriate direction.

The following table summarizes how these stages are related and also gives their lengths in minutes during one full cycle.

Functional stage Cosmetic stage Length
Day Dawn 5 minutes
Day 70 minutes
Dusk 5 minutes
Night Night 40 minutes

Weapon appearance and Sigil of the Night in each stage:

Cosmetic stage AC weapon Eternity aura Eternity blade Sigil of the Night
Dawn Day Day Night Day
Day Day Day Day Day
Dusk Day Day Day Day
Night Night Night Night Night

Interestingly, Eternity's blade does not properly change during dawn, even with a rezone.

Schedule[edit]

All maps that have a day-night cycle are synchronized to a one cycle. Because the two-hour period is a nice factor of 24 hours, we have a fixed real-world daily schedule for the cycle.

Read horizontal:

Time that cosmetic stage begins -- UTC (Local)
Functional Night Functional Day
Night Dawn Day Dusk
23:45 00:25 00:30 01:40
01:45 02:25 02:30 03:40
03:45 04:25 04:30 05:40
05:45 06:25 06:30 07:40
07:45 08:25 08:30 09:40
09:45 10:25 10:30 11:40
11:45 12:25 12:30 13:40
13:45 14:25 14:30 15:40
15:45 16:25 16:30 17:40
17:45 18:25 18:30 19:40
19:45 20:25 20:30 21:40
21:45 22:25 22:30 23:40


Read vertical:

Time that cosmetic stage begins -- UTC (Local)
Functional Night Night 23:45 01:45 03:45 05:45 07:45 09:45 11:45 13:45 15:45 17:45 19:45 21:45
Functional Day Dawn 00:25 02:25 04:25 06:25 08:25 10:25 12:25 14:25 16:25 18:25 20:25 22:25
Day 00:30 02:30 04:30 06:30 08:30 10:30 12:30 14:30 16:30 18:30 20:30 22:30
Dusk 01:40 03:40 05:40 07:40 09:40 11:40 13:40 15:40 17:40 19:40 21:40 23:40

Zones on cycle[edit]

The following locations are locked onto the day-night cycle schedule.

Zones not on cycle[edit]

Weapon transitions[edit]

Using Eternity and Royal Ascalonian Short Bow to investigate. On some maps, weapons automatically transition as time ticks over into next stage. On other maps, you need to rezone.

Zones where it is automatic[edit]

Zones requiring a rezone[edit]