User:Veron/Day-Night Cycle Research/Draft

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Day and night refer to two environment states which affect certain gameplay mechanics, the appearances of certain weapons, and Sylvari glow. All zones at a given instant are in one of the two states. In most zones, these two states alternate according to the day–night cycle (see below section). Any zone that does not follow the cycle is either permanently in the day state or the night state. The appearance changes of the day–night mechanic is intended as an element of realism in the game. For example, the day–night cycle mimics the passage of real time, and the night state of many underground dungeon zones reflects the darker feeling of those locations.

Day–night cycle[edit]

The day–night cycle has a two-hour period and four stages. These stages affect the appearance of the sky and are conceptually distinct from but each correspond to the functional day and night states.

  • Two primary stages—day and night—which correspond with their respective functional states
  • Two brief transitional stages—dawn and dusk—between them which are both functionally day

During the day and night stages, the sky appears fairly static—in day, the sky is bright, and the sun is visible; in night, the sky is dark, and stars and the moon are visible. During dusk and dawn, the sky rapidly changes to smoothly transition between the day and night appearances (and vice versa).[1]

The following table summarizes the relationships between the functional states and the cycle stages and also gives the length of each stage.[2]

Functional state Cycle stage Length
Day Dawn 5 minutes
Day 70 minutes
Dusk 5 minutes
Night Night 40 minutes

Schedule[edit]

Day–night cycle – Time that each stage begins – UTC (Local)[2]
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
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

List of zones obeying day-night cycle[edit]

List of zones not on cycle[edit]

Game elements affected by day-night state[edit]

Dynamic events, NPCs, and enemies[edit]

Certain locations will have different dynamic events, non-player characters, and enemies available depending on day or night. For example, Shaemoor Cemetery will have a Priest of Grenth investigating a restless spirit in the day, who turns out to be Lady in White in Event boss (tango icon).png Defeat the Lady in White (3) at night. Bats are also found in the cemetery only at night.

Sigil of the Night[edit]

Primary article: Sigil of the Night

Sigils of the Night are weapon sigils that increase outgoing damage during the night state.

Sigil of the Night Rarity Level Bonus
Minor Sigil of the Night.pngMinor Sigil of the Night Masterwork 20 Outgoing damage is increased by 1% with an additional 3% at night.
Major Sigil of the Night.pngMajor Sigil of the Night Rare 40 Outgoing damage is increased by 2% with an additional 5% at night.
Superior Sigil of the Night.pngSuperior Sigil of the Night Exotic 60 Outgoing damage is increased by 3% with an additional 7% at night.

Food[edit]

Primary article: Food

The following foods confer different bonuses depending on whether it is the day or night state.

Level Duration Item Effect
10 30m Chili Pepper Popper.pngChili Pepper Popper Day: 8% Chance to gain might on crit
20 30m Stuffed Pepper.pngStuffed Pepper Day: 16% Chance to gain might on crit
30 30m Stuffed Zucchini.pngStuffed Zucchini Day: 24% Chance to gain might on crit
Night: 24% Chance to cause chill on crit
50 30m Bowl of Hummus.pngBowl of Hummus Day: 28% Chance to gain might on crit
Night: 28% Chance to cause chill on crit
65 30m Roasted Artichoke.pngRoasted Artichoke Day: 36% Chance to gain might on crit
Night: 36% Chance to cause chill on crit
80 30m Ghost Pepper Popper.pngGhost Pepper Popper Day: 40% Chance to gain might on crit
Night: 40% Chance to cause chill on crit

Weapon appearances[edit]

The following weapons have different appearances between day and night states.

  • Eternity will incorrectly display the Twilight model during the dawn stage of the day-night cycle. The daytime aura will correctly appear.[2]
  • In some zones, the weapon appearances will not automatically change state when day changes to night or vice versa. Reentering the zone will cause the weapon to display the correct state.[2]

Sylvari glow[edit]

Primary article: Physical appearance/Sylvari

All Sylvari characters will glow when in the night state. For playable characters, the color and intensity of the glow is set during character creation.

Notes[edit]

  • Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns will feature a new Outpost meta event system which involves building up defenses during the initial "day" phase to prepare to survive enemy attacks in the following "night" phase.[4] It is currently unknown whether the Outpost system will use the existing day-night cycle, will use a separate cycle, or will result in the existing cycle being modified.

References[edit]