Doors closing at 18.00 (Barovia)

[WhenTheSunGoesDown]

I am not sure if I should bring it here, but I figured I'd share my experiences.

I understand why the doors in some crafting places are locked at 18.00, it's done for ambience. But it also often leaves a character with nothing to do for hours. If you're alone and you're at the brewing house at the Zeklos outpost at night and do not think you can brave the long run to the outskirt, hoping you can spend this time in a useful way brewing? Forget about it. You're stuck sitting alone with nothing to do, since the npc leaves.

You're in the warehouse district at 18.01 and rushing to the crafting house with all your resources to craft to be free for rping/traveling in the morning? Forget it. You're out of luck.

And you did a stupid mistake of entering the server's last safe area called 'Warehouse district, Vallaki' after 18.00? Enjoy a night in the locked up area next to the warehouse itself, because that's where you're going to spawn, and that's where you're going to spend a night, alone. -- I honestly think it's the worst one since it leaves you no choice but to wait for the morning, either by logging out or going afk.

So my question is... why? I mean, yes, ambience is great. But I feel like it also hinders people. Crafting has always been a great way to spend a night, especially when you're alone. Maybe it's only my experience though. Thoughts?

[ViktorYouFool]

This. A thousand times. All of this.

I tried to come back to the server after a taking a break. Had a character go down into the VoB mine and do some mining. With 500lbs of ore in my butt, I went back up into the town to hit the foundary .. To find the door locked. Because it was hour 20. So I got to sit there for an hour and change doing nothing because I was overencumbered so what else could I do?

I tried to craft a few times thereafter. Every time has been fairly miserable. The doors lock and the NPCs leave. Add to that the fact that the artificial scarcity means that there is now less access to crafting stations compared to the demand for crafting stations. It's not uncommon for me to encounter a line waiting for the door to unlock. So in addition to night being unusable, half the day is also unusable. Out of every two-and-a-half hours of available play-time for crafting, I thus get to access a little over half an hour.

And it only gets worse from there. Last time I logged in, it was hour 19. I was in the tannery in Zeklos. Sure, I could leave the tannery, but guess what. I can't leave Zeklos. At all. The gates are locked.

It is now at the point where unless I happen to already be in a room full of people at hour 18, I just log off because I'm not going to get anything else done. If I've got three hours available to play, I'm going to get to play for like an hour.

This is miserable and rapidly killing my motivation to actually bother.

Spoiler: show

>nb4 "Leave Barovia"

[BraveSirRobin]

+1 to all of this. This really does seem a bit too much, in some cases. Barovia is already a place where most lower levels can't do anything outside at night, now you're removing their ability to do things indoors, which leaves them with the option of sitting in the Lady's Rest.. or.. Church of the Morninglord and making awkward small-talk.

Know what? I'll use this as propaganda. City of Lights never sleeps, kids. Come do Dementlieu. First one's free. 

[A minor Glamour]

I found this to be a little bit of a surprise but after a few moments thinking about it, it's actually OK because if you wander into the city at night Wererats and Werewolves spawn, or at least they used too unless they changed that? Assuming they still do, if your loaded full of ingots or wood, or skins and probably walking slowly and you even get exhausted, is it really better to get ganked on the streets by a mob of NPC's for the sake of crafting something?

[BraveSirRobin]

I found this to be a little bit of a surprise but after a few moments thinking about it, it's actually OK because if you wander into the city at night Wererats and Werewolves spawn, or at least they used too unless they changed that? Assuming they still do, if your loaded full of ingots or wood, or skins and probably walking slowly and you even get exhausted, is it really better to get ganked on the streets by a mob of NPC's for the sake of crafting something?

The idea was, people were making it to town before Hour 18.00 to then spend their night crafting, they'd probably arrive at like, hour.. I dunno, 15-16 or something and start working until morning, then head back out for supplies. Getting into these buildings isn't the issue, the issue is.. The NPC's inside of them despawn, after hour 18 as part of the night cycle, now, erroneously for an attempt to increase immersion, but it's inconsistent and a pain in the arse. I can understand buildings like stores and stuff in the Market District, because you don't really need those after hours. But the crafting hall is something that's gonna cause a lot of issues. Admittedly, there are places like Dvergeheim's smithy that are open overnight, but like ViktorYouFool said, Zeklos was really only good for working on your crafts in peace and quiet, and now you're basically encouraged to log off during the night cycles there. I don't envy Barovia, these days. But that's me.

[WhenTheSunGoesDown]

I found this to be a little bit of a surprise but after a few moments thinking about it, it's actually OK because if you wander into the city at night Wererats and Werewolves spawn, or at least they used too unless they changed that? Assuming they still do, if your loaded full of ingots or wood, or skins and probably walking slowly and you even get exhausted, is it really better to get ganked on the streets by a mob of NPC's for the sake of crafting something?

Let's face it. 18.00 is not 'night', and if you're just a minute late and locked out of a crafting hall, you're forced to haul all your reagents into the sewers to try and drag your sorry bum to the outskirts, encumbered, in an attempt to do at least SOMETHING during this night time. Warehouse area traps you in completely. So does Zeklos outpost too. That's counter productive and counter fun.

[Iridni Ren]

Actually, it's pretty unrealistic that Liz is around so much. Doesn't that blessed priestess ever sleep?

For some added realism and atmosphere, this new feature should include all the healing clerics as well!

You want healing at night or raising at night? You could always find a nice PC cleric to do it for you

[WhenTheSunGoesDown]

Pssst... do not give them ideas!

[Head Trauma]

You want healing at night or raising at night? You could always find a nice PC cleric to do it for you

Why not all the time, not just at night. I have seldom seen a PC cleric raise anyone, it's always "run to a NPC cleric" or dump an elixir of life down their throat.

[ViktorYouFool]

I found this to be a little bit of a surprise but after a few moments thinking about it, it's actually OK because if you wander into the city at night Wererats and Werewolves spawn, or at least they used too unless they changed that? Assuming they still do, if your loaded full of ingots or wood, or skins and probably walking slowly and you even get exhausted, is it really better to get ganked on the streets by a mob of NPC's for the sake of crafting something?

In my case, this was in VoB where there are no were-creatures on the street at night. But regardless, two points remain:
1. Crafting was already an obnoxious grind before, and this change only makes it worse.
2. Even if I'm not worried about crafting, this effectively also restricts travel at night because everything will be locked except for the temple or the inn.

Most people don't have six or eight hour blocks to play. If I've only got a couple hours to do something, I refuse to spend half or more of that time waiting around uselessly.  I will just go do something else. And given that for whatever reason, most of the time I log in it's either night time or about to be night time, it just means I'm going to log back off and not bother.

[APorg]

Way back in the day when locking the gates at night was suggested, if I recall the discussion correctly, it was with the understanding that generally, areas would only be locked down at night if there was an alternative way of getting in our out. That's why Vallaki's gates close -- there's a handful of ways in -- but the Village's don't (no general alternative way of getting in has been implemented yet). It's unfortunate that the designer of the Zeklos outpost presumably forgot this principle...

[WhenTheSunGoesDown]

Warehouse area in Vallaki as well. I mean the area with the gate around the warehouse and the stables where people rent oxen - it locks in and voila, you're trapped for the night. The lock is unpickable too.

[Darkside of Heaven]

The gates lock because server lore.
Use the sewer entrances.

There is one literally in the Wearhouse district.

Explore the area and realise this is a roleplay server and with that comes specific lore and other stuff which is a minor inconvenience. I'm sure everyone would love to stop the old night from messing with PC's in the outskirts after 1800 too but seriously come on.

[MJ_Johansson]

I feel like you missed the point there, Dakside of Heaven.. I dont think anyone is arguing that the gates of Vallaki shouldn't lock at 18:00, but rather that the crafting people shouldnt leave their posts. And other areas like Zeklos where there arent sewers to get out with, you do get locked in. Which is detrimental for people with limited playtime.

[EO]

All those doors can be bashed or picked so no one should be locked in completely without any means of escape if they come prepared.

Barovians bar their doors at night, that’s one of the defining features of the domain. It’s inconvenient for sure but this is a roleplay server, not a MMO. There is a clear distinction between day and night.

[Darkside of Heaven]

I feel like you missed the point there, Dakside of Heaven.. I dont think anyone is arguing that the gates of Vallaki shouldn't lock at 18:00, but rather that the crafting people shouldnt leave their posts. And other areas like Zeklos where there arent sewers to get out with, you do get locked in. Which is detrimental for people with limited playtime.

Zeklos needs work on a entry exit for after hours sure. But I'm seeing alot of "you are locked in / out of vallaki." When that's REALLY not the case.Vallaki has multiple sewer entrances, VOB doesn't even lock their gates they just close. Divergheim is open 24/7 same as Krofburg.

I'm failing to see any issue here except for laziness and not exploring. (excluding zeklos).

[Dante101]

I think the point that was brought up regarding gates refers to the gate within the city walls and in front of the stables / Vallaki warehouse. It has nothing to do with the gates along the perimeter of the city.

[Darkside of Heaven]

I think the point that was brought up regarding gates refers to the gate within the city walls and in front of the stables / Vallaki warehouse. It has nothing to do with the gates along the perimeter of the city.

Gates within city walls don't lock at night

[MJ_Johansson]

I am gathering that apparently they do now, therein lies the problem people are complaining about? I have not tested it lately one way or another.

[Dante101]

I think the point that was brought up regarding gates refers to the gate within the city walls and in front of the stables / Vallaki warehouse. It has nothing to do with the gates along the perimeter of the city.

Gates within city walls don't lock at night

You seem awfully sure about that.

[Darkside of Heaven]

I think the point that was brought up regarding gates refers to the gate within the city walls and in front of the stables / Vallaki warehouse. It has nothing to do with the gates along the perimeter of the city.

Gates within city walls don't lock at night

You seem awfully sure about that.

All righty my bad. But...

In any case EO makes the point.
Tried bashing it?
Are you still locked out?

[Iridni Ren]

The problem is PCs tend to operate on a 24-hour cycle--which is also unrealistic when you think about it. One way to reconcile the dilemma would be for PCs to start having to sleep, say, 8 out of every 24 hours. When they rest to heal and recover spells, make them have to rest for eight actual in-game hours.

Good-aligned and lawful neutral PCs could time their sleep so it would occur at night, and chaotic neutral and evil PCs would all be sleeping their wild and nefarious activities off during the day. That way you could RP your character properly even whilst catching a few well-earned winks.

Naturally, this new restriction should apply mostly to humans. Elves should be allowed to keep RPing their characters the way they have in years past because their not needing sleep conforms to setting lore.

If the above is deemed too sacrificing of playability for RP realism, perhaps NPC down-time hours might at least be shortened to something more like eight, rather than 72 out of every 144 minutes of playing time.

[ViktorYouFool]

All those doors can be bashed or picked so no one should be locked in completely without any means of escape if they come prepared.

Barovians bar their doors at night, that’s one of the defining features of the domain. It’s inconvenient for sure but this is a roleplay server, not a MMO. There is a clear distinction between day and night.

Sure. It also means I won't be playing much, if at all. Not in an "I'm so angry I'm taking my ball and going home" sort of way, but rather in the very practical "If I log on and its night time, I will just have to go do something other than play on this server."

[Little Lotte]

But what about the law abiding citizen who isn’t going to bash the lock off a gate? Why is that lock bashable but the main city gate isn’t? With enough force I would think any of them would be.

[EO]

But what about the law abiding citizen who isn’t going to bash the lock off a gate? Why is that lock bashable but the main city gate isn’t? With enough force I would think any of them would be.

The main gate has always been bashable.