The passing of time

[Kiyosa]

It feels a little too fast, but let me elaborate. Years ago, before I took an extensive hiatus from the server, one IC hour used to last for 15 real life minutes. For many, that felt a little too long, especially those who didn't have the luxury to be logged in for longer than an hour or two a day. Admittedly, it felt a little long for me as well. As a newbie and eager to get out there and kill things, the long night posed quite the hindrance. Each IC season used to last forever as well and herb/potion shortages made themselves exceptionally evident further into the winter. Yes, it was annoying to an extend, but I did miss a very special aspect of the hardship the sluggish pace of time brought. Tons and tons of RP. Be it due to being pinned indoors during the night, seeking out others to replenish the necessary potions stock or because one had to make extra preparations with warm clothes for a longer period of time, it all provided so much RP.

Now, I'm in no way suggesting that the passing of time should be reversed to how it was 6 years ago. However, it would be nice if an hour were a little longer than the current 6 real life minutes. 10 minutes would more than suffice to feel the difference, while not necessarily having all that annoyance of the past return. I think this would positively affect several aspects of the game. Just to name a few:

a. As it stands, herbalists have 9 real life days to stock up on herbs from any one season. That, to someone who does have a 9 to 5 job, translates to a weekend worth of herb picking, which often is by far not enough, since most people look forward to the weekend for RP and events as well. With so many players picking up herbalism and less and less selling herbs, this would come as a welcome change, allowing even those with little time some breathing room for that therapeutic flower picking and dedicated herb pickers enough time to get the herbs only available during a single season.

b. Adventurers would have a lot more time to RP on the way to a dungeon and back again, without having to fear being caught by the night.

c. RP in the dungeons themselves would be revived again. Right now, it's rushrushrush because "we got wards fading, hurry up." Dungeon RP, aside from DM encounters, is not as common as it once was thanks to that speedy sweeping through. A crime almost!

d. MPCs and AMPCs would have a little more time to be mean to poor adventurers, not having to rush any of their encounters back to their coffin/cave/crypt, thus, again, providing more room for RP.

e. Merchants around the Outskirts will have more time to sell their wares in the open!


Effectively, if an IC hour were to go from lasting 6 minutes to lasting 10 minutes, the night would go from 72 real life minutes to 120, a month would go from 3 real life days to 5 and a season would go from 9 real life days to 15.

I'm not certain whether I'm the only one feeling this way about the matter or not, so I'd very much like to hear your opinions.

Edit: Added the merchant argument

[Hathor]

I am personally in favor of slower time to whatever degree is felt to make sense. However, it should be noted that it would have a massive effect on half-Vistani, who are already mechanically disabled from many things for 7 RL hours.

[Purist]

Perhaps the upcoming NCE should be used as a test period for such change.

[EO]

Years ago, before I took an extensive hiatus from the server, one IC hour used to last for 15 real life minutes

That's never been the case; an hour has always been 6 minutes (4 minutes in base NwN).

[remnar]

I both do and don't like the idea.
I like it because it would bring more roleplay if there was more hours in the day and night.  I feel like the few MPC's I've seen have to really get their business going really quickly because theres only an hour of night.
But I also feel like the RP described in the post will take awhile to develop, which leads into my issue.

Whenever it's night time, generally there's nothing for me to do.  Very rarely are people in the inn or church at night (and aren't AFK).  If my friends aren't around I'm screwed for the duration of the night - making it 120 minutes long would, until the RP around it develops, make it quite boring.

But I dunno maybe it could be fun.

[Kiyosa]

That's never been the case; an hour has always been 6 minutes (4 minutes in base NwN).

Color me beyond surprised. Is that really the case? Why do I and others who've been around for long enough remember it being 15 minutes? o_O

[Hathor]

I both do and don't like the idea.
I like it because it would bring more roleplay if there was more hours in the day and night.  I feel like the few MPC's I've seen have to really get their business going really quickly because theres only an hour of night.
But I also feel like the RP described in the post will take awhile to develop, which leads into my issue.

Whenever it's night time, generally there's nothing for me to do.  Very rarely are people in the inn or church at night (and aren't AFK).  If my friends aren't around I'm screwed for the duration of the night - making it 120 minutes long would, until the RP around it develops, make it quite boring.

But I dunno maybe it could be fun.

I had the same issue during my time stationing the ML churches. People would sometimes come in to the outskirts one, but generally people preferred to just stay outside because the time passed so quickly anyway, it wasn't worth moving.

[Cassius]

That's never been the case; an hour has always been 6 minutes (4 minutes in base NwN).

Color me beyond surprised. Is that really the case? Why do I and others who've been around for long enough remember it being 15 minutes? o_O

Mandela effect.

[Kiyosa]

That's never been the case; an hour has always been 6 minutes (4 minutes in base NwN).

Color me beyond surprised. Is that really the case? Why do I and others who've been around for long enough remember it being 15 minutes? o_O

Mandela effect.

It's creepy as hell! I'm literally freaking out while almost hearing the Twilight Zone theme in the background...

Edit: Alright, I composed myself some. Looks like EO is right and the time perception of many old players is mistaken for some weird reason. Even so, the suggestion still stands. Even 8 minutes would be enough of a change, if we're to haggle 

[Abear]

I would also really appreciate a longer timescale. Night is too short to be genuinely scary. And daytime, with the newly enforced trade laws in Barovia, has stifled basically all merchanting done there. It's a huge hassle to pack everything up and then put it back down so often. The trade attic is hardly ever used because everyone just hangs out on the road anyway.

A longer day and night would help both foster more RP during daylight hours, as well as make night seem even more stifling and dangerous.

[Artemis]

I would echo these sentiments. I like knowing that night isnt something I can just hang around and be fine in a couple hours. It would also give AMPCs time to set up more engaging scenes, as well as make it so those that wish to journey at night need to be prepared more to commit to it.

As well as help nighttime RP activiies such as bar gatherings.

Big props to help those that merchant as well methinks.

[manyconsonants]

I would personally like to see an IC hour extended to 10 minutes irl but it is just a preference and whilst I initially believed I would hate 6 minutes to every IC hour, I have grown rather accustomed to it. Generally, for a lot of people, it will extend the daylight hours which will be massively beneficial but if you log in at 6pm IC you'll have even longer to wait...Even if you prefer it, it would likely at some point inconvenience you.

[Phantasia]

Increasing the time is no simple thing.

It would have many unforeseen repercussions mechanically along side gameplay flow from a night/day standpoint. Something that needs to be considered at length if it were to be increased.

I'd like to see it increased anyway though.

[Hathor]

Perhaps instead of increasing how long hours last, the number of hours in a day/night could be increased?

I realize that would feel weird but the setting already has seasons lasting a week.

[SardineTheAncestor]

If there's one thing I've always wanted to see change, it's how long sunrise and sunset lasts. That would be a nice consequence of this change. I agree with others who say that it is a real shame that RP has to wait for & be hurried by gameplay mechanics so much.

I'm sure it would break about a million and a half scripts, but if we had the dev's blessing I think this would be an interesting poll topic if only for the discussion.