The responses are NOT overwhelmingly in favor, and the comments against have real validity. Those who would be adversely affected the most, i.e., casual players, will likely never speak out about it. Velian's comment seems particularly pertinent:
Veilan wrote:Didn't like it too much, seems to inconvenience casual gaming while not affecting the argument brought forth of time passage while on a DM quest - if on a DM quest, the DM can comic book time as he wants anyway.
Affects balance to some degree (ups buffs, downs instant casts like direct damage / heal), though not sure whether that's better or worse.
Any mechanical change that may cause a shift in balance should not be left to the court of public opinion alone. I will invoke once again the Law of Unintended Consequences (Murphy's 3rd Corollary). We have gotten along just fine so far without this change. I remain unconvinced of its utility.
As far as changing the balance between daylight and nighttime hours, I would be in favor of making them shift for the changes in seasons. I would not want to make it Eversummer in the Marches - we're much too far North. How about 18-hour winter nights?
- Curmudgeon
HDM ALFA 03 - The Silver Marches
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Maxim #12: A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." - The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
"This is not my circus. These are not my monkeys."
I don't see DMs in my timezone, those who see DMs are already more lucky than i am.
Not sure why so many people are afraid of the dark...playing , adventures and RP stop during dark hours?
I mean if the entire idea is just to put day light so it would be easiest to adventure, why not setting constant light permanently?
With the 7 mins time - 70 mins are 10 game hours. This means that if you running conversion before heading somewhere, good chance that it would be next to dark by the time you'll start moving.
Yeah, with the 14 mins intervals dark hours would be longer, but also day light! , so all those who like the sun so much would have more time to enjoy it.
With the 14 mins interval - there would be roughly 2.5 RL hours of light and 1.5 RL hours of darkness. (every 24 hours in game which are 4 RL hours)
With the 7 mins interval there would be roughly 1.25 RL hours of light and 0.75 RL hours of darkness( every 24 hours in game which are 2 RL hours).
Everyone gain EXTRA 1.25 RL hours of daylight for the sacrifice of 0.75 RL hours of darkness!!!
What can be better than that?
0.75 hours are 45 mins!!! there are players who can't sacrifice those 45 mins of darkness for another 75 mins of light?
Besides - speaking of RP terms, someone put it well in the chat room, when there is a group and they do something it starts with ...."lets eat breakfast...." until they sit down and prepare "Nevermind, lets eat lunch....." and then "Nevermind...lets eat dinner..."
I disagree strongly that the slower time effects actual gameplay balance in a negative way.
Firstly, we're talking about only the spells that have an hour/lvl duration getting extended; keep in mind that some of the most significant buffs in the game went from hour/lvl to minute/lvl in the update from 3.0 to 3.5e; stuff like bulls str, bears endurance, etc etc are all minute/lvl and unaffected by the slower timescale. There is a much smaller pool of hour/lvl spells than in nwn1. The spells that do remain at hour/lvl are *supposed* to last a good long time, beyond just one encounter, especially at higher lvls, where they are supposed to last half a day or longer, long enough to accomplish xyz during that time.
The problem is combining a RP oriented server and faster timescale. It can take 7 minutes real time to type out a relatively simple exchange/banter/dialog with a decent group of players who are actually taking time to RP rather than simply running through the dangerous area like in the single player game or a hack and slash server. Add a DM typing NPC's responses and calling for skillchecks, etc, and even more time passes. People in alfa are not spending the extra time given by the slower timescale going to the next dungeon to kill more monsters; they are typically typing/RPing/rolling dice etc. Unfortunately the reality is that the time does not stop or slow down while people are typing, sometimes slowly. So in the time that someone blurts out a few paragraphs, with faster timescale, an hour passes by; a slightly longer dialog and the spells that are supposed to be lasting hours are gone! Slowing down time allows you to 1. say good morning and have a conversation without it becoming afternoon and 2. say good riddance and banter/make skillchecks, interact with the environment etc. in dangerous areas/middle of dm events etc without half a day flying by leaving all long duration spells gone.
Simply put, hour/lvl spells should last long enough that these types of activities should not affect them; the fact that typing/rolling skillchecks takes a long time and time flies by with buffs expiring is really an OOC factor; ie the spells effectively are expiring earlier than they're meant to due to OOC reasons.
If we're talking about a pw where the meat and potatoes of gameplay is running through as many dungeons as possible while the buffs are still going, then yes, slowing time down and allowing these buffs to last longer and making longer dungeon runs possible is a significant shift of balance. This is not the case with ALFA, or at least shouldn't be. If it is then then it's a separate problem from timescale.
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something
It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
How about a couple repeatable, low reward night-time based statics to give people a mandate to leave the tavern during the dark hours.
Some visit to a selunite ceremony?
Investigate the thieves that work at night ?
Higher risk night patrols?
Harvest guano from the dire bat cave while they're all out hunting?
Just a couple half-assed idea. All I'm saying is that it seems some of the most hard-core RPers, especially those with non-combat builds feel it is OOC for them to "do stuff" at night and could use a little hook.
