Blizzard have answered with vague comments about how they appreciate constructive feedback, and have been talking about it. But do they really get what we're saying?
In the hopes of making our point, here it is: my constructive feedback.
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THE PROBLEM
- Azeroth is a wonderful place; from the fields of Westfall to the peaks of the Stonetalon Mountains, its wonderful atmosphere invites us to go adventuring, like we have for many years now. Its dense forests, lush jungles, barren deserts, and snowy mountains are unparalleled in the way they resist the decay of old age, and how they continue to capture our imaginations so. It is no wonder so many of us are in love with the game, and choose to spend significant chunks of time inside it.
But something festers at the heart of the experience. Where once the design team obviously spent a considerable amount of time and energy to make sure the world created and retained a strong atmosphere for us players, everything now seems to be about accessibility.
Instead of:
"How can we ensure Azeroth springs to life in order to provide the experience of entering another world for the player?"
The mantra appears to be:
"How can we ensure that we never upset or alienate anyone in order to bring as many players to the game as possible?"
Don't get me wrong. It's important to keep the game accessible and inviting, lest it should stagnate. But there has to be a balance between accessibility and mystery. Blizzard is the developer of what is perhaps the biggest online fantasy world in existence. When even someone in their position refrains from using a basic feature like stark day and night cycles in their game, it just makes me sad.
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THE POTENTIAL
- With all that negativity off my chest, lets look at the bright side! A more fleshed out day & night cycle would do tremendous things for the game. It would rejuvenate it, and expand its available content manifold. Not only would this bring in new players, but it would make old players stay. Because a real night would make everything we see by day feel different, and alluring.
Here's an anecdote about the weather:
About a month ago, I decided that I loved Mists of Pandaria. It wasn't because of a fancy new raid, or a new daily quest hub. Not even because of a new battleground.
I was flying around the Valley of the Four Winds, minding my own business. When all of a sudden, the rain started falling. There was a slight breeze, and huge grey clouds formed on the horizon. I stopped dead in my path, because I spotted something interesting.
Framed by the heavy rainfall, the beautiful valley, and the looming grey clouds in the distance, I saw a kite. It was a common Pandaren kite drifting on the breeze. Right there was my best moment in recent years of playing World of Warcraft - and I've played since vanilla.
My point with that story is that the key lies in the atmosphere, Blizzard. I know you know this, but somewhere along the way, you must have forgotten. Every bit of content you do, and every bit of content I play will be so much more valuable, memorable, and enjoyable if you'd only spend more resources on its immersive aspect.
We don't want a bleak and strangely lit up world by night. We want a brilliant and warming (sometimes rainy) day, followed by a dark, ominous, and cosy night.
When we log on at night, we don't want it to feel like an ugly version of the day. We want it to feel like a time of its own, where the world changes, and we have to change with it. We want the looming danger, the ominous darkness, the warm light from open windows windows, and the eerily haunting glow from bioluminescent plants.
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THE SOLUTION
- If you've made it this far, I congratulate you. If you skipped from the top, I thank you for taking the time to read this last bit. I point out that this is my proposed solution to the problem established earlier on, but that it's not the only solution which could do the job.
- Strange cultist meetings.
- Werewolf invasions during the full moon.
- The dead rising from their graves.
- Some critters and pets going to sleep in their burrows and dens by night; others waking up.
- Some NPCs going to the tavern or home at night; assistants replacing them meanwhile.
- Changing flora; Silverleaf herbs glowing brightly by the riverbeds by night, and fading by day.
- The list could go on, but you catch my drift...
The main purpose of this proposal is to inspire Blizzard to do more - not to tell them what to do.
Make the nights darker, but make it optional. Give us an intensity slider for the darkness in the Video Settings, so that each player can decide for herself how much she wants to experience the night.
Intensify all "Night Effects", so that the nights stand out more from the day. This includes more unique sound effects and music in every zone. It also means an increased emphasis on lighting and shading. Like the darkness, this can be something players decide the extent of for themselves in the Video Settings. It also wouldn't kill you to make the sky box textures a little better at night, so that stars and moons appear more lively. I'd like to point out that high resolution sky boxes and an excellent soundtrack are what made TES IV: Oblivion one of the best games of all time for me.
Create unique content for Days and Nights, to let them stand apart even further. No, I'm not talking about restricting access to important NPCs or quests for players who only play exclusively by night or by day. But I am talking about letting the night and day stand apart from one another, thereby making them both more interesting. Not only will this give us players a more varied and exciting experience, but it will provide you at Blizzard with great opportunities for types of new content which wouldn't really fit during the daylight hours. More content is always good, so long as it's optional. This could include:
This concludes my post, but:
Players! If you agree with me, make your voices heard!
Blizzard! If you see my point or have a good reason to share for not agreeing with us, make your voices heard!