For the record matt, if you'll notice on your thread, I agreed the idea couldn't hurt, all I said was always giving the customer what they wanted, just because they demanded it, was a bad argument.

 

hmm, I'm sorry then?

I agree that there should be day/night cycles. Tattooine alone has so many memorable moments that occur in both day and night in the films, that it just makes the game seem cheap not to have some sort of cycle.

I would love to be fighting on Alderaan or Balmorra at night in the pouring rain.

 

Certain weather effects should have other effects too IMO. a sandstorm on tatooine could do 1 damage per second over time (for the duration of the storm) while outside.

 

Rain could increase spawn rate of plants, etc.

 

Just a few ideas but i'd settle for weather without effects too.

Excellent idea, if not night day cycles, atleast weather changes!

I agree in total! This is one of the first games I have ever played where there was no day/night and weather cycles. My experience is as a multimedia specialist, with experience in grid and simulator development. This is one of the things people really want. They want realistic simulation, it adds to the overall experience. I am not sure why this was not implemented from day 1.

 

I do think there should be the option, however, for those who wish to have it be daylight, or night, etc to toggle the feature on/off, if they choose. In LOTRO, you have no control over the weather, or time cycles (day, night, dusk, dawn, high noon, midnight, etc) however in SL, you have the choice to choose time of day, or allow the game to cycle according to standard time in your location.

 

This would help the game a lot, and I do think it is important, as it simulates a "real" environment, versus what we have now, which in my opinion, lessons the quality of the game and diminishes the entire role playing potential.

I totally agree, as it stands right now the planets dont feel alive. They really should look into adding this feature. Grass and plants moving in the wind, water waves made from wind along with your gear moving in it or being on a cliff side where wind is howling through the tunnels that lead to ledges. This would help breathe life into the worlds.

 

 

Nar Shadda could have fog and some rain it would seem like the movie Blade Runner during the weather in that movie.

 

Yes..all of this!!

Weather and Day/Night cycles would be awesome, and I support this idea.

 

I don't think it would be to hard to make day and night cycles, but weather might be a bit tough.

I understand the reason they did this, and I accept it. You kind of expect the blazing suns to be out on Tatooine, and you need to see Nar Shaddaa at night for the neon to be effective. I'm fine with that; it's cool.

 

However, I do hope that the developers will consider adding these to new planets in expansion packs. I would like to see snow flurries, thunderstorms, light showers, and other weather effects, as well as having a day/night cycle on new worlds.

Weather and day night cycles would be great. Would make the planets feel much more alive and would add some much needed graphic diversity. I was blown away by the look on Illum the way the snow looks in the darkness and the stars overhead. Adding day night cycles and weather would go a long way in making these planets feel like real places.

I really like this idea but i'd like to see Places that are usually seen as bright at night time for a nice change. Tatooine at night would be very cool.

I think 4 hours is a bit fast for a day/night cycle. You could have it in real time and sync say the European servers to GMT or just use Zulu time.

 

Edit: Thinking about it the time on each planet for day and night would different due to how fast they spin. making them all change between day and night at the same time would be unrealistic.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Skeahi

Bioware decided way back in 2005/2006 that TOR wouldn't use day/night cycles because they wanted each planet to have its own mood and feel to it, for example Korriban would have the sun hanging ominously over the Academy at all times, as if to represent the Emperor's ever watchful eye, keeping check on the proceedings on Korriban.

 

It's explicitly stated as such in the "The Art and Making of The Old Republic" book. So considering that the decision still stands in 2012 I wouldn't expect it to change any time soon.

 

Might be true, but that dont mean they cant change their stand on this if the demand for it big enough. The planets are as ok as they are, but why back down from doing something that could actually make them be awesome and more alive?

I agree with what some say, that this is not the most important issue with SWTOR, but it certainly deserves and needs to be implementet over time, and to me personally it would make a big difference on how I see the game.

A great little video from SWG on planet cycles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTgUwR17M28

Bioware decided way back in 2005/2006 that TOR wouldn't use day/night cycles because they wanted each planet to have its own mood and feel to it, for example Korriban would have the sun hanging ominously over the Academy at all times, as if to represent the Emperor's ever watchful eye, keeping check on the proceedings on Korriban.

 

It's explicitly stated as such in the "The Art and Making of The Old Republic" book. So considering that the decision still stands in 2012 I wouldn't expect it to change any time soon.

 

You'll be reading a new book called, "The Fatal Decisions that Made The Old Republic Rejected" if they dont start fixing this stuff. This was not a design decision, it was the path of least resistance. Once you make the game you give it to the players, not make it a museum to your design meetings.

Signed, make this happen, would give the worlds soooo much more life!!!

Anyone hear anything new about this? Or are we just going to accept the fact that it wont ever be in game?

I personally think that Tatooine could have a night cycle that spans one or two real days of the week to show the long orbits that scorched it's surface, I mean episode 2 Anakin found his mother at night and I remember it being quite spooky with the sand people out there - the game Red Faction Guerrilla had tusken raider like people called marauders that went together with the night backdrop perfectly and did not appear on your radar.

 

Just saying maybe one day of the week like every Saturday could be night to make leveling Tatooine a bit more seemingly dangerous. Think of Taris on empire regardless of level the danger level to our senses can seem greater than the Republic day variant. Not all planet need cycles but this would be cool and appreciated by many leveling alts on weekends. Hoth snowstorms (think ilum aim datacron area) could be a high end PC feature since lag etc...

WOW holy 2 year necor!!!!

 

this horse was glue 2 years ago.

 

game is a themepark with snapshots in time, end of story.

this is a really good idea. one of the things i like about rift is that they have this feature.... plus the graphics there are incredible and the game runs at like 60fps with settings on full while this one has average graphics for and barely runs at 20fps (and still uses at most 20-30% of my gpu power) and in 16m ops it can crawl to a mere 5fps at times... but i digress... add some weather! pretty please Edited May 4, 2014 by Drossious
clarification

After 2 years of playing this game I honestly wish there was night/day cycles.

 

simply because while the devs may of wanted to have each planet have its own look, that doesnt mean the look would be any less Unique at night, Take alderman for example, beautifully done and a generally relaxing planetary environment. If this planet had a night time theres so much they could do with it... city lights....street lights. hell you could even put headlights on your mounts to add to the effect.

 

I think personally nar shadar and hutta would be the exception based on the fact that those planets have a lot of pollution and generally block out the sun anyway and 9/10 times you're indoors on nar shadar.

 

Planets like tantooine and hoth though really do need this, because its essentially a baron waste land and can be frustrating to travel across and look at because they are both very bright and "plain" I get it, ones a baron dust land the other is a ice ball, but thats not the point even places like that have night time which would only increase immersion and make the environments more enjoyable.

 

Korriban sorely needs a night cycle as that too is extremely bright and no changing the brightness setting is not a solution.

 

This environmental "upgrade" has so much potential to improve immersion, to say that they simply want to have the planets have their own unique look is fine but it is not a good argument because you are developing the game for player experience and you should never reduce the experience of your player base because at the end of the day this is not some art piece your selling, this is a product, please note the difference. This can only improve the game nothing more nothing less. especially with all the lighting features they could add..

 

 

*sigh* 2 years this threads been here and still it hasn't happened, they should at-least respond to this and consider it.

 

Oh if you havent guessed, I support this

Edited May 30, 2014 by xeNNNNN

I really want to just ignore this necro, but I am going to give in and argue against this idea. I want to go ahead and say that yes, seeing different planets in different times and different conditions would be really visually cool. It would also be a really bad idea for this particular game. The primary argument I see touted for this is that day/night cycles would increase immersion.

 

Sooo... standing around a republic base, partly outdoors, talking to random scientists at midnight, will increase immersion? Running around Hoth, fighting all the pirates just lazing around chilling in the middle of the blizzard, will increase immersion? Being able to quantify how much time your jedi has gone without sleeping or eating, and exactly how many days he's spent on Voss on an urgent mission without actually accomplishing anything will increase immersion?

 

It sounds cool in theory to be on a dynamic planet with weather and day/night. In games that are more sandboxed focused, it can even make sense. That is not what SWTOR is. Making day/night cycles and introducing weather that is not called for by plot will just serve to highlight incompatibilities with the world and the plot you are following (you say those guys wandered off into the desert and need to be recovered before the sandstorm hits? Well, the sandstorm is already here, so....), as well as the lack of immersion in quest givers/vendors/random mobs/animals, as they fail to conform to what immersion dictates they would normally do during the weather or day/night. Youmay think that it would be appealing if they made it so that you needed a light at night for immersion, and certain people would enjoy the immersion and realism of that, but the vast bulk of players will find it inconvenient, and a major turn off. And if they do night without any consequences to night, how is that any more immersive than the bulk of your experience on tattooine being characterized by blazing suns?

 

Not to mention that all of you who are dreaming about this, have very different ideas of what those day/night cycles should be. Should they follow canon? compressed canon? Should they be synchronized for convenience? Asynchronous because there's no way night on Alderaan should be night on Hoth? Player controlled so that everyone can be looking at different weather while rping? mass consensus? how would this remotely work?) should follow everyone's real life timezone (so that you can have the immersion of the gorgeous sunset while rping with an australian who has the immersion of the gorgeous sunrise?)

 

And creating a specific mood for the planets works. There's definitely a poignancy to the twilight of imperial taris, for instance.

 

Ultimately, yes, this is a neat idea visually. But it doesn't fit with the way SWTOR has been designed. It would be far, far too complicated to make those changes and all the other changes that would need to be made for this to make sense.

I would love this. Another way to make us feel like actually being in star wars fantasy.. aka my reality

I would love this. Another way to make us feel like actually being in star wars fantasy.. aka my reality

 

I would love it too, but the devs might hurt themselves trying to actually do it.