User:Veron/Day-Night Cycle Research
The existing information about the day-night cycle on wiki is very limited. Understanding the day-night cycle is useful for Sigil of the Night and potentially for the new Outpost event content in Heart of Thorns.
Articles to improve[edit]
- Day and night (Day, Night) --- Draft
- Day-night cycle (Day-night cycle, Dawn, Dusk) --- link to Day and night#Day–night cycle
Research[edit]
Basics[edit]
Personal testing:
- Written notes – times are PST
- Sigil of the Night testing
The day-night cycle has a two-hour period. There are two important distinctions in classifying stages during this cycle:
- Functional. There are two stages: day and night. Weapons that change appearance and Sigil of the Night depend on which functional stage it is.
- Cosmetic. The appearance of the sky has four different stages: day, night, dusk, and dawn. During day, the sky appears bright and the sun is visible. During night, the sky appears dark and stars are visible. Dusk and dawn are short transition stages in which the sky smoothly transitions between day and night in the appropriate direction.
The following table summarizes how these stages are related and also gives their lengths in minutes during one full cycle.
| Functional stage | Cosmetic stage | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Day | Dawn | 5 minutes |
| Day | 70 minutes | |
| Dusk | 5 minutes | |
| Night | Night | 40 minutes |
Weapon appearance and Sigil of the Night in each stage:
| Cosmetic stage | AC weapon | Eternity aura | Eternity blade | Sigil of the Night |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn | Day | Day | Night | Day |
| Day | Day | Day | Day | Day |
| Dusk | Day | Day | Day | Day |
| Night | Night | Night | Night | Night |
Interestingly, Eternity's blade does not properly change during dawn, even with a rezone.
Schedule[edit]
All maps that have a day-night cycle are synchronized to a one cycle. Because the two-hour period is a nice factor of 24 hours, we have a fixed real-world daily schedule for the cycle.
Read horizontal:
| Time that cosmetic stage begins -- UTC (Local) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional Night | Functional Day | ||
| Night | Dawn | Day | Dusk |
| 23:45 | 00:25 | 00:30 | 01:40 |
| 01:45 | 02:25 | 02:30 | 03:40 |
| 03:45 | 04:25 | 04:30 | 05:40 |
| 05:45 | 06:25 | 06:30 | 07:40 |
| 07:45 | 08:25 | 08:30 | 09:40 |
| 09:45 | 10:25 | 10:30 | 11:40 |
| 11:45 | 12:25 | 12:30 | 13:40 |
| 13:45 | 14:25 | 14:30 | 15:40 |
| 15:45 | 16:25 | 16:30 | 17:40 |
| 17:45 | 18:25 | 18:30 | 19:40 |
| 19:45 | 20:25 | 20:30 | 21:40 |
| 21:45 | 22:25 | 22:30 | 23:40 |
Read vertical:
| Time that cosmetic stage begins -- UTC (Local) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Functional Night | Night | 23:45 | 01:45 | 03:45 | 05:45 | 07:45 | 09:45 | 11:45 | 13:45 | 15:45 | 17:45 | 19:45 | 21:45 |
| Functional Day | Dawn | 00:25 | 02:25 | 04:25 | 06:25 | 08:25 | 10:25 | 12:25 | 14:25 | 16:25 | 18:25 | 20:25 | 22:25 |
| Day | 00:30 | 02:30 | 04:30 | 06:30 | 08:30 | 10:30 | 12:30 | 14:30 | 16:30 | 18:30 | 20:30 | 22:30 | |
| Dusk | 01:40 | 03:40 | 05:40 | 07:40 | 09:40 | 11:40 | 13:40 | 15:40 | 17:40 | 19:40 | 21:40 | 23:40 | |
Zones on cycle[edit]
The following locations are locked onto the day-night cycle schedule.
- All explorable zones
- Instances using maps of explorable zones
- Primary WvW zones: Eternal Battlegrounds, Borderlands, Obsidian Sanctum
- Chantry of Secrets
Zones not on cycle[edit]
- Dungeons
- Fractals of the Mists
- Edge of the Mists -- always day
- Heart of the Mists -- always night
- Arcana Obscura -- always day
Weapon transitions[edit]
Using Eternity and Royal Ascalonian Short Bow to investigate. On some maps, weapons automatically transition as time ticks over into next stage. On other maps, you need to rezone.
