ForeverDB

Oceanic day and night cycle: what the podcast reports say, and what's actually confirmed

The Redridge Mountains map from the WoW Forever client

· ForeverDB

Community creators, led by Wowhead, say Blizzard talked about the day and night cycle for Oceanic players on its WoW: Forever Podcast. It isn't in Blizzard's written posts and isn't the sort of thing the game files carry, so treat it as a report.

Speculation. This rests on community reports of the WoW: Forever Podcast, not on Blizzard's written posts or the beta game files. The forum posts we hold don't mention a day and night cycle change, and the in-game timing isn't something the client files carry. Treat it as a report until Blizzard posts it.

What the reports say

Wowhead reported on 30 October that Blizzard discussed the day and night cycle on the latest WoW: Forever Podcast. The short version of the reports: players in the Oceanic region can share a server with players in North America, the in-game day and night follows that server, so Oceanic players can end up with night in game during their own daytime. Samiccus and Husky covered the same podcast in videos on 1 and 2 November, with Husky listing it as the first topic in his write-up (“Day/Night Cycle Feedback”).

In substance, Wowhead (report) said (source): In the latest episode of the WoW: Forever Podcast, Blizzard has addressed day-and-night cycle issues for Oceanic Players in WoW: Forever. As noted in a previous podcast episode, players in Australia can share a server with players in North America.

Site and creator reports of a podcast, not a Blizzard change or written statement. We don't have the podcast's exact words, so we can't quote what Blizzard said or promised.

What's confirmed and what isn't

Confirmed in a Blizzard post: Oceanic players connect to Australian servers. Kaivax said so in a written forum post on 27 October, about a separate name reservation problem.

This issue should only be present for players in the Oceanic region who are connecting to Australian servers, and we’re working on a fix for it urgently. Kaivax, Community Manager

That post is about name reservation, not the day and night cycle, but it does confirm the setup the reports build on: there are Australian servers, and Oceanic players connect to them. What isn't confirmed is the day and night cycle part. None of the Blizzard forum posts we hold mentions a day and night cycle or a change to it. That comes only from the podcast as relayed by Wowhead and the video creators. There's no written post, and no date for any fix.

What the Forever client says

The day and night cycle is driven by the server, not stored in the client's data files, so the game files can't show it or a change to it either way. This is the same kind of thing as loot or server time: it lives on Blizzard's side, not in the data we extract.

The client's playable list is unchanged. It still lists 9 classes (Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior) and 10 races (Dwarf, Gnome, High Order Skyborne, Human, Night Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead, Windshaper Skyborne). Every “night” we find in the client is just a name, with nothing to do with a day and night cycle:

  • Night Elf (a playable race)
  • Nightborne
  • Nightclaw Cavern, Nightclaw Druids, of the Nightclaw
  • Nightslayer Armor

So the client neither backs up nor contradicts the reports. It simply doesn't hold this, which is why we're labelling the whole thing a report.

Sources

Explore next