The Night Conundrum

Update: As of V87, what I wished for (turning night on or off in the preferences) has come to pass. I leave this musing otherwise untouched, for the problems that I mention below are still not fixed. As such, Night remains a feature that I fear most will turn off.

Unless you've been buried under a rock at night in Puddleby, you can't have missed it. Night. Ever since V82 we've had to suffer through a night suddenly shrouded in inky blackness. Making impossible to see, even in well-lighted indoor spaces!

During the thick of Night, it is impossible to see anything that isn't directly around you. You could walk right by a wounded or fallen comrade and never even realize it. Or you could be killed by a greymir rock and never even have a chance to run.

"Wait a minute," you say, "that sounds just about right for night time." Indeed, you would be correct. However the way this "feature" is implemented it has several inherent flaws:

• There is currently no way to procure an item (like a torch) that will increase the radius of viewable area at Night. (Short of turning it off completely.)
• As I have already mentioned, the darkness does not go away even if you are inside standing next to a "source of light" (I figure a brazier should give off some light... call me crazy.) In the picture below, note the proximity of the brazier to my location:

• Sure, as you see at the top of the page, there IS a place you can go to have night "turned off" but it only lasts until the next time night gets darker or lighter. This place is at the far end of the Fairgrounds. The "Set Night Testing" NPC is probably the most popular NPC of all time because most people seem to dislike the current implementation of Night. You can see where this is a problem. I set night to "zero" and then go off to the TangleWood to do battle and get some much needed funds, and then in the heat of battle Night is turned on again. I then have to deal with the Night problem, or find my way OUT of the TangleWood and go back to the Fairgrounds to turn it off again.

All this being said, I do appreciate Delta Tao's efforts to make Clan Lord a dynamic and interesting place, but I think this implementation of Night is ill-conceived. There should be a "switch" in the CL preferences that lets you turn on Night or turn it off as you want rather than having to go to the fair grounds up to 7 times a night.

So what do you think. Drop me some mail or visit my guest book from the main page and let me know.

Interested in hearing someone else complain? Visit the Cranky Zo. You'll be glad you did!