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Does tyria have timezones?


Nup.4591

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in our world we have timezones. everyone playing with other people around the world will have had an ecounter with it's inconveniences at least once.But that made me wonder: Is Tyria big enough to have timezones? If so, what would they be like? Will you get a jetlag if you use a waypoint from one point of the world to the other?I thought, maybe the devs or someone in the forums knows about this. if not, then why not start a discussion?I think that there are timezones in tyria. it would be funny to see some NPC's talk about their jetlag. it would make sense after all.what are your opinions?

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The game itself doesn't make any mention of timezones that I know of, but in Ghosts of Ascalon (I'm fairly certain) the book mentions leaving Divinity's Reach via gate and arriving in Lion's Arch. And it describes Lion's Arch as a few hours ahead of Divinity's Reach. So if there's some change in that short of a distance, you can guess what Black Citadel to Rata Sum would be like.

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I dont know how much we can trust this map.https://www.zupimages.net/up/19/17/mrmd.jpgIf we take Maguma (AB) as Europe and Est of Elona (Kourna) as.. India? or China? So yes Tyria must have Timezones and we can have similar jetlag.Depend of size of the planet i guess.But when you are offline, your char sleep during several day/night cycles, so its a kind of hibernation compare to other Tyrian people. So he/she can stay awake during a couple of those cycles when you are online and maybe also avoid Jetlag effects. Because his ciracadien rythm his already broken.

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Most of the game is fairly close to the same latitude of the planet. The most notable difference in time of day would be teleporting between Tarir and Vabbi from explored lands in either game. I don't recall such mention that @Narcemus.1348 mentions (can't check atm either sadly), and there being a stark difference between DR and LA would be odd at best, but if there are timezones then I'd imagine the difference is minor - less than the difference between east and west coast US. Though if Narcemus is right, then that would mean the timezones in Tyria are inversed of ours' in that the further east one goes, the earlier in the day one is, rather than later in the day.

EDIT: @"DrFox.8091" That map is a fan recreation of this map taken from the game files of the Durmand Priory Basement's floor. It, and its previous rendition can be pretty much considered "canon until retconned".

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Got it. Page 76. "One moment he was in Divinity's Reach, the rising sun just cresting the walls ahead of him, the city around him in deep shadow. The next moment he and the others were in bright sunshine, leaving him blinking and raising a hand to protect his eyes.... The quiet energy of a city awakening was immediately stilled and replaced with the clamor of merchants and townspeople at work."

@"DrFox.8091" said:I dont know how much we can trust this map.https://www.zupimages.net/up/19/17/mrmd.jpgIf we take Maguma (AB) as Europe and Est of Elona (Kourna) as.. India? or China? So yes Tyria must have Timezones and we can have similar jetlag.Depend of size of the planet i guess.

For this purpose, if you've got a guild, I'd recommend hopping into the hall and checking out the globes at the teleporter. They've got the full world laid out there. Eyeballing it, looks like about 60 degrees longitude between the Maguuma and Kourna, which'd put Kourna about four hours ahead. Same distance as eastern Europe to India, more or less. (Divinity's Reach and Lion's Arch are harder to pinpoint, but it doesn't look like it can be more than 20 or 30 degrees, which'd put Lion's Arch an hour or two ahead- enough for minor jet lag.)

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Hard to say for sure- the asura gate was also described as being up against the outer wall of DR, for instance, which means the sun was already a fair way up if they could see it peeking over that monster of a fortification- but the difference in activity makes it clear LA was at least a little further on in their day.

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@Aaron Ansari.1604 said:Got it. Page 76. "One moment he was in Divinity's Reach, the rising sun just cresting the walls ahead of him, the city around him in deep shadow. The next moment he and the others were in bright sunshine, leaving him blinking and raising a hand to protect his eyes.... The quiet energy of a city awakening was immediately stilled and replaced with the clamor of merchants and townspeople at work."

@Aaron Ansari.1604 said:Hard to say for sure- the asura gate was also described as being up against the outer wall of DR, for instance, which means the sun was already a fair way up if they could see it peeking over that monster of a fortification- but the difference in activity makes it clear LA was at least a little further on in their day.

The asura gate mentioned in the novel is the one in Rurikton. IIRC, just before walking through, the novel mentions that there was a bunch of military around the gate, and a line of travelers that Dougal and co. bypassed due to being with Vigil. It's more than just there being a big arse wall behind the gate blocking the sun, but the very distinctly different environment that the gates are placed in - in LA, the gates are (were) right next to the Grand Piazza, where a bunch of activity would be once the sun begins to rise, whereas in DR it was behind a few simple fortifications in case an attack went through the gate.

I can't imagine more than a 1 hour difference, given the distance, between the two cities.

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If it's early in the morning a relatively short time can make a huge difference in the activity in a city. I used to leave for work at 7:15 in the morning, but sometimes I had to leave at 6:30 instead and just 45 minutes earlier the difference was very noticeable - there were far fewer cars on the street, almost no people walking and it was so much quieter I felt like I was disturbing everyone just walking down the street. (Especially when I had to wear my stupid smart shoes where the heels clicked when they hit the ground.)

I agree the position of the gates would also be a factor in the level of activity around them, but I think the way it's written - "the quiet energy of a city awakening" vs "the clamor of merchants and townspeople at work" also implies a time difference. Unless, as @Narcemus.1348 said the people of Divinity's Reach are lazy and just awakening when Lion's Arch people are already hard at work. But it's hard to infer how much of a time difference that is, especially since I'm not sure how many people in DR would use clocks vs. simply seeing the sun coming over the wall and deciding it's time to get going.

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@"Danikat.8537" said:If it's early in the morning a relatively short time can make a huge difference in the activity in a city. I used to leave for work at 7:15 in the morning, but sometimes I had to leave at 6:30 instead and just 45 minutes earlier the difference was very noticeable - there were far fewer cars on the street, almost no people walking and it was so much quieter I felt like I was disturbing everyone just walking down the street. (Especially when I had to wear my stupid smart shoes where the heels clicked when they hit the ground.)

I agree the position of the gates would also be a factor in the level of activity around them, but I think the way it's written - "the quiet energy of a city awakening" vs "the clamor of merchants and townspeople at work" also implies a time difference. Unless, as @Narcemus.1348 said the people of Divinity's Reach are lazy and just awakening when Lion's Arch people are already hard at work. But it's hard to infer how much of a time difference that is, especially since I'm not sure how many people in DR would use clocks vs. simply seeing the sun coming over the wall and deciding it's time to get going.

I would agree that the difference is likely no more than 1-2 hours over such a short distance, but like you said, 1-2 hours could make a big difference, plus you are talking about going from a city quarter to pretty much a seaport, which could make a big difference. I would assume most working sailors are up at the crack of dawn.

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Thank you, Its more logical to think its round , but does it spin, as this thread seems to be about timezones, and timezones as we know them only exist if the planet spins.As a simple test , I went from the top of rata Sum all the way to the most easterly part of Mt Maelstrom stopping at all the zones along the way looking at the sky, and the degree of brightness seems to be roughly the same in all cases.The sky also seems to be lit by a diffuse source as there doesnt seem to be a single point of illumination..Ill try the shadow test and stand still at the same place for 24 hours and see if my players shadow moves.

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Devs need to implement a time zone so I can make better use of Eternity lol. (jk I don't use 50% mango blade)

Do we have any conformation that the map is a truly north to south as the planet spins? I mean I would suspect so if DR and LA are confirmed separate timezones, but just because it's cold up north doesn't mean much when we have Jormag.

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If the planet does spin, its pretty slow.As a test I placed one char in Rata Sum on the top level which is as far west as you can go in Tyria without going into HOT zones, and another at the most easterly part of Mt maelstrom, and after 5 hours there has been no movement in the direction of either characters shadows.But the shadows are in differant directions relative to north at both places, which seems to imply that the planet doesnt spin.The other possible but much more controversial explanation is that time does not exist in Tyria.Apart from the Mad Kings Clocktower, is there any kind of time keeping devices anywhere in the world?

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When you wander through Tyria one must realise this isn't Kansas anymore. There is a difference between lore and mechanics.Lore exist to tell a story and create the setting of the storyMechanics exist to play the game.

To have a strong immersion, you need to have mechanics that matches the lore as much as possible. However, Tyria is not a real world (sorry to bring the news).It is neither flat nor round and it doesnt spin or even exist in the way we know in the real universe. It is created in a virtual space where mechanics exist to suit the players and encouarage playing together.

1: Daytime cycleMost maps have a daytime cycle that follow the same time. This page shows how it works: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Day_and_nightThere are however maps that are excluded from the cycle and seems to be put outside of time.

2: Frozen in timeMaps are considered frozen in time, unless this is not the case.It is going to get complicated here. But when for example you walk in Queensdale, you will see little to no pressence of any of the orders of Tyria. This is cause Queensdale is set at the beginning of the personal story (only 3 days after the attack on Shaemoor). Elder dragons exist, but there is not active threat.Once you reach the personal story at level 30, the orders do surface as there is a threat form an elder dragon. This is why you can find pressence of whisperers, vigil and priory in e.g. Kessex Hills. (please note here that originally this was a much earlier story, that is why you also meet order reps in maps like snowden drifts.Once you free claw island, you venture in maps for level 60 and above and suddenly you meet members of the pact, created in those orders.

These things always stay the same, and maps seems to be frozen in time. So Queensdale is frozen three days behind the attack on Shaemoor. Lornar pass, right after the level 30 story and e.g. mount maelstrom right after the battle at claw island.

3: but again not frozen in time.There is also living world. These are causing events disrupting the frozen in time status by placing events in places that are frozen much earlier in time. A few examples.a: Bandits from the living world season 3 era in starter area's in Kryta and Maguumab: Palawa joko's minions from the living world season 4 era in starter area;sc: rifts in maps that are frozen right after meeting your order.So wether or not this mechanic exist, depends on the whimps of Arenanet. Sometimes a map is frozen in time and sometimes itis not.

4: Freedom to play as you want.You are free to experience the story and so also the timeline in any order you want. You can roleplay that Zhaithan never died. Just know it is not lore and NPC's will not take this into account.

So bottom line and tl;dr. Time in Tyria acts funny. Sometimes the general laws of physics as we know it apply, but too often, it does not for obvious reasons. There are no real timezones to be observed as Tyria isn't a real world, but is created as a virtual world.

I know this might sound unsattisfying. So to quote a famous wizard from a different realm: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

Immersion is a great thing, but you have to do it. Real or not real does not really matter and so does time matter little. Time flies when you are having fun, and so it does in Tyria.

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@"mauried.5608" said:If the planet does spin, its pretty slow.As a test I placed one char in Rata Sum on the top level which is as far west as you can go in Tyria without going into HOT zones, and another at the most easterly part of Mt maelstrom, and after 5 hours there has been no movement in the direction of either characters shadows.But the shadows are in differant directions relative to north at both places, which seems to imply that the planet doesnt spin.The other possible but much more controversial explanation is that time does not exist in Tyria.Apart from the Mad Kings Clocktower, is there any kind of time keeping devices anywhere in the world?

Shadow direction is coded for each zone by placement of light sources. These light sources are unlikely to move, and the sun/moon as I pointed out above rise and set in the same direction in-game. I highly doubt there are any devs who go into the effort to make sure that the shadows, sun, and moon rise and set in accordance to the lore. These things are going to be a minimal focus beyond "it exists, it doesn't bug out, we're good."

Case in point: You're mistaking mechanics that devs probably don't think much about for canon lore.

That said, time does certainly exist in Tyria. After all, we have calendars, seasons, days, etc. A progression of the fourth dimension means time exists.

As for clocks, there is the one in the Battle of Khylo map. I do believe there are grandfather clock models, as well as wall clocks. No other clocktowers besides the two AFAIK, but that doesn't mean there aren't any at all in lore.

@"mercury ranique.2170" said:To have a strong immersion, you need to have mechanics that matches the lore as much as possible.

This is debatable, really, especially in regards to time progression.

Naturally, a day and night in Tyria's lore is not going to be two hours long - if that were the case, then Tyrian years (360 days) are only 30 Earth days in length. But it isn't really reasonable to establish the game's day-night cycle as being 12/24 hours long (based on the aforementioned clocktowers having 12 numbers) because various mechanics revolve around aforementioned day-night cycle and people can usually only play for limited hours per day. It would be quite a bit less fun if the game is always in nighttime when you get to play, just because you cannot play 5 hours later/earlier in the day.

And with the shadows thing that mauried brought up, developers would need to make sure the main light source on each zone is in the same relative direction (which gives complicated when you go to extremes of map distances, like from Frostgorge to Istan). Its easier for devs to just plop the light sources, moon, and sun in the "general right direction" and leave it as static placement than to really care about the dynamics of how it'd work were Tyria an actual place.

Point being, to have a strong immersion, you merely need good enough mechanics, and a sense to not go delving into how the game functions.

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