WvW Timezones: EST, PST, OCX, SEA, EU - what time exactly?

[Lemoncurry.2345]

Hi,I often read about the WvW-primetime-timezones: EST, PST, OCX, SEA and EU. These seem to be NA-identifiers and are not widely used in the EU where I play.

Since https://wvwstats.com/timezones can also give an activity-comparison for EU-Servers with these designations, I'd love to know: What are the exact times for these four primetime-timezones?

Thanks!

[Chaba.5410]

EU servers don't really have many players outside of EU timezone playing like the NA servers do so naturally this isn't something widely used in EU.

I wouldn't consider PST a "prime time" since we're the tail end of NA that starts during EST hours. It gets a little fuzzy with daylight savings time changes.

NA Prime is 5-6pm PSTOCX Prime is about 3am PSTSEA Prime is about 6am PSTEU Prime is 11am-12pm PST

I know of a few EU players who play on my server and will join OCX and SEA guilds. That's like afternoon for you guys.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

Eastern & Pacific time (it really shouldn't include the 'S' since that applies only part of the year). During the summer, those are UTC-5 and UTC-8 respectively.

OCX is a common abbreviation for "Oceanic Etc," referring to Australia and the like, roughly UTC+10.

SEA refers to SouthEast Asia, roughly UTC+8 or +9.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

Follow-up: It doesn't look as if wvwstats.com defines the time zones. Since the author of the site is from BG, they might be using a BG-specific definition, which has been around for 4-5 years, as noted in this thread, translated in the thread as these times in Pacific:

• EST: 4pm -7pm
• PST: 9pm - 12am
• OCX: 1am - 5am
• SEA: 6am - 10am
• EU: 11am - 2pm

Hopefully you can see the issues already: Eastern is exactly 3 hours ahead of Pacific, so the two zones are peaking at different times, which doesn't accurately reflect the lack of difference between the two coasts of the US. Also note how five region not evenly spread throughout the globe divide up the clock evenly.

So it appears that this was someone's attempt to define coverage periods, with the hope that there would be people available to help. In practice, I doubt it ever happened that way.

So it would be better if WvWStats listed the actual times being covered and use a script to convert to the viewer's local time.

Accordingly, I'd use the "time zone" page to identify a world with peak activity during my likely play periods and then confirm on the world-specific graphs

[Lemoncurry.2345]

Thanks guys!In case other European players are interested - these are the approximate* times in Central European Time (UTC+1) according to this thread:	Abbr.:	Primetime for:	CET:
NA ET	North-America Eastcoast & Baruch	01:00-04:00
NA PT	North-America Westcoast	06:00-09:00
OCX	Oceanic (Australia & Co.)	10:00-14:00
SEA	Southeast Asia	15:00-19:00
EU	Europe	20:00-23:00

*not sure about DSTs and some prime-times seem to have different lengths, but you'll get the picture...

[Sovereign.1093]

if you get confused, simple follow the server time because it is universal in this game. =)

[SkyShroud.2865]

@"Lemoncurry.2345" said:Thanks guys!In case other European players are interested - these are the approximate* times in Central European Time (UTC+1) according to this thread:	Abbr.:	Primetime for:	CET:
Early NA / Late EU	Early NA / Late EU	23:00-02:00
NA ET	North-America Eastcoast & Baruch	02:00-05:00
NA PT	North-America Westcoast	05:00-08:00
Late NA / Early OCX	Late NA / Early OCX	08:00-11:00
OCX	Oceanic (Australia & Co.)	11:00-14:00
SEA	Southeast Asia	14:00-17:00
Early EU	Early Europe	17:00-20:00
EU	Europe	20:00-23:00

*not sure about DSTs and some prime-times seem to have different lengths, but you'll get the picture...

Corrected

WvWStats often mix timezones together, for example, SEA people usually don't play past 12am but wvwstats caculate past 12am.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

WvWStats often mix timezones together, for example, SEA people usually don't play past 12am but wvwstats caculate past 12am.As I said above, I think it's meant to indicate coverage periods rather than popular times to play.And it would be easier if the site indicated the actual times they mean, so people don't have to decipher.

(Mind you: it's still a very useful chart; it's a great tool even without such a change.)

[SkyShroud.2865]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

WvWStats often mix timezones together, for example, SEA people usually don't play past 12am but wvwstats caculate past 12am.As I said above, I think it's meant to indicate

coverage periods

rather than popular times to play.And it would be easier if the site indicated the actual times they mean, so people don't have to decipher.

(Mind you: it's still a very useful chart; it's a great tool even without such a change.)

Nah, it simply made by someone who isn't familiar with timezones. Most people in the world don't deal with timezones unless in jobs that require to know them.

[Magnuzone.8395]

We dont care about the UTC+/-CET is the same timezone from Stockholm to Cape Town. Talking to a european friend from abroad? CET is what you have to keep track of. Nothing else. About 1 billion people have that time zone.

[Aeolus.3615]

@Magnuzone.8395 said:We dont care about the UTC+/-CET is the same timezone from Stockholm to Cape Town. Talking to a european friend from abroad? CET is what you have to keep track of. Nothing else. About 1 billion people have that time zone.

GMT is what military uses, so its the best :)

note: im not influenced just because im in gmt 0 ~x)

[Lemoncurry.2345]

Wow, the GW2-forum manages to turn a discussion about timezones into one which is the most OP ... :pThe reason I asked is because the question "on which server do I find the most people playing when I usually play" comes up from time to time. And while wvstats provides some useful data on that (haven't found an alternative yet), the abbreviations used in the chart designating a specific timezone's primetime were not explained on the site.

[EremiteAngel.9765]

This thread is very helpful.Now I have a better idea of the time zones.

From what I've experienced so far in T2 on AR/JQ:

NA Prime is 5-11pm PST (Highest no. of players)

• Remains high until ~ 11pm PST before it starts dropping.

OCX Prime is about 3am PST (Lowest no. of players)

• Starts climbing at ~5am PST

SEA Prime is about 6-9am PST (High no. of players)

• Remains high until ~9am PST before it starts dropping.

EU Prime is 11am-12pm PST (Low no. of players)

• Remains low until ~2pm PST before it starts climbing.

[Dawdler.8521]

@EremiteAngel.9765 said:EU Prime is 11am-12pm PST (Low no. of players)

• Remains low until ~2pm PST before it starts climbing.Yep, which is 19:00 CET if I didnt time that wrong. I believe Its more accurate than saying 20:00 CET since it is 20:00 in many EU countries. 20:00 CET is too late.

[Jade Raccoon.4285]

Very helpful topic, thanks for providing info.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:This thread is very helpful.Now I have a better idea of the time zones.

Just one problem: the owner of the website didn't define the terms. They could well agree with you about the hours; the might have had something narrower in mind. People have a tendency to define "peak" around their own time zone, e.g. I've seen players in East Coast NA define a different 5-hour period from West Coast NA.

Put another way: the chart is a great place to start. I recommend taking a closer look after, e.g. after narrowing down your options, confirm with people who play when you play on those worlds.