WoW: Forever devs weigh Australian timezone to fix night-only play
Blizzard engineers said on an official podcast that an Australian timezone has been discussed, but it would cause abrupt day/night shifts when grouping with NA players.
Blizzard Entertainment has discussed adding an Australian timezone to World of Warcraft: Forever so Oceanic players are not locked into near-constant night, developers said on an official Blizzard podcast, according to pcgamer.com.
The game runs a 24-hour day/night cycle tied to North American server clock cycles, which means players on Australian servers see mostly nighttime hours.
Lead software engineer Ana Resendez said an Australia timezone running on local Australian server architecture is possible, but it would produce abrupt day/night changes whenever those players group with people on North American time.
Senior game designer Josh Greenfield asked Australian players for feedback on whether those sudden shifts would be acceptable to them. The developers said the option is something they have discussed.
Server setup behind the issue
World of Warcraft: Forever has been described as "realmless", and Blizzard operates servers in Australia, giving OCE players good ping while still sharing North American server architecture.
Quick answers
Why do Oceanic players in World of Warcraft: Forever play mostly at night?
The game's 24-hour day/night cycle is tied to North American server clock cycles, and OCE servers follow that same architecture.
Will World of Warcraft: Forever add an Australian timezone?
Blizzard developers said on an official podcast that the option has been discussed, but no decision or date was announced.