I understand that the calendar within WoW is not a high priority for most people. However, I think these types of utility systems are still important in lowering the barrier to entry for gameplay – even if that barrier is a player’s forgetfulness. So, I would like to present a few suggestions to improve the player’s quality of life via the WoW Calendar.
Change All Times Based on Time Zone
As of now, if you look at the calendar there are announcement dates and times for several major, minor, and weekly holidays. However, depending on the activity, when does it start? Server time? Local time? Pacific time? It would be nice for the player to have the ability to adjust all calendar times by selecting any of the time zones around the world as well as their server time (maybe in a drop-down menu). Also, if the ability to select the time zone is included in the event creation, it could automatically provide the correct time based on the invite recipient’s time zone selection.
Account-Wide Reminders for ‘My Events’
A few times, I have told myself, “Oh yeah! Darkmoon Faire is in about 3 days. Let me put a reminder on my phone.” Well, the alert on the phone works perfect, but I am two hours from the house at the time, and I end up forgetting about it entirely. In another example, I notice Pirate’s Day is a week away. So, I set up an event in the calendar, but when the day comes, I log in on another character - forgetting about the event completely.
It would be nice to have an option that you can switch between character and account modes when utilizing the calendar. Account mode operations could give the player a reminder of an activity that is happening that day regardless of the character they may be playing. I know there is an alarm that is there and available, but the utility of its operation is very limited. In short, a one-click or two-click option that gives the player the ability to set up a reminder for that day (like adding the event to favorites or a ‘My Events’ category) would be nice. Then, upon logging in that day, provide the player with a action-button (similar in style to zone-wide abilities in WoD) that links the player to the specific event within the calendar.
Countdown Timers for ‘My Events’
For many events in WoW, each player has their preferred and not so preferred activities. For example, my wife really enjoys leveling her pets and characters during Battle Pet holiday or running around in Comp Stomp, while I may be a little more interested participating in the next Legion TW event. Many players use the calendar to answer the question, “What’s up this week?”. However, I think there are some events or holidays that players look forward to weeks and months before their start day! It would be nice to be able to mark these events as something I am interested in (again as a favorite or ‘My Events’ option), and in return, the calendar provides a timer until the event.
Examples of suggestions: https://imgur.com/a/rbKSGD4
In the link above, I provide three images to give a rough idea what these changes could potentially look like compared to what is available now. These were made by using MS Excel, so they are a bit rough to look at, but I think they get the idea across.