Idle and Time Mechanics

Overview

Delve is fundamentally an idle game — the core activities (dungeon runs, crafting, gathering) happen on real-world timers. The design challenge is making the passage of time feel rewarding, not punishing. Players should look forward to checking their results, not feel stressed about falling behind.

Core Idle Philosophy

Time is the universal currency. Everyone — free players and paying players alike — waits for dungeon runs to resolve. This creates a level playing field where the differentiator is how well you prepare, not how much you play.

Key Principles

1. Offline progress is real progress. Your character advances whether you’re watching or not.
2. No penalty for absence. Missing a day (or a week) should never feel punishing. Daily bonuses are additive, not restorative.
3. Active play is a bonus, not a requirement. Players who log in frequently can optimize more, but the game doesn’t punish those who check in once a day.
4. Notifications inform, not nag. Alerts are helpful (“Your run is done!”), not guilt-inducing (“You haven’t logged in today!”).

Time-Gated Activities

Dungeon Runs

• Duration: 15 minutes to 12 hours depending on quest type
• Cannot be sped up with real money (core design principle)
• One active run per character at a time
• Character is unavailable for other activities while on a run
• Run completes regardless of whether the player is online

Crafting

• Duration: 15 minutes to 12 hours depending on recipe tier
• 50% faster for Patron subscribers (see 14-monetization.md)
• One active craft per profession at a time
• Runs in parallel with dungeon runs — character can craft while dungeon running
• Completes offline

Gathering

• Duration: 1 to 12 hours
• 50% faster for Patron subscribers
• One active task per gathering profession at a time
• Runs in parallel with everything else
• Completes offline

Marketplace Listings

• Duration: 48 hours per listing
• Auto-expires if not sold
• Revenue collected via mail upon sale (happens offline)

Raid Lobbies

• Countdown timer to scheduled start (set by lobby creator)
• Players must configure and “Ready” before the start time
• Raid starts at the scheduled time whether all slots are filled or not (unfilled slots can optionally be auto-filled from public queue)

Activity Parallelism

At any given time, a character can have ALL of the following running simultaneously:

This means even during a long dungeon run, players can:

• Queue crafting recipes
• Start gathering expeditions
• Manage marketplace listings
• Join a raid lobby for a future run
• Chat with guild members
• Manage a second character (if unlocked)

Offline Progress

What Happens When You Log Off

Everything continues. Specifically:

• Active dungeon run resolves on schedule
• Active crafting completes on schedule
• Active gathering completes on schedule
• Marketplace items can sell (revenue held in mail)
• Raid lobbies count down (notifications sent if applicable)

What Doesn’t Happen Offline

• No automatic re-queuing (the player must choose the next activity)
• No automatic selling or salvaging
• No automatic quest selection
• No passive XP or gold generation (you must be doing something)

This means the game requires brief check-ins to remain active — but those check-ins can be as short as 2 minutes.

Idle Efficiency

The game tracks how efficiently you use your character’s time:

• Time spent “idle” (no active task) is wasted potential
• The UI shows a gentle indicator: “Your character has been idle for 3 hours. Ready for a new adventure?”
• This is informational, not punitive — no XP decay, no penalty

Active Play Bonuses

Players who are online and actively playing get minor bonuses that reward engagement without punishing absence:

Active Player Benefits

• Real-time quest board browsing — Spot high-value quests as they appear on refresh
• Marketplace sniping — Buy underpriced items before others notice
• Immediate re-queuing — Start a new run the moment the previous one finishes (no idle time)
• Social interaction — Chat, guild coordination, party formation
• Manual optimization — Review combat logs between runs and fine-tune skill queue configuration
• Daily bonus collection — First-run bonus, daily bounties (available for 24 hours, so very flexible)

What Active Play Does NOT Provide

• No bonus XP for being online
• No bonus loot for being online
• No faster dungeon completion for being online
• No advantages in combat for being online
• No “energy” system that requires regular play to maintain

Notification System

Notifications are how the game communicates with idle players. They should be helpful and respectful.

Notification Types

Notification Settings

Players can customize:

• Which notifications to receive
• Push notifications (mobile/browser) vs. in-game only
• “Do not disturb” hours
• Batched notifications (send a summary instead of individual alerts)

What We Never Notify

• “You haven’t logged in today!” — No guilt notifications
• “Your energy is full!” — No energy system
• “Limited time offer!” — No predatory urgency
• “Your character is idle!” — Informational in-game only, never a push notification

Anti-Burnout Design

The Problem with Idle Games

Many idle games create a treadmill where players feel compelled to check in constantly or fall behind. Delve explicitly designs against this.

Anti-Burnout Mechanisms

No Stamina/Energy System

• There is no “energy” that regenerates over time and caps out
• There is no “daily limit” on dungeon runs (limited by real-time duration, not artificial caps)
• A player who checks in once per day and a player who checks in ten times get the same dungeon run quality

No Streak Bonuses

• Daily first-run bonus is available every day but there is no “consecutive day” multiplier
• Missing a day doesn’t break a streak or lose accumulated bonus
• This prevents the psychology of “I have to log in or lose my 30-day streak”

Catch-Up Friendly

• A player who takes a week off can jump right back in
• No accumulated disadvantage beyond time not spent progressing
• Rested bonus: After 24+ hours offline, the first dungeon run gives +25% XP (caps at 3 days of rest for +50%). Rewards returning, not punishes leaving.

Reasonable Time Gates

• The longest activity in the game is a 12-hour raid
• Most content is 1-4 hours
• Players are never asked to wait more than half a day for a single result

Multiple Progression Paths

• If a player is tired of dungeon runs, they can focus on crafting, gathering, PVP, faction reputation, or social activities
• Burnout on one system doesn’t mean burnout on the whole game

Time Zone Considerations

Server Time

• All timed events (raid schedules, quest board refreshes, daily resets) use server time
• Server time is prominently displayed in the UI
• Daily reset: midnight server time

Raid Scheduling

• Raid lobbies show start times in both server time AND the player’s local time
• Guilds with members across time zones can schedule multiple raid windows
• The timed lobby system inherently accommodates time zones — you prepare whenever you’re online, the raid starts at the set time