YOUR COMPANION, FROM THE HOLD TO THE HORIZON

STAGE · Finding your feet

Planning a session

Draft — Draft: checked against the game source, not yet read through end to endAvailable from the start

Turn one hour or one evening into a route through caps, event windows, questline letters and travel.

Choose the session's goal

A session works when it chases one thing. Three kinds cover most evenings:

  • A cap run collects the day's bounded rewards while they are available: combat Marks, a court writ, the bank exchange, the day's gathering nodes.

  • An event run puts you at a world event inside its window: a Dagon's Breach, a town raid, the sea serpent, a Motherlode, a Starfall night.

  • A progress run advances something uncapped: a questline step, a dungeon, a profession rank or a skill.

Mix them only in order: take the capped reward first, because it is the part a longer session cannot recover, then spend the rest of the time on progress. Catching up in short sessions later has the same advice in short form.

Know which clock you are racing

DFO uses several clocks, and a "daily" rule does not mean local midnight.

ClockWhat runs on itWhat it means for a session
Shared game dayThe event clock. One game day is 1,440 classic minutes, and the shared clock runs 12 classic minutes per real minute, so a game day is two real hours.Event windows can open and close inside one sitting.
UTC dayCombat Marks (150), bank exchange (300 Marks), court writs (3), Motherlodes (three), Starfall claims (nine), gathering node slots.The reset can happen mid-session, at a UTC boundary, not at your local midnight.
Clock hourRenown (15000 XP), profession requests, Marks operations, market posts.These reset at the top of each real hour; they are rate limits, not daily allowances.
World timersDungeon respawns (20 minutes ordinary, 40 elite); gate, raid and serpent phases.These belong to the world, not to your account; waiting does not "earn" anything.

The full tables are in Caps, timers and resets and World events and their clock later.

The event clock's practical windows:

  • Dagon's Breach rises once a game day (every two real hours); its open phase runs 20:00–22:00 on the game clock, about ten real minutes. Its omen starts at 17:00 game time.

  • Town raids use a two-game-hour window, about ten real minutes, and the start varies within the game day.

  • The sea serpent rises on every second game day — every four real hours — with its phases on that day's clock.

  • Motherlodes are three scheduled lodes per UTC day, each with a two-hour open window and a warning before it opens; the source does not publish one fixed hour for each, so use the live warning.

  • Starfall runs during the seasonal Witches' Festival with its own falling-star windows and a daily claim limit.

A one-hour plan

  1. Start in a town. Bank the purse, repair, sell spare loot, and check the event display before you commit to a direction.

  2. Read the Quests tab. A step that is due now is worth more than a random dungeon; a letter you cannot receive away from town can wait.

  3. Pick one destination and add the return trip. A fight that takes fifteen minutes but forty to reach is a ninety-minute session, not a one-hour one.

  4. Take the capped reward first. If a gate or raid is close, fit it in before the dungeon; if the Marks ceiling is already spent, skip combat about Marks and do the progress activity.

  5. Leave a buffer. Bank, repair and reach a safe town before you log out; dying with the session's takings carried is the classic way to lose them.

A two-hour plan

Two hours is one full game day. That means one Dagon's Breach window and one raid schedule are both inside the session, and the day's combat Marks (150) can be filled by a gate plus a raid.

  1. Spend the first stretch on the capped daily list: combat Marks, a court writ if you hold the material, the bank exchange if you have Marks.

  2. Use the middle on one progress goal — a questline step, a dungeon with a private instance, or profession gathering before the day's node slots turn.

  3. Watch the clock for the event you actually want; do not try to catch every event.

  4. Return to town, sell, and close safely.

What not to plan around

  • A fixed Motherlode hour. The source sets a schedule of windows and warnings, not one published start time per lode.

  • A letter while you are away from town. The courier needs you outdoors in a town by day; a step that needs a building waits for a town that has one.

  • Loot from a respawn timer. Dungeon respawns are world clocks; someone else may clear the room before you return.

  • A trip you cannot reverse. Check the return leg before you spend the session's time on the outward journey.

Common mistakes

  • Checking the caps after the activity. Read the account list first; otherwise you spend an hour on a reward that was already spent.

  • Treating a world timer as a personal allowance. A dungeon respawn clock is not a daily cap, and a capped account still has uncapped progress.

  • Planning a route by distance alone. The route planner prices roads cheapest and open ground dearest, so a longer road route can be faster; see Overworld travel.

  • Forgetting the return. A one-way trip can fit while the session cannot.

Next

Sources & checked facts

  • src/net/wire.js: ONLINE_MINUTES_PER_MS, sharedClassicMinutes (a game day is two real hours)

  • src/net/gate/gateLaw.js: GATE_DAY_MINUTES, GATE_OMEN_MINUTE, GATE_OPEN_MINUTE, GATE_SEAL_MINUTE, GATE_EVERY_DAYS

  • src/net/raid/raidLaw.js: RAID_DAY_MINUTES, RAID_WINDOW_MINUTES

  • src/net/serpent/serpentLaw.js: SERPENT_DAY_MINUTES, SERPENT_EVERY_DAYS, SERPENT_OMEN_MINUTE, SERPENT_RISE_MINUTE

  • src/net/motherlodeLaw.js: MOTHERLODES_A_DAY, MOTHERLODE_THIRD_S, MOTHERLODE_OPEN_S, MOTHERLODE_WARN_S

  • src/net/starfall/starfallLaw.js: STAR_PER_NIGHT, star windows; server-account/src/stars.js: claim limit (through Caps, timers and resets)

  • src/net/renown.js: RENOWN_XP_HOUR_MAX; src/net/marksLaw.js: MARKS_COMBAT, MARKS_BANK; src/net/professionLaw.js: COURT_WRITS_PER_DAY

  • src/systems/questlines/qlLineRunner.js: STEP_GAP_S, mayBegin; src/systems/quest/actions.js: GivePc delivery conditions

  • src/systems/dungeon/dungeonRespawn.js: DUNGEON_RESPAWN_MS, ELITE_DUNGEON_RESPAWN_MS

  • src/systems/gate/gateSpoils.js: PORTAL_STONE_SHARDS; src/systems/modSettings.js: carriage fee (through the facts registry)

  • Design records: docs/27-caps-and-timers.md; docs/23-playing-online.md "The event clock: plan a session around it" and "Your daily checklist"

  • Research: handbook/research/W1.md, handbook/research/X1.md

Facts used on this page

  • Renown XP per real hour: 15000 XP
    src/net/renown.js · RENOWN_XP_HOUR_MAX
  • Combat Marks per day: 150 Marks
    src/net/marksLaw.js · MARKS_COMBAT.perDay
  • Court writs per day: 3 writs
    src/net/professionLaw.js · COURT_WRITS_PER_DAY
  • Marks bank exchange per day: 300 Marks
    src/net/marksLaw.js · MARKS_BANK.perDay
  • Online daily carriage fee: 1 gold
    src/systems/modSettings.js · modSetting(immersive-travel, General.DailyCarriageFee)
  • Portal Stone shard cost: 5 shards
    src/systems/gate/gateSpoils.js · PORTAL_STONE_SHARDS
  • Public dungeon respawn: 20 minutes
    src/systems/dungeon/dungeonRespawn.js · DUNGEON_RESPAWN_MS
  • Elite dungeon respawn: 40 minutes
    src/systems/dungeon/dungeonRespawn.js · ELITE_DUNGEON_RESPAWN_MS
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