Unfortunately the time only works if everyone is in the same time zone which probably contributes to the lower participation in GvG. For retired people it shouldn't make a difference so they would be able to play no matter what the time day it falls.
Actually it does not matter what time zone the player is located. We meet up on Server time. Recalculation happens daily at 8pm server time. Just like Reset happens nightly at midnight server time in GbG. The time zone of a player really has no effect on the vast majority of people who participate in GvG. We have people in Australia in our guild who log on, which for them is about 10am, to play. We have people in Europe which is 2am. We have people in the west coast which ends up being around 5pm. People rearrange their time to be there for it. People have listed reasons why they no longer play GvG. The use of scripts to cheat, the large number of bugs popping up, the frozen maps, the game reloading in the middle of a battle, and it only being available on PC. Those are legitimate excuses as to why people have given up on GvG.
.
What we hope the new feature will include are some of the things which make GvG exciting.
1. Common times to participate not a floating time like GbG.
2. Different maps to use different age of troops.
3. A way to defend your sector while you are trying to advance.
4. An aspect which includes some strategy. (GbG does have some basics in coordinating swaps)
5. No constant rewards popping up in the middle of a battle which causes delay and frustration. (GbG rewards are nice but not while fighting)
6. Something that does not suck all your time in participating. Most night my guild can do many fights against other guilds and be done in 15-20 mins.
7. We dont have to worry about Attrition. Instead, we have a need for buildings like the Observatory which builds up Support Pool. So the fighting is more difficult next to ones HQ. You only get ONE HQ move every 24 hours so you must have some strategy. It also becomes a defensive move as well. GbG does not have that type of strategy with the various buildings. Sure, one can build a trap and spend diamonds but there is really not much stategy or direct defensive fighting. If one guild is faster or more members you can slow them down in GvG but GBG you just watch them. You can take a sector from someone else next to the one they are taking to block them.
8. No spending of diamonds other than to heal troops.
9. Having a true Free to Play aspect of the game instead of pay to win.
I really doubt if Inno will take note from members who actually play as to what they like or dislike and actually taylor any new feature to continue what the hard core GvG players actually like about it. GbG was created to provide an alternative for Mobile users to play and try to please some of the GvG people who got tired. I can tell you those who show up nightly and want to fight... put off GBG until after GvG is completed. And in the worlds I play, it is the same with all of the dedicated GvG players.
--We have GBG for the players whoare not interested in GvG. If Inno is removing GvG... they should be listening most to those who actually are losing something from the game. And I sure would reintroduce buildings like Observatory and Deal Castle which provide support pool so they continue to be useful with the new feature.