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A [game session] is NOT an [adventuring day]. If you're going to 'auto ping' a resource refresh at the end of a game session, with your encounter frequency make it a short rest instead. Give them a long rest at the end of every third session.

Is your entire campaign that one adventuring day? If not, then you just need to hit it as a median. Over your entire campaign.

Yes it does. If the PC manage to circumvent encounters 1-7 with skill use, clever roleplay and cunning, and hit encoutner 8 with all their resources available, the 6-8 encounter mark is hit.

Which is a terrible design choice if true (and you have no evidence it is true by the way, just your assumption). I find rocket tag to be boring and deeply unsatisfying.

An encounter doesnt have to drain resources to be an encounter. It only has to potentially drain resources. If the PCs can overcome it with Skill checks, cantrips or at will abilities, so much the better for them.

FWIW, Im going to be sorely tempted to limit 'X per long rest = to proficiency bonus' abilities (which now seem to be the norm) to no more than once per encounter. Possibly allowing a PC to expect inspiration to do it a second time in the same encounter. That to me seems to be a good way to...

Yes, they do. If the party taks its way past a Sphynx, answering its riddles and befriending it, instead of engaging in combat with it (a social encounter) that counts. And the party will often expend resources on exploration and social encounters. Plenty of spells deal with exploration...

It's a different system.

I literally ran a campaign to 20th plus over 3 years of real time using doom clocks regularly. Age of Worms, with some Pathfinder modules I converted and all of the C series of AD&D modules as well (also converted).

If you dont want to follow the hooks that's fine. Go watch a movie while the rest of us play.

Typically when I DM there is an unwritten rule that players dont just ignore hooks for quests from the DM because that makes them jerks. DM: OK guys as you're sitting around the tavern, you're approached by a mysterious str... Players: Nah, dont want to do that. DM: Riiight. Well, who wants to...

Then we have bigger problems dont we?

That works - see how the players have agnency and their actions matter? The NPC adventurers are significantly more powerful by the way, and everyone that agrees to waylay and murder the NPCs has their alignment shifted toward Evil by the way (murder is kind of... you know... evil). Hey look, a...

Yep that also works. I prefer mostly narrative solutions over mechanical ones personally (though I do allow 5 minute short rests, at max 2 per long rest as a mechanical change, that's mostly to stop jarring 1 hour sit downs in the middle of a dungeon)

And I've maintained that that's a separate discussion to 'how do I make the rule work'. And its a different argument from 'Doom clocks suck' or 'Rest variants dont work' because I use both, and they work fine. Personally I would like an #encounters neutral game, where balance is maintained if...

The rule itself isnt problematic. It's only problematic if you let it be.

Who says they need to be 16 hours? There are a billion ways to do a doom clock that isnt 'get it done in the next 24 hours or else'. Heck, you could have a non specific Doom clock to hurry the party up: 1) A rival group of powerful adventurers are also asking about the dungeon. Can you clear...

Then come up with your own resting rules to fix it! All i hear from you is 'I dont wanna use Doom clocks' and 'None of the published variants work for me'. You're the DM. Create one that does work for you. It's up to you to maintain it.

Give them more short rests per long rest. Thats all you need to do. Up the ratio of short rests to long rests. Make them 5 minutes long (and handwaved), but limited to 3 per long rest.

Mort you've played through one of my high level adventures where I stuck loosely to the 6 or so encounter/ 2 short rest paradigm. What were your observations re class balance?