Monsters without eyes DO aggro by sound instead. :v Go tiptoe past a morbol or axotl.
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I hate this response so much. It's a video game. With magic. Danger doesn't mean much when mecha suits exist and you can be practically immortal with the right gear+healing companion.
Jade Dynasty circumvented this with Sky Blades which acted as flying mounts. Some areas, while dated, are still beautiful. And you can pretty much admire them from a distance via flight and staying just out of enemy reach. Possible in heavensward areas, unfortunately not so much 2.0. Another very old mmo I like to mention is Wonderland Online, which had random battles and with a special food item, you were granted exactly 1 minute immunity to all attacks. I do not see how it'd be so impossible that you can't gulp down a temporary super stealth item which would grant you a chance to just explore even with an A rank around. Slap on a debuff for attacking mobs/talking to npcs and done.
Are there elemental sprites in the 3.x areas? I think so and I think they are not aggressive.
That being said I would definitely like to see:
- intelligent enemies in cities and dungeons "sounding the alarm" and either attacking you en masse or fleeing as appropriate
- more meaningful day and night cycles with more dangerous predators and undead coming out at night
- more importance to weather with more varieties of enemies that spawn under different weather conditions
- more monster vs. monster battles that happen randomly or due to ongoing conflicts
- more enemies that actually wander over the whole region
- perhaps morale in some beast tribe regions so they might become more or less hostile, dangerous or numerous based on player actions
- enemy attacks on friendly outposts
- hunter enemies that try to stalk you or wait in ambush
Oh and also: doggedly persistent enemies that will chase you across the entire zone, and will remember you when you return
I really kind of miss the terrifying ffxi features of magic aggro and low hp aggro!
Truth be told, I haven't felt that kind of fear in ANY mmo but FFXI. I remember the feeling when sneak/invis was suddenly about to wear off and I had to drop what I was doing to find a safe spot as fast as I could! That being said, I think the nature of FFXIV combat prevents this from occurring. In FFXI everything required a group, but not in XIV. So nothing is super deadly except in dungeons. That's why I think "elite" zones might be fun. Areas that are open world, but you can only really progress through it in a group.
Aion actually does this. There are quests to kill certain enemies which means you have to wait until night to do so. Specific enemies will attack each other. Like wolves and boars and some will kill smaller animals for food. And there are some areas where there are traps on the field that, depending on your level, will outright kill you. Some areas are triggered to have surprise attacks from mobs like snakes that hide in the grass so good luck exploring when something comes out to bite you in the ass. Aion is by no means a good game but it had excellent ideas.