Without spoilers I'd say the big one is forcing players to explore the areas for the aether nodes to access the vaunted flying. Likewise smart placement of Vista locations give amazing views of every area and aren't tied to some crazy specific time of day/weather.

The larger environments speak of a dev team who wants the open world to be seen as something usefull. The zones aren't just fluff they are designed with purpose and flow well. When I say "Small wins" I do mean small, at the end of the day the developers catter to the players whith the.


Syndrom. But still there are a few things for people used to the old ways get, now hopefully they can use this giant world they created for something other than a place to put the entrance to dungeons.