Please do not make group quest open world areas.

[Brannigan]

I'll believe it when I see it, but if the open world actually does become something resembling dangerous then that will be very good for the game. It's pretty dumb that I can pretty much AFK in a beastman stronghold and be perfectly fine. Plus, teaming up is like the essence of MMORPGs. You already have to do it for dungeons in the main story, what's the big deal with adding a few sidequests or outdoor main scenario quests that need it?

[Teuciont]

Adding that a dangerous open world would be one of the best things that could ever happen to this game. Game is so severely lacking in a social aspect that it's disgusting, we need more prompts to team up in the field BEFORE max level.

[Arkann]

Great, people are already crying over one one my most-anticipated aspect of Heavensward, meaning Se will pull us a 2.57 nerf before launch to accomodate simpletons who never heard of mounts, sprint or *gasp* parties. Way to ruin everyone's fun.

[Amatsuhira]

This game certainly does lack that sense of danger when traversing the open world. I personally miss that feeling then again i have gotten the platinum on all the souls games, so maybe i'm just a sucker for having to pay attention to my environment. Bring back sound and smell agro for da kiddies.

[LalaRu]

The maps are unchallenging... omg please don't make map so hard... duties are facerolled, want more challenge (again)... omg duty too hard nerf it...

Sometime I found the forum more fun than the game

[Gunspec]

I agree with OP on thoughts related to open world group content. I've been trying to finish up the story in ESO this month, and if I can't solo something in the open world, lack of interest from other players means it won't get done. Difficulty needs to be balanced with reward or 95% of the player basis won't bother. What's that? Beastmen camps are too easy in 2.0? Oh, but you don't get anything for killing them, do you? Difficult enemies that offer no rewards means players will avoid them. What moron in his right mind would be slaying monsters all day in party with nothing to gain from it? And with flying coming in 3.0, I can immediately tell you HOW people will be avoiding strong enemies.

Still, I imagine that statements by the devs sound scarier than reality.

[Nephera]

Afraid of competition? I think they need to make it even harder. Make it so bosses can only be challenged by certain groups, if you have more then the group requirement... No loot. Lock encounters to groups that pull them as well, other people shouldn't be able to damage or heal groups that pull mobs. This prevents zerging. =)

I'm tired of things being boring and static, the world has NO challenge. The game has NO dynamic content in it.

pokes fun at someone being afraid of competition, wants locked encounters so he doesnt have to compete with another group for damage.

[WellFooled]

Just posting to say that I'm excited to see there may be some more danger in the open world, it has sorely been missing.

[TheUltimate3]

I like the idea that traversing the landscape will at the very least not be a complete waste of time.

But honestly it just means that instead of hitting auto-run and looking at youtube videos, I will you know actually play the game when I'm traveling to places.

Plus there is flying so I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

[Gunspec]

Plus there is flying so I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

The games the OP uses as example featured world content that required groups but gave no real rewards. Think of an entire zone that was fate or hunt difficulty, but trivial xp, gil, or loot. If Heavensward gets content like that (which I doubt it will), then the majority of players will be avoiding fights even more than they already do. Just because we can fly, doesn't mean they should scare us off the ground.

Edit: Now reading and looking more into what was ACTUALLY said and shown, I'm pretty sure people are blowing this up into something it isn't. It sounds like SOME enemies will be a bit beefier, and fighting more than one of those could be tough. We already have certain enemies, like molboros or those robots in garlean outposts, that are stronger than other stuff in the environment. We'll probably be seeing more of that, but not an entire map of elite mobs.