The World: so Big so Beautiful... But yet so empty

[Alleo]

Yes you cant make everyone happy but they could at least give more life to the maps. It must be horrible to live in this world where even some small bugs are out for your life. I am playing rift next to this game and you have big maps that are full with different life and not everyone wants to kill you on sight. Where are the squirrels, little snakes and animals like that which could just be there without the need to kill them. Could we get monsters/bigger animals back that are passive to us until we attack them? Why would a herbivore wants to kill us? Can we have some world actions where we see a herd of animals being chases by a carnivore? Or at least more NPCs wandering the maps thus making it feel alive?

Why is a sea so bare of fishes and other water animals?

I mean it would be nice if we would do more with the maps itself but I would already be happy if I get the feeling that this is a living world where common people can really survive..not like our maps right now where there is one aggressive monster/animal next to another. Have some birds fly in the sky, have some big herds of animal graze and drink. See a little nutkin in the search for his nuts, or a mother animal with its young ones.

[VargasVermillion]

I think 2.0 had the best maps, when I heard HW was gonna have bigger zones back in it's early announcements I thought they were gonna go the more 2.0 design route but just larger, after which I feel the zone quality has dropped in many areas.

[Kosmos992k]

I think 2.0 had the best maps, when I heard HW was gonna have bigger zones back in it's early announcements I thought they were gonna go the more 2.0 design route but just larger, after which I feel the zone quality has dropped in many areas.

Yeah, I felt similarly. I could have done with less of a size increase with the new maps in HW and SB, and a bit more acivity within them. Sure the smaller ARR zones have things improbably close to each other, but they didn't feel empty. Then again, the wastelands of Western Coerthas are just frozen tundra, so how could it not feel empty...

Seriously though, I think the balance needs to be a bit smaller than the new maps and about as 'busy' as the ARR maps.

[Naunet]

Seriously though, I think the balance needs to be a bit smaller than the new maps and about as 'busy' as the ARR maps.

I disagree. Smaller will not help. It's entirely possible to make a large map full of character and life - see GW2, Rift, WoW, WildStar.

I appreciate when things are not crowded together. I especially appreciate when there are areas that may not serve any combat purpose but are there to enrich the world - enterable buildings, caves, shrines, whatever else.

[Kosmos992k]

I disagree. Smaller will not help. It's entirely possible to make a large map full of character and life - see GW2, Rift, WoW, WildStar.

I appreciate when things are not crowded together. I especially appreciate when there are areas that may not serve any combat purpose but are there to enrich the world - enterable buildings, caves, shrines, whatever else.

I agree with you on that, it's just that the HW zones really can feel extremely empty at times. Though that may be due to the nature of the map such as the Churning mists and Sea of Clouds which tend to defy normal mapping because of the numerous altitude changes. It makes them feel extremely fragmented, overly large and empty - IMHO. When I say smaller, I am not suggesting that the maps should be ARR sized, but unless more life (and in some cases sense) is applied to the maps, they could do with being a bit less than 4 times the size of an ARR map.

What's still funny to me is that traveling these maps on foot is actually a lot more fun that flying, and you get to know the maps better. Flight may add to the feeling that players have of maps being empty.