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

[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.