Linear, linear, linear

[Jojoya]

I was used to this being the case in Rift way back when I played that and I still miss it immensely. Traveling from point A to point B felt a lot less like wasting my time when I could gather a plant for my potions here and mine some ore for weapons there. It felt rewarding to walk places instead of teleporting because there was always stuff to find along the way.

Out of curiosity, are you thinking of their artifact system when talking about finding things along the way? That was interesting though I think it should have been fleshed out slightly more when it came to what info was on the artifacts. Get all the artifacts in a collection, report to the NPC that would then give you a small reward for the completion.

Something I would bring up in the flying debates in WoW during WoD is that it's not flying that takes away value from ground. It's the lack of content that the player wants to engage with. There are only so many times one can travel from point A to point B before they mentally start tuning it all out if there is nothing new to see along the way. A lack of flying is also more obstructive to players with less time to play and so they have to be more efficient with what time they have available. If there is content on the ground that player wants to do, they will be on the ground doing it. It's not flying that gets in the way, It's the lack of interest.

Something like RIFT's artifact system would give players who want more reason to be on the ground and exploring exactly that. You didn't know what you would find or where. Maybe it would be out in the open on a path, or maybe it would be on the branch of a tree, or even on a rooftop that required a small jumping puzzle to reach. If there was a specific artifact needed for multiple collections, it may not spawn in the same place when you try to get it for the next collection. Because the rewards generally weren't extremely generous, players not interested in engaging with the system could easily ignore it but the rewards were still enough for those who were interested (open the small chest for consumables and a chance at low level gear to use or sell, save up lucky coins to get a minion or housing item, etc.)

Again, it's not flying that's the problem. It's the lack of content that players want to do that is the problem. Some enjoy doing hunts, FATEs, gathering, etc. so they spend a lot of time in the open world. Others prefer the instance grind and so they don't.

Taking flying away isn't going to solve anything if the content isn't there to catch the player's interest. If the content is there, then players will naturally congregate where it is to help increase player interaction even if they're still able to fly.

I prefer linear. I have tried Skyrim so many times over the years because of recommendations from friends. It looks like a game I would love on paper. Then I play it, and Im just...always lost.

There is a fairly linear story to follow if you want. But it's very easy to get distracted by the side content.