Originally Posted by
Highlord Hanibuhl
For years now, people have been complaining about 3 similair issues:
- The fact that they burn out of the world being the same, doing the same stuff over and over again
- The fact they either want flying or don't want it, to get as fast as possible from point A to B
- The game feels like it's stuck in a time-capsule, with months going by feeling the same
People long for the days of Vanilla, where we felt like the world was MASSIVE and everything was new. That feeling cannot return, but I feel like the game can improve on this.
Right now, for expansions upon expansions, the game has turned into a theme-park where every 2 meters there would be a mob, always in the same spot. Doing dailies, hunting rares or just traveling feels like chore pretty darn fast, whereas games like the Witcher 3, Grand Theft Auto V or Red Dead Redemption do not suffer from such problems.
Adding behaviours to mobs
We know we can find a mob by checking WoWhead and finding its spawn-location at the exact marker. But what if nocturnal animals only come out in the morning, evening and night, or animals can go out to eat or hunt themselves, NPC's actually have varying patterns in which they go about the world?
What if running past a herd of stag mounted, will cause them to spook... or what if certain predators can spot and track you from afar.
Then, hunting rares, traveling the world or doing quests will make the world and its inhabitants feel more alive, instead of them being mindless drones just waiting for you to aggro them.
We sometimes see this in certain area's where wolves hunt sheep, but this seems like a mechanised process where another sheep spawns right at it's place.
Knowing that a river will cause animals to go for a drink, will create oportunity for players to stalk them there.
Making the world bigger
Right now, no matter where you are in the world, you can always see something of danger/interaction near you. That isn't neccesarily a good thing as it makes the world feel small. Back in Vanilla, certain area's had a lower density of mobs, creating the need to travel more across empty stretches of land.
This can still be done again, making the world feel larger again.
Random encounters
With different behaviours for NPC's, random encounters/events could occur where players are asked by NPC's to assist them for a brief moment, help them fend off creatures, loot/rob certain NPC's or kill rares.
By adding these sorts of events to the game, every time you travel, something different happens.
I feel that by adding these things, all afor mentioned problems would be fixed;
- The world does no longer feel the same as NPC-behaviours will make the world play out different every time
- The world feels bigger and grander and also more alive, negating the need for getting as fast as possible from point A to B - you now want to cherish your travel
- Because the world feels so alive, every interaction with it can/will feel different.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!