I'm not a programmer or coder or developer but I have designed maps for a few SP games. I'm an amateur, at best but I volunteer to redesign the abomination of a zone, Greenshade, for free. That's right, ZOS, in a day when warehouse workers with zero experience are making $21, an hour, I'll do some much needed work for FREE. FREE as in pro bono. Zero money. Nada denero. Zilch.
[snip] I'll forgive the fact that the zone is the most mind-numbly boring zone in the history of video games (It's not mountains, but it's not flat. It's got a coast but it's not oceanic. It's kinda jungle but not really. It's kinda woods, but not really) but I know I could make it less ANNOYING.
Some things I'll do differently. Basically, I won't incorporate the zero-value, only-there-to-annoy Greenshade features.
1. I won't put a vertical wall every 50 yards. That's right, I will allow players to run a straight line for more than 10 seconds. *gasp*
2. I will allow cross country travel instead of designing stick-to-the-roads-over-scripted-bargain-basement-console-game navigation.
3. I won't place every skyshard in a natural maze with a single approach that's as far from the nearest wayshrine as possible.
4. I'll CERTAINLY relocate the Marbruk skyshard (Directions: Enter mage's guild, exit mage's guild, enter mage's guild, exit mage's guild, find skyshard)
5. I won't shake up a triple-portion bucket of random, low XP trash mobs and dump them on top of the zone with no rhyme or reason other than to ensure you can't ride for 10 seconds without being CC'd.
6. I'll make streams and rivers smoothly transition from river bank to water and back out, you know, like a river, instead of making every one a 100' deep cavern.
So, what do you say ZOS? I know you "get what you pay for" but this free work cannot be any worse than what Greenshade is today!
Edit for bashing.
You do know its bad design to have giant sightlines in a populated area right? It means you cant actually make the area look "full" and populate it with objects and script ridden things. You have just enough things in render range and nothing more.1. I won't put a vertical wall every 50 yards. That's right, I will allow players to run a straight line for more than 10 seconds. *gasp*
The modern world still uses roads after thousands of years. Maybe there is a good reason for roads you haven't thought of?2. I will allow cross country travel instead of designing stick-to-the-roads-over-scripted-bargain-basement-console-game navigation.
So you would design an exploration mechanic to not require exploration? Instant entitlement has been proven to be a very bad game design.3. I won't place every skyshard in a natural maze with a single approach that's as far from the nearest wayshrine as possible.
Eh, I will give you this one. I suspect mage guild questline phasing is to blame for why they need a transition door but a swing door would be oh so much more immersive. Doesn't make the skyshard position bad though.4. I'll CERTAINLY relocate the Marbruk skyshard (Directions: Enter mage's guild, exit mage's guild, enter mage's guild, exit mage's guild, find skyshard)
Conversely an empty zone is.. well empty. The phrase "dead air" comes to mind.5. I won't shake up a triple-portion bucket of random, low XP trash mobs and dump them on top of the zone with no rhyme or reason other than to ensure you can't ride for 10 seconds without being CC'd.
Rivers don't work that way. Rivers are weird. I've seen a river where 99% of its 80-mile run was walkable but one mile of it could swallow a train and you'd never know. Honestly "realistic" rivers wouldn't be passable most of the time. In games, almost all rivers and streams are passable because they are meant to be immersive and not brutal barriers. Hills are the same way. A huge amount of hills in real life are not actually traversable without tools or geoscaping. Coulees are a great example of something that used to be a hard stop for early explorers. If people actually geoscaped video games realistically it would frustrate gamers for no good reason.6. I'll make streams and rivers smoothly transition from river bank to water and back out, you know, like a river, instead of making every one a 100' deep cavern.