If you want the player to explore the world it should have different interesting things to explore. It lacks that in my opinion, thats the reason why everybody rushes trough the content just like in POE.
If i would know that there would be a chance of a secret dungeon with mobs that have a slightly higher chance of dropping a unique item ( just an example). I would explore more.
Iam the explorer type so i explored way to much also in LE. There is just not enough reason beside some extra chests with most of the time nothing to special in it to explore.
Its a waste of time in my opinion which is a shame.
Why putting in so many mobs and why making bigger spaces if your not making it interesting enough to explore it…
There should be that difference between the people (in my opinion) who rush to the endgame have the benefit of playing the endgame content versus the players exploring might fight interesting mobs secrets or even a chance on finding items that only drop if you explore. Or they have a higher chance of dropping if you encounter the mobs in that secret area (just some examples).
With this you would reward the people that actually explore the whole area.
Now i see nobody typing on the forums or saying in videos, hey guys i was exploring in area X and i found this amazing item or this amazing encounter! You should explore guys!
Your not missing out if you rush trough the content.
Yeah i found the new secret areas aswell, which is a good start.
Was it worth it however? I have to say no for now because the treasures were sh*t but hey.
For what its worth Wolcen had this great random unique Merchant that could pop up if you explored the map (and if you were lucky).
Those kind of things would be awsome in LE in my opinion.
In diablo 3 they this running goblin that dropped gold and sometimes a secret map.
Iam not saying you should do the exact same things but it was something unique and worth searching for.
Llama suggest in a discussion with me an open world to explore or open areas. Sorry Llama if i said your idea wrong. Adjust it under here if you want
Anyways something like that would be interesting in my opinion aswell but might cost a lot of work probably.
I think with a chance base system of having interesting encounters areas you can easily improve the exploration experience without to much work. Examples:
10% Chance in every area to spawn a secret location with rare or even unique mobs.
Those mobs give triple XP and only drop rare items with minimum tier 3 stats.
Those mobs also have a small higher chance of dropping an exalted item or unique item (those are just ideas).
A 10% chance in every area to have a special portal that brings you to a special mini boss.
30% chance to have a special event in your map. This could be special monsters in the corners of the map. You can let them drop special loot similar to what i proposed earlier but with less rate because of the higher chance of being in the map.
It gives extra XP and a bit better loot then the usuals. Also those are mobs you dont encounter in other areas to give it that special feeling of actually finding them.
A chance to spawn a portal to a secret dungeon with a dragon boss in it.
This is an area that is just an area with mobs that looks good and has a drop that you can only obtain trough this portal.
The portal should have a chance to drop in a few different certain areas.
For example in the middle or in one of the corners. So it is not obvious that you always have to go to the middle but you actually have to search for them (EXPLORE FOR THEM).
Closing:
I think those kind of changes would improve the exploration feeling and push people to actually explore the areas.
Now a lot of areas feel like filler areas (not to be rude), without enough special things to stumble on.
I’m not against anything in the OP, but I would say that monster and item levels means people still will tend to rush and if they find one of these bonuses, great. If not, so what?
The thing I want to see is all the zones level to your character. Maybe this only takes place after you beat the campaign. There needs to be reason to care about those zones and not only Monos, so scaling the world and adding the OP’s features might be a good start.
It might also help if there are areas that are only accessible after certain parts later in the campaign to encourage you to revisit and explore more. These should definitely be optional, but reasonably rewarding.
I read somewhere this would be one endgame feature at launch. Unsure it was accurate.
I don’t like metroid-vania games
More seriously, I see the idea and I see how it can be interesting, but I would prefer it after the campaign is completed.
When I first started playing I absolutely LOVED the concept of the time portals and got a little carried away at the possibilities that this could bring in terms of exploration and variety of the grind/speedrun. I still like it and wonder if EHG will eventually get to thinking out of the box and expand the concept much more…
Beyond even random secret @Llama8 levels into things like finding a portal in a MoF that loads a totally hidden alternative MoF path based on a different timeperiod or less involved things like putting weapons in a chest in one MoF/Era and finding the chest in another MoF/Era with an altered item based on the passage of time… I could probably spend a week thinking up silly things like these…
I suppose a lot of these kinds of things are post launch ideas for additonal content and based on the current list of things to do, its probalby a good thing to pencil this up for later
Blockquote
If you want the player to explore the world it should have different interesting things to explore. It lacks that in my opinion, thats the reason why everybody rushes trough the content just like in POE.
If i would know that there would be a chance of a secret dungeon with mobs that have a slightly higher chance of dropping a unique item ( just an example). I would explore more.
Iam the explorer type so i explored way to much also in LE. There is just not enough reason beside some extra chests with most of the time nothing to special in it to explore.
Its a waste of time in my opinion which is a shame.
Why putting in so many mobs and why making bigger spaces if your not making it interesting enough to explore it…
To me this circles back upon itself. People would hear about the new area and rush to it only to rush it just like they rush everything else for the ‘drop’.
Albinosaurus mentioned areas, after finishing campaign, could become equal to your characters level. This to me is a start.
To get where you are though you would need to add some aspects like clear “ALL” mobs. If and only if you clear all mobs, you are granted a chance at a unique influenced chest. Which has some more than normal solid chance to drop uniques or maybe preferred base types
But this would be ‘rushed’ too. Those who play more would run it over and over and over as much as they could. So it probably would have to be limited to give a boost to the less hardcore. Say 3 runs a day. (or you have 1hr per day to run this as much as you want)
You could also put a timer on it. This would be very tricky though. Not all classes are as fast as each other. Someone at 60 in twink gear they had saved from other guys in non solo would blow the timer up if you based it on new runs. Not all players are as savvy at games as the next. So this variable could undermine the whole fun part of it for many players if too harsh.
I like the idea though. But it also would boildown in our psyche as another ‘daily’ quest grind I have to do to get the best loot.
This is a lack that all games face though. The approximation of reality is greatly generized so we can have fun but eventually it becomes very repetitive and more feels like the waste of our time you mention.
Incidentally, this is why I am an altoholic. It creates the variety I need to enjoy a game for years.
I would probably set it at like 85-90% to minimize painful backtracking around the map to find that one hiding in some random nook or glitched out of the map. Otherwise, just having this as a base feature of all the campaign maps could spice it up a bit.
The chest at the end doesn’t have to be crazy special to be worth it. Some gold, a few runes and glyphs, a few affixes, and a guaranteed rare with a moderately higher chance to drop as unique instead (maybe 5-10% or something). Hell, if it had even 1 guaranteed Rune of Shattering in it, that would make it worth for me.
There may be maps that are too small or linear for this to be appropriate, and that’s fine, but the general idea still holds.
