I remember hearing so much about rewards for exploration and discovery throughout the last several months. After playing a ton of the beta, the following points should be addressed and discussed:
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The only bit of randomness I truly saw were the events out in the world, even then, they spawn in the same areas and are very repetitive. That is not very rewarding. Shake up event locations and types.
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The first time I ran into a cellar, I was absolutely thrilled. I LOVE random treasure, caves, etc to discover in games. After hitting all of them in the beta, they were way too short, buggy, showing the cellar completed after killing just a few enemies, and there was little to no reward. Also, if they are fixed on the map, we know where to go every time. Make cellars random and at least have a chest at the end of each.
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Speaking of the map, it feels so… claustrophobic in some spots and so barren in others. Not to mention, no transparent overlays and uncovering an entire sub-area when you first walk in is NOT a good design. Add map options and control of fog of war/uncovering.
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I saw several silent chests throughout the beta which seems like a grant random item but rarely did I find anything useful in them, similar to cellars.
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If we know where every Altar, dungeon, cellar, and point of interest after one playthrough, the game will not have much longevity. It’s 2023. It’s totally possible to randomize a lot of this content so that there is a true sense of wandering, exploring, and that thrill of discovery will stay fresh with every playthrough.