In the old days, I used to walk around Tirisfal Glades and loved the beams of light rays from the moon that were created between the trees.
I’ve always liked thematic and detailed environments.
For example, in bfa, I didn’t really like the maps but I can mention two very good things that the map design team did:
First - in vol’dun the sand dunes with the detail of the sand grains flying in the wind;
Second (and most important for this topic) - the location where Krag’wa the Huge is. The greenish ambiance is fantastic.
These locations and these effects are really what make me walk around some maps in the game.
Recently, while playing the famous Elden Ring, I noticed that even though the graphics aren’t the best these days, the ambiance is fantastic. When I walk around the maps near Altus Plateau, where there is an orange forest, at the end of the afternoon, that place looks fantastic. The rays of light, the fog, everything is wonderful there.
In other words, ambiance matters. These effects, details, make any map looks good/awesome .
In shadowlands I could notice two effects taking place: In Maldraxxus there is a “night” effect as if souls fly upwards, and in Bastion there is an effect as if golden lights flying. These events occur from time to time.
However, although they are cool effects I didn’t find any place where the lighting is very apparent (like the rays of light mentioned between the trees in tirisfal) or any ambiance with emblematic color like the map cited where the Krag’wa resides.
This can mask the old technology, bring a pleasant memory of a place and even allow us to take good pictures with our characters (kek). But honestly, it would improve a lot to make some places more emblematic.
Some effects that could exist in the game, have already been mentioned in the past, such as: darker nights, requiring paths with posts/pillars illuminating the passage (as in the old days in cross roads), or more dense and extensive forests with good lighting effects (ex. tirisfal) and strong colors in the air.
anyway…it’s just something I’ve noticed over the years, lately I’ve been noticing E.R maps and decided to create this topic to leave my opinion here…