So after that other thread gained much more traction than I anticipated and subsequently got pushed into an "EA=bad" direction, which wasn't my intention, I thought it's just fair I come back with something more constructive in hopes it'll gather some attention as well.

First let me say the prospect of a highly immersive world mostly was what brought me to the game. And that's actually the biggest problem I have with the game. Gameplay is fun, the loot is shallow and not very diverse but it's good enough for now, the content is sparse and bugs are plenty but I can deal with those.

What really puts me off is the world. Now don't get me wrong, BioWare have crafted a very beautiful world here I could see myself getting lost in for hours. The problem is it doesn't feel like an immersive world, but rather pieces put together losely to mimic a world - everything you can do feels disconnected from one another. Whatever you do, you have always Fort Tedious or the Laundrybay with several loading screens in between for example. Or the Strongholds being shown on the world map in Tarsis but there's no trace of them to be found in the actual world. Or Contracts taking place in the Freeplay area but the world feels entirely different, you really can tell you're in a closed off instance meant to make you do the objectives and nothing else.

So here's some ideas how to make the game more immersive. Some of it might not be technically doable but maybe it's at least food for thought.

The basic thought here is the game should revolve around Freeplay - the actual world - instead of Tarsis once you have done the campaign. During the story it's great to have a central point to return to, drive the story forward, have conversations and interact with characters. After that Tarsis becomes slightly pointless and more of chore. It's nice to check back for new convos, check in with Vendors (once there are more) or have the Alliance stuff there - and maybe guild stuff in future - but as a hub it serves no purpose anymore. If you look at other games you will see this as well. Destiny 2's Tower (and the Farm lol) or Divisions HQ served as anchorpoint and hub throughout the story, but in endgame you pretty much only go there when you have a specific reason to go there. The vast majority of the endgame happens in the actual world which leads to much more uninterrupted and immersive gameplay.

What can be done to achieve this and get closer to what (I assume) most of us were hoping for and BioWare clearly envisioned considering the trailers. A fully seamless world where you can just fly into any activity won't work, for one as I think by now the engine might not allow it and secondly because of other mechanics like matchmaking.

Connecting Freeplay and the other activities

All activities should be launchable from Freeplay in addition to the means we have now (from Tarsis and Launchbay). None of the other activities are physically or even visually present in Freeplay, despite being connected to or even using the same space.

• Freeplay Map and HUD:
  All activities are shown on the Freeplay Map, additionally you can set a personal waypoint . You can select one activity (more on that later), world marker (outlooks, dungeons, Striders, tomb(?)) or player, which then shows up on the radar and the HUD alongside the waypoint and nearby events or world markers. Being able to set several waypoints would clutter the radar and HUD too much imo. This also includes Worldevents, it's a little tedious to aimlessly fly around hoping to stumble upon one of these.
  

FP map with all activities (too lazy to edit the legend)

Waypoint and selected activity on the radar and HUD

• Contracts:
  Why do we have to pick these up from a board? We have a Cypher in Tarsis who can do that for us, so why not just add them to our missions and maps automatically on each reset and have Faye come up with a radio message like "You have new contracts, I'll add the waypoints to your map" as soon as we log in or enter FP or Tarsis.The easiest way to launch them from Freeplay would be a beacon we fly up to, activate and are then brought into the matchmaking screen where you can invite people, can equip consumables and chose your Javelin and loadout (instead of the mission select map, which is not needed if starting like this).This would not replace the current way but be an addition, obviously we should be able to just launch into activities from the hubs.Another thing I noticed during Contracts is the world is far less populated as in Freeplay itself. It's weird to fly through FP and see a fairly vivid world and then start a contract and have significantly less going on. Flying from objective to objective through a mostly empty world is neither fun nor immersive. Just adding in some more wildlife would already go a long way to improve that. Unless this is just me and I'm seeing (or rather not seeing) things, if so nvm this :P
  

Entrance point for a Contract in Freeplay

Matchmaking screen when launching Contracts or Strongholds from Freeplay

• Strongholds:
  We know where the locations of the entrances for these are, so why not use those locations to create an entry point for matchmaking from Freeplay. Wouldn't it be cool to fly around FP and if you feel like it just fly up to the entrance and start matchmaking for a Stronghold? Similarly to launching Contracts you fly to the entrance point and interact and are then brought to matchmaking.
  

Entrance point for a Stronghold in Freeplay

• Victory / Post Expedition screen:
  This would need to go and/or be replaced in order to make the rest work because we won't necessarily be going back to Tarsis anymore. After finishing the activity you're given the option to go to Tarsis, the Launchbay, the Forge or back to Freeplay.Two options:
  • remove it and replace it by a simple stat screen at the end of each activity showing the feats of each player, gained XP, eventually gameplay stats and obtained loot. Warhammer 40k Eternal Crusade has/had that and I quite liked it.
    

https://i.redd.it/qab12cqqgrk21.jpg

• keep it but move it from the launchpad in front of Taris to the actual activity. For example place all four players in front of the downed SH boss or after a contract simply in the world at the last objective. This would be quite cooler and more immersive than what we have now.

• Striders:
  Something a lot of people have asked for. But I personally think they shouldn't be forward bases and fully fleshed out private instances, but merely entry points to the Forge. Think of it how the Launchbay is a shared instance with entry points for private Forge instances. This would eliminate the need for a loading screen when entering and exiting Striders and keep Tarsis more relevant. There would have to be a loot screen when entering the Forge.

Making Freeplay and the game overall more immersive

• Freeplay population and encounters:
  Granted Freeplay has already greatly improved recently with much more wildlife and enemies to encounter but it's still not very threatening. During the story we keep hearing how dangerous the world outside the walls is but I just don't feel it most of the times. So a few suggestions:
  • harder random encounters, more mobs, more waves, more strong mobs
  • bigger wildlife packs, so instead of 3 Tesilars or 2 brutes make it 10
  • Scar camps should be much more populated, maybe make them sound an alarm when we're too rampant which causes more to spawn in. Or use them for a horde mode like what I suggested here https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/avuqcg/idea_for_a_horde_mode_that_would_also_enhance
  • more infighting between the factions and wildlife would make the world feel much more alive
  • patrolling world bosses you can hunt down for loot
  • (side note add a chest at the end of Dungeons)

• Enemy AI and spawn behavior:
  Not sure what to say about the AI, if I'm completely honest it's pretty dumb so any improvement would be great. The spawns are rather predictable and the issue is they usually spawn in bunched up, allowing us to just camp the portals/drills and spam it. More variety here would be very welcome.What certainly is an immersion breaker is mobs appearing out of thin air or even worse just vanish randomly or when an encounter is over.

• Loading screens:
  Long ones could be hidden with animations, e.g. riding up an elevator and stepping out of Tarsis. Alternatively being able to read the Cortex or access the Vault would help a lot to make them less boring. The short ones (Forge, entering a Dungeon) aren't as severe anymore. Being able to just fly into the Dungeons without any loading would be great though!

I think that's all for now. I'm sure I've forgot some stuff I had on my mind, if so I'll just update.

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