Placing trees, roads, buildings, elevation etc. It all adds up if you spend time doing it correctly. Mod West obviously didn't have enough time doing that before Old Zeah was released.
I wasn’t part of the team when Zeah was released, I joined a week or so after Gentletractor posted his map. Once seeing that I figured I’d make it my goal to try and implement as much as possible as I too, as a player at the time, was disappointed with the initial Zeah.
Some of the art was great (wall kits for Lova and Pisc are quite nice) but the mapping was bloated and lacked charm and character. That was my main focus when reworking Hosidius last year. I’ve get a fairly sprawling redesign (just imagery, nothing in-game) of the other houses in the works too, but unsure when I’ll be able to show it.