There’s a couple things I think AO lacks in terms of worldbuilding. One of which is music. I might explain this more in its own topic because one, it’s not really related and two AO does have music. It’s got a soundtrack. The soundtrack just unfortunately… feels lacking in some very specific aspects.
The other thing, more related to what Cryo said here, is individuals.
This is on a grand scale, Arcane Odyssey is yet to have it’s Trigno, Rupin and Averill. We’re closer to this with Legendary Ships on the line, Evander, Dusk, Leviathan, more Grand Navy and Assassin members, etc.
However this is also on a minor scale. Stuff that does not affect, and will not affect the wider world. I want to know about the poet who lived on that shoreline before their house was destroyed in a storm. I want to know about the young mage who set out from a town to find lost scrolls and is set to return home in a few months. I want to know about the cultural traditions of a small town, people with personal ambitions that they wish to reach. “I’m gonna climb the stepstones one day.” “I can’t wait to join the Grand Navy”
I want to know about the fisherman who traded some fish for a safe passage with a pirate ship. I want to know about the guy trying to write a book. I want to know about stuff which honestly doesn’t need to be mentioned for the game to work. There doesn’t need to be a deep connection with the wider lore. Ninety percent of the playerbase might ignore it but for others it might be the difference between playing a game in a dead world, and in an alive one.
AO has some of this. The rare npc has a family, or mentions a whirlpool, or something they’ve been doing. But for one, this only really applies to the major islands we find. And two, by the time we’re at Sameria a lot of the more personal sides of the characters are not shown.
Every single character we get a chance to meet is also on their own Odyssey. Their story that needs to be told, even if its just a piece.