Hi all, I know I’m just some random who lurks on the forums and plays this game, but I wrote a long “essay” about my thoughts on the Total Game Revamp and shared it with my guild Discord server. I’d love to share these with you and if you agree, disagree, or you have any thoughts on my thoughts - it’d be great to hear. Thanks!
The Map:
-I wasn’t a fan of the islands from AA. In AA they felt small, bland, and repetitive. There were so many filler islands that served no purpose whatsoever, and weren’t fun or aesthetically pleasing to look at. I also felt as if combat was more boring in AA compared to WoM due to the islands. In AA the islands are small, meaning combat can’t span large areas without someone hopping into a boat. I would be more open to islands if they were continent sized, so maybe a smaller size of the current WoM map for each island with a couple of smaller islands sprinkled inbetween.
-I do agree that islands - if pulled off right - could be even better than a continent map like Magius. But considering AA, I think Vetex needs to seriously make sure these islands don’t feel useless or bland. I myself have never played the original AA - I’ve only gotten to play restored versions such as AR and AL - but the islands didn’t make me want to go out of my way to explore, they just felt like boring locations that I’d visit maybe once for a quest and then never touch again. In WoM, Magius has some cool chest locations (most noticeably in Bronze Grassland) that I liked visiting - both for the chests and for the interesting/pretty visuals.
-AA had a bit more of a “fantasy” vibe with its map, mainly when it came to the sky islands. I really liked the sky islands, and I think that this fantasy vibe should be incorporated more into the map with a variety of locations ranging from sky, land, and sea (underwater cities such as Atlantis would be sweet) while keeping the grandiose nature that WoM pulled off with Magius.
Boats:
-I don’t really like boats being the main mode of transportation. Boats draw away from the magic and weapons, and while I am open to there being three styles of combat (magic, weapons, navalry) - I think boats need to incorporate weapons and/or magic somehow in order to make them more fun. AA had interesting concepts with the magic weapons, combining both magic and weapons and introducing a hybrid of the styles. I really liked the idea of horses, because it seems like it’d fit the universe a bit more, and considering the map changes and the map being changed to “The War Seas” - horses would fit and could be a lot more mythical than a standard horse. It’d make combat more fun because it’d feel majestic riding around and avoiding enemies, but it’d feel even better to knock someone off of their horse or kill their horse, leaving your enemy to have to fight you themselves. I would enjoy boats more if it wasn’t the only mode of transportation, flight spells and horses being included (even flight spell as a Lost Spell) would add more variety. But of course, horses and flight spells could only work if the islands were bigger than their prequel counterparts.
Lore and Time Period Changes:
-I think the Ruined Seven Seas should be incorporated into the game somehow, as post-storyline content, or a paid expansion, anything to incorporate these would be great. Revisiting old locations while giving it a ruined vibe akin to the Death Star II Ruins from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (yes, I know that movie is bad, but the location was cool) would give a great atmosphere as well as complement the atmosphere that AO seems to be going for with “war” - showing that wars and battles everywhere have huge effects. It’s also good fan service. 
-I have no negative comments on The War Seas. I personally think it sounds pretty cool and there’s a lot of potential - which I trust Vetex to make sure he uses as much of that potential as he can.
-I don’t mind The Magic Council being removed as they had no involvement in what we got of the WoM storyline and never really were important. BUT I do think it’d be great if The War Seas didn’t really have a certain group in control - no ONE group that was summoned when you commit crimes. A vigilante group of heroes trying to take down all evil that hides in towns/major locations and ambushes everyone with a bounty, remnants of the Arcane Government that have migrated and are fighting to regain the power they had on the Seven Seas, a group of villains that attempt to kill positive reputation characters in order to prove their worth are just many of the ideas that could be implemented. Different groups could be summoned when you commit a crime/travel as a high reputation character depending on how much control that group has over a region/group of islands. You could also integrate guilds into this, allowing people to represent their favorite storyline group and it would also allow solo players/players who aren’t involved in the community to experience the Guilds feature.
-Vetex REALLY needs to make sure that he demonstrates that The War Seas are AT war. In war, even the most purest people are still targets - which is why I suggested an evil group of villains who ambush/appear in order to take down positive rep players.
-The Exiled and Minotaur items should be completely removed and players should receive compensation for them - or receive a counterpart weapon which is obtainable in AO but no longer has any relation to The Exiled or Minotaur if data is being kept (which Vetex said it is). I’ll expand on this comment a bit more later in Changed Update Schedule.
Storyline Focus:
-I don’t have many negative thoughts on this change as I was a little bit bored with WoM’s storyline, but it did feel humble. AO’s storyline should have humble beginnings and gradually evolve into the player being part of something bigger than themselves. The player shouldn’t immediately start out as some sort of “chosen one” or someone that “radiates immense power” because it removes that feeling of evolution of the player. The player growing stronger should be part of the main storyline, and not just when it comes to boss battles and stats. WoM had the right idea of having humble beginnings but I felt as if it took too long to introduce some interesting concepts or atleast foreshadow towards bigger things. I am fine with the story being huge, grand, and epic, as long as it feels like it has EARNED to be that way. Gradual progression and intension of themes/villains/heroes in the story would add to the atmosphere, and allow the player to be slowly eased into the story and evolve into a figure similar to The Peacekeeper. The storyline change is a very needed change though, and I hope that Vetex atleast hires some writers and character designers or takes the time to improve on both of these skills as AA’s character designs were pretty boring.
Cultures:
-I have nothing but positive feelings regarding this change. This is a very needed change. It would be cool if islands that were big enough had their own Guild, and you could join it and represent your favorite island on your travels as some sort of more advanced but not so much of a useless replacement for cultures.
NPC Changes:
-I agree with all of these changes. I do hope that this will not heavily affect causing a threat on a town as I really enjoyed blowing up towns and running from the Magic Council.
Quests:
-I think that randomized quests should be added alongside planned side quests. It’s a nice way to earn EXP on the side, and it feels like you’re actually helping out the citizens in minor ways - considering in WoM you couldn’t really make a huge impact as a high reputation. Planned side quests are very needed though, and I hope that Vetex makes these fun.
Other:
-I do not have much comments on these other than I’m happy about the mobile compatibility and it’s a nice leap of faith for Vetex to take. I’m excited for the Lost Spell Scrolls and atmospheric/environment changes such as lighting and temperature.
Changed Update Schedule:
-I don’t really care much for the update schedule - it’s good - but my only main issue is with the data. I really think data should be wiped. This is an entirely different game from World of Magic. An entirely new experience, new locations, new characters, new name, EVERYTHING. The whole shabang, the only reason why this is a revamp and not a separate game is because it’ll be on the game page that WoM was on. By keeping data, players will miss out on the experience of being an earlier level, and they will have an advantage over people who didn’t play WoM. This is a situation very much different from something such as WoM being on paid access, and then released for free, with the people who bought the game getting to keep their data. You are making an entirely different game, just with the same structure as WoM. Levels should be reset because you are making the questing system and storyline entirely different, both of which will be pretty important to levelling up. If you really want to reward people who played World of Magic, do a “New Game+” kind of route where they will have to start as a Level 1 with no crowns, and redo everything, but they get to keep their loot gained from World of Magic. I just think it makes no sense to keep the data from World of Magic because EVERYTHING about World of Magic is being changed for Arcane Odyssey.
Conclusion:
-Those are my thoughts on what Vetex has stated so far regarding the Total Game Revamp. I’m not a fan of the fact that Arcane Odyssey seems to be taking less risks than World of Magic did - because some of those risks that World of Magic took could have paid off really well if elaborated on - but I will go into this revamp with an open mind as I have really enjoyed my experience with World of Magic.