In my view, AO could benefit from more islands like Darkpine, Sandfall, Elm, and Mango. I like to draw parallels to the layout of the Sea of Thieves map.
In Sea of Thieves, there’s a variety of islands of various sizes, spaced out in a way where smaller islands are typically nestled between medium to larger ones. These smaller islands serve as miniature points of interest as you navigate towards the larger ones. I believe that in AO’s map, there needs to be more spacing between islands. Larger islands could be dispersed strategically, while smaller ones would fill the empty space in between.
I don’t necessarily subscribe to the notion that bigger islands are inherently better, unless they’re rich in detail to match their scale. Personally, my least favorite designed islands are Sameria and Orthys because they’re vast in size and lack depth. They feel like empty spaces with little to explore beyond Sameria’s towns, and a small handful of locations and Poseidon’s temple. They’re both literal and metaphorical deserts.
I find it ironic how Vet teased Sameria as a World of Magic-sized island, yet it lacks the variety and density of WoM’s map. While I’m certain there are plans for the future, WoM’s map, on its own and without additional content, surpasses Sameria due to its richer natural exploration opportunities.
So, personally, I’m not in favor of making islands bigger if they’ll just end up as empty spaces with minimal exploration. I believe the current island sizes in AO are fine, but we do need more of them, spread out in a way that makes the map feel expansive and layered like WoM. Some may argue that it would take too long to traverse, but if there are numerous islands to discover along the journey, I think it would be much more enjoyable and impressive.
I agree, I like the diversity and scale of Deepwoken’s map. The distinguishing factor lies in Deepwoken’s ability to support its larger scale with a diverse range of enemies and a huge variety of content. Moreover, each island’s map is densely populated with areas and points of interest that surpass what Sameria and Mt. Orthys have to offer from just the maps environment itself.
But, it’s not fair to directly compare a paid game with a dedicated team behind it to AO, which is still in development and worked on by a single developer. They operate on different levels and aim to achieve different objectives. However, if we were to solely compare the maps of the two games, Deepwoken undeniably is better.
I understand this might be considered a controversial opinion, but I don’t see anything wrong with acknowledging and admiring another game for aspects in which it excels beyond our own.
I mentioned it earlier, but I’ll mention it again so it’s a bit clearer. The builds Vet felt didn’t align with the style of AO were just the Dark Sea structures I created. Regarding most other builds, especially this particular one, Vet hasn’t provided any comments. I’m simply sharing these builds because I want to showcase my work.
In my opinion, AO lacks enemy variety; it’s not enough to simply reskin pirates or artificially boost NPC stats. We need unique enemies with distinct move sets and gimmicks. The closest we’ve come to encountering a new enemy type is sirens, but even they, despite their ability to fly which alters combat dynamics slightly, are essentially just upgraded versions of regular pirate NPCs. Atlanteans on the other hand are essentially just reskinned pirates, which is cool as regular dark sea enemies, but right now they get repetitive and frustrating. The only enjoyable combat experiences I’ve had in AO were with bosses or PvP with my friends. Typically, I find myself resorting to cheesing NPCs or mindlessly button-mashing during encounters. It’s not fun.
I’m hopeful this will improve, and because we’re in early access, understandably, certain aspects of the game are not fleshed out. That’s what it means for the game to be in early access after all.
I agree, I wanted an exploration game, but the dark sea is just simply not varied enough. I made a suggestion about living islands, and many other people probably suggested more things that could improve the fard sea that would make it REALLY interesting, but vet has to do the stuff hes doing rn.
My own imaginations would be small mini bosses, for more content in ds.
Your fort structures are perfect for those scenario, as like you based them off of Forgotten Fort from Sea of Thieves. Maybe like some bosses can drop something unique but not entirely special that the entire community would try get their hands on it and abuse the hell out of it. Or maybe just good haul of loot to be looted.
Yeah, that’s my thoughts exactly. I’m sure we will get more bosses down the line though, but ofc the loot we get from them will just be more rng to grind out.
