What does immersion mean to you?

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Hey we finally agree on anything. \o/

I don't percieve Ashes will /always/ be burning and war torn etc, but yes a dynamic mix of npc behaviors that actually fit the situation is great.

People who are super cheery in war situations should be portrayed as crazies or cracking under pressure. Humor has a place in the bleak, but it should be modest and a ray in the dark or sombre.

I also agree on the American accents thing. It's not tat they don't have a place in a fantasy setting.... It just better be only Kaelar and not even the majority of Kaelar. Or maybe Tulnar only lol.

A big part for me that doesn't get brought up often is the soundscape. I want different types of shoes on my character to sound different, and have specific sounds based on surfaces. If I'm wearing full plate I better be clinking along on every surface, with some heavy splashes along water. I want to walk through a field and hear chittering in the trees, or wander a desert and hear the rushing wind or things creaking in the heat. You don't need very high technology to achieve this - a few defined terrain types, various environmental mixed sounds - but you get a lot out of it by making the environment feel like something that's alive.

Also, I think some mobs should make noise even when not engaged with you. I find it really weird that, say, bears only make noise when facing you, when it's fairly realistic for them to grunt at each other in a group.

Watching multiple Imperial and Federal Fleet Carriers converge on one of your faction's core systems to fight in a pitched, on-off war lasting a month that you triggered by supporting a different faction to expand into your system weeks prior, as part of an impromptu alliance involving them acting as the shield against challenges from the rising opposing Faction since they would eventually strong-arm a victory in an election, but can't necessarily bring to bear enough firepower to win a war against your Superpower's fleet of Elite combat pilot players.

Then scheming daily about how to make this fun and somewhat beneficial for everyone involved until the opposing Faction finally gives up, assuming they ever do.