I support this. If BW was worried about it being a purely RP bonus only, they could even make it as an achievement to explore all instanced locations on a planet or something like that. Then make it an achievement to re-visit all instanced locations once you are done with the quest line?

The main thing I would be against would be allowing people to enter an instance that is designed for someone below their level. Even if all NPCs are removed, it just seems odd to allow someone to explore an area before it's meant to be explored.

I support this. If BW was worried about it being a purely RP bonus only, they could even make it as an achievement to explore all instanced locations on a planet or something like that. Then make it an achievement to re-visit all instanced locations once you are done with the quest line?

 

The main thing I would be against would be allowing people to enter an instance that is designed for someone below their level. Even if all NPCs are removed, it just seems odd to allow someone to explore an area before it's meant to be explored.

Interesting idea.

I like this idea. Such a waste to have these developed areas that are seen once, and then never again. It's a good way to expand the world without actually expanding the world.

Especially true of the ones that are only used briefly.

Support bump

I second that.

Just yesterday I saw an instanced area that made me pause and look again for a minute... unfortunately, that also got me killed...

I would love to revisit that place now, ramp the quality up, let my FPS drop, and take the screenshots I couldn't take while I was fighting for my life.

Please Bioware, implement this!

And not just for the Role Players amongst us

It's near-criminal that most of the best places designed and crafted for this game can only be seen once.

Come on, devs, get the most out of the in-game resources you have!

I personally don't see any appeal in the RP side of things, but I find the ideas in this topic interesting anyway. Especially the idea a few posts in about seeing updated end-game versions of earlier planets. (I'd imagine them being like 50 or 55 dailies zone like Black Hole or Section X except taking place in familiar sections of the planet instead of being in a completely new unattached area of the planet. (I don't mind having high level areas in low level planets like with the dread seed areas they added for the seeker droid quest line. It's nice how the macrobinoculars, seeker droid, and GSI stuff returns high level players to a few lower planets for additional questing. But what could they do with a significant portion of a planet re-purposed as a true level 55 zone instead of trying to squeeze them in alongside the lower level players?)

Of course, when I saw the way the game was organized with all the different class stories coincidentally following along to the same planets in the same order my reaction was to wonder why they couldn't have opted instead for an arrangement where all planets in the game would have regions for 2-4 different level ranges so that each class would mostly go its own way (still crossing paths often enough, just not always finding themselves at the same place for no better reason than pineapple) and there could be different leveling sidequests for when you arrive at a planet earlier or later (like how we can currently return for a "bonus series" quest line on some planets and the layout includes areas for each level range).

This topic makes me think of another variation on that though. They could have re-purposed the same core areas for different level ranges to create several different versions of each planet. Different instanced areas could be open or restricted on different versions of the planet, so you RP people would just need to know which version of the planet doesn't use your area for a quest.