I am entirely sympathetic to being in a position where you mostly enjoy something though find one or two things that is not quite to your liking.
And then you think ' sure, alright, let me look elsewhere - there's something out there for me'
After enough times of doing this and not succeeding, you start to lower expectations and revisit the landscape with this new standard
You might even reconsider things you moved away from before - when your standard was higher.
This new found tolerance does allow you to enjoy things more, yet you can't help shake the feeling if only things were just a little more this, or a little more that - you could live with it
I suppose that's why the saying if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, began gaining traction. A beautiful thing about the western world, no one cares enough about you to try and stop you from going out there and making what you want, exactly as you want it.
Yes, I've seen many MMOs that never quite gets it right when trying to create this throwback model to a niche market.
I could go down the list and immediately share things that make most of these projects not scratch that itch well enough or even big titles.
Pantheon - it's not a camp and grind game. Instead of pulling mobs to a group like in EverQuest, you instead move through the dungeon with the group
Shroud of the avatar - same as Pantheon, as well as no zone connectivity (the overland map is great for a standard RPG, not so much an MMO)
Grogon - there's no auto attack
Mortal Online - the list is long
And even big studio titles such as LOTRO for example, did you know that after all this time.. the right click and left click of the mouse behaves different depending on whether in first or third person - it's actually quite frustrating!
Anyways, the reality is the developers are the artists, and this is their art and sometimes we have to spend less effort being demanding consumers, and remember this
Unfortunately, there is an impatience issue that has permeated it's way through the veins of the market place and industry for a few decades.
The idea of having to wait to do or access something is almost foreign to people
In life (and fortunately some games - nothing like being a human in EverQuest!) you have a balance of work and play, or light and dark as someone stated above.
One creates a sense of increased gratification and justification for the other
When we sit around and do nothing, and achieve nothing - my leisure time feels guilty, un earned and less enjoyable
When we hustle, work, produce, contribute and take on great responsibility, then my leisure time feels deserved, amplified
E.g. bust your ass when it's day time, relax when it's night (or in some scenarios it's the converse)
As for the technical side of it - just remember they've wound a lot of the concepts and design (which is part of their vision, their 'art') into this element and variable
A simple global illumination not only affects the display of the art though can impact the gameplay
That said, we do have some agency over it as we can reduce the gamma rating of our monitor as well as adjust the game settings...
As for the nodes, I don't support making nodes more clear or obvious - nothing ruins immersion and the calm of night like some outlined items flashing up in the world
I also find the night is not dark enough with no real actual need for a torch out doors.
