People use the word "immersion" to mean "the kind of gameplay I like". There is no objective definition for it.

I just wish folks would be honest and say "I don't like this game because of my personal preferences", and not "it's a bad game because it's not immersive".

It's fine not to like a game, or features of a game. Just be real. Own up to your subjectivity.

Ha! I love it! Thanks.

I'm not sure I like all aspects of this game because of my personal preferences. I feel it would benefit from a few changes. For me personally and potentially for others.

There ya go If you'd started that way, I would have read your post! Yay for expressing opinions.

i agree. people use immersion as a trump card to try and make thier point. in each argument i could use immersion as a reason why i dont like their idea. for example imo 3rd person is far more immersive than 1st person.

Lol. Fair enough. It did start off as a bit of a rant and I'm not completely disappointed with the state of the game.

OK, now that I've READ the OP, I'm gonna say: the game described sounds like an interesting game, but it's a very different game from the one the devs decided to make, and it's not one I personally would play. They aren't minor things; every gameplay system would have to be different. And it is a tense and stressful game; I play to relax.

Still I'm sure there's an audience for it.

I guess the one thing I would agree with, and which COULD be improve without redesigning the game from the ground up, is the "impactful combat" thing. That's something the devs have talked for months about wanting to improve, and I gather it's better than it used to be, but I'd agree that it's still not quite there. That's just a matter of animations, sounds, and effects.

Thanks for my daily dose of education. I can't wait to use that at work tomorrow

Ok. Then a fair question would be what makes you feel involved/immersed? For me it's anything that can inspire emotion. There is no denying that fear is a powerful emotion.

I was completely immersed while I was playing. I would share all the reasons why and the many screenshots I took but (NDA) *sigh*

Thank you sir. Legit.

The devs kind of started the whole immersion-as-an-argument thing themselves when they explained their choices regarding the user interface.

I do honestly think that this topic is related to immersion, however. Mainly when it comes to assessing whether death is something you should be afraid of in-game. In pretty much every recent MMO, it is not. Death has been made into a frequently occurring inconvenience as part of the game. Because fear is an emotion, and the significance of this emotion has diminished in MMOs over the years, it would be correct to say immersion has suffered.

Whether the mechanics to instill fear of death in older games were the right way to do it or not is of course up for debate.

Can you just write my posts for me from now on?

Only when we're in agreement

Well frankly it sounds like the OP's sense of immersion is a fragile as glass armor. Some people do not require hard coded game play allowing zero divergence from his very narrow view of a fantasy game.

The emotion inspired in me by severe death penalties is aggravation, frustration, and a strong impulse to play a different game.

Remember that in an MMO, where there is latency, death can be caused by lag. And in a multiplayer game, death can be caused by another player. And in all software, it can be caused by bugs. So even a skillful player can't necessarily avoid it.