Well, the implicit part of my point kinda was that an open world game, even a big one, doesn´t have to come with exploration where it´s possible to spend 4 hours without finding any of the things I mentioned above, even when one is trying to (aka when one is not avoiding points of interest on purpose, etc).I am not saying the other things shouldn't be there. But imagine you explore for 4 hours without finding any of the things you mentioned above.. at times like that you can at least think… well I got a level and I can now try to beat that beast and go and explore that other place I couldn't before, because I wasn't powerful enough.
Also, I´ve forgot to include random encounters that could yield unique benefits and/or interesting experience.
At least according to some previews/marketing, jumping and climbing is in and jumping is supposed to be freeform (haven´t seen any details on climbing yet).I couldnt care less about horse riding and sailing, it's gimmicky and doesnt improve gameplay the least. Until they tell us they've included swimming (hopefully diving too) and jumping(climbing) - both which are a must for true exploring, i will call this "open world" hype a complete bluff
One preview also mentioned swimming is in as well (stamina is supposed to play some role in that and it´s supposed to go down much faster when swimming in cold waters).
Speaking of which, I don´t see how boats are gimmicky - so far they have been shown to be used in cold regions where it makes sense because the water is too cold for swimming. In that context it would be actually swimming that would be more gimmicky, as one may say it at times is in Skyrim.
Also, while there are good chances horse riding will end up as gimmick, it doesn´t have to, especially if it´s significantly faster than the gimmicky Skyrim iteration.
Nothing wrong with reservations though .