Exploration is so damned rewarding, variance in loot and pals you find is huge
did we play the same game?
In rough approximation of things I care about, least to most:
Lifmunk effigies. Small, but permanent boosts to something you'll use for the rest of the game.
Random rare/new pals. Often irrelevant, but a bit of an xp boost is nice and once in a while you find one with a cool ability.
Chests. Again, often irrelevant, but the better ones can contain schematics which might let you get gear out of your tech range or just a nice upgrade.
Syndicate camps. Might have a rare pals inside.
Pal eggs. Often irrelevant, but the rare ones can give you pals that are way beyond your level range, and quite often they result in pals you haven't found yet early on. I once found a huge egg within spitting distance of the starting spawn as well, so you can find great ones anywhere.
World bosses. These give large amounts of money, xp, and generally rare pals.
Dungeons. Again, large amounts of money and xp, and they respawn fairly frequently so knowing where they are is quite helpful. Also, accessories/manuals/schematics from the chests. Good shit.
Lucky pals. Again with the large xp, but also a potentially great pal with a rare/powerful skill (Mercy hit on a good pal is a game changer, but there's other cool combos too), and they drop ancient tech parts, which I never get enough of.
Eagle statues. Fast travel points are obviously great to have.
NPCs. Might have cool free loot, quests, merchandise, etc.
Skill fruits. Almost always useful, even if it's just a low tier skill, because pals learn tons of awful skills by default and the ability to customize a build for range/melee/specific elements/cooldowns is very helpful.
Skill fruit trees. Like finding skill fruits, but 3 at once.
Supply drops. Like the effigies, but the boosts aren't so small, and they carry other great loot too.
I suspect a fair bit of the variance is apparent if you're not playing in hardcore mode. I doubt the average person realizes that any given chest spot might have a low or high tier chest, same with eggs, since they won't backtrack much. I also find the variance in the terrain in general refreshing. Just lots of weird shit like mushroom rock plateaus, fallen spires, ruins, huge bridges, giant skeletons... it's fun to explore in a way other open worlds I've played in, like Ark or Vallheim, were not.
