Since Volo is in the game I think his compendium of monsters should be required to get the description on examination of certain creatures, much like the research you could do to learn more about creatures from different books and convos in Witcher 3 to learn their quirks and weaknesses. It was an awesome world building mechanic that paralleled the style of the books.
This is a very nice idea
his compendium for an overall knowledge about the enemies, completed by the accurate informations the character collected (at least, we already know we will be able to correct the fact goblins were not with a dragon).
I would like to add to the Immersion/Atmosphere part :
- Day/night + weather cycles OR something similar/easier...just certain outside zones or areas were it feels other than 24/7 sunny noon time.
Apart from making cosmetic changes, this is true it could bring interesting things combat wise :
- Night would add more value to all stealth actions (even without stealth, everybody could benefit from hiding in shadows to decrease chances to hit), to dark vision (innate and spell) and light from any source (objects and spells, but it would include lightning and moonlight)
- Weather would add passive effects (heat, cold, unlucky thunderbolt) and could change surfaces (water puddle and mud for rain, ice puddle and snow for snow)