So, with the ongoing development in the north, I've noticed that the wilderness areas of the mod have been increasingly marginalized.
The addition of cities up north I think will be a great addition to Chernarus. But it has, or had, to be taken into consideration in relation to the overall distribution of wilderness terrain (i.e. undeveloped areas). It isn't good, in my opinion, for them to just add cities without also adding to the wilderness as well.
With persistent storage coming, and construction later on, having some white space on the map is essential. If only to make for non-formulaic construction and storage. The same applies for vehicles as well, with fewer potent rural areas in which to store these (which could be stored in a town/city, but with much greater risk of discovery).
The only wilderness that remains relatively untouched is the western forest near Myshkino. Coincidentally, this is an area which I frequent.
Below I've taken the liberty of outlining some of the areas which have been used to place towns (like Svetlo and others, as this is a dated map) and areas which seem designed to be towns in the future. This is just to give you an idea of how close these new settlements are being placed in proximity to an already marginalized wilderness. Never mind the fact that the areas in the wilderness which appear to be forested, also have roads traversing them, hence the point below.
As you can see, most of the new areas for towns up north are already situated in areas which were previously forests. Moreover, the areas which were previously forests have been pushed back by large fields.
A second point, is the paths that these new destinations create. The points of interest are not as relevant as the paths created by people going to those destinations.
Below is a rough heatmap produced by a thread on Reddit, to illustrate the case as it was in the mod.
As you can see, the density of pathways is far more diffuse NW of NWAF than SE. This is to be expected. However, with the addition of the new towns, I suspect this pathway/density map will become more homogenous across the map. Which is fine, but it means more players in close proximity to already marginalized wilderness.
So, what is the point of all that?
The wilderness needs to be a destination unto itself, not just an inconvenience whilst moving to town after town over the next hill. It needs to be a destination capable of being an effective canvas for the upcoming additions such as persistent storage, vehicles, and construction. In order for this to happen, the wilderness has to be made wild again by distancing itself from the towns and cities as was the case in the mod.
I'm not entirely sure this is possible, given the confines of the current map. But what are your thoughts?
DISCLAIMER - Not advocating for impenetrable wilderness, 100% guaranteed hiding spots, or the removal of cities. The latter will still be there, relax.