I understand that people LOVE gazetteers, and it is very similar to a format used in previous editions that folks are fond for... but my (controversial) opinion is that I think it a complete waste of space.
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I can't stand how Wildemount goes out of it's way to detail every settlement. Especially the nuances of population breakdown... and I hate it. Leaves so little space for me to make up my own setting material within a place.
And I know why Wildemount has all this and other 5E settings don't... Matt Mercer literally wrote all this down, thinking it's important know-how when his PCs may get to that place. And he converted those notes into this text.
But I'm not Matt Mercer, and I'm not running Critical Role. I don't have those players, I don't want to run his game. So it's very stifling to have all of this irritating detail that makes me feel obliged to use. It doesn't feel like a sandbox, it feels like a LEGO set... and someone already built the thing.