The same world does not mean the exact same map, per se. If it is the same map, they'd better make some major changes, but keep it smart. Crackdown 2 reused too much of the first thinking the addition of zombies would make all the difference, and it was miserable.
Not to harp, but one thing that could make the same old areas seem new again would be a new moveset (and perhaps a different protagonist). Replace the glider with, say, double-hookshots, and it might not be better, but it would certainly be a different place to get around.
I don't mind weapon durability necessarily, but it got old fast in BotW. On the other hand, without the risk of your favorite weapon wearing down and breaking, a lot of the tension of combat encounters would be out the window, and you'd soon have a slew of favorite weapons with no reason to exchange them.
I hope they at least tweak the formula in some way to make it less tedious, like, let us combine two or more of the same weapon to repair it, or perhaps even create a plus version that's more durable or has marginally better stats or something.