I think the OP has valid points... although I am still in the fan boy phase right now.

The problem isn't with the game or the developer, though. I think it's been several years that we've been exposed to the MMO genre. It's starting to show it's age.

Early MMO was a pretty easy time, because the idea of a seeming world that people could essentially live in was pretty awe inspiring. The problem is that the MMO itself is no longer awe inspiring and no one is truly taking them to the NEXT LEVEL. I think in our minds we all sense what something like that would be... something that would truly profoundly wow us... besides just a pretty graphic art style or a different kind of combat or dynamic questing or rifts or whatever. What we're looking for is a TRULY next level game....

Maybe more dynamic weather systems that can cause changes in the world's areas. (Snow storms making things impassable... flooding towns)....

Seasonal weather... seasonal changes...

No building created anywhere that is not thoroughly explorable. Buildings with no function other than standing art detracts from the immersive nature that an mmo should create.

New methods of leveling... Extremely varied ways of leveling. Literally you could level in multiple different ways. You could level from multiple different starting zones.

Profoundly vary or somehow fundamentally shake up the storyline structure. Most mmos in some way shape or form involve story lines about what the big thing is that's happening in the world and everyone's an adventurer handling that major world event... but this doesn't feel realistic after a while. Just make the world filled with stories of lives you encounter or people you meet in towns. Stories that we all experience in our own lives ... these kinds of things infused into the little nooks and crannies of exploration.

Top/Down immersion. Maybe I'll just go to a town find a master artisan of some sort and apprentice under him.... rise up the ranks and own my own store... maybe I sign up in a military faction or serve a great house as a bodyguard or choose a profession or pick up hobbies or WHATEVER.

These kind of next generation things would require as big of a leap as the idea of MMOs were in the first place, but if someone could do it and really make it work then it would wow us all over again.

Still... as of right now... I love the game.... because it's what we got at the moment.