I don't want an MMO that might as well be a single player game with multiplay tacked on like Star Wars the Old Republic, or one that is yet anoter WoW clone.
I want something where I am one of many in a wide vast world with my own goals and ambitions.
The first commercially successful MMO, Ultima Online, allowed players to do this very thing, running on server hardware that is obsolete by todays standards, and yet today, MMOs running on cutting edge hardware offer players less freedom and gameplay options, and I am tired of it.
WoW was a fluke. If the way it was designed is really the magic formula for successful MMOs, then every single MMO that has come out since WoW should have been a phenomenal success. But most of them fall flat on their face within a few months after launch. Because once people have taken a break from WoW to try out the new MMO, they see it's pretty much WoW in a different skin, so when the trial is over they go back to WoW...
I'm totally sick of themepark MMOs. I want a sandbox! If TESO is yet another level-based, class-based themepark MMO, it will just be a waste of my time, and I will not bother with it.