I think the single biggest issue for me with MMO's today is the lack of implementation of the foundation of massively multiplayer gameplay design. That foundation is natural multiplayer initiated through the design of the game rather than pre-determined situations where multiplayer will occur. For example, Everquest had non-instanced dungeons where a player would enter the dungeon, and find other players interested in finding a party to explore and engage in content. This seems barbaric for our group finders and instanced dungeons, but what was so special about this seemingly limited design was that it naturally brought players together, in a meaningful way that didn't require time spent in the gui. Instead, one would use the world in a way that is "realistic", which I use with quotes because I am using it very loosely here, where the player is using the game world to play instead of a graphical user interface. Furthermore, by simply forcing people to be social ( you know, that reason we pay 15 dollars a month for these games), they are created dynamic content that will not feel stale and players will love.

Dynamic natural content, not created by devs trying to push a story or linear game progression, but one indicative of a living, breathing world that feels organic in how you go about your gaming tasks. TOR dropped the ball in my opinion, because their weakest aspect of their game was a giant limitation in natural multiplayer mechanics due to their instanced, compartmentalized style of gameplay. Go here, collect badges, get gear from vendor for badges is NOT how things would be done in the star wars universe. Now this is NOT an immersion rant. I get it. It's a game, but if your concepts are based on something more natural or organic, whatever you want to call it, it leads for content that is player created and player driven.

I feel like game developers make a check list of things they want to have in their game. Or how they envision it being. Then they go about trying to implement that concept without finding more efficient ways for design. Another example, by creating an ecosystem that drives the player to have unique experiences because of other players, you create aspects of the game without implementing any coded systems to reflect that desired aspect.

Think of trains in Everquest... An annoyance, but it was dynamic player made content that added danger and a feeling of suspense and urgency. Simply put, it made the game feel more alive.

Another example, if another guild was taking your dungeon on your day to kill dragon X, you could attack them ( given you were on a pvp server) as a whole guild. Right then and there. Creating dynamic content by allowing the players to decide how to play the game.

I use the example of Everquest, because it gets unfairly blamed for the state of games today. We loved EQ, but we loved it because it allowed the players to create systems and rules. If you think that creating the system and channelling the player into other systems is the best way to create a MMO, then you should look at the state of games like TOR.

ANother reason I wanted to post this is due to the fact that people are already chalking up this game to being "another WoW clone". If they simply don't instance the dungeons, that by itself makes it significantly different than WOW , TOR, or any other game like it.

I am excited about this game. Daoc was unique and elder scrolls is by far the greatest RPG series ever made ( my opinion, take it easy).

Thanks for reading.

Fully agree. Non instanced dungeons will, I think, bring back the more of the "Massively" feel to the MMO.