Me too. I want to play the game I want to play to. Many of us have expectations. And if this is the demanding or outreach thread, I'll make a case for a reasonable model.
Controlled progressive open PvP like EvE. Not only has it progressed to one of the most successful indie games in the market over 7 years, it holds as large if not large and more consistent player-base than many "A" mature studio mmorpgs. So it isn't dying in the next 2-years, and its studio is able to use its success to branch into other development avenues.
Sure, EvE is exponentially more successful than A Tale in the Desert, Roma Victor and Wurm in the indie universe; way more successful. EvE is by far a better template than Wurm when it comes to player interactivity and player vs player mechanics; the market tells us it's so. And to suggest EvE is going to die out after 2 years is silly.
So
yet with a bare-bones game, CCP managed to eventually grow and Prosper. Why? It wasn't a matter of pure random luck. EVE as it was released was a mostly-empty sandbox, where the focus of the endgame was on player conflicts not presided over by the devs.
As an Indie fan, I'm glad to see more games like the aforementioned, and the more sandboxy the better. The more well-implemented sandboxy for an Indie, the more attractive it is to a more loyal and larger fan-base, imho.
Dark Age of Camelot is a very restrictive RvR game, and so is WAR. WAR, another controlled, pigeon-holed PvP experience that failed to sustain an initial audience due to the shallow nature of its shoe-box RvR, not to mention its been sheer lack of anything appealing, leading to it's hemorrhaging subscriptions ever since it launched. So a tightly controlled RvR design like WAR is a bad example to use against pvp imho since its endgame has shown to crash and burn shortly after launch.
So, yes, a sandboxy game doesnt have to be all about PvP and we've seen that, and it doesnt have to be ffa no consequence pvp, but a better Indie game does have progressively unrestricted open PvP and areas of calm; with the areas of calm and safety that doesn't demean the progressive games sandboxy player-centric value, but accentuates it without over-running it.
So I call for the Case For an
Icelandic Model. A successful model proven to lead to a process of iterative organic growth within the game; incrementally.
Rather than take the tired design route of another PvE-centric or DAoC RvR platform, CCP's goal was rather to find a niche and expand it slowly; they win and their Icelandic Business Model wins.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...el_of_mmo_.php
If the developers intend to make this an overly restricted and confining PvE or RvR themepark I'd like them to let me know now so I don't waste my time either.