I agree with phineus that this thread is utterly pointless and should be moved to the wishlist, where one can profess specific improvements or suggestions. A whole slew of suggestions such as these, quite practically will take several years before they're implemented based on the rate thus far. And I think years might very well be an underestimate and that is not criticism in the least, but a realistic perspective. I've been playing the game for 9 months and the game is sufficiently large as is where I haven't accomplished everything there is to accomplish. It may take me many more months to "finish" all the leveling.
But with work and family on the horizon the game will be irrelevant to me in the future so its not practical for me to dwell on big visionary future advancements. Any wishes that I do make known have to do with the now, like a recent post about the communications bar.
http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=25473.0 Prior to this I relentlessly focused on leveling up so that I would participate in these grand tournaments that used to happen on occasion. Alas, i've yet to participate in one or have seen one implemented recently so all that has been for nought. It also became an obsessive addiction which i found to be utterly pointless. This isn't a numbers game, period. You'll hear this time and time again-- "its all about the roleplay." And that is so true. Develop your character online and everything else is secondary, essentially a hobby. Such hobbies would be crafting, developing a niche in the economy, exploring, doing quests. Another hobby that I will undertake will be to make music videos or mini movie sagas... its a lot of work, but i think far more fun than looting a gladiator 24/7 for money.
Are there more than 30 players that have played more than 2 years consistently? Perhaps, and even so, this project will have a big turnover ratio in terms of players over the years, that it isn't realistic to think about very grand changes unless you see yourself playing this game 3-4 years from now.
Not that I want to stop people from dreaming, but people should perhaps review what has been done since the start of the project and correlate that to time and then get a better sense of what may happen in the future. That way people should stop clamoring for mounting flying creatures that poop magical manure napalming forest lines and herds of ulbernauts, who also poop projectile feces in the air in the form of a missile defense shield (which probably isn't far off from the one we are spending billions of dollars in the US for). Wait, HUH? I mean it *could* happen, but not anytime soon... and that's the point.