No one is denying the game needs progression loops and plenty of content. The problem is if you want accessibility to a wide variety of players and playstyles you invariably have to dumb the game down at some point. The mainstream segment of the video game world from what we've seen won't be able to stomach the idea of (case in point) thievery which to them will be griefing but for the core audience it is an adrenaline rush.
To their credit, I think SV is trying to make the game more fun and engaging for its core audience and possibly some of the mainstream. But they will never be able to satisfy everyone. There will always be people who will say "game is bad, game is ded" no matter what SV does.
I think there is a middle ground for MO2 and from the many hours of podcasting Henrik has done, I think he has a good understanding and strong vision of what he wants to achieve, but I think he is still quite a ways off from achieving it.
There are still many elements of the games core design that are very much in the trial and error state of design, some aspects I think have proven to not be working as intended and of course the big issue which is bringing the understanding of what the game is actually about, how you actually play it to new arrivals.
I think the biggest challenge is the latter, the game still really lacks a good induction of new players. It’s a complex system that works conceptually in a very unique way, mainly being based on player interactions that I think many new players fail to fully grasp as they are so accustomed to MMOs handing you content to run through and games being based on a continual forward (positive) progress. MO2 has a lot of set backs that take place and this requires a fundamental understanding that this is a normal part of the game.
This concept is core to the game.
In short.
You will die a lot and you avoid death through the same cause and effect, meaning player interaction. You need to find other players and form pairs, groups and guilds to gain back the disadvantage that you normally find yourself in when your out in the world alone.
Some mechanics like thievery, at least as it was in MO1 had no such equalizers, or counters. Most theft in the game took place as a result of working around the intended mechanic, by abusing the exploits of the buggy system. Log on or off delay bug for example was the most common, the banking bug and stuff like that.
In a lot of ways thievery just doesn’t fit into the more standard loops of the game, it, at least as it was in MO1 was mainly a griefing mechanic that relied on bugs for success.
Having failed systems like that in the game gives credence to arguments against the core concept, which leads to resentment and player retention issues. Which leads players to believe that the entire game is flawed and they never discover what the real game is all about once you get deeper into it and accepting of this core premise of player interaction.
Right now I think not having thievery has had mostly a positive effect on the game, nothing has been lost and there are far more important, core mechanics that still need some work. In particular in the area of PVP and the whole premise of standing, crime and punishment all which motivate the core game loops. Right now these systems are still not right and create a lot of core breaks in what should be pretty standard aspects of a good open loot PvP system.