Another core feature they've promised to implement, are
footprints. Basically, depending on your faction relationship via quests and interactions, the size of your base, number of thralls, and hostility with NPC encampments, you will eventually be subject to NPC raids. If implemented well (NPCs spawning at their camps in the world, and pathfinding to a base, destroying obstacles while managing to avoid neutral settlements- a tall order!), this would be a level of PvE sophistication that most survival games haven't touched down on yet.
I'm hooked on this game for its MMO-style elements. There is a lot of grind, but it feels streamlined, intuitive, and- most importantly- rewarding. It's hard to say if the game will ultimately live up to Funcom's promises, but I choose to be hopeful. One of my hopes is that they have the discretion to compromise on certain elements (in-depth city management) and instead favor natural strengths such as questing, exploration, narrative, and combat difficulty for a solid experience. I for one could care less if my thralls literally go hunting out in the open world, and would be completely content to see them just man a hunter's cabin that slowly generated resources depending on local spawn point density. I would be disappointed, however, if the reputation and PvE raid system choked on its own ambition and resulted in easily exploited or superfluous mechanics.
For those of you still looking for a home, Sarnath PvE is really starting to take off. On average we have about 5-15 players, many of whom are extremely talkative and community-oriented, and there is plenty of room left. Server performance is good, and will be better after we get our new CPU in a few days, though the game itself is subject to rare crashes. To that end, we've made it so that following the next restart, bodies will logout with players to prevent getting mobbed while offline.
If you're interested in giving us a try, to connect easily, open your console and type "TravelLocal 160.202.164.18:7787" minus the quotations. That should get you in straightaway.
Just a reminder, our is a mature (18+) server.