I know this is not something themepark MMOs really do; but FFXIV relies so heavily on teleports, it rarely incentivizes exploring zones after visiting them once for the main storyline. In turn, this gives devs no reason to put interesting points of interest.
I know GW2, ESO and FFXI do a better job. It just seems like such a wasted opportunity when it comes to deliver a better immersive experience.
I was gonna say World of Warcraft handled this with phasing (areas having different versions based on quest progress) but as I thought more, it’s still not great. Questing with friends can be confusing, and 100 points for you if you can tell me exactly how to get to each version of Dalaran. Navigation in general is a mess.
I kinda wish there were more MMOs that weren’t afraid to break their world for story progression.