I really do suggest reading through the blog, because they detail their current plan. I'll gloss over it here:
The game is going to be primarily sandbox with a few scripted adventures (Ala the Society Modules) here and there
They are only letting 4,500 in a month for the first 7 months, and they are expecting to only keep a quarter of that number, so instead of making a Drek Ton of content in hopes of having a couple mill in the first couple of weeks, they are saving money by using a very small area of the River Kingdoms (if an area the size of Philly would be considered small) and only planning around 25k or so in the first year. Not that they woudln't be happy to keep all 100%, but they are trying to avoid having to rush content. Sandbox helps this
They are working on making it so if you want to do nothing but be a blacksmith or a farmer your entire time in game instead of an adventurer, good on you. There will be bonuses to sticking to one thing in the long run, even though they are going to TRY and pace 'leveling' (Which isn't really leveling) so that max level in an archtype won't be reached for a good 2 years.
And more that I really shouldn't be describing given that I suck at it. The overall is that the project lead showed Pazio the "normal MMO" plan, and Pazio said "No. Streamline that for better content and less expense."
