This sub-forum abounds in nice, interesting, enticing suggestions. While almost any and each of these suggestions make sense in itself, I would like to raise a few words of caution. Of course, these are just MY very subjective opinions and I am interested in reading other opinions.
Complexity: The more complex the world around you, the more complex becomes interacting and coming to terms with it. This is of course positive in itself, as it makes the game more interesting and involving. But:
1) More choices mean more complex UI: more menus, more short-cuts, more actions (mouse or whatever) to learn (and remember!).
2) A more elaborate crafting tree, (including cooking, fishing, farming, herding, etc.) means the character progression becomes slower and sequences of steps harder to remember.
3) Same for a more proactive environment (both on the hostile and friend sides).
The cumulative effect of all this is a steeper learning curve before the game become really involving as well as makes easier to forget some (essential?) detail, if one does not keep playing the same game every day. Consequence: more users lost along the way (as an example, let me quote Wurm, which in principle I like and try to play every now and then and I never remember what is where and how to reach this or that (relatively simple) goal).
So, I believe that:
A) OF COURSE, the game has to be expanded above the current, preliminary, level, but actual playability for the 'average' user (opposed to the power, dedicated, user) has to be kept in mind.
B) Each of the expandable sides listed above (UI, crafting, environment, ... more can be added) may attract someone and repel someone else.
I for one, should I be forced to spend a sizeable part of game time and/or having to band with other users (and what about single players?) in order to dispel hordes of ferocious beasts, gangs of evil bandits and gaggles of voracious rodents, before having the opportunity to dig for ores and collect supplies to craft components to build my/our villa/village/castle, possibly subject to earthquakes and other disasters, I would quickly loose interest in the game but I would miss the beautiful landscapes, the nice construction and terraforming system and so on (and the water!!! 
).
In summary:
A) Balance between enticing richness and overwhelming complexity.
B) Trying to make the different sides of the complexity not (or not all) mandatory for the playability of the game.
Finally -- and sorry to repeat myself --, I believe mods/scripts/plug-ins (whether by third parties or 'official') can be part of this, leaving the addition of specific challenges and distresses or of specialized tasks to them, for the users liking them.
Thanks for reading these ramblings, M.
), it is not a good idea to except laserswords to be added soon. 
