I honestly cannot even recall if the FireFall I was introduced to was still the Beta or if the WoW-fication was already in progress by the time I first arrived in the game-world. It was my first MMO experience. I stayed far away from MMOs, exactly because of what I saw with WoW. And whenever the genre was even mentioned WoW is always what came to mind, driving me away from touching MMOs.
The fact that my character wasn't standing around exchanging blows with a monster standing directly in front of it, playing I-hit-you-you-hit-me, then sometimes "MISS" was what gave me hope Firefall wouldn't be the kind of utter bore-fest I saw in WoW. That and the graphics were nice enough. Character creation and customization options allowed me to make a good-enough looking avatar, too. And I don't know which version of the game I dropped into, but it was very much enjoyable.
I very much liked being able to customize my HUD, its size, color, position of elements...etc. and the way I could switch it off, lock my character's heading and look around with the free camera during gliding. The chat was easy to use. The coordinates/location-giving system and linking of items was neat, as was the ability to only address people within a certain distance, shown with different colors in the chat, so those you wanted your message to reach could more easily notice it.
My first glider-flight was something to remember. I loved not just the freedom of movement, but the vertical-freedom, as well. Being able to scale my environment, not just for an edge in combat, but to explore the game-world, was amazing.
Hearing and seeing a melding-tornado in the distance, for the first time, getting chills and whispering to myself "What the f--- is that...?". Then dropping everything and hurrying towards it. Had a similar experience with Conan: Exiles. The first time I saw sand-storm approaching and sweeping across the landscape. The awe one can feel is something that makes a game memorable and greatly enhances the gaming experience.
Em-8er should have similar phenomena and presentation. Considering how volatile the planet will be, huge storms aren't out of the question.
I also liked some of the new systems the 1.6 version had, when I came back to Firefall, after a year and a half. I liked the weapon upgrading. The bounty-system. If noting else you could break down the loot for resources. With that said, less repetition (even in repeatable side-missions or activities) should be a goal, in Em-8er. Less scripted stuff. More dynamic encounters and objectives.
Also, objectives that might even change, depending on the situation, the number of people participating in a given task/mission/event, the current state of the environment they're in and the kind of enemies that are around or may be drawn in or just wander by. Say, you need to eliminate Tsi-Hu, but then a horde of otherwise docile creatures would be nearby, so you'd get an additional objective to be mindful of them and even protect them. Activate a shield-generator to get protection from an approaching storm, but get a distress call from injured NPCs near or within the storm, who you could rescue and escort to safety, while others fight off wildlife and Tsi-Hu.
Branching and evolving objectives. Starting from an initial goal and turning into something more, bonus objectives or even entirely different ones, depending on certain factors, some of which could be influenced by the players, too.
Changing environment and creatures. Apart from the obvious terra-forming we'll be doing, wildlife could be increasingly more hostile towards players, depending on their own hostility towards animals. I always hated seeing Brontodon King encounters and people who shot at otherwise peaceful animals. Not expecting there to be many friendly or neutral creatures on a hell-scape that will be Em-8er, but it would be nice. One could be tasked by biologist NPCs and such, to find, tag and track wildlife or protect them from poachers, then be rewarded not only with resources, but with lore. A growing bestiary. Hostile wildlife, that one could not avoid could be used for study, as well. The hides could be used to craft tribal or other wild clothing for the player character. Warpaint for the Omni-Frame could depict certain animals one killed or studied (or both). Neat things like that.
Since Firefall, I tried out a number of MMOs and there were certain elements I was glad to also see in Firefall. Ones that thankfully weren't a part of it. And ones that I'd like to see in Em-8er.
Defiance - Lked it, because of the TV series, but the constant DDOSs made me abandon it. Usually don't care about achievements, but it had this neat reward system that gave boosts to my attributes. Proficiency levels with every weapon-type and the exploring, plus stunts with your vehicle gave you small boosts to award you.
ArcheAge - meh. Thought it'd be good. Character creation had nice lore and all, but the moment the attacks of the first enemies magically started hitting me, even as was already retreating and not in range of them, I realized it was bad WoW-clone. Or the crap from Dragon Age: Origins, where once an ogre initiated a ground-slam, even if I moved rolled halfway across the room, I was still flattened against the ground.
Skyforge - good graphics, animations, story and character creation, customization and progression system - but not exactly a free, open-world, and the way the mobs just lingered around in groups, close to you, not responding to you unless within very close proximity, was something I found annoying in more WoW-like MMOs. Was glad Firefall didn't really have this.
TERA - Now THIS was essentially FireFall with swords to me. My survival depended on my own reflexes and ability to time my attacks and to dodge. Didn't matter if a creature towered over me, both literally and in level, if it couldn't hit me I could wear it down and eventually kill it. I'm not expecting to go one on one with higher category Kaijus, though. But, still. Skill should matter. Not dice-rolling.
