WIth the instancing system as it is you could still have a persistent, explorable world .. here's how:
Have a central hub to the world. Call it capital city, spaceport, whatever. This is the social and quest giving hub of the planet. You could have vendors, social areas ...
The way it would work is that each world would have a planet map, like we have a sector map. You could visit areas of the planet .. cold, jungle, swamp, forest, grassland, beach, etc. With no quest chosen you could randomly explore these areas. As you leave the edge of a 'zone' it would move you to another random zone in that 'sector'. You coudl have fauna, random encounters, anomolies, etc. All randomized.
You could return to capital city at any time unless maybe engaged in a quest thar prevents it.
You could also get missions from NPC's on the planet to do things on the planet itself. Good deeds like fixing equipment or whatever you can think of.
Unlimited possibilities using the same system we have now, and just on one planet.
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