The Main Story Quest

I've been going back and forth with Slice of Life and deciding whether or not I want to add a storyline. 

So many MMOs have main story quests that sort of... string you along from task to task, and you basically follow an arrow through the worlds, going from point to point until you get stuck and have to grind to get past a specific battle or obstacle. 

I want everybody to know that that is *NOT* the kind of game developer I want to be. 

But... like, the tutorial could use a little storyline to help explain your presence in SoLaria (now called Laranes, actually) and help you get established in the lore of the world. It turns out this world has lore! That's kind of exciting. 

So... I've decided to add a bookends sort of questline--that starts in the tutorial and then lets you loose to stumble upon its final set of tasks in late-game. 

Here is the premise: You are a clone, built to exacting specifications (the character customization settings). You have been created as part of an army to "Battle the coming darkness," which was predicted some decades ago. But after your training, there's no "coming darkness" for you to fight, so they set you up to live a life as a peaceful citizen of the world. 

This two-part tutorial will teach the player both the combat mechanics and particulars of the dungeons of the world, as well as the less combat-oriented gameplay. 

Features I want to include are a player-driven economy, crafting, player-made quests/tasks, and of course, friends lists and interactions that allow for the creation of side stories that are particular to each player and their friends. 

I want the focus to be on these made-up stories that the players do, but for the determined and astute, I want to use environmental storytelling and clues spread across this world, for a late-game, high-level series of quests that can be undertaken only by the strongest. Which... I don't yet know how I'll quantify what that means.