Different that other places:
I am not certain who the main coders are or how far you wish to dig into the server changes, but something that other servers fail to do:
They do not make the world a living world. Things that happen in one place should reflect across the world. Let the 'commoners' know that some group or player did something major. Let the players hear about other heros that may even be retired now.
A database of
phrases controlled by the Dev team,
that feed into
some npcs proximity or timers,
that represent NPCs tendency to
gossip between each other
and overheard by the PC.
All of this controlled by grouping lists of NPCs and 'percentage to say something' randomization.
- Want to see someone discover an undiscovered quest?
NPC across the world (or just in some regions) start talking about something that happened in the starting region... - Want to inform players of things that may be coming up? Or an item that has not been found
Those two town guards were gossiping while you were walking out...