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When off the beaten path, players want to find something special. It's why they go off the path in the first place. In real life, when you do, you always find something unexpected. It's natural to seek this out in a game. It's why in any MMO I try out, I'm the "explorer" type of personality. I'll go to the ends of the world, by myself, just to see what's there and map out the place. I want to see unique creatures, visit areas that are too difficult for me, or discover unique vistas you won't find by using the main pathway.
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Secondly, this game had big rewards. When you completed a quest, your characters received a full ox load of experience, money, and items. Not just a reward, but big enough rewards that really meant something. In today's RPGs, a completed quest will typically net you a small amount of experience that's just enough to feel like you're making progress toward the next level. Answer me this - why do many people enjoy starting new brand characters in RPGs or MMOs? There are gameplay changes, sure, but it's also because of the quick, extensive reward system that's usually found early in the game. You literally start out at zero with only a couple of skills, but very quickly gain levels and get new skills.
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The list wouldn't be complete without mentioning Might and Magic's powerful utility spells. Late in the game you're able to learn the cast-once-and-leave Day of Sorcery (Wizard) and Day of Protection (Cleric), which essentially take all of the micromanaging out of casting buffs for your party. Throughout the game you'd learn bless, walk on water, heroism, light, wizard eye (for seeing extra map areas), etc. What these two spells did was combine all of the useful buffs you'd always want on your party into one or two spells. Cast them at the beginning of the day, and just go adventure without needing to cast one at a time. This is something that I believe would benefit MMOs like World of Warcraft that feature party support roles. As your character gets more powerful, why not give them less micromanaging and have one spell that does everything they'd typically do anyway in one cast, for more mana? This was forward thinking for its day and should remain relevant in today's games.
German Questioned Over Gamer's Murder
