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Is player driven narrative enough?
Storytelling is an important aspect of gameplay for me, along side combat mechanics. Exploring a new world and understanding how an artifact came to rest here, or who was responsible for these ancient ruins can be really engaging. A lack of NPC factions will result in a lore vacuum where we can only infer what as happened based on the physical evidence that is left, leaving the world feeling kind of empty. With IS emphasis on player driven narrative will that be enough to keep you engaged in the story?
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Hopefully Intrepid will take this a little further and perhaps make NPC factions (small scale mind you almost guildlike themselves) and they will be attracted to certain cities so you may find NPC "guilds" scattered around cities with quests themselves (think mage's or fighter's guild from Oblivion while adding others like merchants guilds)
I think it'd be pretty cool if they implemented this while still retaining the primarily player driven narrative, while still having a NPC in game narrative (and I thought I remember hearing them talking about having narrative from npcs and this could be a cool way to give NPCs a little more)
It doesn't have to be blatant narration but without some context - books, or npcs, or other - we're left to our own devices where several plausible explanations might be possible and a deeper, richer story could exist.
In AOC, all current knowledge of the world would come from texts. Besides maybe the gods, no npcs would have experience with had happened to the world and any knowledge they tell you would have probably come from something they read. Why not cut out the middle man and have the players discover what the previous civilizations had left behind.
This is in fact reality. The only things we know are the now. The further backward/forward in history or future you go....the more inaccurate and vague the facts become. History becomes myth and lie. Future plans becomes just hopes and dreams.
I also think the Tulnar will have the most info since they never left. If there are Tulnar NPCs ask them and they'll say, "It is rumored that long ago there was a magic spring to the East and if a unicorn drank of it's waters it would drop it's horn and grow a new one." Stuff like that.
An avid role player could take the game histories and create endless narrative, as a casual player would only see what is given to them and become bored if that pre-determined story were to suddenly end.
I personally am already overflowing with player driven narratives, from the work I'm doing with my channel and to add the official lore on top of that is like being a kid in a candy store. I can't get enough.
Most importantly, gods exist and will be interacting with us, so they can reveal their truths whenever they deem fit... or send us on quests to uncover lore.
We don't lose lore without factions. Much of the lore we get from NPCs in Ashes will be current/recent lore.
Ancient lore will likely a bit less common than in other MMORPGs, but still attainable through regular adventuring.
Lore doesn't need to be told vocally in stories, it can also be found written in tablets in mysterious ruins and by investigation and exploration.