TL;DR: I agree with most of this, with notable exception to the idea that it’s the most RP unfriendly MMO I’ve ever played.
My POV on each request:
[Accessing Other Instances]
A couple of MMOs I’ve played had a list that could be accessed from the Minimap that would show all the instances available for the current zone, and a count of friends or guild members you had in each instance. Instances that were full would be greyed out, but every other instance would allow you to transfer to them. Star Trek Online is one example I recall off the top of my head.
[RP-Specific/Private Map Instances]
Given the cost of keeping servers running, and the like, I’d honestly expect such things to be a premium feature, though I’d have no idea how to implement it without worrying about dividing the player base based on money (which is always a bad idea).
[Opting Out Of Dynamic Events]
Personally, I tend to incorporate dynamic events into my RP, but I seem to be a minority there. I do worry frequently that the presence of RPers who aren’t participating in a Dynamic Event will artificially inflate the difficulty of the event for those who are participating. Since I’d rather this not happen, I’m generally for a way to opt out of dynamic events. However, I’m also for some sort of penalty for this. Maybe reduced rewards for a few events once you start participating again.
[Wearing Different Armor Classes]
As for armor classes, I know of one MMO that will give you a debuff if you’re wearing the wrong type of armor. I know there’s an issue with new players not immediately noticing this, but new players barely grasp the stats system on any MMO anyways, in my experience. The only exception is if they do the research, and, well, problem solved. As an example, I believe WoW implements this, though as a buff for wearing the correct armor type, rather than a debuff for wearing the incorrect one.
(As a note, I don’t agree at all with transmuting one armor class to look like another, though I can hardly argue with "Why can I wear a cloth outfit over heavy armor, but not transmute heavy armor to look like light armor)
[Talking Animation]
That would be cool. I’ve seen it in other MMOs (FF14, off the top of my head), though personally, I spend most of my RP time staring at the chat, so it’s not something I’d ever think to ask for.
[Emotes]
Different sitting poses would be nice. I don’t know anyone who sits like the female human, norn, and sylvari do. At least not regularly.
[Chairs]
I’m not holding my breath. Given the large amount of non-sittable chairs in the game, I don’t expect this to happen any time soon, if ever. Personally, I could easily get by with proper sitting animations. I’ve had my asura sit "in" a large number of chairs with the basic emote.
[Open Up Them Houses!]
As a personal addition, I’ve glitched into a number of houses that are otherwise closed off, and seen that the insides of them are properly setup. Why the closed doors? Please open them! Speaking of which, open up the uninstanced "home instance" areas! I imagine the simplest implementation would be to have an extra option on the "enter your home instance" screen, that allowed the player to simply enter the non-instanced area. You don’t have to flesh it out. I’m fairly certain roleplayers will do that for you.
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As an incentive, I’ll note that I’ve spent a frankly embarrassing amount of money on gems while I’ve been RPing in GW2...but I also took a year-long break from the game because the little inconveniences start wearing on me after a bit.
The current transmutation, outfits, and pets system that was implemented while I was gone, though? Love that. Thanks very much. Loosing the Charm/Dignity/Aggressive thing? I know it didn’t do much, but that seemed like a step in the wrong direction.
Still, I’d hardly say GW2 is the most RPer unfriendly MMO I’ve ever played. I’d tell you who that distinction goes to, but I frankly don’t remember who it was. Probably for good reason.
Tarnished Coast
