I really don't see any 'buts' in this article. This is all about selling a product to players and keeping them, it certainly applies to sandbox MMOs too, specially Perpetuum.

These are the most relevant:

1. Knowing you audience

Do the Devs really know their audience? What can they do to get to know us better? Playerbase taste changes too, knowing your players is a constant communication not just when game is in beta. Not really a bad job done here, but it should improve.

2. Play the game

Yes, everyone Dev/staff needs to play the game, on many occasions Devs don't really know what's going on until it's too late.

3. Organize the Flow of People and Ideas

Yes, the constant traveling Perp has: 'Constant travel is just another grind, and grinding is tedious, and tedium is the opposite of what games are supposed to be about.'

4. Create incentive to explore.

Where is incentive to explore in Perp. There no special place everything is uniform all islands are the same size and all stations have roughly the same stuff. Factions has little meaning.

9. For Every Ounce of Treatment Provide a Ton of Fun

Can the Devs (I mean Dev Zoom ) answer these: What makes your MMO the one that gamers should want to play? Why should I spend my money on this game and not others?

10. keep it up

Game needs a faster client and a good server in a different location, I've heard countless problems with connection issues since the game went live. We have lost loads of players because of this.