Craft of Gods continues refining their craft

While I can't speak for Craft of Gods, there are missions (quests) even in EVE Online, so I wouldn't worry about the presence of quests breaking any sandbox aspects that might be there.

The Elder Scrolls games were considered 'sandbox' games and they were full of quests.

Quests don't have to lead on a certain path to level, it's just most MMOs that are built that way, but they don't have to be..

Ryzom has quests, they are just called something else. /shrug

Quests by their definition are taking on a task, setting in pursuit of it, and achieving it. When your corp/alliance/bunch of friends/etc decides to go after an objective (say, sov, a gate camp, etc.) in an area, it is in its own way, a form of questing. It's something you're setting out to do. It doesn't level you up either, but it does make your gameplay experience more rich. Contracts, normal agent missions, etc. are all viable forms of a quest structure that works within EVE's game mechanics because the developers set it up to run that way.

So, yeah. I stand by what I originally said. Just because there are quests in a sandbox-style game doesn't mean you have to level via them, nor does it mean it's going to break the game. It can be just something fun to do to advance things as varied as reputation (ability to place jump clones), get rewards (LP stuff), or storyline for those who may want a hand getting immersed in -- or just want to step back from -- free-form sandbox storytelling.

Now, as to how it will play out in Craft of Gods, only the developers in charge of setting this game up know for certain. I prefer to wait and see as opposed to getting upset about something that - for all we know - isn't in the game at all.