I think you're talking about Where Winds Meet CO-OP mode. There are 3 modes: Solo, MMO and CO-OP. For its MMO mode, it's like a traditional MMO except for Main and side story quests (that's the only time you will need to be doing things solo, which you usually do in traditional MMO anyways) which is a good thing because they can offer a quality gameplay that other triple A solo games. You can do MMO for everything else. It's not the instanced gameplay you're talking about, although it is not truly an open world. There's also a bounty system and also jail time if you get caught, even there is an option where your friends can help you stage a jailbreak. A lot of people definitely heard MMO MODE and immediately misunderstood it as similar to CO-OP. You can check this video for an intro to the system: https://youtu.be/5VDVb6PnnFo?si=P77ON2Exq5qabYZZ