Does an MMO need a story?

In Wow right now three of the most powerful dragons are just chillin on an elaborate perch solely to hand you quests for some reason. Often, they assume their human forms (which now look like characters from Days of Our Lives) to fight enemies instead of just being a dragon and like eating them.

It's.. gotta be better than this at least.

I tried Albion. It's got a great foundation for the sandbox, but seriously I wish there was story. Players did not adequately fill in that desire for epic tales, quests, and roleplay.

Personally, I don't read the quest dialogue unless there's some ambiguity about what needs to be done. I think I'd judge a game pretty harshly if there wasn't anything there at all though. I think the real question is if quest/map markers are undermining the effort to tell a story.