I agree with almost all of your points with the exception of a "deadline" timer. The X amount of days always made me paranoid that I couldn't explore as thoroughly as I could because I wasn't sure how close I was going to be able to cut it and complete that task. I always ended up doing about 1/3 of what I'd normally do and then give in and move onto the next deadline. That didn't make for a fun experience for me.
