Vanguard

[Klapton]

I was in a very early beta of Vanguard, and played at launch. People have cited bugs for its failure, but I don't think that was the main reason. They launched with too many servers. The world was HUGE (a good thing) and travel was not instant (a good thing) but because the population of the servers was so sparse, you would often have to travel for a half hour just to get with a group.

The crafting system was one of the best I ever played, but it was too slow. IMO, proper balance of a crafting system is such that a new player can do at least ONE craft, and be able to equip their character with that gear without spending MORE time crafting than adventuring. I always hated how some games were designed as if crafting was an afterthought, or only useful for twinking your alts after rushing to max level.

The offensive and defensive target thing was innovative and cool. It made tanking more interesting than many games (including EQ).