John Smedley is doing an IAMA on reddit (You can ask him anything)

[SirAlvarex]

I played Vanguard in beta and I loved everything about it...except the combat. It was so watered down and the animations were lackluster. Killing stuff felt anti-climatic. I can't put my finger on it, but I never felt like I wanted to kill something. EQ and EQ2 (original) made me actually want to fight something, and not just for loot. The creatures seemed to have a purpose in an area. Hell, the areas had a purpose.

That's something that's lost on all the failing MMOs. Just throwing crap around isn't enough. Have to put some soul/personality in the hunting areas.

I don't understand the hate with SOE and Vanguard. Sure they lost vision in EQ, EQ2, and SWG, but Vanguard was DOA. You can say what you want about SOE "sweeping it under the carpet", but I actually saw advertisements. It was cursed because it was a game that needed a lot of players to feel special, and it lacked players. Unless SOE actually *payed* people to play, I don't think it had any chance of revival.