I was thinking more like old school Ultima Online (before they went the way of every other MMO). The criminal system kicked ass. The city system kicked ass (guarded areas so it wasn't 100% hard core PVP, but once you left the city it was a free for all). The fact that you had to fight over resources and not every dungeon was an instance was awesome. The fact that you dropped most of your gear when you died was awesome.
I understand that's too hardcore for some people, but you'd think in the last 10 years at least one or two MMORPGs would try to change the formula from the instanced dungeons, fake pvp, all about "quests" and collecting pixel crack. But since the people who put up the money to publish these games only want to reach the largest audience, they cater it to the lowest common denominators. Niche markets can still exist (like Warband) but they are very few and far between.