Ok, I'd prefer only suggestions and personal experiences, no commenting about other peoples recommendations, as that always leads to things getting off track and flaming.

Description: For quite some time, I've been looking for a new game that follows an old format. An MMO that is looking to form a "virtual world" as it were rather than just a personal quest for gear. Housing, preferably non-instanced but instanced is ok, mounts, a large open world, RvR or PvP system of some sort would be preferable but probably wouldn't fit too well sadly, and decent crafting and character advancement systems that are not purely gear based, would be the main things I'm looking for. 

Ruled out (I've either tried these games personally and found them not to be what I'm looking for, or they are blatantly not what I'm looking for at all.): WoW, WAR, Darkfall, EQ, EQ2 (EQ2 mainly ruled out due to station cash and SoE sadly), SWG(at least it is now), AoC (too instanced, too small, not huge on the Conan lore), Eve (great game, but too much prep for too little pew pew), F2P titles.

Interested: 

Aion: The RvR system seems like it will do what WAR should have but failed to. The lore is decent and the game looks good, it could suffice if the capture mechanics and overally conflict were deep enough, but I have a feeling its going to lack completely any elements not directly related to combat and gear.

TCoS: Great lore, lots of promise, fairly sizeable world from the look of it, and  the combat system makes things interesting. Unfortunately, dealings between SiL and Acclaim seem to be hosing up any chance for a successful release in the US/UK, and the international servers are a crapshoot as to if you'll be able to keep your account or not if bypassing the IP ban.

Ryzom: Ok, this is more of an old interest that should be under ruled out but still warrents mentioning. Outside of the fact that the world was a little too sandboxy in that there was nothing to do BUT grind on mobs, Ryzom was amazing. Unfortunately, in its current state and with it's problem of being dropped, picked up, and dropped all the time, doesn't make it a good option /=.

Sadly, the only game I've found that closest resembles what I'm looking for is Vanguard, but I question it's longterm viability due to population, and I have reservations about SoE being involved. However, that being said, it's housing systems, mounts, boats etc etc all fit what I'm looking for almost perfectly. No real RvR conflict which is kind of disappointing, but I can manage. However, I would prefer to find something more recent, isn't involved with SoE, and/or has a more stable population. I've considered subbing to it, but if something that fits what I'm looking for is just down the pipe, I'd prefer to wait. Right now I'm spending a month in the reactivation period they have going on until the 31st.

r LOTRO are probably closest to what you want. The stability aspect really counts out a lot of the true sandbox MMORPGs. LOTRO is really not so much like the old MMORPGs, but it does have a pretty awesome housing system, mounts, the crafting system is really quite nice, and it has fun PvP. Character advancedment is not fully based on gear, as always gear plays a small part. It's a bit more skill (most classes require timing [Guardian] or memorization of a combination of skills [Warden] etc).

I had a thing all typed up for EQII then I read the ruled out xP

Originally posted by nickelpat

r LOTRO are probably closest to what you want. The stability aspect really counts out a lot of the true sandbox MMORPGs. LOTRO is really not so much like the old MMORPGs, but it does have a pretty awesome housing system, mounts, the crafting system is really quite nice, and it has fun PvP. Character advancedment is not fully based on gear, as always gear plays a small part. It's a bit more skill (most classes require timing [Guardian] or memorization of a combination of skills [Warden] etc).

I had a thing all typed up for EQII then I read the ruled out xP

Yeah honestly, I played EQ2 for a bit before and it wasn't all that bad. The fact that my girlfriend wouldn't mind playing it with me is also a plus. But station cash kind of put a quick damper on things, and I've heard populations are kind of taking a nose dive as a result as well. It's a shame because it does contain a bit of what I'm looking for. 

Honestly, LoTRO would probably fit quite well, and if nothing else, I would expect populations to hold simply by merit of the IP unless they completely hosed something up. However, I've tried it, and I just can't see to ever "get into it." I like LoTR, but I'm not a huge fan of the lore, simply because its, for lack of a better term "realistic fantasy". That being, it's definitely a fantasy game, but it's very down to earth about everything. All the heroes are very human and even the casters are more like scholars and doctors than actual mages. I used to play a Lore Master because I generally stick to pet classes, and while it was fun for a bit, I could only find so many lost items for hobbits before it just started to feel a little stale. The game world is beautiful, can't doubt that. They've put a lot of attention to detail into things that don't even have anything to do with the actual game. I've wondered off into the wilderness just to take pictures of the barren ruins and such out there. The music and craftwork systems are nice as well. But yeah, while I like monster play and it would suffice for what I'm looking for in PvP, and while Mines of Moria seems pretty interesting as it appears to be much "darker" than the rest of the game which I like, it just seems kind of plain. The new class looks interesting though, though I expect everyone is playing one now. 

tl;dr: LoTRO is great and would be cool, but I can't quite get into the lore/class mechanics. I might give it another shot though for a month or so though. I only got to about level 24 I think.

If you enjoy Vanguard, why not just stick with Vanguard? If they close shop in a year or less then at least you can say you enjoyed it untill the end.  I really enjoyed Vanguard myself and would still play but my playing times are really late at night and so unfortunately there is no one to group with on a regular basis and grouping is needed in Vanguard.  I do however really enjoy WAR but you have that on your ruled out list so I wont mention anything about it. Theres not really anything coming soon that is Vanguard like. Aion is about the only fantasy mmo coming out that looks half way enjoyable in the coming months.

Despite it being ruled out on your list, it sounds like Darkfall is the closest to what you mentioned, provided it lives up to the advertised feature set. 

Originally posted by veritas_X

Despite it being ruled out on your list, it sounds like Darkfall is the closest to what you mentioned, provided it lives up to the advertised feature set. 

Darkfall however is unlikely to actually release, doesn't have the most pleasant of fan base behind it, and lacks structured PvP. I used to play old school UO, I liked old school UO, but even I know that you need a very very specific system to get something like that to work, and I don't think Darkfall is going ot provide that. I personally don't think it's going to live up to what they've promised if it sees the light of day, which is why it's ruled out. 

I'm going to call this closed for the moment. I think I'm going to give LoTR online a shot again. The monster play, while a little on the tame side regarding what I'd like regarding PvP, suffices, and Mines of Moria has peaked my interest enough to give it a shot again. Here we go again.

 The European release date for Darkfall is January 22nd, 2009.

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/announcement.php?f=29&a=26

TCoS looked promising untill they announced it was a f2p chinker. I'm predicting the usual amount of recycled models,armor.

TCoS: Great lore, lots of promise, fairly sizeable world from the look of it, and the combat system makes things interesting.

^Honestly that is exactly what I thought about the game. It was an utter disappointment for me.