I have been asked this several times in game by new players and see people asking on forums.. So here is just glimpse of what you can do in VG..

Adventoring -- one of the best dungeons in mmos ..reiterated many times

Crafting -- truely the best

Diplomacy -unique card game ..in itself a sphere like adventoring n crafting..can be addictive if u develop a taste for it

Boats- Make awesome boats from sloop or galleon and enjoy the vast oceans. Enjoy boat races every month

Fishing- Enjoy catching fish...win money from monthy fishing contests held by Twighlyte song guild

Mounts- There are different type of mounts and at lvl 50 u can start epic griffon mount quest challenge..one of the most challenging questline in game..

Racial mounts- these are just awesome...very few people take the pain of doing them but they are awesome looking ..need lots of faction plats for them

Racial gears-- Also neeed racial plat

MEST Collection quests- will get in Mekalia at lvl 10...u will get multiple quests and u  get collectibles items after killing all over Telon to complete them..every quest give uptp 3 plat faction coins in return..can be used  to buy racial mount n gears...need to register with a  faction registrar for a city...this makes every killing in game worth it and gives incentive to explore whole telon ..just awesome...ask in game to people about more details on this one

Raid- nice raid content ...more coming soon

This are just glimpses...every spehere mentioned above is too deep.. also read the post by 'Page' as to how to handle the population n grouping aspect because many people feel they won;t get people to play with 

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/324067/Vanguard-is-the-best-here-is-why.html