Well, after a lot of reading, it looks like this is what everyone is waiting on. Wide open PvP, consequences for being killed, and supposedly no level grind. ( Though replacing level with ' skill ' still equates to a grind imo )

Item crafting, city raiding and everything we basically wanted ShadowBane to be.

However, it's been in production for quite some time now so I'm skeptical about it already. I recall SB had quite the production time also and they released it long before it should have been due to pressure to just get it out there before the graphics engine became unplayable.