Don't care much how "hardcore" it is or how punishing it is and what type of leveling it uses. Only thing I care about really is, this better have bloodmages/disciples. And real bards. And a real CC focused class. Basically, it better have Vanguard class design. Just with that I'd be willing to put a bit of money into it, because regardless of how awful other aspects of the game are/were, these classes were just fucking fun to play.
That said I really liked the Vanguard leveling. It had quests that you could solo if you wanted for some xp, but leveling solo was pretty fucking slow and involved a lot of grinding between quests area level jumps. Then it had group leveling which was efficient and fun, with super large dungeons exploration and all the EQ-like features that people keep mentionning in the rose tinted glasses threads. It did both and that was great imo. Some quests are fine, they can just be actual questlines and not collecting bear asses, and give decent(but not great) rewards for your trouble. They act as a medium for lore, you get told stories and legends of the world while doing the quests, explore areas you wouldn't otherwise doing static grouping. At the same time, if you want to really level up, you'll just group and explore/camp dungeons. This was what made Vanguard accessible to me, the fact you weren't forced into grouping ALL the time(besides playing a soloing class like a necro), but it was still the most fun and efficient way of leveling. Basically, you had the choice. Modern mmos are all about questing and grouping is generally worse, but I don't think I want a game where you have to group at all times to do everything, having some content you can solo whenever you log in and your static group isn't on or you only have 15-20mins to play is fine too.
So yeah, I'd rather see vanguard 2 than everquest 3. That is, without the zone hitching, lack of content(emppty dungeons, no loot tables on many mobs etc), CTDs, unoptimized engine and all that shit that ruined Vanguard, obviously.