So, now that the Reality Distortion Field is weakening, it's time to activate the Someone Else's Problem field?

Well, to be fair, he has his degrees in astronomy and physics, and has worked for NASA.

Seriously, read some of the information about Horizons from the pre-blackout era if you can find it. You'll salivate, and wonder what the fuck happened, and why nobody is doing it today.

Actually, If you followed Vanguard throught it's development you'd have at least part of the answer to your question. So much of what was being pitched sounded so much like early Horizons. Right down to each races putting down their diferences to fight an encroaching army of undead, and regrouping in a rebuilt capital of New Tazoon, err New Targanor. The probelm is, pre-blackout Horizons was incredibly huge in scope. There is no way without major backing they could have got it out. Vanguard had the backing and one of the biggest names in the industry behind it, but they ran out of money twice: once when Microsoft let them go, and once again last month when SoE pulled the plug on Beta funding. That's the problem with creating huge and innovative MMO's they require so much development time and resources. Heck, the only truly polished MMO at launch was WoW and that's because it is a relatively small world and a simple rehash of what had gone before. Even then it still spent ages in development.