The thing about Vanguard is that it's beyond tough. It's the MMO for hardcore MMO players. Not the people that play WoW 23 hours a day, but the people who enjoy working to get their achievements and powers. It's a really neat concept, but the problem is that people like to show off in MMO's and Vanguard doesn't let you do that easily and that's why it never did well.
It is sad because it was a pretty cool game but sadly people would rather play WoW and get to max level in a few weeks so they can be like all the cool kids.
Also, sadly I'm thinking about finally actually deleting my FFXI account too after about 3 years. I haven't had time to play in months and I was getting bored when I was playing. I never had a lot of time to put into the game anyways, after 3 years my highest job is 72SMN but I got some high crafts and just about every job leveled close to at least 20.
