Oh yeah, Galaxies was good.
And WoW indirectly killed it. When the devs decided to completely change Galaxies to compete with WoW's new model, the fanbase abandoned ship in droves. Which sucks really, it should have continued being its own thing.
I'm totally in favour of different styles of MMO. Its why I like Eve as a concept (even if I refuse to play it due to fear of losing what little social life I have left), and have a healthy amount of respect for Guild Wars. I just can't stand copycat games that can't even be their own thing.