Everyone loved my warrior in EQ. My mage however had the distinction before Luclin was launched of being KOS in every city in the game with the exception of North Freeport. (Hey, you had to be able to bank somewhere
Yup, even his high elf hometown wouldn't let him in the gates. Well, not without a fight, anyway
But I agree... the EQ faction system did work pretty well for representing cultural biases and allowing a player's actions to modify those cultural perceptions. In fact, it was one of the things that I loved about the game. I hope there is something similar in Vanguard.