Yes and no. Hardcore, like you said, does not imply the negativeness that is usually used when describing an MMO. No grinding but you still can't take a character from 1-80 (is it capped at 80 still? been a while) in a few sittings like WoW. But there is still a clear progression, and no point where you're frustrated because you have to grind for something.
EQ2 admittedly started off very badly, but within 9 months they had turned the game around completely and never looked back. I've played a lot of MMOs (EQ, beta Vanguard, EQ2, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, etc), and I can easily say EQ2 was the best of them all.
CoH a distant second.