Why didn't EverQuest remain as popular as other old MMO's?

[Zuranthium]

The premise of this thread doesn't make sense. EQ has remained more popular than most other games of its era and is in the top 70 current MMO's on that link, without even accounting for all the EMU servers, which would put it into the top 50 at least.

That said, there are definitely huge roadblocks to EQ being super popular, in the forms it has existed to date. The live version of the game is garbage and the classic version of the game has many underdeveloped aspects that weren't built upon as they should have been.

Originally Posted by Evia [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Making EQ more "accessable" is what got us modern eq, or the live servers. People suggesting casual friendly changes to EQ dont seem to realize that it destroys the magic of EQ.

Half of what makes EQ so great is the warts, the timesinks, the grind, the CR's, the struggle. The harshness of the world also makes "victory" so much sweeter.

Timesinks/grind and a harsh play environment are very different things.

The tedious gameplay of needing to endlessly camp for items, which generally involves sitting in one spot while nothing interesting happens at all, just killing a braindead NPC or two when the timers come up, over and over and over, is not a good thing in Everquest. Similarly, that being the best way to gain levels in the game is also bad.

Making certain things more accessible is also separate from having an exciting, challenging game world. The new player experience of the game could definitely be improved, as could the quests, tradeskills, itemization in the game, etc.