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

[Ennewi]

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Great commercial lol. I remember when those were on TV all the time.

[Ekco]

in this house we buy computers from a trustworthy cow not a stoner kid.

[Knuckle]

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

I just googled most popular MMOs to see if I could find a new MMO to play until M&M comes out. Was scrolling through this list and was kind of blown away at how many people are playing Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes etc. (Obviously Runescape goes without saying.)

I tried all of these games when they were new, and none of them came close to EverQuest when all of the games were new products on the market. Even in 2026 I have more fun playing on P99 than I do playing WoW most of the time.

I'm just genuinely baffled by how so many older MMOs were able to gain such a huge following, yet the same games struggled to even compete with EQ back in the day?

It also cracks me up when I meet a younger person and they just assume that since I played EverQuest that I must have really loved Runescape since it came out in 2001... like no, man. Runescape was the EverQuest that you bought off of wish.com.

My theory is that the direction EQ went with the millions of different expansions that came out doesn't really appeal to veterans of the game, or younger / newer players. And P99 it just too difficult to install for the average normie. Game itself is possibly too difficult to play if you aren't familiar with it? IDEK.

Everquest just never blew up the way WOW did which means the nostalgia fanbase is inherintly smaller. Runescape I can only surmise, is still popular because it was initially free, and must have garnered a massive fanbase in the early 2000s and road that wave.

We have enough places to gather with a decent population but it would have been cool if EQ would have had a resurgence but it's never been an easy game to get into for new players.

[Knuckle]

I wonder if a lot of EQs suffering is also to the private server barrier to entry. You can spin up any of the top private WOW contenders with a few mindless clicks here and there.

[Knuckle]

Also make no mistake - a ton of EQ players left for WoW. And almost all of us were hyped for WoW.

[Swish]

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

Runescape I can only surmise, is still popular because it was initially free, and must have garnered a massive fanbase in the early 2000s and road that wave.

They had an attempt at trying to push in game ads for free players last year and quickly backtracked after the negative reaction from the whole community.

I'm still surprised live EQ doesn't have NPCs chatting to each other about Daybreak cash specials, such a missed opportunity.

[Reiwa]

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

Also make no mistake - a ton of EQ players left for WoW. And almost all of us were hyped for WoW.

Some naturally and some were induced to it.

That kind of buzz will cost you $7,000 dollars these days.

[BradZax]

Everquest is like Might & Magic and Wow is like Final Fantasy 6.

Like, the themes are just more niche. And the graphics in everquset, let's not pretend they are not dog water.

I love them. You love them. We get it. But for christ sakes can we all just admit we're FREAKS.

[Jimjam]

The graphics may be dogwater but the art, especially before Luclin, was amazing. It really nailed a vibe of little expertly hand painted dnd figurines. For me at least.