A lot of great points here, I like threads like this.
I think most of you are right, no other game will capture what EQ did when it came out for several reasons. Another of which is that it came out at a time where online games were typically 16 players or the beefier counterstrike games could get up to 32? Here comes EQ with a truly massive amount of people that can interact together. This was before social media and before anything online offered that much direct user to user interaction...
I think the next big "EQ type" experience (if by this we mean revolutionary MMO), would have to include 2 things that are attainable in the very near future: VR and player effected environments (roguelike might be the wrong term?)
When EQ came out it wasnt graphically impressive, but it was about on par with other games of the time. Like I mentioned above it was the amount of people that can be immersed in the world at one time that was the draw. Today this is commonplace so it would need some new element of engagement to draw that massive immersive feeling. The obvious one here would be VR. Integrating this is a no-brainer moving forward but the first to do it well could pave the way for the next wave of MMOs.
The second would be an ever changing world where massive battles or player decisions could change the course of the server's physical landscape. This was the one thing I was excited about with EQ next and although ambitious, if done well could end all for me. I am not talking about a minecraft mmo where people could build dick statues all over the world. a system where to a limited degree destruction to structures could occur and mobs could relocate according to the environments conditions. Named mobs could not be "camped" because once they die... they cannot exist there any longer and would have to spawn at another place/time on that server. I could go on...
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