For all the groundwork EQ ever did, WoW did bring with it an atmosphere that I loved...
a) The whole horde vs alliance thing was catchy (until they pretty much broke the lore with blood elf paladins and weird looking draenei who didn't fit the shaman class at all).
b) The PvP was a good game of chess sometimes (until it turned into gang-rape/steamroll 3v1 gear dominated culture).
The one thing for me though was it really did embody "EZ mode", and many young players who wouldn't have lasted with a game like EQ hung on with WoW because it was easy to hit the top level. With such a young player base (and my advancing years lol) that was the main turn off, "barrens chat" means one thing and one thing only...retards.
Coming back to EQ and P99 specifically has been a breath of fresh air for the most part, although some here did sadly graduate from the school of WoW etiquette and forum trolling. Plenty of evidence in RnF and P99 Red forums. If I can ignore the trolls, which for the most part I do, I enjoy the server here
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That's my thoughts at least. WoW wasn't a bad thing to begin with, but successive expansions killed it for me with features that I didn't find appealing (daily jousting quests, anyone?)