I haven't read the entire thread. I quit Everquest well before Warcraft launched. As such I don't consider these games direct competitors. They occupied different eras of my own gaming history.
Warcraft maintained its dominance largely due to two factors. First, it achieved a sort of self-sustaining critical mass of players. It drew in a lot of folks who aren't really gamers at all and who don't really give other games any consideration. Second, even more importantly, Warcraft has been blessed with consistently weak competition. Warcraft exists as a tolerably well-made game in a genre full of rubbish.
For my part, I enjoyed Warcraft during 2004 and in to 2005, before Blizzard ruined the level 60 instances by making them too easy, then again during the first expansion. I haven't enjoyed it since then and haven't subscribed since early 2009.
Project1999 is my lifeboat. Without this emulatorI'd be out of the MMOG hobby entirely.
Danth
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