2000+

[Nostalgiabait]

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

EQ's death is misremembered. It didn't have to do with any internal expansion release. It died due to competition from the outside.

Another game released on November 23, 2004. That game appealed to the masses better than EQ ever will.

I remember it pretty well, given that I'd already quit EQ well before WoW hit the market. WoW did not kill EQ, EQ's own expansions did it. WoW simply dumped the already-cold corpse into the grave.

Shadows of Luclin release: December 2001
Planes of Power release: August 2002

Both expansions were thoroughly played out by the time of WoW release. EQ was already three expansions past PoP before WoW was released, with Omens of War being released two months prior.

SoL had quality control issues from hell and the design of Vex Thal was a blatant stalling tactic trying to prevent hardcore players from completing everything in a few months. PoP... I was playing a cleric main at the time and you may as well have deleted the class entirely given what PoP offered.