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

[Wakanda]

All I read is about how EverQuest sucks, but nothing about why other MMOs grew in popularity even when they couldn't compete with EQ in it's prime time.

It would be similar if WoW fell off hard, and 20 years from now everyone was playing Rift, WildStar or SWToR and had no clue what WoW was.

That's how it feels.

And I'm not hating on y'all either. Why should people who never played Runescape or UO or other old school MMOs that are way more popular than EQ be able to explain why. They obviously have no clue either. But it is interesting to ponder about.