And that's something that I've come to terms with, especially seeing how much more culturally relevant things like WoW are. It sucks that the vast majority of MMO orientated gamers these days have never experienced something like EQ or even vanilla WoW for that matter. The industry has been moving in a less than perfect direction for awhile, and outside of smaller niche developers, kickstarters, and indie studios, you just aren't going to see something with anything remotely like a spark of inspiration. And it's not even about companies catering to the masses to hit that magical WoW level of subs marker, most newer games just don't have the depth or meaningful feel to them that sucked me into some of the earlier titles.
To be completely honest, losing Everquest and Norrath as a setting isn't that terrible. The storyline and lore has become so convoluted and bloated at this point that it really is a bit of a steamer. There are some cool bits, but it's clear they've been lost for awhile. Nostalgia to the look, sound, and feel is one of the only solid ties to the IP and any newer game they make is going to be so far removed just from a shiny new tech and visuals stand point that it will be diluted at best, so why not just start fresh. The biggest thing I miss from Everquest anymore is meaningful loot progression that isn't trivialized the second you hit the next level tier and equip the same thing +1. I loved being able to put some time and effort into getting something that would last my character well into their later levels, and it wasn't about best in slot, but the best thing you get with your time and effort that didn't get replaced by the first thing you picked up off a dead rat 5 levels later. If they could capture that and modernize it, and recreate the realistic feeling of having no idea where you were, needing to explore, learn, and have actual layered and varied kinds of skill, they can take Everquest out back and shoot it for all I care.