Flaws of the combat system

[LioJen]

There's a reason that none of those old MMOs like EverQuest or Asheron's Call or FFXI had anywhere near the number of subscribers as WoW or FFXIV.

That might also have a lot to do with the lack of reliable internet connection for most of the world in the early 2000s. Broadband was still new and novel (and expensive), and PC building was still a niche geek pastime so your average Hewlett-Packard prebuilt couldn't handle anything more intense than Solitaire. There are simply much more people into gaming now, with high speed internet and computers/consoles strong enough to run an MMO.