Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[Grizzlebeard]

By way of comparison, FFXI had 350,000 in 2010 and XIV: ARR currently has more subscriptions than EQ ever had.

Try and remember that EQ existed in an MMO vacuum. Hardly anyone in the world knew what an MMORPG was let alone played one. The potential subscription base for MMOs back then was significantly smaller than now and Sony Online Entertainment (SoE) were never amazing at promotion, or Verant for that matter. By that standard, FFXIV's subscription level is laughable compared to that of WoW's. When EQ: Next launches we'll see a more realistic indication of what EQ subscription numbers would have been in the current marketplace.

SE sure as hell doesn't need to take any advice from Everquest.

Were it not for EQ there would have been no WoW, no FFXI, and ultimately no FFXIV. As for taking advice, FFXI was so heavily influenced by EQ it's hilarious to feel S-E have nothing to learn from SoE.