No? Still talking about WoW? Still comparing this to WoW?
Still thinking WoW invented MMORPG?

...I don't think EverQuest invented the genre either, it was around before that. Besides, being first or nearly first, or even the first to use the basic formula, doesn't make something the best or the most memorable. People compare movies to Citizen Kane or Star Wars, not some guy sneezing or even Birth of a Nation or Intolerance.

I know but everyone on this forum is giving me brain cancer. @_@

Haha, nice.

Yea, if you're going for "first", wasn't Ultima Online "first"?

First to use the term MMORPG yes, but there were plenty of MMOs before that like Meridian and Neverwinter, as well as the earier MUDS and online rogue-likes.

But yeah, it doesn't matter what you compare it to. WoW is the most well-know of modern MMOs, regardless of your opinion of it (I personally can't stand the game) so it gets the WoW-clone label. WoW, at the time, was a departure from the SOE-dominated MMO space (EQ and SWG) and led to a whole new level of user-friendly theme-park adventure MMOs. At the time it was pretty unique. Now, due to its success with that, everyone and their left nut's mother is trying to copy them, aside from a few shining gems that never get the recognition they deserve.

I hope TESO is more like Asheron's Call.

Off the top of my head:

Ultima Online was first

Everquest was second, and created the 3d 1st person or over-the-shoulder camera MMO, as well as an endgame based on raiding, that just about all subsequent MMOs used.

After a bunch of "Everquest + feature" games, WoW, or "Everquest + casual player support and quest-based progression" came out, and now the standard is "WoW + feature", which is why so many people use it as a point of comparison when discussing new MMOs.

Nobody compares games to WoW because it was first. They compare games to WoW because it was(and is) the most successful. EQ is no longer relevant.