User blog comment:Deyvid Petteys/ESO is a WOW clone?/@comment-5206984-20120618031040/@comment-4113369-20120619071248

Like it or not, WOW is currently the codifier for (& most well-known example of) the MMO genre. It makes sense for it to be the point of comparison, rather than Everquest. Sorta like how open-world Action-RPGs are often compared to Bethesda's latest release(s), despite them hardly inventing the genre. They're "just" the codifier; the first thing that comes to mind when the genre is discussed. The "most triumphant example", if you will.