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It's not unreasonable to post arguing against points in the face of potential misinformation. No reason to get your hopes up the game will be out in August if there's no way in hell it'll happen. (I'm *doubtful* it will be out this year, but it still has a chance.)
As far as losing people to EQ2, it isn't going to happen. EQ2 *still* isn't really into beta. Lords of Everquest owners and Legends subscribers are supposed to be the second and third wave of people they let into the beta, which they still have yet to do. Sony is not exactly hot on Blizzard's heels, unless they go through an extremely short beta. While Sony doesn't test things for years like Blizzard, even they can't be so foolish as to think that is good business.
Well niether one of us has a crystal ball that allows us to look into the future so who knows what the population of each game will be. One thing is for sure that WoW MUST be released this year. The MMORPG market is unique in a way that it kinda prohibits the playing of two MMORPGs basically because of the cost. Now, we here are looking forward to WoW but how about the middle man? Not many people know of SOE's track record aside from the people who actually look into it and thats only a few. It won't matter if EQ 2 sucked and/or rushed out, if its on the shelf in a game store while WoW is missing, which would you buy if you knew nothing of either game?
Not only that but Blizzard has released too much info on the game. Holding back the game's release only damages the game, making the features look less appealing to the general public since it would be easy for a company to walk by and insert a certain feature that makes WoW unique into their game. I'm also sure that not releasing the game in Christmas only hurts their chance to achieve their #1 agenda: Get as much money as possible.
Keep in mind that EQ 2 will not be WoW's only worry. Matrix Online, Guild Wars (created by Arena Net, which is a studio composed of former Blizzard empolyees) and Middle Earth Online amoung others are MMOs that will give WoW some trouble when it comes to attracting the consumer. Also there has been a recent movement of companies like Turbine and Mystic trying their best to attract gamers back to their respected MMOs. This is where most people that are informed on the EQ 2 vs WoW fight are weak in when it comes to these kinda arguements. Its not really "EQ 2 vs WoW", its "EQ 2 vs WOW vs everybody else, whether the game is new or old".