[Duhulk]

A game that lasts for half a decade needs to have esclating encounters that fit into the framework of the game world.

You basically had three options given the background lore EQ came with

1)Eventually fight the Gods
2)Continue to fight things no stronger than what you've been killing for years.
3)Make up new things to fight. This rarely works out well unless you have a REALLY talented writer. The content will just seem too forced into the pre-constructed game world.

I know many people who quit after PoP, cause it just gave such closure (if in general if not specific to the poorly thought out PoP ending) to the EQ play experience from launch till that point. Anything past that was going to feel fairly out of the previous context and "wierd".