most mmorpgs can be fun for a few months
for me to play anything for a long time, there need to be good PVP, and the rewards for PVP has to be permanent.
If the rewards are just items(that we all know will be obsolete in next patch), then ill likely get the first set, and if the pvp is really good maybe the next, but items as rewards wont keep me playing for years.
for me there absolutely need to be passives or skills i can get as rewards for PVP, if i have no character progression beyond items, i wont be playing for long.
i loved DAOC and played it for years, ever since then no game has been able to keep me playing beyond a few months, and its usually the lack of character progression that turns me off eventually.
im not saying there shouldnt be item progression, even fluff(titles and other crap) is fine, it just cant be the only progression. there needs to be something that is still good after the next expansion.
i remember in wow being the first on my server(maybe the world?) to get the alterac valley, 2 handed hammer with a knockdown for my warrior, and it was bloody awesome!!, then after some time there's an expansion raising the level cap or just having better items, and all that time i farmed alterac is suddenly wasted!!! and i literally played 20+ hours a day untill i had the bloody thing so yeah i said byebye and never looked back