The WoW killer

I don't think anyone really expects Warhammer to be the WoW killer not even Warhammer. But my lack of being able to get a friend to try out Warhammer with me got me to thinking about games like Ultima Online and Everquest back when WoW was first released.

I don't have a long history before WoW so I personally don't know what it was like. Did players back then say "WoW will kill Everquest!" "Wow is the DAoC killer"? Did the majority of players leave en masse or did they trickle away?

As my friend continues to play WoW which is still popular I wonder what it would be like to keep playing a dying game while all your friends leave to play something new? At what point did you jump ship? Or are you on the other end of the spectrum - an early adopter willing to try anything when it's first released?