They don't care about Everquest, so the nostalgia that is working well right now will just bore them. Down the road, it'll be a cocktail of more specifics when it comes to mechanics, more of a solidified theme/message about how current MMOs are candyland to challenge them, and momentum.
Solidify some details so direct comparisons can be made, like in WoW everyone gets their own personal Raid instance, whereas in Pantheon the world is open. In Guild Wars 2 nobody really needs you or your class to survive or defeat content, in Pantheon other players need you, and you may be the difference between victory and defeat.
Then enhance that with the theme/message of what that means: that when you win in Pantheon, it matters. It's not just a matter of resetting an instance or respawning and bind-rushing in some FPS. It's not like Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog where you battle it out for the sheep, and then the next day everything is reset to square one and you battle it out again. When you win in Pantheon, it means something. You're made better, and ARE better. You aren't just one of a million players with the exact same quest rewards. Your efforts make you better. Gaming is hugely competitive these days. While in EQ it was a vague, underlying aspect that it was all one big cock-measuring contest at the core, nowdays it's not underlying. People want a game where bragging rights are real and mean more than just awkward taunts on forums because your guild killed something 32 seconds faster or sooner. Want to prove your guild is the shit? Well, now you can, because content will be contested and it's time to put up or shuttup. All this is why I don't like instanced content, especially for this style of project... instancing has almost eliminated the notions of competition and making yourself or guild into a legend.
Then momentum is going to be the huge factor for all of the people who aren't really pining for EQ. If they see this project is getting popular, and see the message is basically that this game is for people with balls, they'll want to get on board. I remember in EQ heyday when I had plenty of friends join because they felt like pussies for seeming to not be able or willing to handle a game like EQ. Sure, they didn't always last for years, but it got them playing. EQ went from an obscure game where it was 'cool, what's that?' to a game that a lot of people I knew were talking about in 'oh yeah, well I'll show you' sort of terms. Momentum got rolling and it wasn't necessarily the cool thing to do (in crowds where such things were discussed) like WoW which became very cool. But it was decidedly uncool if you couldn't survive EQ or were made to seem like it would just be too hard or too much for you.
Of course, this is just the perspective of someone who was playing EQ with a lot of testosterone and competition around Army buddies. But I think that mentality not only still exists, but is even more present in gamers these days. They're more competitive and out to prove something than ever. There's just nothing to really prove in most MMOs anymore. And when there is something to prove, it's the kind of thing were everyone gets the same personalized instances and quest items and coins-for-armor as everyone else. Pantheon can set itself apart as a fantasy MMO where people actually win and lose, which I think will go away because it doesn't ever feel like you're winning in these games anymore. And of course, the key to winning is a game that makes people feel like they're constantly losing just often enough they try to keep proving they're not losers, but winners, which is what EQ did pretty masterfully.
