The population and spiritual status of the population itself has the only power to shut down the game.. SE is driven by the people who still play and are passionate.. If you strengthen this passion and increase players/subs then they will release more and do more for this game.. If these factors dwindle down on its own they won't see any reason to continue to help its growth as they see more revenue loss..
If players continue to negatively market this game to their friends and public then the factors above will be its Doom..
Games like everquest are around due to positive marketing as well as other reasons as there are still players to make operating costs worth it.. However, once there is a major loss then cuts will happen..
They are even trying to cut down operating costs as much as possible to keep game running on lower populations and lower subs. The people that remain want to see big changes which can't happen so easily without rising subs. The only way to help SE right now is to market for them and bring your friends back in to this game to witness how strong this game is still..
Positive Marketing is what this game needs in order for a brighter stronger future.. It all comes down to the dollar and business marketing..
A few years ago SE shot themselves in the foot upon final completion and release of last Chapter of RoV by making it seem like the game is shutting down in their sad wording and phrasing.. When in actuality, they were just cutting down some development staff.. They did such a horrible job at communicating this strategically that many Veterans left..
Now they are trying hard to market this game by the New Friend Return Campaigns and Social Media Marketing Campaigns to repair the damage they caused..
Help yourself by helping SE market this game
Positively to your friends and have them try it out..