I reached a realisation as I was wandering EQ yesterday. And it was not a nice one.
I have been playing the wrong MMO for 3 years.
EQ2 has the scale I've been looking for. Wandering Qeynos made me realise that. No stylized city like WoW's Stormwind. While it is zoned and most of it is shut off for the players, the impression was still that this place actually had the scale to be a big city. Huge plazas, huge buildings, and none of it in the exagerated size I've gotten used to in WoW. In WoW, the characters are basically too small. There, a normal doorway is 4 meters tall. A chair is the size of a desk. Here we finally had things that looked big, but were still in the proper scale, which just gave it all so much more credence.
I was pulled around to see some of the different zones, and was pretty amazed by the sheer diversity in them. While the age of the engine is apparent and the design still isn't as strong as that of WoW, we are talking about a very pretty game here. There are some really wonderful locations here.
The crafting system more or less rocks. While it does not have the complexity that alot of us yearn for, I know, it is still complex enough to actually make it interesting. No simply clicking a button and watching a bar move. I love it so far and will definately focus a good deal on crafting.
The interface IS clunky (yes, I know about custom ones, but I will review those seperately) and the combat system is pretty uninspired from what I've seen so far. Battles are still exciting though, and the sheer multitude of skills available is astounding. The main strength of the UI is its' ability to be pretty much set up like you want it to. Everything can be moved and edited to some degree, which is a big, big plus. Not even WoW had that sort of customizability.
The conclusion of my first impression of this game is not a pleasant one for me personally. I chose the wrong MMO back then. I made great friends in WoW, but apart from them I wish I had jumped on the EQ wagon instead of WoW. I have harbored a lot of prejudice for EQ that has been unfounded. I wish I had been there when the game was in its' "golden age". Because it is clear it isn't now. It looks basically to be the same situation as in WoW: Lots of great RP has happened there. But the game has reached the age where not alot besides the hardcore raiders are left. The world is pretty much empty of characters (on the Runnyeye server at least), apart from at the Brokers (EQ's "auctionhouse") and most likely the highlevel zones I've not been to yet.
We are as far as I can see definately doing the right thing in checking this game out. We can EASILY rp here. There is a HUGE world to be explored, and it is a good one. If we can hook up with some of the remaining RP'ers there occasionally, I should say we are set.