All the rest suck, IMO

Anarchy Online
Dark Age of Camelot
Final Fantasy XI (might be good)
Star Wars Galaxies
Planetside

If you would like to try a sci-fi based game, Anarchy Online is worth
a look (dont EVEN waste your time with Star wars Galaxies - and this
is coming from a hard core Star Wars fanatic).

AO is very similar to EQ in many ways. Its level based just like EQ.
Many of the concepts you will be familiar with already. Its had
instancing since it launched a few years ago (and yes - you can solo
in your own instance), altho the mission dungeons I saw were a bit
cookie cutter - but still nice. Its got a good amount of content, you
can wander the lands and actually discover something (unlike SWG where
you can wander for hours and come up empty). Its learning curve is a
little steep, but I personally enjoy a challenge. Seems so many
MMORPGS these days are so dumbed down, chock full of bugs and chock
empty of content.

The graphics are decent, the landscapes IMO are better than most of
EQ's but the character models are a little goofy looking at times. Yes
there is PVP, and if you do not like PVP, you can avoid it for the
most part. I never had a problem with it - not being a PVP guy. In
fact, I never was attacked by another player. The world is large
enough that usually when you are out in the wild - you wont see other
players except in town. And you start off with your own free apartment
if you like the concept of player housing.

They have a free 7 day trail too - you can check it out at
http://www.anarchyonline.com/

If you are looking for something more fantasy based, then probably
your best non EQ bet would be Dark Age of Camelot. I havent played it
for quite a while, but its a solid alternative.

I havent tried FFXI so I cant comment on that game. I beta tested
Horizons, and didnt care for it. Another game thats really buggy and
devoid of interesting content (a fantasy game with NO dungeons? WTF?),
but some people seem to like it - its very tradeskill based. The only
way to obtain decent gear is to make it or buy it from another player,
mobs dont drop anything of real usable value, just tradeskill
components.

Other games Ive tried are Ultima Online, which was ground breaking for
its day, but is getting quite old. I cant really comment on it since I
havent played since before EQ came out - so Im sure any comments I
make wouldnt be valid since its changed so much in the past 4-5 years.
Earth and Beyond (beyawned) was entertaining for a short time, but
grows stale quickly. I DID like the story in the game and the series
of story driven quests.

Well thats my 2 or 3 cents.