I'll put it this way - there are many people who loved EQ but hate EQ2 and
vice versa, although it's pretty save to say that the latter is a much
smaller group. ;)

They were vastly different approaches to the same type of game. Whereas
they are both MMORPG's, EQ1 = a much more open-ended experience while EQ2
strived to maintain class/encounter/game balance by way of controlling much
of what a player might be doing at any given time, be it combat,
tradeskills or questing. It was a far too restrictive approach for my
tastes.

I would say there is still a strong community, but mostly at the higher
levels. Lower level players you may encounter are largely just alts of
higher level players, and therefore equipped with pretty incredible gear
for their level. That's all well and good until you see a level 20 druid
tanking better than your level 20 warrior. Then the disparity between the
haves and the have-nots becomes all too clear.

Honestly, at this point, to a person wanting to give EQ a try I would
suggest purchasing an EQ collection (Platinum, etc.) and checking out
http://www.shardsofdalaya.com. It's a free emulated EQ server with it's own
game world. Think of it as all the EQ character classes (well most of them)
in a drastically different game world. Most of the gameplay mechanics are
pretty much the same, but all of the lore and world design have been
radically changed to make for a much different game. It also has a pretty
healthy population for lower level players.

Yes, EQ (or "EQ live" or "EQ1" or "Original EQ") is a different game,
with different underlying assumptions, different mechanics, different
class progressions, different ideas about how quests should be done and
so on.

You can't take your EQ1 character and move him to EQ2, nor can you make
pretty much the same character over again.

Its sort of like chess and checkers, if checkers had been named "chess
2" in order to try and get chess players to try it out... and the
similarities are along the same lines (both games share an 8x8 set of
alternating red and black squares)

EQ1 is stronger than EQ2 these days, I think; it did lose quite a few
people to EQ2, and even more to WoW, but it had already been hemoraging
steadily and many of the people who defected returned to EQ1.  The real
problem with EQ1 is that while its always lost people, recently its
stopped getting in as many new people as it loses; think of it as a
death rate and a birth rate, if people die but more people are born,
then you have growth, if not, well, your population gradually shrinks.

The real damage EQ2 inflicted on EQ1 was exactly that; new players don't
know that EQ1 and EQ2 are two seperate games with their own positives
and negatives, and that some players are going to prefer one, some the
other; by calling it "EQ2" they created the impression you have, which
is that EQ1 is the old game and EQ2 the new one.  This isn't a case of
Civ 1 being supplanted by Civ 2, and then by Civ 3, with a few diehards
hanging on to Civ 2 because they didn't like the details of the change
or because they are too cheap to buy the new one... but by calling it
EQ2 they made it seem that way.  So, new players tend to try EQ2, if
that turns out not to be the style they like, they move off to WoW or
something instead of trying "outdated" EQ1.

Truth is, while there are certainly some outdated mechanics around in
EQ, its really the most robust MMOG out there today, because its sitting
on top of what, 10 expansions, each the equivalent of half a new games'
worth of new material, plus three or four upgrades to the GUI, plus
quite a few free mini expansions adding new zones or reworking old ones
and so on; there's a lot more content there than any of the "new" MMOG's
have, simply because they have been able to space them out a couple per
year and have them pay for themselves by people buying the expansions in
box over the years... while new players can get them all in
combinations, someone trying to do the same work now in a single release
wouldn't have any hope of getting the same $500 or so per copy of the game.

Anything else you buy (including EQ2) is going to have to be smaller,
and yet more than half the players out there are former EQ players, so
your new game is going to have a bunch of people seeing it as tiny by
comparison.  Thats not to say they can't be better anyway... but thats
because better is relative, the real question is which game style works
better for you, there is no absolute "better" to it.

Lance