Project 1999 - Ragefire on EQ Live vs P99?

It is a world of difference.

On RF you gain experience exponentially faster. My highest toon on P99 is almost level 20. I would wager with the same amount of time played I would be close to 50 on RF. Someone higher level would have to comment on just how much more the xp slows down at higher levels. I remember from live, but that was a long time ago.

On RF you see a lot of boxers. Six man teams all played by the same person. It is strictly forbidden on this server.

On RF the game is on extreme easy mode. It is kind of like EQ meets WoW. It only took a couple of groups in their high 30's to kill Nagafen a few days after server went live. Here, at level 19 I usually leave even cons alone and stick to dark blues. The game is just much harder.

No corpse runs on live, here they still happen.

There are binders on RF at every major city. You just walk up to an NPC and say bind me. Here you need to get a bind the old fashioned way. If you aren't a caster class, that can be a bit of a pain, but community is really good about helping from my experience.

On RF content is instanced all the way up to raids. You can have 10 instances of LGuk for example. Here that doesn't happen.

I played on RF briefly and the community is generally pretty bad. There are no rules against KSing and no recognized camps. Met nice people for sure, but all and all the server fosters a more modern win at all costs, all about me attitude.

Here the community has been generally excellent. Much more along the lines of what you would have seen years ago on an MMO server.

Here server will not go past Velious. RF will progress through expansions as long as they have the population to keep downing the raid bosses.

As you can tell I am pro P99. Keep in mind I have only been on for a little over a month, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Higher levels could probably give you a clearer view of the server, especially in the longer term.

Now P99 is not all roses. It is hard and it is frustrating. Nothing like losing your body in a really nasty place when you are bound far away. Nothing like dying three times in about a half hour and completely losing your evening's progress. It takes a long time to get most places. If you have never played old school EQ it is a shock. It is nothing like modern MMOs. Even if you played old school EQ a long time ago like I did, it is still a shock. You forget just exactly how difficult this game is. Depending on your attitude this is a either a pro or a con. It is hard, you need groups and stuff takes a long time to do. If like me you are sick of the instant gratification, easy mode, brainless junk that passes for MMOs these days you will love it. If you like easy mode, this game is not for you.

One negative thing about P99 from a newbie's perspective. The server is established and there are a lot of twinks. People are very helpful and will give you free gear and money just out of the blue. I have refused this type of help except for occasional little things, like a pair of woven sleeves. I quit playing my warrior for this reason. I just didn't see anyway I would hold aggro against twinked out dps classes who have their epics at level 10. Sometimes it feels like it trivializes content, almost like you are playing WoW, and sometimes you feel kind of bad that you contribute less in a group.
This is one issue but on whole it isn't a game breaker and I decided to stick it out on P99 as opposed to cancelling my Live account.

Hope this helps.