It's a different time and much more niche crowd. Yet, I'm not sure players are all that different.
I started EQ late, while POP was current and before LOY launched. I played for a couple of months on Tunare. I quickly became irritated with the idea that it was far more rewarding character progression to farm plat, than it was to do the interesting content myself. Other social factors regarding progression on an old mudflated server also left me disenchanted.
A new server opened up and my wife and I started up there. We were still very much newbs with regard to Everquest, computers and modern gaming in general. However, I leveled near the front of the pack on my warrior. I dropped and quested almost all of my own gear. First solo, then duo, followed by some friendly goupage and finally raiding. It was a lot of fun and we got a little carried away
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In that time I was very much in favor of no drop gear and instancing as necessary evils.
I would say it's definitely possible for players to have a very different experience on a fresh server.
Also, new social groups form and old ones reform. Lots of guilds jumped on the server with various intentions. Most did not last, some became something new. Today, some of those groups continue to play in various forms and in various MMO's. Some are well known. The guild that I ended up with was formed by players who could not break into Plane of Time on their old server, due to key mobs being contested and kept down. We entered and cleared Plane of Time at level 65 on the new server. We did this with regularly scheduled raids and a rather casual style. That kind of raiding may not bring as much success on a fresh P1999 server, but the social groups who will have fun and the forms they take are not necessarily defined by the existing server.
I have no idea if my wife and I would play on a fresh server. The idea is greatly appealing, but I fear my tendency to over indulge. Lots of players would likely have a great deal of fun though and nothing is predetermined in that regard. We're currently enjoying a new play style for us. We have lots of alts, brief visits to the EC Tunnel resulting in a little twinking here and there, duoing different class combinations and exploring old content we never got to know well. It's been fun so far
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