What makes EQ1 such a great game?

[Kergan]

Can't remember who had it linked in their signature, but it was a great article on how EQ was different and why people got sucked in.

It basically boiled down to your relative power compared to mobs. Your strongest relative to NPCs at level 1 and it drops quickly from there. Most classes using legit gear have trouble solo'ing an even con mob starting at like level 10-15. At level 60 a full group is challenged by an even con mob in a lot of cases, and mobs above 60 take a raid force. This design forces players to come together to be efficient and accomplish tasks, building a community. It also starts training players on how to play their class effectively very early on.

Compare this to WoW where you can steamroll shit to max level with garbage quest gear, a horrible build and spamming a couple buttons - all solo. Then all of a sudden you're dumped into a 20 man raid expecting to execute with perfection and do within 10% of your maximum potential damage/healing to pull your weight.