EQ1 has outgrowned itself, too many levels & zones has made the world empty years ago.  EQ2 has approached that point as well.   I often have the urge to go back to both games and I know getting to the top levels where players are wouldn't be too hard.  But I feel like i've missed so much content, and it is not really viable to be able to find groups to go through the older stuff. 

I think the time is ripe for a EQ3 with this lull of big-named MMO's.  EQ3 would definitely be able to carve itself a niche in the MMO current market. The name Everquest still carries a lot of weight with a lot of players and should pull considerable attention.  There wouldn't need to be a drastic changes like the differences between EQ1 and EQ2.  I personally would prefer the core style of EQ1.  Namely shared open-world areas and dungeons, well defined classes, low number of quests and longer levels.  Keep raiding to a bare minimum, so all the focus would be primarily on dungeon crawling for your character's pieces.

So many eq memories that are dredged up by posts like these every few months. I'll mention some of my favorite zones I leveled in.

First character was Barbarian Shaman on Prexus Server, started in 2000 just at the release of SoL.

Blackburrow: After getting lost in circles for a while in Everfrost, I end up in this pitch dark passage to my first closed area zone. Infested with loads of gnolls, traps and groups of bunched up mobs led by running players yelling Train.

Highkeep Hold: How can 20 people level in a small area consisting of only 3 rooms? This was primarily my first exposure to goblins, grouping mechanics and timing spawns. Here I also met the savior of many, Ran Flamespinner.

Solusek B: Huge dungeon with a cramped entrance littered with bodies. I spent so many levels here, Rune Mithril Bracers being my first source of Platinum. Pool Room, King Room, the dreaded LDCs with their Boiling Blood DoT. There was always someone here during any hour.

Karnors Castle: I was awed by the size and feel of this place. Ghosts, drovlargs and walking hands?!? Don't train to the left of entrance! One of my most memorable experiences was being primary healer for a group. I didn't think we would survive long without a real cleric or crowd control, but i really pushed my focus and the others in the group were on point as well. At the end of the night, I joined my group members Chunko and Kandora in my their guild Enchanted Dragons.

Chardok: What kind of zone has an entrance and exit being different?! I spent most of my 50's here, soloing the mobs along the entrance and exit passages. When we had a group, we would pull from the building, but we would never venture into it, that was where only higher level players went...

Velketor's Labriyth: I slipped off those damn walkways so many times. This was the place to be at the time, where you can make friends with higher level players who were solo-grinding AA's. Getting to be in the kobolds group always meant good exp.

My best experiences were in my early raids in my guild of mostly lvl 50s working to level or on our epic quests. Theres something special about getting 40+ people together to help just one or two persons a quest piece, not even the actual item! I can't imagine that act of selflessness in today's current game communities. You can literally feel the other person's joy even though there was no such thing as voicechat. Although I raided through all of Luclin and PoP content, my favorite moments all involved exploring new zones while leveling and meeting that next person that you will add to your friends list.