^^ I agree. I recently rolled up on FV server, bought 3 mill plat from selling a krono and outfitted my dudes with some velious/kunark/Luclin era raid grear. What a blast. (Later repalced with defiant gear at like lv 50+ which is like raid gear, lol)
IMO EQ is best played with a box team these days. Maybe not on Phinny, but on regular servers with mercs, its fun as hell to run 3 classes and mercs pick up the heals and some of the DPS. Playing one character is slow as hell as above mentioned. 3 characters is perfect. I run SK/Ranger/Shaman right now on FV and im having a blast.
I know some just love playing with other peeps, but i just find it refreshing and kind of mind clearing after working all day(posting here) and at night jumping on, setting up at some camp somewhere and doing a few grinding sessions at my own pace. Or even doing a crawl through some dungeon somewhere until I reach a point I cannot advance anymore.
It never lasts though, I usually do this for a few months, get bored and quit for another year two. I think last time I palyed was back in 2013-14. Got all the way up to 85.