One thing for sure, every game will have its fans and its knockers, and all for very personal reasons.
After playing EQ1 for 4 years, I'm loving EQ2. And why? Well, as a warrior in EQ1, I felt pretty useless because I was so dependent on others for being able to play. Spending hours lfg was just no fun.
Now, in EQ2, I can solo, group, craft, collect resources and have a ton of quests running.
Of course, I'm only level 20 (Guardian) so will be interesting to see if the level of playability continues. But I'm feeling so far that this is a game I'll be playing for several years.
EQ1 has changed enormously over the years with many of the basic things being completely turned around, and I'll bet that happens with EQ2 as well. For example, I'd be willing to put money on there being more characters available per account in the future. (But for online selling, well that's how it was in EQ1, so who knows?)
I can say that WoW would definately not be my cup of tea. Sounds just too easy to level and I've read too many comments about the maturity of the general population. Also I just don't like the look of the graphics.
EQ2 feels challenging in a similar way to EQ1, that's what keeps me hooked. But there's one more thing, I have a great guild around me that came over from EQ1, and that is everything