If you go back to old EQ, consider trying a class that can solo but that is also useful to high-level parties and guilds. Mage is a great example - they are considered good dps now that the pets are largely under control, and everyone wants CoH.
Or try a new server, a lot of the old servers are kinda dead now except at the high end. The problem of course is - what if you invest in leveling a char way way up... and the server dies cuz too many people quit for WoW or Eq2?
Disclaimer = lots of people love EQ2 - seek out their posts too before making final decision. I am about to criticize the game, but I'm still struggling to find my niche in it - there are still parts of it I like a lot - but other parts... well:
Soloing in EQ2 is lame, imo. Doable but lame. Summoners are probably the best class because in the recent big patch their pets were seriously amped up (take the pet upgrade at lvl 10 and 20, the Specialized Training thing - if you don't, yer hosed). Summoners can now take on quite powerful mobs and can DoT and even nuke a tad while healing their pet- and pet generally keeps agro.
Priests aren't bad at soloing, but to kill hard stuff u have to grind - for my fury I have to save power for self-regro and ds and only kill target w/ DoT and melee (and the ds) - yawn - takes ages.
Other classes are okay at soloing, cept Conjurer/Wiz/Warlock - well, maybe I still need to figure out how to solo w/ my conj. He can only take on hard stuff by root and dot... and if root breaks... wahooo time to sprint (in most cases). Chanters may have the same prob, except they have a better stun and a mez they can throw in if root breaks.
If yer background is old EQ and if you are used to old EQ's wild variety of spells and tactics - you might not like EQ2. There is no variety of tactics at all. Druids in old EQ can root, snare, charm animal, panic animal, DoT, DD, area DD, etc. - which leads to all sorts of possible tactics - root bomb, root dot, snare and nuke while running, fear kiting animals, charm kiting w/ animals, quadding ... in EQ2, you have two choices: nuke while meleeing and HOing, or grind - heal (regro) self while DoTing and meleeing and keeping ds up. That's it. And for me (and others) it gets tiresome and monotonous fast.