1. In Eq2 You can solo to get exp, and you have fairly low downtime. However it is generally boreing (to most players) and the exp is usually not nearly as good as grouping. In Eq1 unless your a solo class you are pretty much going to have to group after about lvl 20 to 25ish. Even if you are a solo class its ususually high downtime and slow. If your a twink on eq1 you can possibly solo better, but if your just starting the game I don't forsee you haveing the best of the best gear wise.
2. In eq2 they are required to get anywhere. You are required to do a quest to reach lvl 10, another at lvl 20, and there is a ton of access quests. The lvl 10 and 20 quests are pretty much soloable, however access quests can sometimes be a pain if you can't et help. In Eq1 you don't really get into any required quests, however alot of the higher level zones (lvl 46+) require flagging or keys to enter. The zones that require these flags and keys are not required if you want exp, they are more raid zones. So basically you are not required to get access to these zones in order to progress in levels.
3. Depends who you talk to. If you go around begging for gear, money, etc I wouldn't expect much. In eq2 it can be harder to get higher levels to help you simply cause they can't due to level restrictions etc.
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Hi