Heya,
1. EQ2 has slightly smaller population than FFXI. Though we are spread out over less servers. Always people questing and willing to help others quest. Though it helps to find a guild that will help its own members rather than having to rely on pick up groups to get them done. The community in EQ2 is tops, you have the occassional **** but all in all very mature group of people.
2. The newest release of the game 'Echoes of Faydwer' contains the original game and all the expansions if you buy it retail
(So you get EQ2 + Desert of Flames + Kingdom of Sky + Echoes of Faydwer). Just a warning, the digital download version only contains the last expansion
(You just get EoF thats all). So if you can pick up EoF retail for 40 bucks you pretty much get everything you need to play. Great deal really.
Desert of Flames is the first expansion and is only necessary lvl 45+.
Kingdom of Sky focuses on lvl 55+ however starting at lvl 20 you get access to achievement trees so it is worth getting early on for character progression.
Echoes of Faydwer pretty much added new zones from lvl 1-70 so it is great to have right off the bat. As well as the new race the fae. Also another achievement tree which you can start leveling at lvl 10.
There are 3 adventure packs which are like mini expansion, available for digital download for 7 bucks a pop. However they are in no way necessary, in fact most people dont even touch them. Except the last one, Fallen Dynasty but only because it is lvl 55+ and has some raid content in it.
Edited, Jan 11th 2007 4:18am by bodhisattva