Players are spread out all over the game world so finding people to group with shouldn't be a major problem. Yes you will be missing out on a lot of new content and the new L20+ AA progression. With that said, you should upgrade your account.
The retail packaging of Echoes of Faydwer includes the original EQ2 and all the previous expansions but the digital downloaded EoF does not include any past expansions.
Edited, Jan 26th 2007 2:30pm by Trappin