Before WoW, it was pretty much the MMO at the time.
I remember the friendliness in EQ when I started playing, high level characters would sometimes randomly show up to buff you or give you stuff.
I remember learning what aggro meant for the first time, learning how to play in a group. You had to have a puller, a tank, some form of cc, heals and dps. And your role mattered. A lot. Back in those early days before everything was so streamlined, it took a long time to find people to group with, so you made sure to add people to your friends or join a guild. Once you did though, everyone worked together and helped each other.
If a tank had trouble holding aggro, the group didnāt flame him and tell him to uninstall the game, they tried to legitimately help him.
You often waited a long time, sometimes hours, for a ācampā spot to open up so your group could farm it for better exp and loot than other areas. You had to communicate with the other group camping the spot, to make sure you were next in line.
I remember learning what a train was. You made sure you werenāt anywhere near the zone line when they called that out in OOC or else get trampled.
I remember if you died somewhere deep in a group of mobs, and there was no way getting your corpse back (which had all your stuff), you had to hire and work with a necro, because they were able to summon your corpse from a long distance.
I remember there would always been one mage casting ācrackā in the city which was a buff that casters loved, it made your mana regen so much faster, people would gather around him and tip him money for giving them crack. There would only be one in the city at a time, as a polite gesture so as not to compete for coin. When that mage was done, he would say as such, and the next mage in line would take his place.
There was definitely a rich sense of community in that game, and it was the only experience I have ever had like that where people not only interact with each other, but they rely on each other, and they treated each other with respect. Sure you had your trolls from time to time, but they were the exception to the rule.
I commend Brad and his team at Visionary Realms for trying to bring that experience back with their title Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. Sad that he will never get to see the final product. I really hope that they can continue on to capture the essence of what made EverQuest so great back in the day as a way to pay respects to Brad.