I've never played World of Warcraft

[azeth]

Anyone hyped up on enough coffee this morning to draw parallels between vanilla WoW and the early expansions so I can better understand the draw that the game had?

Was itemization done perfectly where you felt compelled to chase upgrades?

What was the social interaction like when trying to put together pick up groups?

Identify some of the most sought-after pieces of equipment that would leave a noobs mouth agape when they saw somebody with it equipped. What were the hurdles you had to jump through to get those pieces of gear? How difficult were the raids, the group content, etc..

I've seen a few videos from various streamers and YouTubers where it seems like loot was distributed by the raid leader based on only their discretion. Is that accurate, and what about that process made it fair for people?

Was PVP toxic? Were there meta classes and skill configurations that you felt obligated to use to avoid being steamrolled?

Ultimately just looking for somebody to contextualize this experience with the classic EverQuest experience.