Honest perspective:
Project 1999 is hard. It's slow moving and tedious at times (less so if you roll on the Red PvP server due to exp bonus). There are class and race experience penalties and travel requires Spirit of Wolf, ports from druids/wizards or good old fashion run and boat exercise. There's corpse runs and experience loss from deaths.
Sounds kinda meh, right? Wrong. THIS is the way EQ was meant to be played in my opinion. This is why the game became popular. It wasn't easy. It didn't cater to the every day player... Even as a casual I'm LOVING this. I'm in no rush (although I do like to advance, I'm not running around going, "OMG! NEED TO RAID! NEED TO RAID!". Grouping is fantastic and the way the game was meant to be played. There's a ton of places to level.
Live is a different experience. Put it this way, I got a character in live to level 10 in about 2 hours or so. It's taken me a hell of a lot longer than that on P99. Live is easy mode. There are mercs, overpowered gear, there's hand holding quests, and you get new spells every single level. It's for all intents and purposes a totally different game.
If you want a challenge, play on P99. If you want to group a lot at all levels and be social, play P99. If you want to solo/molo and level quickly and just get to the end game quickly, play live.
But they really are two different games.
OR... Play one account here and one account on live at the same time
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