So...

[Starwind]

I'm looking to get into EverQuest, as I never got to play the original game other than a very brief stint after it went F2P.

I originally played EverQuest Online Adventures (and Frontiers) on the Playstation 2, and played EQ2 for a while near launch before switching to WoW because EQ2 melted my computer at the time. After WoW I just kind of bounced between MMO's for a while, playing nearly everything that came out: WAR, Rift, Age of Conan, LotRO, Tera, SWTOR, FFXIV, etc... After EQOA none of them but WoW really stuck for very long, and that only lasted until the first expansion drove me off.

So I'd been playing other games, and got into Planetside 2 right after its release (I was about 5 months late due to being in Afghanistan at the time). I've been with that for just over a year now, and SOE changed all their memberships to all access. Because of that I've hopped back into EQ2 and am enjoying it thus far, though the linearity of it and the blind "follow the glow on the map" hand-held questing is bothering me at least a bit. Though getting back into the EQ universe has got me interested in it again, with the all access membership being a boon as well.

Which brings me to EQ1. I'm wanting to give it a more serious shot this time around, as I was kind of occupied with other games during my brief F2P stint. From what I've heard, my old favorite EQOA is far closer to EQ1 than it is to EQ2, with the open world, zero hand holding for quests, slower less mobile combat and etc.

So I guess that means my question is: if I'm going to play EQ1 for the first time. . . Would I be better off playing the "original" with Project '99, or playing the "live" version of the game?