Forgive me, this is long hehehehe
I don't play solo games, so I couldn't give you a comparasin, but EQ is geared for every play style, though power gamers get the best gear (go figure). I used to play 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, now I am down to 12 hours a week, and it still is very entertaining. There are always people on, so when and if you want to group, there are people to group with. For the first couple of levels you really should not group, you need to get your basic skills up and when you are brand new, you need to learn things like the chat commands and things like that.
As I said about, every server has people from just about every time zone, though of course most players are in the pacific to east coast time zones, so at night (1AM to about 8AM) there are, of course a lot less.
The original EQ and kunark is what you'll start out with, even if you have velious, you can't go there till about level 25.....but those 2 parts are wonderful to start out with. As for luclin, I will address both your system requirement question here....Do not get luclin unless you upgrade. While the ability to play the VahShir race and Beastlord class are great, you won't be able to visit the moon, so the space that expansion takes up on your computer would be a waste, also you couldn't use the retexured zones. I went and had my brother, the comuter whiz, build me a computer, and I now have a Pentium3 1gig, 512 ram, geforce2 32 meg, 40 gig hard drive and a built in VIA sound card. I have no lag everywhere but the moon (luclin) and that goes away if I turn off the music (but I can still play sound) . I am also running Windows XP Pro, and am using a 56k modem, though (and this is cool) I still have no lag with the connection, I live in the middle of nowhere, d/l at 1kb/sec but the game isn't affected by it 
My advice to start out, what I tell everyone, is start a halfling warrior, you will start out in Misty thicket, one of the easiest newbie zones, and there you can get the hang of the user interface, the combat system and the chat system. From there, you can try other class/race combos, casters and such, my suggestion is try a shaman or druid, very easy to start out. Remember that intellegence based casters (magicians, wizards, enchanters and necromancers) have no real combat skills and must rely on their pets and spells, so are harder for newbies.
Another great thing about EQ is the guild system. You can start your own guild, if you have enough followers, or join one of MANY player made guilds, in which you can find one to suit you and your play style. There are Roleplay guilds, 'uber' (super) guild of all level 60 chars, european guilds, ect, ect ,ect.
All this said, I warn you - make time to play or you will go psychotic....I think everyone who gets into EQ and actually likes it (there are a few freaks that don't like EQ) starts dreaming in EQ, saying things like LOL and TRAIN TO ZONE (yeah I have, I pissed off some bees), and wondering if you kill your neighbors, what loot they will drop (or your cat.....will i get a ruined pelt or high quality one?) 
If you make a char on Drinal Server, look me up sometime, my chars are Synthea, Paoti (yeah I'm waiting for the GMs to make me change my name), Kaandy (same there haha) and Melianthe.
Ok...I think I am done, my fingers hurt hahaa
Synthea Firestorm / 43 Druidess / Sirens of the Storm guild / Drinal server
>1. Being used to playing solo games I could pretty much play at my>own pace. How does EQ work? I know you join other online players but >seeing as I am a casual gamer i only spend 10-15 hours a week gaming >is this enough for EQ ? I am assuming that play occurs with whoever >is online at the time and am I not tied into a specific group/times. > >2. Is it easy to find other adventurers to join with? > >3. I see different EQ's (Original, Ruins of Kharnak, etc) does it >matter which one I start with or are the later addons geared for >higher level characters. > >4 Finally system requirements. I have seen the system requirements >but what is recommended ?. I have a P3 866, 128sdram, 32mb ddr nvidia >geforce2 gts card, 56k modem is that suffiecient or should I wait >till I upgrade. > >Thanks for any feedback >
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