WOW vs. Everquest 1 - advice?

[cfiffpm]

Hi guys,
I used to play Everquest and I loved it, but its been surpassed and now I'm looking for a new MMORPG. I'm considering WOW, but I was hoping that someone who has played EQ could help me compare the two, or recommend a different one.
What I liked about EQ: Apart from the beautiful fantasy world, I specifically liked the community...lots of friendly people, sometimes people would just hang out online and chat while they crafted. Occasionally a good samaritan would take you out and help you gain xp. On the downside, grinding for xp was a huge time drain, and you would spend a lot of time waiting for a group, without which you couldn't do much, but I'm told WOW is much less "grind-intensive."
I've played LOTRO, warhammer, and EQII, and although you can solo a lot more easily in these games, I didn't want it to be a solo game. I hardly ever grouped, and no one really chatted...it was more like picking up a bunch of solo quests and grinding away at them all alone. I liked that you weren't so dependant on the group, but it went too far the other way.
I'm told that WOW is now the gold standard in beautiful graphics, a rich fantasy experience, and exciting gameplay...but I'm also told that the community is a lot more "teen-agey." (not as friendly, people wiping you out for no reason, etc) I'm also a little intimidated that since it's been around for so long there won't be any beginners to learn with. (towards the end of EQ the only low level players you ever saw were high level player's alts)
In short, I want the rich fantasy world of EQ combined with a cool community. One where you can solo if you can't find a group, but you can't solo so often that you don't need a community. How does WOW stack up?

And a few random questions: Is WOW available on both PS3 and PC? Which is better? Is there a server on WOW that is neither overpopulated NOR underpopulated? Any other advice?
Thanks in advance guys!

[mmowiz]

hi,

going to wow for the community would be a mistake. wow is a better game than eq but its community is not what I call friendly. at times it felt like a second job to me. you grind in pve and pvp.

wow is not on the ps3. wow has plenty of servers for everybody.

aion seems to be the hot game right now but dungeons and dragons online may be more what you are looking for.

[buzzsaw]

WoW and Aion are your best bets for playing with alot of people. Aion has a community that is similar to WoW since more are former WoW players. If you want beautiful graphics, go with Aion.

Perfect World is another game you could consider.

[insanespoon]

WoW is definitely a mistake for community. You may find some good people, but most are 13 year old kids who insult you with "your mom" jokes.

Do you like PVP or PVE better? Could help more with that.

[DarkJedi]

I definitely vote for WOW.. everything I want is in that game ^^

[ScareCrow]

WoW is definitely the better in gameplay, community wise it is rather depressing, and the main reason why I left the game.

Aion is, as someone said, the hot game right now, although I've only played it at a friends house, it looks nice.

Have you tried Lineage 2? Big grind, but still very enjoyable.

Also, Karos Online is starting their second closed beta phase in a few days, and would be worth checking out.

Get you Beta Key here - Karos Online Beta Key Giveaway

[Webber]

WoW is EQ 1 on sterioids.