Alt viability concerns

And inevitably zero

No. I'm a returning player who has been away for some time so it will take me awhile and that's okay.
They have so many aspects to the game now. I have to take my time and wrap my brain around it all.
Your first statement on the original post caught my eye because that's exactly what I thought when I returned and seen for the first time all that they have added I knew right there that my toons would need to be few (that I'm currently concentrating on).
The way I'm seeing it so far is it's doable but it takes time.

P.S. a long time.

May I ask why anyone starting new or returning for that matter, would think they should be able to hit the ground running?

Reality check?

May I ask, if when you are starting or returning to a game, you are informed that you'll have to play solidly for a whole year before you can expect to be able to join in current content with actual other players, what exactly motivates you to stick around and not just go play something where you can actually join in?

EQ2 isn't the holy grail of mmorpg's, it's not even very good any more. I'd go as far as to say it doesn't even meet the mark to be called average quality these days. It's not a good game, so it should at least be simple and accessible. Right now it's inaccessible, massively overcomplicated and not even very good when you finally manage to get over the first two hurdles.

This game needs players, and it needs to keep players. Gatekeeping will just kill the game.

Sure. Mine came when I had to stop playing because of real life.

What motivates me is what motivated me from day one almost 20 years ago now.

EQ2 and my love for it.

This is the most reasonable and accurate criticism. There is a hidden ratio in the MMORPG world that is described here almost perfectly. As a game ages and loses players, accessibility must go up proportionately or its a death sentence. Everquest 1 is working on revamping the UI because they know its not accessible to newer players, and they added mercenaries that are genuinely useful which allows solo players of any class to get caught up decently fast unlike the garbage mercs from EQII that are ultra weak at low level and an actual chore at high level (the training), and they are also raising the level that the level boost brings you to because they know that right now it isn't reasonable to expect people to go from 80-110ish alone. They are putting a ton of effort into making the game more appealing and accessible to newer and returning players but for some reason everquest 2 is going in the exact opposite direction.

Thanks for this info. I have been considering going back to EQ1 and tried once but it was daunting trying to even start a new toon and get anywhere. It might even be possible to pick up where I left off on the two I have there that I enjoyed playing.

Great news for EQ1. I like where they are going with that.

I think its sometime this year that the character boost increase is happening

got to agree. To many grinds and non-core gameplay grinds to help gameplay grinds etc - just too much to catch up even from just a few expansions back of a break. New players maybe theoretically be able to catch up but that must be insanely rare.

The EQ2 team have made it public that their primary objective is to retain players, not gain new ones.
The systems/grinds currently in place are intended to conceal the lack of depth in expansions.
Hoping for anything meaningful to change with EQ2 is futile.
It's going to get worse over time, not better.

Sad because that is going to end up being an ineffectual tactic. Constantly adding to the "daily grind" is only killing my interest in playing this game since I am an alt'aholic. I prefer to play games for story content while longing for stories that are altered depending on what alts I am playing.

My personal view is that it's already proving ineffectual. I also recognize that doing something meaningful to steer EQ2 in a positive direction will require significant financial investment by the controlling company/organization. That means it is not something the current Dev team has control over.

Given that 3 different controlling companies, being SOE, DBG & EG7, have all deemed EQ2 unworthy of any real investment (the 64-bit server/client do not qualify), changing the direction of EQ2 seems unlikely. It's also why the most rational approach to EQ2 is to evaluate it on what it is, here and now, rather than what was, or could be. Individual results will vary, and all power to them.

They could always get sold off to another company who seems an opportunity to make things more like what the users want. Some people might actually see that as a wise investment. Wouldn't want those people to think we are cool with the current system. So I say raise hell.

Yes! I have played GW2 and its one of the things I like better about it. In EQ2 the events, holidays, housing, and community (though that's slipping away) was what brought me back here. NO ONE does housing and holidays better than EQ2, but I sure miss some of the simpler parts with GW2 and hopping around alts without as much stress.

I miss those days. Back then, I hopped between playing my warden, my warlock, and my dirge the most. I even used both my warden and dirge for raiding. When they needed a mystic, I was able to get that toon up to par somewhat quickly, and get her in there to help as needed. I could maintain all those, and my 9 crafters, and my love of housing, and enjoy the inherent versatility of this game. One of the things that caused me to leave back in 2014 or so, was it was starting to get complicated with adorns, and getting geared up. Among other things like real life and such. But when I came back there was so many GREAT things added 6 years later I was excited to try it all out.

Near 3 years back and the wind is starting to go out of my sails with the work 1 toon takes. I used to enjoy switching between my healer and dirge depending on what a group needed. It was fun to enjoy different classes. Now I feel like we have to be married to one and get stuck in the same "flavor" of play on endless loop because we can't time manage more than one at a time enough to be good at it, and before 6 months rolls around (for xpacs and gu's) and we have to start the grind all over again {{sigh of exhaustion.}} Throw in the inventory management and overuse of heirloom and no trade and lore, and I start to clean bags and feel like pulling my hair out, and just taking another long break. =( I don't want that for anyone.

It is a great game with many incredible artists behind it. I just can't help but to feel the owners of this company are not investing in the game enough for devs to make this game all it can be, without sticking in artificial fillers to elongate playtime. It is my greatest wish for this game, that the owners would stop tying devs hands, and let them do what they do best, and do it right. As it is right now, the content tells me they are stretched thin and can't truly perfect their craft the way they would like to. My heart is with these creators and all that they have invested in this game/their job, even if I am also frustrated by the state of some things.