I went back to EQ a couple of years ago and played for a year. I hadn't played in ages and my mages gear was Velious raid gear....pretty out dated. I leveled up a new bard to dual box with my old school mage and another friends necro. With the help of the mercenaries we were able to do a ton of the group content. I had a lot of fun going through all the "new to me" expansions.