It looks like a lot of the paid versions are now free.

All of the Classes and Races, anyway.
SOE had a press release that coincided with Blizzard's battleground follow fiasco.

It looks like you can box up to six characters in a group.
But you can go with fewer than that number, and have mercenaries make up the difference.
Checking various EQ1 sites, three boxing (with three mercenaries) seems to be quite common.