I left EQ after Prophets of Ro came out, after playing EQ for 5 years. I spent most of the away years in World of Warcraft.
I have returned as a Silver F2P member. I may switch to a payee if I find EQ to be worth it.
I have kept a 63 Beastlord, a 60 Magician, a 53 Magician, a 49 Warrior and a 32 Paladin.
As I have forgotten most of EQ, i have spent some time on my little Paladin.
I died twice yesterday, fighting blues, heh.
Whats different since I left:
Corpse runs - this seems to be gone. The huge experience loss seems to be gone.
I notice that I can click on objects while my camera view is behind the character. Before, I could not do that.
I had a lot of claims and rewards available. My problem is that there is no description of what they are for, or what they do.
The plan now is to roam around Crescent reach and Blightfire Moors, doing quests to gain money and equipment for the half naked Dwarf Paladin.