Still hold it's own...
First of all, any casual players or soloist, please abstain. Although possible to level playing alone, the grind in this game in rough.
With that said, Everquest is built on quite the mature community with many players willing to help each other in order to achieve what needs to be achieved.
Although the first 20-30 levels are easy, Everquest can get hard very quickly. As expansions popped over the years so has the difficulty. If one had gear from an older expansion, this person could easily be slaughtered in the new zones.
SOE has done a good job to keep the game updated with revised AA points, bringing up the level, bonus experiences and bazaars to sell your items to other players. Crafting has never been its strong point though.
Quests have never been as defined as they are now with EQ2, WoW and other MMO. You had to figure it out the old way by reading and asking particular questions to the npc (key words). Still, the fact that EQ is so vast is impressive. I stopped playing when my Paladin was lvl 71 with the "Buried Sea" expansion. I play EQ2 now but have fond memories of epic battles with Lady Vox and Nagafen; trains in KC and Mistmoore or the great expasions that were Kunark and Velious (my favorite one in all).
With all the other more modern MMOs out there, the fact that EQ still has a healthy user base is amazing. Perhaps someday I will go back to it and enjoy, once again this game. With all the changes I'm sure it will be like playing something new all over again.
I still highly recommend this game as it still has a lot to offer, especially to a more mature crowd.