Many parts of EQ's code and even design are outdated and didn't plan for expansion. I don't remember all the specifics any more, but searching for developer comments about code, lack of database structure, etc. should give alot of it. Personally, I thought the EQ2 design was very well thought out and fixed many of the inherent problems of EQ1. The main problem with EQ2 is the difficulty level was too low (too easy). EQ2 graphics were a huge improvement over EQ1's, but yes the character models are a bit cartoonish. EQ3 or EQ Next as it's currently being termed has been in development for a while, but game development is around a two year undertaking, and it was just announced around a year ago, give or take, so still a long ways off from being released.
Not sure about Rift, but EQ2 can definitely play in First Person view, it's better when running around to be zoomed out as EQ2 has alot better camera viewpoint control and can even move your camera view while running without changing the direction the toon is running, and is why so many go that way. I personally prefer first person for fighting and other close area things, but when you need a wider view, it is very nice to have such control over it.
Alot of EQ1's problem can't reasonably be fixed due to the legacy of the code. There also is no record of the older versions of the code to look at either, and is why there are no true original versions of the game officially.
This thread talks a bit about EQ2 features that were implemented that most people complain about in EQ1.
About 3rd party programs or bots or hacks, they're pretty common in most games. EQ2 had lots of them available by release date or shortly thereafter. I remember alot of people using a run speed mod (about 50x faster than sprinting without any power usage), and I had seen several automated 6 boxers running around, harvesting stuff as soon as it spawned near them, and killing everything around. You could tell it was a bot running them, as they moved together, went all over the place, moving from a mob as soon as it was dead and looted to the next nearest one, and grabbing harvestable's nearby in between fights. Other games do better at keeping bots and hacks at bay, but I don't know of any that keeps them completely out of game.
Personally, I don't trust SoE's hacking detection apperatus, as I've seen several people banned over the years for doing nothing, and not noticing any others in any of their groups doing anything suspicious, but I also think they could do more to curb it.
I'm not really looking for anything super great / expansive in EQ1, but am hoping that EQ Next is extremely challenging, offers some combat variability based on the player's skill (similar to Tera), and has more social and creative aspects to it. I'd also like to see characters more personalized, especially in skills and development, where the system works on how much time you do certain activities applies some maintainence to skill level, where skill levels will tend to fall off over time if not used, either mainly, or in conjunction with other similar skills. Also, I never liked the HP/Mana/etc. stats being level based, they should be basic normal ratio compared to certain stats, and that ratio could be enhanced somewhat with certain skills and/or training, but not so much that you go from 30ish HPs to 30K+. About half of the system should be from how you play (what activities) you do, and the other equipment as far as basic stats, in general, depending on the stat, as some should be more heavily dependent on activity (training) and others on equipment.
I'm starting to ramble, and probably shouldn't even of mentioned the system I like in my head, as it's rather complex and I could easily take up pages explaining how it should work. :D
Yther Ore.
Edited, May 14th 2011 10:44am by Yther