The original EQ2...what it was when the game was rolled out was indeed a bit different.
The game was a lot more group dependent. You would see more heroic mobs than you would solo mobs.
The xp gained from solo encounters was super low.
The xp gained from quests was super low.
You could not start out as your desired class. Say that you wanted to be a monk. You would have to start out as a figther form level 1-9. Just like the guardian, berserker, etc. Then from 10-19, you would be a brawler. Finally at 20 you would become a monk. This was a pain, since each class was very generic durring this period. Someone looking to become a necromancer would play 19 levels as a summoner...that felt nothing like a necromancer.
Content was locked by quests or levels. For instance, in order to get to the Enchanted lands, you had to do a series of tough quests. You were eligible for the quest at level 25 (IIR). These were group quests, with the final quest being a really cool fight on a ship. As fun as these were, they were also very frustrating, since failure meant having to do the ship run over and over again. If you wanted to bypass the quest, you could wait till you hit level 32 I believe it was. That would give you automatic access. There were similar quests for each of the tier zones, like Zek, Permafrost, and Feerot.
There were no AA's then. So there was little difference between one Shadow Knight and another.
The level cap was 50.
There were no cloaks.
The only mounts we had were horses.
There were no Alternate Appearance models (SOGA).
There was actually a death penalty. You would gain experience debpt each time you died, and you would leave a spirit shard on the ground. You could gain some of that experience back by returning to your spirit, and clicking on it. The xp debt was pretty bad. You really didn't want to die back then. To make matters worse, experience debt was shared with the group. So if one person perished then the whole group felt it. It was a system that made sense, however, it would frustrate many since some players were very careless, and the whole group would pay the price for that.
It was the age of the fighters. Berzerkers, Monks, Bruisers, and Shadow Knights, pumped out some very impressive dps. Especially the monks, and zerkers. I remember having an extremely hard time keeping up on the parses against bruisers and monks when I played a brigand. It was rather frustrating, since they could solo, and scouts...all scouts had a horrible time soloing back then. Taking on an even con was a chore...you couldn't even think about heroic encounters solo.
Things changed little by little, but the most drastic change came with live update 13. Known as LU13. That really changed combat. I was quite against it at first...but eventually grew to like the change.
Edit:
Forgot to mention that once you hit level 20 you would have to complete a series of quests before picking your final class.
The only mounts we had were horses. This is not true. Guild level 30 carpets.