The game is 100% free roaming. There are quests, though they are completely optional.
The game is centered around three things. People, Levels, and Items. People are the other players you work together with, group with, and just joke around. Its a very social game. Levels are attained by getting exp like any Dnd-esk game. Leveling up will give you significant increases in power, and in addition open up for opportunities in the game. In addition to levels, items increase your power. Most will increase your stats, Hp, Ac, Atk, Str, ect.
An explanation of the races can be found here:
http://eqlive.station.sony.com/library/races.jsp
Note, if you do not have the Kunark Expansion, you cannot be Iksar. If you don’t have the Luclin expansion, you cannot be Vah Shir.
I’ll explain the classes myself:
Bard: Fun class. Can melee alongside any warrior (though not nearly as good). Can wear plate armor. They cast songs instead of spells. Their songs form a very well rounded arsenal of magic.
Beastlord: Only available with the Luclin expansion. Well rounded, they can melee and cast powerful spells. Their main strength is their pet, they can summon a powerful animal to fight alongside them, often doing more damage than the Beastlord himself.
Cleric: Heal. Heal. Heal. Heal. Thats the life of a cleric. They have very few useful spells aside from Heals and buffs. Borrrrrring.
Druid: Tree hugger. Can heal a little worse than a cleric. Casts offensive spells. Can teleport for easy travel. Well rounded class, in my opinion rather boring to play.
Enchanter: A very complex yet powerful class. They can do very little damage. However, their spells can increase other player’s abilities and powers while decreasing the powers of monsters. Hard for a beginer.
Magician: The class I play. Very fun, very powerful. Magicians are the all time masters of damage. However, we have absolutely no defensive ability. We can summon the most powerful pet to fight alongside us. And we look damn cool.
Monk: Melee class. They are the masters of duel wield, meaning they can wield two weapons from square one. They do great damage, and can take decent hits. At level 17 and on, they can use the most powerful skill in the game, Feign Death. FD can be used to make NPCs believe you are dead, and they will walk away.
Necromancer: Very powerful solo class, but doesn’t work well with other players. They can summon a pet equal to a Beastlord’s. They can do pretty much anything well, but they are not best at anything. It takes them time to deal damage, but they can deal a considerable amount of damage given a long period of time.
Paladin: Holy Knight, 1/4 Cleric 3/4 Warrior. They can use 2 handed weapons very well, but cannot use two weapons at once. They can heal about at the level of a Shaman, and cast lower level cleric spells. Decent class, takes a few levels to come into it’s prime.
Ranger: 1/4 Druid 3/4 Warrior. They are masters of archery, though it doesn’t become useful until very late levels. They can melee better than a warrior, cast very low level druid spells. Not good till high levels.
Rogue: Another melee class. They do great amounts of damage, second only to Mages, but have few other skills. They can sneak and hide, the only way to be invisible to undead and regular mobs (the EQ term for Monsters is Mob). Very boring class to play, but powerful.
Shaman: Fun class. They can heal decently. They can stand up in melee without being knocked down. They can cast very powerful and well rounded spells. They can cast a so-so pet.
Shadowknight: 1/4 Necro 3/4 Warrior. Like a Paladin, except they specialize in damage rather than healing. Very powerful, but very hard to play. Works well solo, but not very well with players.
Warrior: Masters of taking damage. They are the best tanks in the game. At the same time, they can use all types of weapons, wield 2 at once, and do decent damage. Boring to play.
Wizard: Masters of direct damage. Wizards simply snap their fingers and utterly roast a mob. However, they cannot sustain their damage over a period of time. They are the only caster without a pet, so they must continue to move to prevent being hit. They can teleport themselves to ease travel.