It was THE expension which almost save the game.
- Grouping contents and awesome rewards (they cut the last tier).
- Broken raiding (so kinda as a no raiding at all).
The dungeons where not only fun and challenging, but they have awesome rewards that equal raid-gear...both in drop and merchant-purchase (they cut some).
It was a HUGE step in the right direction. However, the devs backtrack after it and come back, which will lead EQ to a slow but unavoidable decline. If you don't progress, you regress.
It was the good time, it brough back a few friends to EQ and we have a great time...until GoD. After GoD we switch MMOs and never come back.