Everquest 1 in my opinion is way better then eq2, here is why i like eq1 so much:)
Graphics- eh, they are ok. There not the best but eh it was good for its time, if your not a graphic whore you will really like this game. The graphics kinda look like...eq2 on medium.Anyway not much to say about graphics.
Gameplay- I think the gameplay of this game is extroadanary. You can choose to solo(take a while) to level or you can group. You can have friends power level your character if you choose, when you are in a group the experiance doesnt SPLIT up like it does in certain games i use to play. But ya this gameplay is very fun in my opinion i mean cmon you can group with others and experiance gos to others.
Lag issue- Well....This game is playable by people with dial up. Some of my friends can only get dial up were they live, so this game is playable by ppl with a good connection also. If your in a zone with like a million people of course it will lag. When your in a zone with like 50 people not so much:) So the lag issue, not so much laggy:)