I'm amazed to see that NewEgg is selling the game, minus the most recent expansion, for $4.99 with FREE SHIPPING! That's all expansions through Secrets of Faydwer, missing only the last one. Yeah, that means no mercs but we can't have it all, right? The POINT is it includes ONE FREE MONTH OF PLAY, which is worth fifteen bucks all by itself. Gift a friend or 2 with the last boxed version of EQ and if you help them out a bit, they don't even need a merc. Once they play and grow to like the game, they can buy the expansion and continue their sub after the first month!
Dunno about the rest of you, but I go out of my way to help any true noobs (or returnees) that I come across. Keeping the game viable means everyone being proactive in trying to keep it growing, or at least not shrinking as fast as it has in the past. When there are only level 85's travelling the byways of EQ, then the death knell of the game has been sounded!