Old Eq Player, Looking for Specific InfoFollow

Ok, first off let me say I am sure some if not all of my questions may/may not be answered in other posts, but there is just too many to sift through.

I have had the chance to play UO, EQ, L2, FFXI, and Wo(currently ******** around with GW, but its not an MMO and doesn't count). Me and the fiance when we were near the end of our FFXI phase thought of trying a new MMO. Choices were either EQ2 or WoW, not she said EQ2 required a DvD rom drive for the PC, which we don't have, so she picked us up WoW. We really enjoyed WoW, she continues to enjoy it, but honestly it gets boring fast when almost everything is handed to you.

My question is, is getting a DvD drive for my PC worth while? Are the graphics(or whatever it is the game requires this piece of hardware for) worth it?

In comparison to some of the games I listed above, specialy EQ, how does this game stack up as far as character developement?

One of my biggest worrys about trying out EQ2 is how EQ was when i left it. As leveling mostly consisted of sitting on one spot for hours on end killing the same crap over and over again, and players coming and going from your party every 15-30 minutes. So i guess my question here is, does the game reward moving your party around to complete objectives with worth while exp rewards or do you still spend most of your time sitting in one spot for your grinding?, and is the majority of EQ2 players people who join partys only to have to leave shortly after for dinner or a more serious and determined player base?

(an easily answered question if I looked no doubt)Does EQ2 still make use of an Alternate Ability Tree to work on upon maxing your characters level?

If I do start playing this game, are crafts worth taking up? something I hate is not starting soon enough on them. In FFXI I started late in the game when it started showing after awhile that crafting could make you money, so when i started WoW i started crafting from the start, to find it wasn't really a viable means of making money.

Do classes have clear defined rolls? EI Warriors = tanks Clerics = Healers Rangers = DPS(just examples). In EQ I was a Vah Shir Shaman and manly my job was to debuff/heal/DoT(usualy one more than the other depending on class make up and/or monsters being fought.)

Selling/Buying from players - Does EQ2 make use of the old style Bazaar System, Auction House feature found in some of the newer games or is it left mostly up to Zone Spamage?

Gear Dependancy - Does the gear available in the game leave players to gear their characters to meet their play styles or has it become like so many other games where X class Needs to have Y Item or they are gimp? Are there level requirements on gear or can people after leveling on character "twink" an alt for easier leveling the 2nd time through(sort of working as a bonus to having worked through the game once already)

Anyway those are some of the question I have in regards to EQ2. I am seriously debating on checking out this game and would like to take the anwsers I get here and use them in my decision. I of course will be doing more reading, and maybe looking for some in-game videos as well.

Thanks for any answers you can supply.

Thanks for the reply, it covered most of my thoughts. I am Patching the Isle test atm. So I will get a chance to try it out.

The DvD part is great to hear, I really saw now need to put one in my PC other than to try a game I was Iffy on lol.(specialy seeing as its almost new PC time anyway).

WoW was fun for me, I got warrior and a rogue both to 60, and a bunch of others half way there. Since I have made this post I have had some time to do some more reading up. I am hoping to come as close to what my shm was in EQ, which I think will most likely be a Shaman/Mystic but we'll see.

Hopefully if I like the trial version I'll be able to pick up the full version by the time my trial runs out, chances are I'll end up just farming after day 1 lol, since I am sure getting level 6 wont take me very long. Leveling in any game has never taken me long heh.

Again thanks for the reply.