I love this game, but lately it is turning into nothing more than a time sink
with extremely little reward, thus the fun factor has diminished greatly. 
Married for almost 3 years w/ 2 babies, doesn't leave much playing time. 
Which has kept me from learning/leading eq in the past.  Alas, this game has
grown VERY BORING.  The guilds I love are so under powered compared to the
'fresh' guilds with epically better skills(power) and rep systems in place. 
WHich leaves little desire to play a guild were time invest means nothing when
a person with 1g exp can reinc in and be just as good as you.  So, obviously,
to be unique, players with a like mindset are 'pushed' towards those guild
with awesome rep systems (ex: kharim, lib, nun, mage).  Which leads to being
passed over for eq parties because of bias thoughts on effectiveness of
current reinc, personal issues with the leader to not take you, or just
'friends only' party invites.  My few REAL friends, not acquaintances, in
BatMUD seldom play and only know exp, of which 2 know and rarely lead eq.

Wish scrolls, wiz auctions, and the likeness that give your character power +
uniqueness are so rarely epic it would blow your mind! And when they do
happen, you can bet your bank account, that the top 1% will get it.  The only
saving grace has been Shin events!  Surely the older events were OP, but who
didn't love 'Lunar Defenders'? Some nice bonuses, but removed after one year,
unless you stayed in the reinc! Which like the two background free reinc wiz
auctions I've witnessed, which I think are awesome ideas, only last one reinc.
 

Over the past couple weeks I have tried to gather parties with no success.
Sable, Mithrandir, Fazid, ect, just something to get the ball rolling. 
Members either aren't there or only come out for the top 1% elite leaders. No
more idling 2-3 hours for 21eet to see if you can beg, borrow, and sell your
soul for a spot in someone else's eq party and then hating myself for wasting
said 2-3 hours of my life with nothing to show.  So, saying all that to say
this, I plan to start leading the eq I know and learning more.  Because this
is the only way I see Batmud becoming enjoyable again. Time to change or
retire!