Welcome Savistok!
I don't play WoW any more, so you won't see me in game. But I still thought I would say "Hi", and since your post mentioned EQ, which I am currently playing, I though I might offer up a thought on your comments. 
Everquest is not as much of a grind as it used to be. For perspective, I picked up where I left off with a level 71 ranger with 150-ish AA's two months ago, and have leveled him up, mostly solo and two-boxing, to level 99 with 11528 AA's as I write this. Most players who play regularly achieve maximum level (110) without spending years to do so. AA's are now automatically granted for subscriber accounts up to around level 100, so that eliminates a huge AA grind and allows players to catch up. Even trade skills are quite a bit easier to progress in than he used to be.
That said, it is an older game, and the UI is pretty clunky compared to newer stuff (even WoW qualifies as "newer stuff" in this regard). The complexity has also increased quite a bit with characters having lots of options on abilities to use, at least some of which are obsolete.
In the end, all MMO's are grind games to some extent. There's a conflict between the developer having limited resources to develop new content and the players wanting to experience all that content as quickly as possible. To keep most players from running out of content and moving on (taking their dollars with them!), game developers put in roadblocks that keep users from progressing too quickly. Personally, I always thought WoW was kind of a bait and switch on that point. In WoW it was always fun and easy to level up to max. Once you did that, though, the grind kicked in in full force!
