I played L2 for awhile, was lvl 22scout and quit. The only game I played with better graphic's was EQ2 and SWG... some people might disagree with me, but meh.
All are pay-to-play, but L2 has some cracked server's you can play on for free. One coming to mind,
http://www.escapeserver.com
So erm yea, leveling in L2 was hard as hell, but whatever... As for content, EQ2 has more, but SWG has less.