For me personally, Velious was the last expansion that still felt like "classic" EverQuest. Luclin introduced some pretty significant changes such as The Nexus and The Bazaar, that for me really impacted how the game world felt. If Quarm is just up to Kunark then it would definitely be worth playing there as well.
EQ is still going pretty strong, releasing new DLC every year and adding the DLC from 3 years prior to the free to play list. Theres 23 years of free content to play, though it may feel baron at times due to being top heavy