"Thank you for the tip about logging on as an administrator...is it only people running Vista who are having problems with the patcher?"
I think the administrator problem with the patcher is mostly Vista users, though a poster here said Windows XP Pro was having the problem, too.
Another possible solution to a patcher problem that does not only affect Windows Vista users (I think,) is to go into your EQ folder and delete the "Legends of Norrath" folder. That is the card game and it has been known to cause patching problems, and the fix was to delete it and repatch it.
You guys seem to be experiencing known problems, so here's the Tech Support section of the SOE site:
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/forums/show.m?forum_id=1 And here's the problem I think a lot of you are having (it's a sticky in the Tech Support section):
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=121996 Edited, Jun 4th 2008 2:32pm by Foxboxx