Casters in general are not gear dependent, or at least not nearly as much as melee. I leveled my Necromancer to 60 in rags for the most part (had a few hot items). You do basically have all the information it sounds like from your original post but I will offer up some tips from my experience leveling to 60.
Z-Heart is really nice but doesn't make the class into something its not already. With shaman/druid regen at level 60 I don't lose any health while in Demi Lich as an Iksar. Leveling up it helped but I could have done it w/o, just not quite as lazily. Z-Heart also doesn't have an attack/delay so if you use from level 1 you wont be able to auto attack which is important at the very low end.
CoS is very essential for charm killing and is just a super handy utility item in general
Haste pants save you tons and tons of mana. If you can get the HoT (rotting pantaloons) they have baller stats on them also
Stalking Probes/Elder Beads I find to be pretty much wasted on my necro since you cant cast them when you have a pet up. There are rare times when I guess its nice to be able to life tap or whatever for free (as long as you dont have a pet) but it doesn't come up much for me personally and I view these as more of a level 60 thing as opposed to 1-59
J-Boots are a real life saver for many reasons, but mainly because not having them sucks balls.
Staff of Dreaded Gaze is complete garbage due to the cast time
Encyclopedia Necrotheurgia is not really "attainable" w/o a guild that runs Fear a lot or at least trys to contest Cazic Thule (So Aftermath/Tempest/Azure Guard/CoreRMTcrew)
Necromancer spells (in general) are cheaper than other casters spells. You can get every spell you need (including level 60s) for probably 10k-15k total in the current economy. And I mean total, from 1-60 10k-15k should do it no problem.
I never bothered to get a reclaim energy item and I have never felt the need to have one.
Your mana regen is the best in the entire game, stack HPs over mana whenever possible because regening mana is trivial to the necromancer.
At level 49 you become immensely powerful (get a lot of cool spells) compared to 1-48
Necromancers should HEAL others as much as possible via Shadow Pact and Shadowbond. Pro Tip, leave your top spell slot open (can do this with like a grim aura buff then remove it) and you can cast dispell on yourself and remove the recourse, essentially giving free heals and removing the drain mechanic completely. Particularly powerful in CoM (as far as level range - I seem to remember my heals being very effective here before dropping off - but then you get Shadowbond and they pick back up - just part of the natural power curve all casters have)
Twitching is important to the cleric but if you HEAL as much as possible and then use your mana to Tap back to full life you end up saving more mana than just twitching (due to cleric not having to heal as much and the added damage from taps to mobs).
Most important low level spells - Screaming Terror (5 second mez), Harmshield (DA), Feign Death. These are all sub level 20 spells that will nearly always be on your spell bar even at level 60.
Don't be bad and afraid to charm - All the best leveling zones in EQ have undead mobs, don't be the asshole who wont get a pet.
Numb The Dead is a very low level spell that acts as a "lul" or "pacify" for undead mobs. Cool thing about this spell is it doesnt need LoS, so you can get a target and cast it through walls and all kinds of sh*t. This becomes extremely handy in HS but has other uses as well (CoM 2nd floor, Seb CE, KC, HS, + tons of other places)
Necromancers are more powerful in duos and trios than solo. Best groups are with a Shaman/Monk or at high levels a Enchanter/Cleric. Necro/Shaman/Monk is one of the most potent leveling trios in the entire game. The synergy between the 3 is nearly perfect. Monk/necro is a great duo once you can heal and if the monk is geared. Necro/shaman is a great duo at slightly higher levels when you can heal the shamans canni damage. Do not fall into the trap of trying to be a solo artist fear kiting everything, it is a very boring and vastly overrated form of play. The necromancer is the grease that keeps a group rolling. Super solid DPS, great off heals, twitching mana, pets, FD... Dont over look how potent your group potential is.
Always always always heal your companion shaman, they will become your best friend and keep your regen rolling as well. You feed them health to make mana, they feed you health to make mana. Net result is everyone is bursting at the seams with mana!
The biggest compliments I have got in the game (multiple times) were people telling me "apparently I know nothing about necromancers" or "I had no idea necromancers could do that" after they saw how much I could add to the group through my utility. A well played Necromancer in a small group is as close to an unstoppable force as there is in EQ. I always think of Necromancer DPS as a side effect rather than a focus (or it should be at least, if you want to be good).
/end rant
