You can solo, but you will find yourself dissapointed at some point. Because the most items that present any value are only from group quests. Trying to solo group mob what some other people here suggest is a way to go around hardcore group orientation of EQ2. Is not as bad as it was in the beginning but still most of the good items available only with group/raid participation. There are quite a few good quests you can start but you will find yourself stuck in the middle of it because to advance further you will need a full group or even raid.

And the thing is that you are not getting a full set of armor for example. You will get like a ring or something. And you can't really take on a group mob (not everyone wants to by a conjy) without at least full set of a good armor. And doing solo quests won't really provide you with that kind of equipment. So, you can have some fun playing solo, especially on the newby island like in trial, but when you ge to the main island it changes. I did test it myself. Newby islands are tweaked much better and a lot of reviews are based on newby island experience. Its like in that Movie - The Island. Everything is chikky brikky while you are on the island being fed dreams, but as soon as you get into the world... crap starts to happen all over.. lol. Sorry I had to use this description. :)

I think the problem is that Newby Island is much smaller and its easier for devs to make it pleasent for a first experience. Main land however is much bigger. And developers do what they can, but unfortunately is not enough. Every expansion has a few new areas, instances, Fed Ex quests, you go through it in a matter of a week, untill it gets you bored to go and kill same mob for 500s time (literally) just to get a lousy skins for a sad quest (HQ).

I mean even if you get that damn Qeynos Claymore... you still can't kill heroic mob. You get this feeling of achievement that you have completed an epic quest, but what NOW? Go kill rats with it I guess. Or go stand on the docks of FD and brag to everyone. That's what I hate in EQ2 - you spend so much time and effort and in the end all you can do - show off.

I've played EQ2 for over a year. I have SK lvl 70, few fabled items. I did quite a few quests, was a member of Shadow Company on Antonya Bale. But somehow one day I couldn't do it any longer. Fun was over. Did I burn out? Maybe. I just thought to myself one day about endless amount of hours I was spending every week playing it. My wife is a gamer too, so I don't have problem with b-ing wife. But I get more satisfaction right now playing Xbox 360. Why? Probably because I receive more fun out of the certain amount of time.

In the beginning it really peed me off because everything was so hardcore group oriented in EQ2, then SOE decided to fix that and started releasing SOLO and Small Group quests. So things got a bit better. I've played all the expansions except Feydwer and always ended up feeling bored. Maybe its just me. There are still a lot of people enjoying it so much. But more often day after day I've started realising that by the end of the day I haven't really achieved anything and time seemed wasted.

So, I don't think I will ever return to EQ2. All the positive reviews make me to push the button and renew subscription. But for what? To cancel it again later? I think I'll keep playing Xbox 360. It has only one fee for all the games. Its fun, you can always find group and people are not totally like living in the game. Everybody meets for a few hours of fun. In EQ2 is hard to achieve something lately in a few hours of fun. MMORPGs are totally life suckers. They suck your life out of you, hours of your precious life. Years after you realize that you've spent half of your life playing games. I am still playing games, but at least I don't allow myself to be sucked into MMORPG any more. I do Guilds of War sometimes, but thats really easy, you don't have to spend a week to "GET EPIC ITEM".

Also I understand people who play WoW. It gives you feeling of overall achievement. You level up to 60 fast. But the time you spend leveling is very fun. I HATE grinding for level or ANYTHING ELSE. Its the most dumb thing that was ever created by developers to kill time because of the lack of content they could provide. And in EQ2 I found myself again and again getting into that sort of "activity" without even knowing. I may be wrong though.

Also, the emptyness of the EQ2 world made me feel really uncomfortable. Huge areas of "nothing". It was fun untill it lasted. I remember first few monthes when EQ2 was young it was the best game experience ever. Groups everywhere, people playing... FUN. Later on... fun is over. People levelled, scattered through out the world, gathered into little communities. Shadow Company on AB was and I believe still is one of the best of those communities. But yet again, I couldn't handle doing things over again just to get some lousy sword that isn't really any good after all. Briefly its that award was hardly ever equal to the effort and time you spent. Maybe things changed. But I hate to run into some group content again without being able to find a group. I would come back to EQ2 though if SOE will eve implement henchmen. Don't like t be dependend on someone else's availability. Thats why I liked Guilds of War. You can always do something because there are NPCs you can hire in every town.

I am gonna read Feydwer reiew, just for fun of reading.

Anyway, EQ2 is worth some time to be invested into it. But don't take it too seriously. If you find that it gets you even a little bored - go do something else. Life is too precious to waste.