I am, as you can see by my sig, a 28th level defiler. I have good gear, upgraded spells and a good grasp of the combat wheel. Last night I headed to the Enchanted Lands to explore, and was a little bummed because everything was still red or deep orange.
So I started grabbing quests, and discovering new areas. This got old after a while, so I said what the heck I will give one of these orange turtles a try.
I destroyed it.
Wow, I thought, maybe I can do this. So I took a look at my quest log and realized that I needed every one of the creatures in the area around the docks. I started slaughtering reds.
Before I realized it I was up to Briarpaw cubs which are 33-35th level. Up to 33, five levels above me, these bears were not even a challenge. The 34th level ones were tough fights, and the rare 35th one almost got me killed.
I also realized that I was getting about 15-20% xp per hour, and was finishing quests. There really is good solo content in EQ2, and you really can level without a group.
So this morning I sat back and digested what I did last night. In FFXI you would usually get your *** handed to you by an even match at 28th, and if you tried something even one level above you death was assured. Even if you did win you would have insane downtime.
With EQ2 you can get meaningful xp while waiting for groups, and can finish quests while doing so. Kudos SOE. I am very impressed.