SoloFollow

Absolutely. If you are so inclined you could solo all the way to the level cap.

You'll miss out on some content, lots of instances for instance, but all in all, you can get to lvl 80 rather swiftly solo. Did so with my Monk and am working on my Shadowknight, miraculously sticking with my Sarnak SK as I tend to lvl up to lvl 20 and then quit.

Most quests can be done on your own, you might have to wait for some. Some heritage quests involve epic mobs you will find hard to beat at any level, other quests also involve tough mobs you won't be able to defeat on your own.

I've found that there are some problem levels, when the quests run out and I even had to grind a bit, but with the increase of content, even that is disappearing.

Some instances are definitely worth grouping for though, apart from the good loot and xp in there, the storylines are often truly great. Nektropos Castle for instance is a real good zone.

while this game is a Massively Multiplayer Online (gee, who would have guessed that's what MMO stood for :-P ), it can be played (and I have done it many times) solo. I would recommend, however, that, if your play time allows for it, get into a group every now and then. my friend, who also plays EQ2, never really started getting into groups until after he was level 40 (close to 50 if not higher) and since he didn't really know how to interact in a group dynamic, he had a major learning curve to overcome.

But it all depends on your playstyle. if you prefer to solo, then by all means, solo to your hearts content. if you want to group all the time, you can do that as well. if you want to do nothing but sit infront of a crafting station and do that all the time you are logged on, you can do that as well (though I would recommend either going out to harvest at least somewhat while you are still low level, or level up an adventuring toon who will also do your harvesting, as that can get really expensive really fast). This game caters to whatever you feel like doing. heck you could sit in your house (well, kneel, since EQ2 doesn't really allow "sitting" like some other games) and do nothing but chat in the world channels if that's all you cared about doing that day (seen it done before).

so, the real question becomes, what do you feel like doing in Norrath today?

The only thing you need to buy is the current expansion - RoK (Rise of Kunark). SoE calls it their "All in one pack".

The package includes the original game and all the other expansions as well as all the adventure packs (like mini expansions).

That will keep you current until November when the next expansion is released.

I believe that currently, your basic monthly subscription entitles you to a total of either 8 or 10 characters and you can spread them across as many different servers as you like (or keep them all in one place!).