Solo experiences

[zaius]

I'll throw in my two cents. As a cabalist (body/spirit/matter, 30/23/11 or so I think), I can -usually- take oranges. I typically pull with nearsight, root, debuff fully, and then send in the pet. Once it gets the mob down a bit, dot/drain/drain/drain/ad nauseum. This seems to be a safe way to solo oranges, though I end up with some downtime (eat the pet to regain mana, but then recast and rebuff the pet. A fully buffed pet seems to make a difference) With yellows, I don't worry about buffing the pet, or debuffing the mob much. I can do oranges this way usually, but every once in awhile, the unbuffed pet can't hit enough to get aggro before the mob's on me. A bunch of blues is no problem, send in the pet, let it get beat upon, heal it some, root any adds that come after me, drain drain drain.

This being said, soloing suxors. Sure, killing an orange solo comes pretty close to the exp cap, but even if I don't have the downtime of buffing the pet, I'm still doing one mob every two minutes or so. This doesn't compare to a group where you're killing 3-4 reds or better in about the same amount of time. With a good group, the downtime is less as well. Chain pulling pygmy goblins for example. Constant stream of exp and safe. The safeness factor is important. I've found that if I'm soloing oranges, I probably will die every once in awhile (mob resists root, pet can't get aggro, etc.) Tough to stay ahead of the curve that way.

Soloing was nice at lower levels though. I have fond memories of getting many a bubble soloing orange salisbury giants. At higher levels though, it's tedious and if you get a run of bad luck, you might not even gain much exp.

 Just my experiances, your milage may vary. Oh yeah, even with the reclaim-pet-mana-trick, Mystic Crystal Lore is pretty sweet for soloing.

[zaius]

Forgot to add: exp penalty also suxors. I get penalized for using an ability of my class? A buggy, underpowered, high-maintenence pet, comparatively speaking? That boggles the mind.

[Axecleaver]

mana back from pet is based on its hp, so if you hp buff it before reclaim it'll give more mana.

You're right about soloing. It is not viable post 45. Things are just too slow.

[Noreen]

i soloed most of lv 47 / 48 on blues & greens......wow that was fun

[Axecleaver]

Yes, but that was clearly insane.

[Sodom]

Okay, here's my experiences by character class:

Friar: Strangely enough, I rarely solo with Sodom, and I can't remember soloing at all before they increased the Friar spec points/level. Now, I can't take oranges at all, but I can solo yellows with almost no downtime. The end regen chant ensures I end a fight with almost as much end as I started with, and healing spells means I can heal myself to full after every fight. However, with no way to ranged pull, I have to pick my targets very carefully.

Theurgist - My favorite trick was to find a named red-con mob surrounded by friend mobs (Example: at 10th level or so, the named Druid behind WD). Get at max pet range, then dump earth pets on them until you run out of mana. Then run til you reach someplace safe (gaurd tower, etc).  Max xp, plus massive group bonus every kill.

Scout - The joys of soloing blues, spending more on arrows than you're bringing in even if you DO pick up all the crap they drop.

Infil - First 10 levels, I could solo oranges, or two yellow-con mobs at once. Auto-training stealth up to 20th level made my life hard from 10-20, I but I can't complain about the 15 free skill points.

Paladin - Soloing was no problem at least until 20th level: just style til you're out of end then twist chants. After that, I made the mistake of spreading my points around - Choose either sword 'n' board or two-handers at character creation and STICK WITH IT. Now I can't even solo 2 blues at once

Minstrel - No problem with yellows so far (12th level). Haven't really practiced charming mobs to use as temporary pets, but I hear that's the way to go past 20th.

Sorcerer - Yuck. Too many damn variables. Before you can pick a spot to hunt, you have to know which mobs nearby are charmable, AND which charmable mobs are best against the mobs you want to hunt. You really have to plan ahead with your skill points - Too little Mind and you won't be able to charm the mob you want, too little Body or Telekinesis and the mobs you hunt will resist every spell you try to cast.  At least the new post-fight mob heal-rate is to your benefit, no more having to find a new pet after every fight.

[Gueuze]

Nope, stay away from Minstrel pets.  You can't play your mana song, or the charm will break, so you have longer downtimes.  OK, you CAN play your song, but you have to twist like crazy.  Minstrel pets frankly suck.  Sure, you can charm oranges, until they kill you 12 seconds later.  Yellows are better, but again, downtime.

The one exception are the priestesses you can get near Hib PK in Had's, they buff NICE.  Of course, they don't like to follow for some reason, so you have to walk at 0.0001 mph so they don't break charm.  And at level 46, we'd have to walk for 3 hours to get to a mob worth fighting with a pet.  Did I mention you'll be ganked long before you get there?