But really - excepting endgame content - it's generally the player who determines the difficulty of the game. Because it's the player who chooses where to go and what type of NPCs with which to interact. Any class can solo, it just means time and patience have to be exerted relative to the capabilities of the class. It's all in the mindset of the player.
Out of curiosity, how does their business model compare to the EQ1 business model? A quick Google search suggests that you can realistically remain F2P until level 85. Is that still the case and just how realistic is that "realistic"?
You can solo and probably will solo a lot. Most guilds on Povar are very clique so unless you're one of the cool kids, you won't get guild groups.
Truth be told, their business model sucks. New players are the ones nickle and dimed the most, one needs to buy all expacks, and real hard to enjoy game without VIP sub. While established cap level players at endgame can pretty much play for free. But if one wants an MMO one can enjoy solo, this is it.
I'm probably not entirely objective, having played this class for 20 years, but I think a druid is well worth trying out for the OP. Druids solo very well and with porting and evac, they travel incredibly well, making the need to run a toon across vast landscapes a non-issue. I'd agree that quadding requires a lot of dexterity and sometimes fast reaction times, (and charm-kiting even moreso) but I've known druid players who excel at root-rotting which involves a lot of sitting and doing nothing but enjoying the view of a mob dying slowly in front of you. Despite being very multi-talented, in groups the druid tends to be assigned either a healer or dps role, so the class isn't that hard to play in an xp group. While the OP wants to solo because of bad experiences with other players in raids and maybe groups, I'd still suggest joining a friendly family guild and making some personal connections with other players. I've played with friends who had limitations over the years, whether physical or otherwise (like the mom of 2 little kids who'd have to go afk suddenly when one of the kids starting hitting the other one). Not everyone plays the game with the goal of max XP yield calculated per minute.... some still like to hang out with friends and the chat can be as important as the experience in those situations. The biggest downside to soloing is losing out on the social aspects of EQ.
