Feeling the EQ TLP itch again.

After a long hiatus from Agnarr (stopped playing just before Kunark due to IRL stuff)... Thinking of resubbing and playing my 50 Bard. If I recall correctly he had best in slot non-planar gear (at the time during Classic) for the most part... and a few planar pieces.

Do you think it will be hard to find groups 50-65? What areas do you suggest to level in to find groups?

While grouping is my preferred style of play it looks like after checking EQItems that several songs added in Velious/Luclin/PoP make soloing on a bard a lot easier (i.e. a long lasting selo and more damage songs). What areas would you recomend for soloing if I have difficulty finding groups?

At what level should I start putting AAs in and is there anything essential you reccomend I get first?

Any other advise is welcome. Guild recommendations? Thanks

groups may be difficult at times as more and more people are into the higher tier planes. At least at 50 you can group with 65s. If you find a more casual guild, they can help you catch up level wise, but backflagging in PoP can be a challenge. PoJ trials are easy enough to do, but not many still kill T1 flagging mobs like Grummus, Behemoth, etc.
Can look into Good Tidings. They are casual but do raid.
Leveling to 65 before AA would be best. More power from levels than gear and AA.

While I know little of bards, def get 65 before aa. Exp bonus running should make that much easier. Once you are 65, finding a guild should be easy peasy. Might even be able to join one preemptively to get some PoFire PLing. Most raid guilds probably aren’t doing much back flagging, but you can get elemental and Time flagged easily by just going to the raids. Getting a PoJ trial and Storms key done will then give you access to everything but CoD, Tactics, Sol Ro Tower, and Torment. Grummus can be 2 grouped basically now, I think there may be some open raids still going.