Transitioning from BoL solo content to group content

I am having a bit of trouble trying to transition from the solo zones to group content. I keep running the solo instances and I don't seem to find any gear that is any better than what I currently have. I would assume that means that I am at least ready to graduate to the next tier of zones...which is what exactly? Heroic instances?

1) What are the stats that I need to be viable in a group? And how much?

2) Where is the vendor where I can spend my solo instance tokens? I found one in Saru but the gear didn't seem to have better stats than what I got from the solo instances which seemed to make the vendor pointless. I didn't see any vendor that sold any fabled gear or even legendary gear that had more than 155 resolve.

3) I came back and started playing my Defiler who was safe at leveling but had TERRIBLE dps. I would be lucky to get through one instance a night. I got so frustrated that I started a new toon. This time I chose to play an archtype that I normally don't - a mage (wizard). I never would have suspected that the wizard would be the EZ Mode character. He can tank just fine with the Celestial shissar healing him well enough. I died more times on my Defiler from running out of mana from power drains than I have on the wizard. I did not expect this. My wizard can tank and dps while my Defiler spins its wheels. Dealing out death by a thousand cuts to each mob. Is this normal? Defilers were never known for their dps but mine hardly seems viable as a solo character.

Suggestions and advice on how to improve would be appreciated.

You need to infuse ALL of your gear with infusers and plat.
Do the overland quests. The ones that drop from mobs and the ones that are started by clicking objects in the zones. Those will give you some 165 jewelry.

The currency you get from running solo and heroic zones (they're the same) doesn't buy any gear of value. You can use them to by temp buffs (power links mostly, for heroic content), but that's it.

For reasons undisclosed to players, each archtype has a different 'max hit' cap in the BoL solo zones. Priests have the lowest so priests WILL take longer, by design.

As someone who has only done solos ...
Solos quickly become an exercise in tedium with no suitable return on time invested. Not sure why they invested so much effort in coming up with hundreds of different names/appearances for 150/155 resolve gear chest rewards that nobody will equip and is just used as fodder to transmute or salvage

- Do Diaku solo in Wracklands and will earn up to 170 resolve gear pretty quickly
- Keep doing your overseers to obtain up to 180 resolve gear (and get recipes for your runes)
- Do weeklies for your ethereal currency .. should be easy to join in a Big Baddies mini raid each week (unlikely anyone will check on quality of your contribution
- Get all your runes. After doing many, many solos never seen destruction drop, in fact exquisite chests are very rare and they always contain nothing exciting anyway (see above comment about solos tedium)
- Make sure to get at least a fabled familiar from season 7 (do daily familiar wild quest) and feed it up to max level
- Stat you need is potency, more potency, and even more potency
- Infuse infuse infuse
Following this system my main character has 160k potency

Mentioning the currency you earn doing solo missions - you can buy empyral reward crates for the currency (and also status) which pretty much only ever gives you infusers, though from memory I have been unlucky enough to be rewarded?!? with 150 resolve gear a few times

Level up your spells to at least expert. Be fully red & white rune adorned...plus keep temp adorns on all the time. Infuse, infuse, infuse.... like Mermut says.

But what you are probably lacking are the blue fervor runes from the last expac. This is biggest gate to to new and returning players. You can't solo them...you can't get them with a single group. You'll need a mostly full raid for the 55 fervor and a full raid for Soren for 80 fervor.

Many servers have been running older content pick-up raids to get these items for new and returning players. AB has one on Friday evenings and Wednesday afternoons. Look for pug raids on your server or for people recruiting for raids...best way to upgrade gear.

But more than anything else, if you really want improve...join an active guild that plays during your game times. You can only solo so far. You'll need help to get better beyond the initial solo content.

The 55 Fervor rune is from the CD heroics, got by running all 12 of them. The 70 one requires all T1 raid mobs in CD.

To the OP, everything about infusing is true you read above I agree. The major obstacle being the Fervor runes from last xpac. You simply don't have any choice but to do the older content. You can do groups without them but just know you won't have a chance to perform heal or dps well along side someone with 125 more Fervor than you. I would at least try to get the heroic (55 Fervor) version, or you'll be making your fingers bleed trying to keep up with someone pressing half their buttons with more Fervor.

Personally I haven't been able to get a group for those runes so am hoping they become soloable next xpac so I can group again. Good luck!

Run Diaku Corral solo. The gear there will get you a leg up to start heroics.

Open your quest Journal, click the Achievements tab, and look at the various achievements for Blood of Luclin. Several give very nice rewards that you can get solo.

If the OP can find a small raid force doing them...the rune of embers gotten from short hand flawless completion of the Fire Raid Zones will add / stack with heroic blue rune as well.

https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Celestial_Rune_of_Embers_(Heirloom)

If you have solid people, you can two-group the old Chaos descending T1 raids, usually. I would start advertising that you will be running a raid to get {name of rune} on whatever the next Saturday is, and ask people to send you tells if they are interested. Keep a list of their names and their classes. Put out your announcement in General and maybe LFG channels once of twice a day.

Go for the achievements, take out all the outdoor named. Do all the solo daily quests. (the location ones and the item ones) Run Diaku so you unlock darn good gear you can buy in Sanctu Seru. Run those daily quests till you get lucky to get the few really good items that drop as rewards. Go for the peculiar medaillons every week without fault, you'll need all you can get to buy the gear and especially the rune in october. Levelling that gear is a nice bonus, but the focus should be to have 300 medaillons left in october for the rune.

Above all, always do your overseer quests. Lots of decent gear to be had that way. Diaku corral instance will get you the armor, but the overseers can occasionally drop recipes for good runes, weapons, and other stuff that are vital to boost your stat.

Normally you will need about 3400 resolve, 140k pot and preferably over 200m health to start to run heroics. But you'll soon find out that running heroics is also a slow process to get better gear. If you are slightly under, it might not matter if the rest of your group is geared well enough. And at this point, more and more players are definitely geared well enough for those first heroic instances.

Getting the Library fervor rune is definitely a plus. You can get the 55 fervor boost by killing all the heroic named, and that can be done with one good group in under 5 hours. But not that many do that run anymore. The raid T1 achievement gets you a better adornment, sure, but that one definitely still requires a good two group. And also a good knowledge of the mobs involved, the scripts are still brutal, no matter your stats.

If you are in a guild, try to find crafters to get the white, red and blue adornments to boost your stats. The empyral mana is not as tricky to get, if you craft yourself at least. Some other materials are, sadly enough. I'm looking at you, uncommon lunar material.

The solo instance currency is pretty useless, unless to buy the crate. Which pretty much almost always gives you an infuser. But at times, you might get lucky.