Destiny of Velious provides many options for solo and duo players wishing to gear up without stepping into a heroic dungeon.

• For starters, the Othmir and Snowfang quest lines reward gear that was unheard of except for raiders in Sentinel’s Fate.

• Public Quests offer sets of gear, weapons, and more, with or without joining a group or raid provided enough players are present and successful.

• A largely unknown solo/duo dungeon Crystalline Breaks provides additional gear up options.

• And finally today sees the introduction of a Velious Solo Shard Quest to fill out player options for gearing up without a full group.

You’ll remember that one of the biggest complaints about the Rise of Kunark expansion is that combat XP was so minimal that hours spent in a dungeon barely budged the adventure level meter. The only means to level was to Solo.

In an ironic twist, players are reporting that it is not possible to level from 80 to 90 entirely by soloing in Sentinel’s Fate.

At level 86 or 87 with mastercrafted or T1/T2 gear, the first wing of the Hole should be no problem for 2-3 casual players. And you’ll earn enough XP to reach 90 in just a few hours of play.

If you are a questaholic, then take a look at using a Chronomage to adjust your level to 70 and do the ~50 new quests in Tenebrous Tangle, Barren Sky, and Bonemire. That, plus some of the easier quests in The Hole (which should be soloable at level 88-89) should get you to 90. I do understand some folks play EQ2 entirely as a solo game (I personally feel there are much better solo games out there, but I digress).

We feel that no one gameplay style should be the “only” way to level, so this is worthy of addressing. Hopefully it won’t take 2 years to fix.