Back when SL was young, I was young too and I was playing AO. Now I wanted to give it another try, though I am unsure whether this is a sensible idea.
Mostly I remember from my younger days that AO was an "old school" MMO. Groups required for much of the content, which is absolutely what I love about MMOs (seriously, if I wanted to play alone, I could do so and save 15 bucks a month), but it makes playing in a top heavy MMO, which is what all old MMOs are, rather difficult as a new or returning player. I remember playing a doc, a doc that could keep anyone and anything alive, but couldn't take down even a grey mob by himself. I like extreme characters, with an extreme focus on group play, and back then it worked like a dream. Everyone wanted a doc, we cut through Hecklers like they were made of butter, and in the downtimes I squeezed the plasma out of mopas. Good times.
My fear now is that this won't be the case anymore. Sure, the newbie area is populated to some degree, but it already tends to get rather empty towards the end when you get to walk out to the beach areas, and given that I'm in Europe, my expectations to find groups at whatever level I'll be at when I leave aren't too high.
Which would be less of a problem if it wasn't for what I remember from the TOTW. And here especially the deck and the NCU upgrades that drop in there. They were damn good. So good even that I remember still using them at level 130ish. Despite having a 180-200ish OE equipment otherwise, simply because nothing remotely similar was available. And solo the TOTW... unless something changed significantly, I doubt that you'll get even to the first chamber (at least not if it's still the way it was). And IIRC level 60 meant you get kicked out. So what's the verdict on this today? Do comparable belts/NCUs drop elsewhere, or can they be crafted now? Or do I have to stop getting xp for a few weeks 'til I can somehow assemble the people required? Or should I even succumb to multiboxing just to get a group for the content where you need one on the lower levels?
So what's the situation today? Is it viable to play a group oriented character in lower levels, or am I pretty much required to stick to the 2-3 classes that are able to get stuff done solo? And yes, a guild would be nice, but the problem is that a) there's little I can offer, b) there's nobody playing anymore that I know (my guild, hell, my SERVER doesn't exist anymore!) and c) Why and how should they, who will most likely have a bunch of 200+ chars going, aid me get the gear I need from instances that are level locked?