Yeah soloing at that level isn't that productive. I recommend either finding a group (oasis, befallen, upper guk are good candidates) or begging for buffs in EC and then soloing in WC.
Dual Wield at 17 and Double Attack at 20 are a big increase in power - you should be able to take down dark blue mobs solo without much of a problem. I did 20-25 in the Overthere and 25-35 in Sol A.
You also get MUCH more powerful at level 30 because of Shield of Thistles. It's only 6 per hit, but the difference is night and day. You kill much faster and take less damage because of that. You also get Stinging Swarm which means you can kill anything which can be rooted. It's not that efficient for leveling but it is nice if you run into a rare spawn which you can't melee but you can land spells on.
30 is probably the most powerful I have been soloing. I'm 44 now so mobs are much tougher but I can still melee down the weaker dark blue mobs and kill anything rootable if i'm patient. 39 doesn't give you much for combat, but it does let you (finally) sow and gives you a decent heal.
Next level I'm looking forward to is 46 so I can get infinite arrows from Tolan's Bracer for root and shoot.
Grouping is pretty much always faster, but it is nice to be able to solo in a pinch. Starting your own groups is the way to go. Rangers duo very well with pretty much every class except Wizard, so find a partner and start killing and add to the group as LFG people show up.
|