Soloing vs. grouping, once and for all

[Noselacri]

I've been wondering about group vs. solo exp. At this point in time during Live, I exclusively played classes that had to group, so I don't have a distinctive memory of the difference. What I certainly don't remember was constantly hearing that soloing was vastly better exp than grouping, nor finding a magician in every conceivable solo spot in the entire game, but this is clearly the case here. I can level significantly faster solo than I can in groups, and that's as an enchanter or shaman, not even the true solo-exp kings.

The impact this has on gameplay on this server is extremely obvious, and if this was the case in nineteen ninety-nine, I'll resign myself to the apparent fact that this is how it always worked and that people were just more willing to group back then.

So, to those of you who soloed extensively eleven years ago, was solo exp twice as good back then as well?