Pfft - I soloed almost all of EQ. You just had to be the right class and know all of the clerics with rez (later, click sticks).

Of course I still raided with groups and my guild but eq was something you COULD solo all the way to 50 (at the time) and later 60. Although, small groups were sometimes better exp - most groups in early eq were simply horrible. Plus, there really were no ports or anything - so getting a group together could take quite some time.

That all said, I think most people just didn't know how to solo in eq. I really never boxed eq but eq brought us one of multiboxing most infamous characters - SamDaMan. I have respect for Sam's ideas but good lord man.... there are some things that just don't need to be on the Internets. Plus, he was awful at PvP and only marginal at PvE - perhaps he got better, who knows.

Oh yeah - Necros could at one point almost literally let their pets solo for them. I admit though - no cleric or warrior was going to make it from 1 - 50 solo. Just no way.