Celtic Heroes

Is is possible to match solo leveling with group leveling at level 165?

Depends. Heres how i think its like.
Good group best
good soloer = decent group
decent soloer = bad group
Bad soloer worst

A good group can always do better then a good soloer because of the group % bonus, and if you have aoe attacks you can fight many enemies at once. Be careful not to overgroup though.

i have found that solo leveling with a druid out of group works best for me

My experiences with leveling a mage were that going solo is much faster than a group. It is also way more expensive if you do it effectively. If you can afford the health and energy sigils, combos and pots then that is the way to go. Otherwise, just get in a group. A mage with a good pierce lure is always welcomed to a group.

Solo leveling as a mage can be expensive, yes. When i solo i need to have heroic defense and armour lixs, otherwise i would die too fast. Using a shield would cost me focus, which cost me damage.

I don't know, I'm at 125 and solo leveling has become very tedious and I'm using way more lixes per level then usual. I can barely bring myself to level for 15 minutes now.

I just hit the low 100s this week and finally purchased my mount. My next purchase is probably an offhand. Does everyone go for the focus from the book or do you use shields at all for the armor?

I have both the focus offhand and the shield. I run a low health high dmg build so I prefer the shield while leveling the added armor is,also nice. I only use the focus for boss fights.