I can't really notice a difference in exp with a paladin tank and bard in the group. Don't think it really matters till you hit the hell levels in the 50s.

I think most people prefer to solo because of the following reasons;

1. Depending on the class, it is much faster to level.

2. You can kill on your own time, meaning if you're doing housework or studying, you can afk whenever you need and it won't effect a group. (This is great if you're soloing a mob on a 6-min timer)

3. You don't need to split loot = more pp for you.

Don't get me wrong, I love to group, but it's hard to go from getting 1-2% per kill with literally no downtime, to getting 10% in 2 hours of grouping. I usually group when I just want some interaction lol

Frankly, you're wrong thinking soloing is the way to go, especially being a cleric. I will not discuss much further but MMOs are for grouping, and that should be the dominant argument. Besides, if you can't endure the length of exp levels being at oasis-mobs-level, i.e. 15-20ish, you better give up cuz you'll shoot yourself at lvl 54 bigtime if not before that at 35 or whatever. Also, with regards to what you're talking about hybrids, you're wrong as well imo, as snap aggro makes pallys & sks valuable in exp groups, especially at low lvl when wars don't have proc weaps. Things will be less messy and it compensates for the exp penalty the SK/Pal brings. As for rangers, they bring ton of cc & utility to the table.

Honestly, all the hybrid debating stuff apart, if you're sick of slow exp at lvl 18, just play something else I'm afraid it does NOT get better x)

I'm only level 14 at this point, but it's really not a big deal for me. For min-maxers, yeah, the exp penalties are probably a turn off from grouping. For me personally, I enjoy grouping and the dynamic of different classes working together. As long as I'm getting steady exp and we're not wiping, I don't really care. I don't just sit there and stare at my exp bar for every kill. I find that all the sudden a few fun hours have past and I've gotten some decent exp.

Frankly, mmos are designed to play whatever way you want solo or group not just group. If they were made just for groups then soloing would not be possible. Also I think most people here would agree that group xp absolutely SUCKS compared to solo xp. I've played solo and group classes here on p99 and even my group classes I preferred to solo when I really want to grind out some xp. Oh and yes clerics are very capable of soloing on this server.