A mediocre team of 5 people will get to MQ far faster than even the best equipped solo player. The game has moved drastically in a team-oriented playstyle now, with the removal of Arena, the changing of how one can now enter the town/catacombs at will, and the addition of abilities. These are things to take into consideration. Not trying to down-play solo, but it is quite different and often times more difficult than the old ways of soloing Arena.
Mage is an ok choice, however I would prefer to use a heavy healer, such as a Guardian. You can use some of his gear on Samurai should you pass, and all of it on Paladin. Mage gear won't help you much on Samurai nor Paladin, which is why I would suggest Guardian.
Get some EE clubs, some EE armors, and some Heal charms. If you can manage to get some sexy casting mods on the weapon/armor such as Mana, Heal Mastery or Intelligence you would be doing well. You can also get a heal-boosting main charm, something with high Heal Mastery and perhaps Mana or Int or even Crit/Str to help melee damage. With this setup, you can solo doing melee damage, as well as heal yourself quite nicely. If/When you pass to Samurai, you can pass the armor and charms onto him, and find new weapons. Then when you pass to Paladin, he can use all your Guard's gear (as well as stuff for Samurai)
Just my 2 cents. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat more about the current game, or if you need advice. Not looking for FG, just trying to help a stranger.
e: The best way to get godly items would be (in my opinion) playing in groups and looking for Evil Presences as well as trying to hit the No Maze No More objective. Pinch of Evil and Face the Evil can also give you some goodies. Items spawn more frequently with more people in the group, and we have been told that the group's magic luck is increased with the more that join. There have been some nice items found soloing, but far far more found in groups.
You could also just buy them...
This post was edited by jlhromeo on Jun 9 2011 10:27am