Let me begin with where I stand now. I have taken 3 characters to their 20s, I have read essentially every help file(yes, a lot), read a ton of PBFs, memorized all the FAQs on Dikuclan, and read a great deal of the forums here and on Dioxide's. In WoW I am a Sunwell raid leader (highest end raiding for non wow players), just to suggest that I am not a scrub gamer. Anyway---

To start, is there any other very in depth site other than the aforementioned dikuclan and dioxide's? It appears that a lot of the info that would greatly increase my ability to break into the game is declared off limits, or else is ancient and outdated.

This game is clearly tailored to group play, which is fine, despite my constantly seeing complaints about diminished player base, but I find that if I get into a great group I can fly up in ranks, but I am left with a lot of my skills very low, especially defenses if I am not tanking, which leaves me vulnerable in pvp, but if I try to level solo, it becomes not only incredibly slow, but also very dangerous as a newb. I greatly prefer playing solo, especially as an evil character, though I have been sticking to neutrals to learn the game. Any suggestions for the would be soloist? I read somewhere theres a guide to soloing as a mage, but I could not find it anywhere and I imagine it was deleted/put off limits etc.

On roles-
I have a lot of great ideas, but I realize most of them cannot be put into play to any degree until I am more experienced, but I am curious what the immortals prefer when it comes to style. Are bullet points preferred or more story type? The only exp awarded role I got was for a story type, but I am not sure thats any indication, since many of my other roles were extremely long, or the char was short lived. As well, it seems that it would be more beneficial to write my role around mid ranks rather than at level 1 because getting the I think 3k exp and some stat bonuses would have been far better when mobs are more dangerous/more exp to level etc.

I could not find the answer to this anywhere: are you supposed to always get a stat % up when you level? I imagine not, but I am wondering if I am just extremely unlucky and have it try to boost stats in which I have only 1%, making me lose it. As well, would there be anything to stop someone from say rolling a char and getting early %s in Sing or something every level, or does it prevent that somehow?

In reading about, and things people say about them, it seems to me that cabals have a giant "no newbs allowed!" sign on them, which is fine, I am just curious if this is indeed true, because it seems it would be an excellent source of information otherwise.

As well, I had considered rolling a paladin because it seems interesting to me, and I believe I could role play one effectively, but while it is made clear that empowerment classes arent for newbs, is it supposed to be something you can only dream of after playing for years so you dont get smited by the immortal you wish to pledge to? With shrines being forbidden info, is religion info also forbidden, or is it only what is written about on wizlist?

Is observation exp awarded only for specifically looking at things and mobs, or would I get the obs exp for killing said mob same as if I looked at him? As well, how much different would Warrior X be from Warrior Y with all other things the same except Warrior X went through the tedium of running all over the world at every level looking at things? This is to say, how valuable is it, would Warrior X demolish Warrior Y with his extra edges?

I am aware of the multi thread thing about goodies killing neutrals, but how enforced is it? There is a ton of opinion thrown around, but I did not see anything nailed down. Should my elf expect to sprout horns for killing Tarus for his bracers?

The aspect of spheres seems vague in respect to enforcement. Would it be considered bad RP for a character with sphere Knowledge to not practice a skill? I have wanted to go for this sphere for all my learning chars, but have been afraid of being smited for not learning skills like Mimic or Shell of the Tortoise.

Is it illegal to post an AIM?