So I just hit 80, and saw that there is some decent void shard armor available.
I chrono'ed to 50, and went to Commonlands to try some of the Befallen Void Shard quests. The first one wasn't too bad, died twice, but that was mainly about learning the zone. The next one, I pulled the one visible mob near the entrance, and literally 16-20 more linked mobs showed up. Tried another, and it was similarly out of my league.
So my question is, are these Void Shard quests only intended for groups, or are they supposed to be soloable (though admittedly difficult)? I haven't gotten AoD yet, so haven't tried with a merc, but that's something I can look into.
Thanks,
Tat