Character Development/Soloability

[Zakkum]

I have been playing POTCO for about a week now and have my first pirate to notoriety level 19. I am having a heck of a time soloing quests now. I think it might be because I tried to master to many things at once, but I also entertained the possibility that it could just be the way the game progresses in difficulty.

I generally do not like to play with other people when I am doing missions with the exception of a few people I will pick up as friends here and there. I have even greater trouble here with finding people I would work with because it seems most of the people I run into just want to fire their cannons at everything that moves or blind-invite you to their guild, crew, and friends list and even fewer of those people talk at all.

I'd rather pay the monthly fee for this game than $50 and 14.99 a month for pirates of the burning sea so I'm trying to make this work.

Currently my pirate has:

level 8 cannons
level 13 sailing
level 9 swords
level 5 pistol
level 13 Voodoo
level 7 dagger

My thoughts were that it would be better to try to raise everything and maximize the number of hps I have, but now I am having trouble even handling level 17 skeleton brigands or anything else when there is more than one (which is most of the time).

Any hints on how to make this game more solo friendly? I know you have to grind out more of the game when you don't group, but until I find people I trust and enjoy playing with, this is what I need to do before I grow bored and just quit.