Well, we were given Reim tokens that initially I was planning on not using, but finding out there were unlocks for the wounded wear gear my empath has I decided to give it a shot. Started with my Voln Cleric, thinking he'd have the best shot at success, boy was I wrong. He died in about 3 minutes(I think to a 917 cast on him while prone due to a CMAN in long RT). Wasted an hour getting him there and another long period of time healing/spelling back up. Eventually I was able to take him in for short bursts of time, but I spent a total of nearly 5 hours ending up with less than 300 scrip. I switched over to my monk, who of all the characters I tried had the most success. He was less prone to all the stupid round time locking situations that develop. And I hunt very cautiously, try and only have 1 mob in the room at a time. Switched to warrior and had less luck than the monk, but it was doable so long as he was totally spelled up. Even then he had a couple instances where it was only luck he did not die, also stuck in 20 second stacking RT locks. Finally thinking my Paladin would have the best luck of all, I took him in, Stun/e-waved/foot stomped stacking RT of over 20 seconds, dead after collecting 45 script. Levels of my characters were Cleric 61, Monk 37, Warrior 42, and Paladin 40. This is simply not fun. Sorry, but as much as I want the unlocks (just the T2 ones mind you, it'd take me 2000 years to get the 200K needed for a T3!), I'll not be back.

Rhodrimawr

"stuck in 20 second stacking RT locks. Finally thinking my Paladin would have the best luck of all, I took him in, Stun/e-waved/foot stomped stacking RT of over 20 seconds" -- RhoDrimawr

This is essentially my biggest complaint, as you will see by some very minimal reading back through previous posts. With four ranks in the CMan that they're doing and a fully maxed/5 ranks of Cunning Defense, the creatures that I'm facing in there still have a 60% chance of success to hit me.
(And that's with the CMans where you actually get to see the roll; the shouts and yelps and growls are completely invisible, so no way to tell the likelihood.)

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The GOOD news is that you usually only have to deal with a single creature at a time: they are set to spawn roughly every 30 seconds, and they get delivered straight to you (unlike a normal hunting area where you may need to move around to find them).

The BAD news is that if you approach it like a normal hunting area, you may very well trigger a little mini-swarm (usually 3-4 creatures, but I've seen as few as 2 and as many as 5). And like the boss-creatures at each stage, when that happens it gives you Now With FREE RoundTime, Just For You! So you don't even get the opportunity to "do unto them" before they get a chance to do unto you.
The mitigating news is that if you do not move around... that doesn't really happen.

So if you walk in, find your spot, and camp there, the creatures will be delivered to you every half-minute or so, and you can do your thing. Once the first one is dead, if you're a hiding Ambusher you can go ahead and hide in advance of the next one showing up. Or you can rub your blue crystal in advance of the next one showing up. Or you can <do whatever your preferred set-up preparation is> in advance of the next one showing up.

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After my disastrous first couple of solo visits--with results very similar to what you describe--I had the good fortune to have someone who knew a lot about the area take me through from front gate to final combat, and my subsequent visits have been a LOT more successful.
I also tend to solo, like you, and there are times when I just go sit in one of the Nexus rooms and let my head clear/regain mana/re-cast my worn defenses.
Or I'll get consecutive creature actions doing a HeadButt, BAM! that's two wounds, no more casting... jump into the Nexus and go get healed, then come back.

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Now that rings work on "everything west of the mountains"... I just keep a ring set to where the old man is outside, right at the base of the chains. Even if I'm as far away as the Landing or Solhaven, boom, that's one quick ring-wear away from 2 hours of undead killing.

Thanks for the feedback and advice, much appreciated. I just don't like hunting with groups myself so maybe this is just an area that is not for me, no problem. If I do return, I'll take my voln monk, he did make it as far as the palace. Honestly I think my feedback to SIMU is pointed towards you're losing revenue by making this a group hunting area primarily. This is why I'd avoided it in the first place. I'd come here much more frequently just for the possible gear if it were more solo friendly. With that said, your advice Krakii is always sound, I did take the area on like a normal hunting area and was frequently quickly overwhelmed. Even when the Innkeeper or other special mobs were in a room alone, they'd be joined way before I could take him out by 3-4 other mobs, no chance then. The camping option may be worth trying again. Thanks again and be safe out there. :)

Any time I blast over 200hp off a creature with a single Disruption I start looking and doing some quick math, and the last time I paid any attention to one of the lead-up area Bosses it was well over a thousand points. (I've got the Bard in the >=91st level/top range.)
So, "yes", you are quite likely to still be working on one of them by the time your 30s timer kicks out another little spud.
Also, those area Bosses always generate with at least one follower spud. I kind of think that it's possible for there to be more, but I'm not 100% on my recollection. (It's been a couple of weeks since I logged in to play, and maybe a week before that since I did Reim... and of course, you only see six [6] of those guys in the course of a run.)
However, if one of them is churning out some 20s RT from shouting, it is absolutely easy to get more beasties stacked up around you.

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Unless you're a Mage with Haste, or in a group with a Bard running Tonis, you're pretty much stuck on the roundtimes, though. What I tend to do with the Bard is to go in with Tonis running, but only move around while it's up. I'll walk over to be near the vortex room, and then when Tonis' duration runs out... I just stand there. If I need mana or to clear my head, I'll take the chance of moving (that great long distance of "one room away") and just go park it there while I refresh my cup of coffee or whatever. Then before I leave the safe room, I put Tonis back up again for the walkaround.

I may do that with my monk, he seemed to have the most success, I really do not mean my criticism to reflect on the obvious amazing effort that went into designing the area and mechanics behind it. If I did have regular friends I'd probably use it frequently, I just don't have the patience for group hunting. I think several responses here have given me some good tips (just a note, I definitely went in with every spell available on each character that tried with much better than off the shelf gear). I agree with one of the more recent posts that I tend to die a lot in a new area, but usually after a few days I can pick it up and have zero deaths, but that just was not the case here. I think my biggest mistake in all attempts was treating Reim like a normal hunting area. Wandering around a lot to explore and find mobs. I don't usually camp when I hunt, but apparently that's the best way here so I'll give that a shot in the near future. Thanks for all you add to the game Rester, really it's greatly appreciated.

Rhodrimawr