Good morning,
I know that in Wild's End it is difficult to find groups because most people are over in Thronefast (TF) or Avendyr's Pass (AVP) (at least on my server, Blood Moon). The first thing I would suggest is getting a port to that area, as it is more populated. The second thing is what is the population of your server? If it is small, there are server merges in the works. I am not suggesting to re-roll a character on a more populated server, as these mergers and such are slated for sometime soon. Third, find a good guild that supports your play time. There are many out there, but again, most people are in TF or AVP in my experience.
I can understand the frustration, as I play a rogue which is group dependent, but Pantheon is designed to be a group game. Druid is a great class, and I have heard of, and seen, druids soloing through at least the mid teens. I am not in VR's Discord for Pantheon, but I would imagine there is a section there for druids that you can ask question about spell rotations, healing, and such.
I'd hate to see someone who enjoys MMORPGs leave when they love playing this type of game style. Hopefully you find a good way to enjoy the game.
I would just say that this is still in development and wild's end is rough because it recently came out (compared to TF being heavily played). It will get better, but for now, I wouldn't let that dissuade you from playing EQ type games. I would recommend trying an Ogre or Human Druid that currently start in Thronefast, which is way easier to level solo (in my opinion) if that is what you desire.
I've spent a lot of time, on several squishy characters at the Geckos and don't understand where your finding wandering mobs or groups of Geckos. the only "groups" of them are when I pull 2 and run/drag those through more, in otherwards a self-created group of them. There is one place there are several together that are a bit hard to break apart but can be done.
And I've never seen anything "wandering' through this area.
Leveled up my Ranger and my (Known as a glass cannon) Wizard off of Geckos, I have a Druid over there however it's not high enough to do the Geckos yet, but I've found it as much if not more capable as the wizard.
De-leveled 37 times?! you're doing it wrong.
I had the same experience as you Yrrej. I had been hooked with the NWN MMO on AOL, was reeled in by UO and landed on the deck with EQ (barbarian shaman.)
I would agree with Sturmere and Zorkon. My halfling rogue couldn't get groups, and soloing was getting difficult after 6. I caught a port Thronefast, leveled a little in groups, and returned at 8 to finish my quests/adventuring.
My experience as a shaman was that some content was a breeze, and other was too much. You shouldn't have died 37 times, much less deleveled that often. You need to find a different approach, or different content, and return to the geckos later. My wizard had no issue with mountain goblins at ten, while my shaman had to wait till twelve.
Similarly, my shaman had no difficulty with thicket cats at twelve, while my wizard died regularly. He went back and getting a level in groups in Thronefast, and now he can handle the cats with little issue.
Consider looking for, advertising for, a Duo. Right off the bat, I would say any of the tanks would love to join you. A rogue would be able to help with adds, and can fight face-to-face well enough, with a healer. Ranger is not impossible, either. Summoner with a tank pet that you heal. And so forth.
Finally, the classes here play differently than in EQ. Experiment with how the Druid might work here. Necros are more of a support class, for example. Maybe the old snare three hill giants, DoT and med won't work in Pantheon, but something will!