Sorry I did not reply sooner, Gomo, but our play times are very incompatable. I am off and in bed normally by 7PM server time (the server is PST right?).
But I seen to be doing just fine without the instances. Much as I would like to finish the many quest lines that end in dungeons I have been dropping those quests as they turn white on me. I am not big on taking tons of time looking for the 'best' gear for each level since no matter what you get it will be replaced in a few levels so why kill yourself looking for the best? Every now and then I will get a nice blue drop that I can use or have dropped gold on a nice blue weapon that I feel is reasonably priced (almost never spend gold on blue armor - just not worth it for a few extra armor points or a point or two in stats in my opinion) but normally I just use what I find or green auction hall items or things I have made by crafting (LoL Tag is still wearing his Green Iron Halberk from level 25 or so and he is currently 48!).
My biggest problem seems to be the time it takes to get a dungeon romp together and all the drama of discussions of what class to take and that kind of rubbish. My view is the best group are the first 4 characters to answer the call. Having a healer class is really nice but I will try anything with an adventurous group. So in the 30 minutes or so it takes to get a group together (on a good night) I could get another quarter of a level out in the wilds soloing monsters and questing.
Ah well, perhaps I will come back and solo those quest lines I dropped later in life.