Potions, Food, and Sprint are your friends. All of my armor and weapons are quest rewards or drops so this isn't being twinked out or using the best of the best. I generally swing by the potion and food merchant and buy 20 stamina and 20 health pots and it keeps me self sustaining for a few hours. I give the class a huge thumbs up for solo playability.

Group:

Groups are where we really shine. We have a variety of buffs, commands, auras, and procs that make us a very desired and wanted class in groups and instances. We get a mysterious ability called Furious Inspiration that as far as I can tell procs when our group mates get hit. It stacks up to 10 times and when it is fully applied will proc in-combat resses on fallen members, increase the damage of all in our group, and just make us really popular, sorta like the prom king (or queen if your a girl).

We get stances, Normal, Frenzy, and Defensive.

Normal: Well it is exactly that. There are no pros or cons to this stance. Default stance.

Frenzy: Our offensive stance. Adds 150% damage but we take 300% more. You do not, I repeat, do not want to be in this stance while tanking.

Defensive: Our tanking stance. Lowers incoming damage but slowly drains stamina while in it and decreases out offensive power.

I was originally disappointed with Defensive stance in Beta and considered the only viable stance to be that of Frenzy, but find myself staying in Defensive more and more often, especially solo now. (You were right Renuo I'm eating my words in release) I don't really notice the stamina drain from the stance and my damage input/output in Defensive is worth it atm over the input/output from Frenzy stance right now. Maybe when I take the Frenzy feats it will be more worthwhile but in solo and pvp Defensive is very viable, plus there are defensive feats which may offset the lower dps of being in Defensive Stance.

Soldier Skills:

We get Charge at level 20. Charge is an ability that uses out Stamina but propels us forward to a target and increases the damage of our next attack. Charge is wonky right now I feel. Sometimes I'll get teleported 40 or 50 yards away, or charge through players, get stuck in trees or rocks, or just get a message saying you can't charge your current target. It may be that I grew used to Charge from World of Warcraft, but currently if there is anything in your way, or if there is an elevation change between you and your target you're going to more then likely not charge. Not too sure why you'll get teleported. I've heard tell that it is because you queue an attack before you charge. That may very well be the case, but I've stopped queuing attacks and still get it on occasion.