Many 2^ and higher can outrun you even with maximum speed
The current max ms bonus that I'm aware of and have is +7% being 2 runners cuffs for 1 ms each and a pair of Nomad Boots for 5ms & 5 cms. Some of these mobs STILL outrun you with LotL 15% ooc bonus, totaling 122% ms.
3^ spiders and wolves are no joke, avoid at all costs. 2^ or 3^ anything that is fast (bear, pig, wolf, spider, stag) and aggressive are all dangerous even when gray. I've been laid out by a 2^ NNH wolf at level 25 lol.... Not necessarily because of the wolf alone, but because of everything else that would catch up if I stopped to fight it + it could outrun me and take chunks out of my rear at max speed. Humanoids sprinting at you in a mob + hamstring is dangerous too, especially from multiple angles.
It does help to have increased movespeed for solo kiting and in general + a ranged weapon is absolutely required (so DEF can't solo well, never playing DEF again!! unless guaranteed to have a party or some changes are made), any STR or SUP is ok. Warden class ms bonus was removed due to the combat stance tie or fear of too much ms + Lay can't be used in combat (to avoid combat or flee, sure, also nifty for legwork between resource nodes, but not useful in combat). Warden Aid is nice for recovering out of combat, but really you shouldnt get hit at all if doing it right. Potions are a big help too for recovering after a fight from that one time you get beat on. Duelist with its baked in +10% cms (5 SUP and 5 Spec class when max lvl) and 0% execution ms penalty on Triage are a good kiting setup + can use the equipment above to be those extra microns better. If you can reach 100% cms penalty negation, you are good to go! Would have to give up the Runner's Cuffs to have a chance at 100 cms.
In short, ranged weapon + speed does well at kiting and soloing things that you can maintain gap against. DEF is terrible at this, forced to play shin-kicking matches only.
It's no secret, I love kiting and speed + the ability to solo should the need arise (happens often with small player base and being high level). What I love more is a full SUP/STR 'kite party'. I can manage agro using heavy attacks + initial pull, then drop agro and send the target to a teammate with fading strike to buy some gap-time, send some more heavy attacks to pull agro again, run it around, mob is dead without really harming anyone. Meanwhile, everyone in the group is flat out DPS'ing (no tank, no tanking, no healing required, just damage skills) with all of their stamina. If anything goes wrong like additional agro, wrap them into the pull and keep on going or swap to choppers and swing away, will survive long enough + have heals. Had a lot of fun juggling several targets in the 'Thanks but no Tanks' party last night
I like that you can play the game in unconventional ways. I hope that doesn't change to a boring, obligatory 'must have class XYZ and fight this way' party style.
PS - After goofing off with Alice last night, I did find out that running backwards does have a speed penalty. I always thought it didn't and no one said otherwise when I talked about it, but that's just because its only a small penalty dropping you down to 80% or so and I'm often doing a strafe-back kite not just a back peddle. So mastering the 180 flick shots and snap-backs will help for kiting. Every ounce matters!