This is the third or fourth time that I've seen someone claim that SOE made "most" of the mobs into ^^^ encounters. I've made it up to Enchanted Lands/Zek at this point, and I don't see how they're making this claim.
Antonica: Most mobs are solo-oriented, being mostly one down arrow, with some no-arrow, some single-up-arrow, and some groups with varying degrees of arrows - intended for soloists and duo teams. There are a few areas - most notably Archer's Woods, Darkpaw Woods, the Forbidden Isle, and the Ruins of Caltorsis - that are populated mostly or completely by Heroic mobs, but these aren't areas that you're required to go for anything other than Heroic quests (the exception being some quests that require you to go into Archer's Woods, which is safe during the day).
Commonlands: Again, most mobs are solo-oriented, being mostly one down arrow, with some no-arrow, some single-up-arrow, and some groups with varying degrees of arrows - intended for soloists and duo teams. There are even fewer areas here than in Antonica that are populated mostly or completely by Heroic mobs - The Ruins of Val'Marr, the Captain's Deck, Zarvonn's Tower, and a few troops of Heroic orcs patrol the Bloodskull area in the Southeast corner. Aside from that, most of the Heroics are either occasional spawns (like Gustfeather), or patrol very small areas or are even totally stationary.
When you get into the Tier 3 lands, things change a bit - Nektulos Forest, in particular, is no place for the unwary. Nektulos and Thundering Steppes are really not very different in terms of hazard, but Nektulos feels more ominous, and the line-of-sight is much more limited than in TS. While most players are going to have their draw distances set lower than the trees are likely to block LOS, the psychological component is there. While the ^^^ Heroic mobs in the zone are limited to a few very specific areas, there are lots of areas with groups of linked, aggressive monsters that are just too much for a single adventurer to handle - the path from D'Abth Bridge to Port Naythex has these groups on both sides of the road, and they often wander onto the road. However, even this is not a tremendous obstacle - the wise soloing adventurer avoids the more dangerous areas, and fights in the numerous other areas where there are solo-pullable mobs, especially the entire Southeast end of the map.
Any new zone feels dangerous - you're encountering new mobs (or tougher versions of old mobs). You don't know where the mobs are, or where you're likely to draw aggro, so everything feels oppressive. When I first went to Zek, the first time I got into a bad situation, I ran away - and ran straight into another mob. Getting away from him, I ran into the aggro range of another mob. This isn't uncommon when you're unfamiliar with a new zone.
The game isn't unfriendly to solo players, athough some zones are (Fallen Gate, Stormhold, Nektropos Castle, Deathfist Citadel, Lavastorm) - these zones are intended to be a challenge (not a dull grind) for full groups of competent groups that know how to work together. Someone who hasn't learned (and hasn't gotten the hint from having almost all of the quests to these places be labeled as Heroic) is in for a huge surprise when they get in. I noticed that the OP was specifically complaining about Stormhold and Fallen Gate, zones that were never intended as a soloing or duoing XP ground. While all of these places do have a tiny amount of soloing content near the entrance of the zone, these are not solo-friendly places, and soloists should just forget even going there - or at the very least, postpone your trip until everything there is deep green or gray.