[Phinigel] House of Thule level 80 hotzones not active?

I thought level 80 hotzones are supposed to be active when House of Thule unlocked on a server?

Currently when you hail Franklin Teek he gives you the level 80 link, like they are supposed to be active, but when you click it he says:
"I have nothing for you at this time."

I haven't went to the zones to see if one of them is giving hotzone exp, but I'm guessing they aren't.

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/level-80-teek-quest-on-phini.257953/

The hot zone won’t be a house of Thule zone btw, it will be one of a selection of level 80 zones (you can find a list on zam)

Yeah, I'm wondering about the 80 hot zone as well.

Our group of 2 returning players would like to get caught up to 85 to begin HoT era content. The current 75 Hot-zone isn't really cutting it at 71 anymore as my team (Shadow Knight, Wizard, Shaman, and Monk) are not getting 2% per kill which is hurting our level per hour!

Additionally, I have a question around hot zones, if anyone would be so kind to answer.

(Lets use these as a sample,)

20 - Upper Guk
20 - South Karana
20 - Paludal Caverns

Are all 3 hot zones active or is it just the zone where Franklin Teek's daily quest request that you visit?

Where teek sends you.

That kind of stinks, not all 'hot zones' are good zones to kill in.

A message to the devs... To be honest with you, Phinigel is in a really good place right now and proper hot zone love would help entice good folks back to the server. Especially if you make it easier to 'catch up' to current era content.

It's always been that way. Some hotzones suck, even with the bonus. If you find the best zones to xp in, you'll do fine with or without hotzone bonuses. That said, 71+ is (and always has been) slower than 1-70, and expecting the same rate of leveling is not realistic.

Yeah, those levels really kinda suck.

But for bullsnooze: if you want to catch up to max level you’re gonna have to prepare for a marathon. If jewel of a tiki is up as the 75 HZ, that place is perfect to push to at least high 70’s. It’s the best HZ at your level. The barren sea is the worst. That zone sucks, don’t do it.

I also suggest once you get to 80, hit OMMs. Those things will gear you guys up pretty quick once you’ve learned them, and you’ll need the gear to progress, because at that point it’s as much about gear and AAs as it is about levels.

@Machentoo - Yeah, it’s a pita from 70-85, but with a little love I think it could be much better – especially utilizing the ‘hot zone’ mechanic on Phinigel since expansion releases are somewhat short.

@Cydonia, I'm basically in a group reconfiguration phase with a bit of an ace up my sleeve. My tank is in his early 80s and decently geared for his level. My new group’s configuration is designed to kill streams of NPCs efficiently. Now that I'm thinking about it, the group started in Jewel around 65ish, which was fantastic, but even then, we ran out of things to kill and the XP per hour slowed to a crawl. We found Valdeholm/FrostyCrypts to be much better slaughtering the near endless amount of giants, but now at 71 its about 1% per kill. In hindsight, it's definitely a nice problem to have, but frustrating at the same time because Hot Zones exist, they're just not prime areas at the top end. We need the enemy density of FrostCrypt with the XP rate of Jewel. Lol.

@Devs, *Hint Hint* Please make Loping Planes the 80 hot zone. Also, would it be too much to ask for progression specific hot zones and consider keeping 3 static hot zones per level range?

If you’re running out of mobs in jewel of atiki it means either you’ve got competition in the zone or you’re doing it wrong.

I used to burn lessons in that zone with a level 85 OMM geared (at the time) sk shaman bard 3 box, with 3 melee Mercs and if no one else was in the zone I couldn’t run out of mobs. You basically start outside (to be clear here, don’t enter the pyramids, they will slow you down, just clear round the outside of each, each one has at least 12 mobs around it) one of the pyramids, clear round it, then move to the next, clear it, till all 4 are cleared, then there’s an area on top of a cliff with about 20 or so animal spawns, clear that, then if the first pyramid hasent respawned you can clear the central area of the zone which has less dense spacing of mobs, then go back to first pyramid and rinse and repeat.

I did this at bard speed, pulling 2-4 mobs at a time and killing in about 10-15 seconds per mob.

You can’t run out of mobs here.

double post, please ignore

Ahh, I see. You're far more mobile.

If I have my mind map correct, we camp around the 3 pyramid. I'll run around and grab all Efreetis and we AoE them down (2 Wizards). Then we're sitting around waiting for them all to spawn again. I guess I could grab stuff from the center of the zone too...

The problem is if anyone shows up, we gotta share.

The area with the animals is absolutely a prime AE spot, it’s the most densely packed spot in the zone, if you’re not killing there you’re missing a trick. You can also AE the lone pyramid. Either way, if you’re clearing those spots and waiting for respawn you’re still gonna be getting a better rate of exp per hour than most other doable areas at those levels.

After trying this yesterday, I can confirm that I definitely need the 80 hot-zone with my particular group.

We actually find that Fortress Mechanotus, while much harder has a better rate of XP for the full group. Its 1% per kill in the Fort versus 1% per 4-5 in Jewel. Kill speed is long by about 20 seconds more in the Fort.

OMG, our prayers have been answered!! 80 Hot Zones are active!! Thank you so much devs!!!

Devs had nothing to do with it, server crash last night did it.