Hello all, I'm returning from a long time away (8 years or so), having been drawn back by the siren song of years past and the curiosity to see what changes occurred since I left. It's nice to report that (from my perspective) I'm really happy with the state of the game as it is now. You can imagine my excitement in taking my 57 mage (on Luclin-Stromm) and going to the Bazaar to gear him up. The equipment available now (primarily Defiant gear) is incredible compared to what I had on. That was my first pleasant surprise. My second pleasant surprise was the merc system. Because I have three little ones in real life, my play time is often interrupted and broken, so I don't like to frustrate others with my erratic AFK requirements. Having a tank merc, in addition to my pet, makes my playtime feel that much more productive. It's great to have a pocket tank that isn't bothered by me having to go tuck someone in after a bad dream. The third pleasant surprise was the Hotzones. Reading up a bit prior to logging back in, I learned about Franklin Teek and his quests, which highlighted the current hotzones, so I took advantage of them and have spent time in Blackfeather Roost. You can imagine my shock in seeing my xp bar jump 3% at 57 by killing a single light-blue snake, bear or puma. I'm now level 60 with 40 more AAs after only about 10 hours of play (the 500% AAxp bonus is pretty incredible as well). That's a huge difference from my circa 2003 progress. Now that I'm done gushing, I wanted to ask some advice. Being a casual, primarily molo player who's slowly getting back into the swing of the game and all the mechanics, could anyone recommend some hunting areas that would be good for me to go from 61-70? I'd prefer a more open zone that I could pull easily, but I'm open to dungeon zones as well. The Roost has been great, and I may take advantage of it some more for the double xp weekend coming, to get a really good set of baseline AAs, but it would be nice to find some new areas to spend time in. Any advice that you can offer is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and happy adventuring! Duftin Fizzlefoot 60 Mage, Luclin-Stromm
I have always reccommened the Taskmaster series of quests. Use find in Pok to start and they will send you to the right taskmaster for your level. Nice exp some pp and you get to travel Norrath again
Welcome back!!!! the hotzones are some of the best spots for exp, just for the sheer fact that it has the exp bonus while in them. most of them are big a nuff to find some small safe spot for pulling. also mage pets are beasts now just pump some aa's into the defensive aas and use a healer merc and pet tank. im just a bard tho relaying info i have heard from other mages, just to let ya know haha. i came back after a long break lured by the sirens song as well, i found all these things pretty pleasant as well.
The basic rule for solo/molo exp is to kill lots of light blues very fast in older expansion zones. Having said that, some zones are better than others. Always look at the hot zones, but ignore the stated levels and go for lower level zones in general if you find a tough one. The TSS zones are always good exceptions to that rule - CR, Blightfire, Stone Hive, Blackfeather Roost, etc. Other good zones are the Hole, Sebilis, some of the PoP zones, and so on. Also take a look at the Hero's Journey zones.
www.eqtraders.com i hunt with mine all around the dark elf city iksar city the overthere ogger city and drakkin city planing to hunt ice giants. enjoy the game.
Thank you all for the suggestions, they're definitely appreciated. Now that I'm back from taking a fairy princess, a dragon and a 'bad' witch out for candy, it's time to settle in and have some fun of a different type. Happy Halloween all!
