Leveling Guide - An Outline [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

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Nitanyspirit

06-07-2006, 05:40 PM

<DIV> I originally posted this in the Brigand Forums, but since it's so rarely looked at by non-brigands, I figured this might help! Disclaimer*** Solo means soloable by brigands... your personal soloability may vary based on skill, equipment, and class.... Also the suggested equipment is for Scout Classes... Viewer discretion is advised. I actually suggest grouping for almost everyone, the rewards tend to be better... it is an MMO and all. I've seen the question of "Where do I go when?" and I would love to consolidate a list of places (Solo / Grouped). This is a compilation of what I've done thus far, and the responses from the community. 1-10 1-8: (SOLO) Isle of the Overlord 7-12: (SOLO) Sunken City 9-13: (GROUP) The Ruins 10-20 13-20 (GROUP) Wailing Caverns, Fallen Gate 14-19: (SOLO) East Commonlands, this is a very good time to grind writs if you're interested in status, the 15-19 writs include about 9 or so that are all in a very clustered area in the south central part of the commonlands, and you can get several that target the same groups of mobs. 20-30 20-23: (SOLO) Trash in Nek, Writs!!! Freeport writs are for mobs that are right near the entrance from the commonlands. 20-28 (GROUP) Giants in TS, general grind (Giant language is a prerequisite to getting the quest for the polished granite tomahawk $$) 24-33: (GROUP) Ruins of Varsoon, this is a very good zone in general. I got 5 masters in 9 levels grouping here, Keep an eye out for the fragmented carapace bracers off the spider queen, the chain chestpiece of "undeath" from the h'gath in the basement, the helm of the discernable palate from the taster. 27-33: (SOLO): Zek - A good bit of the quests here are solo, easy, and I don't mind grinding. 27-30: (SOLO) Trash in Thundering Steppes 30-40 31-37 (SOLO) Trash in Enchanted Lands 34-41: (GROUP) Runnyeye, Again... Great zone! 3 masters so far... Keep an eye out for the Tribal Legsavers of the Devout (Riklin), Drina's Fillet Knife (Drina), Runnyeye Motivator (Taskmaster methinks), The Chain No-Trade chestpiece off of Overlord and there's plenty more to be had that I havn't seen! Mud Caked Loincloth and the Collar of the Obedient are quests here too! 38-45 (GROUP) Obelisk of Lost Souls (Ferrott / Enchanted Lands Entrances) 40-50 35-50 (SOLO & GROUP) Ferrott Evil Encampment quests. 36-47 (SOLO for the lower levels / GROUP) Rivervale 41-50 (GROUP) Cazic Thule: SO far I've only done grinding ^^^'s... but the exp is very good, the challenge is there, and it's fun! 44-50 (SOLO/GROUP) Everfrost 42-45 (GROUP) Drafling Tower 42-52 (SOLO/GROUP) Lavastorm, a few of the epics will still be green/blue in the mid 50's 50-60 52-56 (SOLO) Tenebrous Tangle - Basket quests 53-60 (GROUP, 58+ SOLO) Tenebrous Tangle - Froglok restocking / refilling quests. 50-59 (GROUP) DoF Instances: Vault of Dust, Hidden Cache, Living Tombs, Scornfeather Roost, Ancient Tables, Shimmering Citadel, Cazel's Mesa, Silent City (non-epic part), Poet's Palace 43-60 (SOLO & GROUP) Sinking Sands: - Sinking Sands, grab every solo quest you can see. The key here is the 3 faction quests at docks. You can only do 1 per faction per 30 minutes, but you can do all 3 if you want as well. These give 2 to 8% depending on your level and are usually completeable in the 30 minute timer. So thats 3 quests per 30 minutes, ~12-18g and 6 to 24% xp plus whatever other quests you complete and the xp you get from killing mobs for the quest - really can't beat that even in a group. 54-62 (SOLO / GROUP) Piller of Flame 53-60ish (SOLO) Teneberous Tangle 60-70 58-65 (GROUP) Sanctum of the Scaleborn 65-70 (GROUP) Palace of the Awakened, Vault, HoF, BSS, Also can grind in Sanctum of the Scaleborn Just reply and I'll continue to update this post so we can have a single place for everything! ** Keep in mind, I love diversity, and I want people to explore the world and do different things, these are just the places I've been or known about (or been told about) and find it the easiest to get groups/exp for if I want them!** </DIV> Message Edited by Nitanyspirit on 09-05-200612:31 PMMessage Edited by Nitanyspirit on 09-05-2006 12:31 PM

Leawyn

06-07-2006, 09:32 PM

Hrm lets see what i did: 1-8: Newbie isle... I wanted to do as many quests as I could! 9-15ish: Soloing in Commonlands. Quests quests quests 15-20: Grouping with guildies in WC and then FG. I think I went through these levels in like 3 diff exp grinds. 20-25: Writs in Nek, coupled with one really fantastic giants (TS) group that I got almost 200% in. But soloing writs in Nek was a mainstay of my exp. I could get 40% exp with a set of 4 25+: writs for 25-30 are all group mobs... i don't get it. I can't solo, so I have moved onto TS where I am currently soloing the skeletons outside ROV between giant groups until I'm big enough for ROV.

Myrcul

06-07-2006, 10:10 PM

I started my Brigand when the game was first released. Generally I solo'd most everything, and did lots of quests early on, with only the last 15 levels or so having more groups than soloing and those in the SoS/PoA/Instances in KoS expansion. I do not think my early leveling experience with the Brigand matches the current leveling situation, or the upcoming LU24 leveling experience since these will have been changed. I've done well over 1000 quests, and Quests tend to be what I focus on. Myrculus, 70 Brigand, Lucan D'LereMessage Edited by Myrculus on 06-07-2006 11:11 AM

Sydias

06-08-2006, 12:59 AM

<DIV>I soloed most of my way to where I am right now at lvl 52.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I approached it the same way that the original poster as to where to go when. When I couldn't find a group, I did as many of the solo quests in each of the zones as I could. Especially in Enchanted Lands, Feerott and Sinking Sands.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>They were great for getting AA experience and adventure experience with little or no vitality.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have found that there are a severe lack of solo quests in SS though for as much experience is needed to get from 50-60. The faction quests help a lot though.. they never seem to end.</DIV>

Keleran

06-08-2006, 02:05 AM

<div></div>Got to looking back at my leveling history, which gives a bit of an interesting perspective on the places I hunted as I leveled. My approach to the game has been based on questing and soloing, I'd estimate 90% of my experience came in this fashion. Also, I wanted to cover each place extremely well before moving on to another, so I tended to get multiple levels in a particular place before moving on. Note that this is based on my current location when recorded as well. So.. 1 - 6 Isle of Refuge 7 - 12 Freeport Newbie areas (Sunken City, etc) 13 - 20 Commonlands, Wailing Caves, Fallen Gate 21 - 26 Nektulos Forest 27 - 30 Thundering Steppes 31 - 37 Enchanted Lands 38 - 41 Zek 42 - 47 Rivervale, Feerott 48 - 52 Everfrost 53 - 60 Lavastorm, Sol's Eye, Sinking Sands, Pillars of Flame 60+ KoS zones Message Edited by Keleran on 06-07-2006 03:10 PM

Keldo

06-08-2006, 03:13 AM

Here's a guide for you solo alt levelers that want to get up to 50 as fast as possible (without a 2nd box or a friend to help out). Done it twice now and I think its pretty painless. 1-20 - just do as many quests as you can, doesn't matter where. 21-28 - Nektulos, solo quests or TS solo quests whatever floats your boat 28-42 - Zek, EL, Feerrott solo quests in that order 42-51 - Sinking Sands, grab every solo quest you can see. The key here is the 3 faction quests at docks. You can only do 1 per faction per 30 minutes, but you can do all 3 if you want as well. These give 2 to 8% depending on your level and are usually completeable in the 30 minute timer. So thats 3 quests per 30 minutes, ~12-18g and 6 to 24% xp plus whatever other quests you complete and the xp you get from killing mobs for the quest - really can't beat that even in a group. <div></div>

mikemcmodmi

06-08-2006, 03:46 AM

Wow, things must have changed. Back in the day it was: <OL> <LI>1-6 Noob isle</LI> <LI>7-9 Soloing n00b zones</LI> <LI>10-12 Soloing commonlands</LI> <LI>13-14 That dungeon in commonlands that's easier.... forgot it's name. All grouping</LI> <LI>15-18 Ruins of Valsoon in commonlands all grouping</LI> <LI>19-23 Fallen gate and working on AQs</LI> <LI>23-25 Giants in TS - important to get giant language</LI> <LI>25-29 RoV</LI> <LI>30-32 EL and Zek solo/small group quests</LI> <LI>33-36 RE</LI> <LI>37-40 Obilisk of lost souls/Nek castle</LI> <LI>41-45 CT</LI> <LI>46-50 Quetz in Sol eye</LI></OL> I have an alt I play somethimes and it seems most of the content is solo now. Sad how it's changed so much because 99% of the time I was always in groups. Then when you'd get bored of grinding it out you could work on heritage quests.

The-Fourm-Pirate

06-08-2006, 04:12 AM

Well, if you want to go for pure efficiency: 1-10: Outpost of the overlord - Spend the entire tier here and get the best gear you can before heading out, two of the +5str rings RULE in the early levels. 10-14: do all of the noob quests in the noob trash areas. 14-16: smack down the orcs in the ruins 16-20: Wailing Caves or Blackburrow 20-26 Fallen gate or Stormhold, very nice drops and great xp 26-34: Ruins of Varsoon, keep a lookout for the items mentioned by original poster. Also, go do the heritage quest for the PGT. 34-40: Runnyeye, try to get the Runnyeye Mines Motivator, mud caked loincloth, and the collar of the obediant. Also I suggest starting to turn in collections at this point, 40-50 is my least favorite tier personally, but use collections on tiers you don't like. Also, work on SSoY, SBD, and FBSS heritages. 40-46: Cazic-Thule is best here, not a ton of great scout drops though. Also do Crown of King Trannix and GEBs. 46-52: Solusek's eye quests and killing, pretty straightforeward after you get teleporter access. 52-55: DoF instances quests, there are very few good group grinding spots, so take what you can get, another awesome time to do collections. 55-58: Cyclops in PoF 58-65: Sanctum of the Scaleborn is the best noninstanced spot here, Nest and Den are two instances you can start running early in T7 too. 65-70: Palace of the Awakened, the two previously mentioned instances, Vault, HoF, and BSS. SoS also works surprisingly well for grinding even at this level.

Nitanyspirit

08-23-2006, 11:00 PM

I've been gone for a month, lets get some more feedback and get some solo instances as well as more groupable places on the list!

Nickthegr

08-24-2006, 01:02 AM

Ok, this guide couldn't have come at a better tim. I have a 25 brig on Najena, who I plan on levelling as fast as possible to help the raid effort... Thanks for all your ideas here, I'll follow them and let you know if I come up with some others...

Aral

08-24-2006, 10:01 PM

<div>Would suggest fallen gate or stormhold for 20-28, not TS outdoor trash like giants. Any time you can avoid the over-land roaming exp groups and get into dungeons, the better off you'll be. Avoid the lake of ill omen crowd, the path of least resistance. You can get the idols for giant language solo in 10 minutes later, when you need them. </div>

Vollux

08-24-2006, 10:10 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Aralys wrote: <DIV>Would suggest fallen gate or stormhold for 20-28, not TS outdoor trash like giants. Any time you can avoid the over-land roaming exp groups and get into dungeons, the better off you'll be. Avoid the lake of ill omen crowd, the path of least resistance. You can get the idols for giant language solo in 10 minutes later, when you need them. </DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> or worse the Paludal Caverns Crowd.

Switch9

08-26-2006, 10:35 AM

1-6 outpost6-10 discovery exp ftw10-15 collection quests15-18 Antonica18-23 Stormhold23-28 Giants/gnolls in TS28-34 RoV35-45 Rivervale45-50 Sinking sands spiders50-52 SS rapters52-60 POF60-64 Sanctum65-70 PoA and instances<div></div>

coffee2025

08-28-2006, 09:05 AM

<DIV>1-5 Isle of Overlord</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5-28 Tenebrous Tangle, Bonemire and Barren Sky</DIV> <DIV> (dont laugh its true, i find all the lvl 60-70 collections and do the repeatable refilling and restocking lvl 60 quests until i can no longer repeat them... now thats quick levelling no grinding needed from 5-28. if you take this approach it will take a while to learn how to dodge all the aggro mobs but fear not if you run around naked you wont ruin your lvl 1 gear haha. Another tip to taking this approach is to invest in bags/backpacks sell your double and triple collection items and by the time youve done this you will most likely have at least 5 platinum sitting in your bank vault)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>28-33 Ruins of Varsoon</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>33-38 Runny Eye / Rivervale</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>38-46 Obelisk of Lost Souls</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>46-56 Zones in Desert of Flames</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>56+ KOS only zones!</DIV>

Jeffmaster

08-29-2006, 06:33 PM

levels 35-42 runnyeye plus a lot of chances to get master spells im at 47 now....SS is a good place to group..just find a bit higher level group of 3 people(heal, dps, you as tank) the spiders are 48 3x heroic and are great xp..when I reach 50 or so...i'll go to Twin tears and Pillar of flames You must be well equiped ...I personnaly buy pretty much what is best of the broker and have almost all master spells

Nitanyspirit

08-29-2006, 08:44 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Jeffmaster wrote: levels 35-42 runnyeye plus a lot of chances to get master spells im at 47 now....SS is a good place to group..just find a bit higher level group of 3 people(heal, dps, you as tank) the spiders are 48 3x heroic and are great xp..when I reach 50 or so...i'll go to Twin tears and Pillar of flames You must be well equiped ...I personnaly buy pretty much what is best of the broker and have almost all master spells <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> I just hit 55 (yay dispatch). I'm weidling the level 52 pristine imbued cobalt long sword, i have 2 imbued level 52 rings. The rest of my stuff is a collection of t4 fabled and t5 treausred so I feel i'm about moderately well equiped. At 53-55 some fantastic experience comes in the basket quests in Tenebrous Tangle, as well as the Froglok restocking quests... don't neglect these they are very good and more importantly.... repeatable.

Nitanyspirit

07-17-2007, 09:31 PM

Anything new to add?

Emerok

07-18-2007, 02:06 AM

Lol none of them mention the EoF expansion areas now released so a new guide could be potentially written.

Kaedi

07-18-2007, 10:27 AM

I spent a fair amount of time solo in Butcherblock from 20-30 and Steamfont from 30-50 all solo. There were times in each zone that I had to go elsewhere to level (Nek/TS/Zek/EL/Ferrott) due to some level gaps in the quest lines (mostly in the steamfont lines).Likewise a bit of time in Runnyeye for the shot at some masters and the wealth of aa from the named mobs.

lonedrow05

07-18-2007, 02:14 PM

ZOMG nobody else grinds Permafrost w/ a group from lvl 48-51 as often as they can??!! This zone has good XP and each floor gets harder for groups...

Korelen

07-18-2007, 04:57 PM

At level 53, I went over to lfay, and I worked on all the solo quests I could get. You can start near the zone in/out to gfay. There are a few quest hubs in the zone.

Firam

07-22-2007, 09:05 AM

"Grinding" for exp is a pre-EOF term. Anyone doing that now (quickly killing ^^^'s in a group for exp) is missing out on HUGE amounts of AA from the solo questlines and quite honestly gimping their character. And they won't be levelling much faster (if at all) than the person who's soloing (or duoing, or small grouping) these questlines.Try this as a post-EOF suggestion:L1-10: Isle/Sunken City10-20: Darklight Woods/GFay/CL20-32: Nek Forest then BB Mountains32-48: Steamfont (with EL/Zek/Feerrott as fillers)48-55: Sinking Sands55-62: LFay62-70: Loping Plains (and other various)If you want, lock your combat exp and just level from quests. You'll be surprised how fast it still goes. You're also going to rack up a HUGE amount of AA points, and will be a much stronger character for it. Plus, you'll get the chance to see a variety of zones in each tier and enjoy the game more. As a former grinder and a (still) hardcore player, trust me on this. =)

Jalander

07-07-2009, 10:33 PM

Was just checking up on old brig threads and found this! Sorry to dig it up but there I was wondering how you people go about it these days in relevance to older times. Would be interesting to compare <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

jaguarjp

07-09-2009, 11:47 AM

Well, here is what I did. I think many new Brigands could do something similar, at least until the next expansion comes out.I started in the Kunark newbie area, and locked combat experience, only leveling from quest experience. As I leveled up from 1-20's, I alternated between there (Timorous Deep), Darklight Wood, and the Commonlands, poking my head into Wailing Caves, and to a much lesser extent Fallen Gate.Once I was into the 20's, I forayed into Antonica and did what I could over there, and then pushed a bit further into Fallen gate, and went around in Stormhold. Mid-20's I was getting into Thundering Steppes, and the sewer areas beneath commonlands and Antonica. I didn't do all that much in Nektulos Forest because I despise the zone.Once I got into the 30's, I began Enchanted Lands and Zek, and goofing off over there, and in Runnyeye got me into the 40's. From that point, I quested in Rivervale, Feerrott, and poked into Cazic-Thule. For me, Everfrost had not yet been revamped, but I did go there after it had been, in my low 50's. Pretty sure I at least poked my head into Lavastorm, and I definitely remember going around in Sol Eye. Sinking Sands, and then Pillars of Flame got me into the upper 50's, and I visited the Shimmering Citadel, as well.Around 60, I went up to Tenebrous Tangle, and did a lot up there, as well as Barren Sky. Upper 60's saw me venturing into the Bone Mire and Loping Plains.Lower 70's was when I finally arrived in Kunark, and the rest is history.An important thing to note is that I was moving through these zones solo about 85% of the time - I had a respectable amount of achievement points for my level, regardless of what level I was, and for the most part, I was dealing with green mobs.