Stonebrunt Mountains  

Finally, I can get decent experience without having to take that horrible boat ride to Kunark and be herded with the rest of the sheep up to LOIO.

Getting there isn't as bad, once you know the way. My Camo lasts all the way through the Warrens with no problem, and I usually end up clicking it off after I gett hrought he Throne Room so that the people I'm guiding can follow me better. Print off the Warrens map, bind in the fountain room in the Paineel newbie zone, and run it a few times. Once you learn the layout, the path you have to take is really pretty straightforward.

Once in the zone, realize that the place is HUGE - it's about the same area as Western Karana. It's pretty much a large square, with a little alcove sticking out of the southwest corner, which is where you zone into.

Around that alcove, are 4 camps - 2 3-tent ones around to your right, in close proximity, a huge 10-tent double camp out and to the right, and one the 4th, 3-tent camp (maybe 2 tents?) farther down the wall opposite the zone tunnel to the left. The 3-tent camps have been green to me ever since I started in the zone at about 19, and the 10-tent camp is still blue at 23 (had the occassional white@19). All of the Kobold camps that I've tried out respawn pretty quickly - not until I was in a full group with a Monk, Bard, Druid, Rogue, Mage, and Wizzy, were we able to wipe the riverside camp (7 spawns) faster than they would respawn.

The zone has three landscape features. In the southern part is a forest and cliff leading to the ocean. Lots of kobolds, snakes, and wandering cats. Occassionally, a small Gorilla or Tiger will get down here, but usually, it's been trained from the mountains.

Let me say, the poison from the snakes here (and the Sicknesses and such from the Kob shamans) are _very_ strong here. The snake poison does 30 dmg in each tick, and requires _4_ Cure Poisons from my 23 druid. The Sickness's are the same way - I haven't noticed the dmg, but I have to cure myself 4 times to get rid of it. The Shammy's also have at least 3 different sickness spells they can cast on you - lit me up like a christmas tree one time, I managed to cure myself with about 1/5 of 1 bubble of health left.

OK, to the north of the forested area, is the mountain area. Here, you'll primarily see Tigers, Pandas, and Gorillas. I'm just starting to get blue-conned animals in this area at 23. This is also the area in which the Ancients wander in, and the area where the Kejekan city is at, almost dead in the middle of the zone. This is the only place to sell that doesn't require you to make a death-run through the warrens, so unless you're KOS when you get to SbM (Necro's mostly), do yourself a favor, and don't ***** up your faction - there is no way to raise it without doing quests given by the Kejekans' so once it's hosed, it's hosed.

Farther to the north, the mountains hit a snowline. I haven't ventured up here much, outside of tracking down lost groupmates. I can tell you that my entire track window turned red when it refreshed, that I was running over hills and findinf valleys with 10 big gorillas, and that the Highland Kobolds hit hard and run fast. Actually, everything you see up here will hit hard and run fast. I've heard rumor of a 'Panda City', and I'd interpret that valley I ran across as a gorilla city, too.

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Experience - well, in the 2 weeks since the zone came out, I've leveled my druid from 19 to what will be 24 in a day or 2. My wife has taken her mage from 15-18, and will be 19 in a few days. I still get a half to 3/4 of a blue bubble for each solo Kobold kill at the camp on the stream just south of Kitty City. I noticed that hunting the zone wasn't too bad once you got there, but the run through the Warrens killed a couple of Guildmates that got paniced when the TR MoB's came a-charging at us when the Barbarian's Camo dropped in the middle if it. So while a group of 15's or so would easily be able to hunt the camps surrounding the zone tunnel, it's going to be hard for them to get there in the first place. Plan on staying a while if you come in.

There's not a lot of Uber loot here. However, the weapon and armor loot makes decent cash - I usually get 1-5 plat for each of the bamboo weapons I sell, and that's with neutral Kejekan faction. There is an NPC in the city who sells food, and for the most part, the city is safe for casters to bind in, unless someone has managed to train a something into the city and it kills you (/gsay /q OUT NOW /Q /Q /Q).

Druids have plenty of room to kite and play with our animal charm spells - I haven't tried it yet, as until recently, most of the animals I saw were red, but almost all of them will double-hit, and for no less than 15-20 dmg each. Almost makes the NK Griffawns look like poodles - I'm not scared of the 'fawns any more, but these tigers worry me when we get one and our group isn't at FM and FH.

Zone populations go through phases. Sometimes, I'll be int he zone for hours and there won't be more than 5 people there. I think I saw 3 the other day. Other times, there will be almost 30 there. Even with 30 people there, though, I'll go hours without seeing someone not from my group unless I head up to the city to sell. The zone would easily support 40-50 people at a time.

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Good places to hunt (19-23 Druid with a 15-19 mage):

10-tent camp
2-tent camp between zone area and ocean
2-tent camp on stream south of Kitty City

Bad places so far:

3-tent camp in SE corner, between stream and zone wall. OMG, sit up on the hill, and watch the big red-con gorilla and tiger mobs wander through the camp every 30 seconds.



That Riverside camp is my favorite one - it's a bit of a run, but once you're there, you're only about 2 minutes from Kitty City for selling, and the run to zone is fairly clear of heavy-hitting mobs. The only problem is the big Gorillas, Tigers, and Leopards that will occassionally wander close to that camp, and aggro on you sometimes. There's also a Kejekan that on occassion, wanders through the camp and KS's the Kobolds. Let him be, he'll die after he gets one or two ;) Also, on 3 or 4 different occassions, Old Ghostback has wandered very close to the camp - not aggro range, but close enough for everyone in the groups I was with at the time to /gsay something like "Oh $#i+" and start running backwards toward the zone wall. OG's never aggroed us in the camp, though, and I suspect he never will, since he and the other Titans appear to be on Kejekan faction, which starts good enough to keep us from being KoS. I've stood right next to the giant tiger on multiple occassions, trying to get a good picture, and had no problems with him (the gorilla's that tried to beat me down were another issue).

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To address some of the issues other people have mentioned above -

The only KSing that monsters have done to me so far is the Kejekans taking out Kobolds I'm hunting. I assume if you were hunting Kejekans, you could expect the Kob's to join in if you got close enough. None of them will assist the various animals, though. Nor will the Kejekans assist you if you overpull or get aggroed by an Elder Graniteback and pull it to the city, though lots of players will be mad at you :)

You should learn what the assist range on the Kobolds is - you need to pullt hem far enough from the camp that the Shammies won't heal them. Nothing makes a fight go on forever than a shammy hiding in a tent healing the mob you're playing Whack-a-mole on.

The Kejekans in this zone are NOT the same as the Vah Shir that will be in Luclin. Faction here will not matter there. I mean, those people have been gone from this world for hundreds of years, they don't know you from anyone else.

Casters who bind _in_ the zone tunnel - duh. There's one zone line to SbM, and it's through that tunnel. You better bet people who get screwed with an aggroing gorilla on their butt are gonna tail it to the zone tunnel (As I do in order to save my group from being killed when the monkey wanders through camp). Try binding just outside the tunnel, to the left, near the giant boulder that's on the wall between the tunnel and the 2 small camps - you're far enough from the static spawn Kobold camp and 'guards' that you shouldn't have a problem. Or, make tracks up to the city and bind there.

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That being said, the graphics to the zone are pretty - even some guildmates who have been to Velious and Kunark a lot more than I have like them. And it snows here...heh...I haven't beent o Velious or Halas yet, so I haven't seen snow. Anyway, it's a good zone if you can get there - good hunting, and see you around.

P.S. If you're in my camp on the riverside, at least invite me in now that I told you about it :)