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Leveling Solo above 65Follow

#1 Jun 07 2015 at 10:03 AM Rating: Decent
This has been my struggle since returning to EQ after a five year hiatus. I have a 65 Beastlord that I'd like to level, but finding a good spot to solo has been tough. I've spent a good deal of time in Blackfeather Roost, but the XP is a bit slow going. I have a healer merc who does well in keeping me alive, but it seems to be exhausting after just a couple of hours in zone. I'm not expecting to level so fast that I can see the meter move, but having a good spot to go when I just want to work on leveling would be awesome. I'm not much of a grouping player, since I sometimes need to leave the computer to do things around the house, or when it's late and I need to log off, so a place to solo where I can get some good XP (not great XP, like hotzones) and some loot worth making the trip to that zone.

Anyone have any ideas? Thank you in advance!
#2 Jun 07 2015 at 11:11 AM Rating: Excellent
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For a relaxing, safe camp area to XP in when solo/molo you can head over to either The Steepes or Sunderock Springs to XP.

If Sunderock, I would take the 65 Beast to solo/molo the Seething Mist and Seething Steam Drakes south of the Wizard Spires (Wiz port in) to fight until you get closer to 70 (there is a large spout/tornado looking thing in the centre of the clusters of Drakes).. These are the lowest mobs in the zone that you can get in groups/clusters large enough to xp efficiently or burn a LOD.. Then when the Beastlord gets 3-4 levels, he can take on the higher level 70 Basilisks and Drakes near the Goru zone line.

The 65 Beast needs to be in Defiant Gear or better as they mostly con white to yellow at 65. The per kill XP is not great but they have lower hps and do not hit as hard as the mobs at the entrance from Goru..They also flee at low health but there is plenty room on the outskirts/perimeter to make it not an issue, even without a fast refresh snare option.

Vendor fodder is not that good but there are two or three useful augs you can get off of them. Including a rare 20 AC Aug and the old Hotzone AC aug with some HPs and heroic stats.

At 65, there are also many other old world options though ie Nobles Causeway (staying above the canyons and clearing your way deeper into the zone). They are mostly dark blue to 65 and have lower HPs than TSS mobs of the same level range, but you will get some adds there. The loot is definitely better than Sunderock, ie diamonds, ruby's, old world gear- some with good tribute value and other vendor fodder.

Good luck.






#3 Jun 07 2015 at 2:50 PM Rating: Decent
This is very helpful, thank you. I'll take a look at those.
#4 Jun 08 2015 at 12:52 AM Rating: Decent
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Personally I would recommend not levelling in TSS zones. I levelled a paladin up to 85 and found it much, much faster and more enjoyable to fight in older content that was level appropriate. My main problem with TSS zones is the mobs have too many hitpoints. When you're a low damage class, it just takes longer to kill mobs, which is more boring (particularly when you're solo). IMO the zones are also bland/ugly, flavorless, and rely too much on global drops to feed you, which means the loot table is generic and boring. I found it much more enjoyable and lucrative to fight in old zones. At 65, I used zones like: Crypt of Decay, Temple of Droga, Sebilis, The Hole, Chardok, Plane of Nightmare, Acrylia Caverns, Maiden's Eye, Wall of Slaughter, and LDONs. The Kunark zones particularly have good loot, are interesting to run around in, and the kills come much faster. You're not fighting yellows, but you can kill multiple mobs at once, which I find more interesting than soloing a yellow, medding back to full health, and doing it again. Around that level I started running LDONs with lobby buffs to save up for that one aug, the dodge aug. I found they're pretty good for quick AA, provided you can kill relatively quickly. If you're truly solo though you might find it difficult to request them.
I also recommend using a DPS merc if you can, rather than a healer, and buy the spider bite potions religiously.
#5 Jun 08 2015 at 4:46 AM Rating: Excellent
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Good advice. It's a valid deduction that killing DBs is always faster XP than killing yellows, unless you're super-twinked and buffed, or being PL'd. I would add that consider the hot zones as well, since you get awarded extra experience for killing the required number of mobs, but it can get boring to keep doing the same zone/mobs over and over and some hot zones are lousy.
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#6 Jun 08 2015 at 3:54 PM Rating: Good
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Also, isn't the level 65 hot zone still the aptly named PoS? Terrible terrible idea for a hotzone.

Don't have much to add except my agreement that killing lots of lower level stuff is generally faster and more fun than struggling to kill one yellow at a time. Unless you're hunting for drops, stick to lower level stuff IMO. And frankly, even if it's about drops, the fastest route to better gear is to level anyway. The stuff you'll struggle with today will be easy in a few levels, so why not just focus on leveling and money instead? Just buy gear in the bazaar and level. Most importantly, have fun. If you're not having fun where you are, move to somewhere else. At the end of the day, it's a game, right?

Edited, Jun 8th 2015 2:55pm by gbaji
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#7 Jun 08 2015 at 5:38 PM Rating: Excellent
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65 hot zone is Plane of Air. But you're right about it being a HORRIBLE hot zone. Maybe you're thinking of Plane of SKY, which would be bad too.
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Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#8 Jun 09 2015 at 9:25 AM Rating: Decent
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Which server you on I have 61 beast maybe we can team up. I am in no rush and take my time as well.
#9 Jun 09 2015 at 3:13 PM Rating: Good
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Sippin wrote:
65 hot zone is Plane of Air. But you're right about it being a HORRIBLE hot zone. Maybe you're thinking of Plane of SKY, which would be bad too.


I can never remember which is called which. IIRC, the names are different based on source. One name when you load into the zone. Another name when you do a /w in the zone, yet another name when labeled by an NPC, and maybe even yet another name when listed on this site. But yeah, whatever it's called, the level 65 hotzone is terrible. Whoever thought making a zone where the entrance has see invis mobs that are very tough for their level and which spawn new mobs that swarm you when you do finally kill them into a hotzone should be taken out back and given the "treatment". For the most part, if you are remotely level appropriate for the hotzone, you can't get past the entrance to get to the daily mobs solo (or even molo). It's just that ridiculous.
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#10 Jun 10 2015 at 1:49 AM Rating: Decent
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plane of storms?
#11 Jun 10 2015 at 4:43 AM Rating: Excellent
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The hot zone selections in some cases are bewildering. And there's no reason for it. They could just post a poll or two on EQ forums, solicit the popular opinion and then provide what is asked for, thus insulating themselves from any criticism. I think a solid majority of players would make intelligent decisions when it comes to questions like this.

I also think they're waaaay overdue to change the hot zones and perhaps add at least a couple of level 95 hot zones, if not 100.

And, of course, keep in mind my own suggestion, which I've submitted to Sony more than once and never heard back:

Allow ANY zone to be a "hot" zone if a group of 6 REAL players (confirm at least that the IP addresses are all different) enter the zone to XP. It's hot for THEM. THEY get extra XP and they have a shot at a nice augment dropping from the mobs they kill. This would encourage use of zones that right now are probably entirely empty (except perhaps for passers-thru) for weeks at a time. It also would encourage grouping and social game play, which USED to be the raison d'etre as well as the core strength of Everquest as a pastime!

Edited, Jun 10th 2015 6:44am by Sippin
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Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#12 Jun 10 2015 at 6:52 PM Rating: Good
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I get the objective of the idea (and actually agree with it), but I could see some technical difficulties getting in the way. Also, isn't there already a grouping exp bonus? And that doesn't address the issue of dailies at all. They've always had a set of things that go along with hotzones (increased exp rate, special aug drops (and isn't there a cross zone aug quest?), daily tasks). Honestly, I think that items 1 and 3 are relatively easy to switch in and out. It's number 2 that causes the problem (isn't that always the case Smiley: tongue ). I suspect they don't want to swamp the game with too many augs, and it takes some effort to create new items, so that creates a roadblock for changing the hotzones.

Dunno. I suspect it's just low on their list of things to fix/change. I don't even care (much) about them changing the hotzones (although, as mentioned, several of them are questionable), but it would be nice if they'd add higher level ones.
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#13 Jul 09 2015 at 5:48 PM Rating: Good
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I may be a tad late on this but imo PoAir is a super xp zone if you can get a group together (65-70+). Getting past the GY is the hard part. The spiders that roam hit hard too. Enjoy the game !

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