Greater Faydark

Greater Faydark (or gfay as it's often called) is a very good zone for many reasons though it has its problems.

What sets this zone apart is that it has two cities. Kelethin, the wood elf city, is among the trees and is entirely within the gfay zone. Faydwer, the high elf city has two zones of its own and is connected via zone. Within these two cities you'll find almost everything you need with a few exceptions.

Class exceptions: If you're a shaman, shadowknight, necromancer, or monk you are out of luck here. You have no guilds anywhere on the continent except for necromancers and you'll have to go to steamfont (the gnome city).

Race exceptions: This is "good elf central" so evil races beware. You'll have to work up some good faction or avoid the cities. Dark Elves have an even harder time. I've seen dark elves who are able to roam through Kelethin just fine until he tried to use the banker and was killed. And of course, Iksar (which are KOS everywhere). The big races (troll, barbarian, ogre) will need some help to use the bank here (or other building merchants) because of size. Fortunately, there are always plenty of druids around who (possibly for a price, possibly free) may be able to cast wolf form on you to allow you to bank.

Guilds: pure casters will have to go to Felwithe as will clerics and paladins. The rest have guilds in Kelethin and there is no duplication between the two.

Trades: Every trade but one (that isn't race or class restricted like tinkering or poison making) can find its supplies here. The one exception is blacksmithing (which you must go to steamfont to buy the ore). There is a forge though. But if you really want to raise your blacksmithing you're better off in freeport anyway.

Animals: Wolves, bears, bats, and wasps are there and easy to find. Those using levitate have no problem getting bat wings for their spells. There are no spiders (for spider silk) in this zone at all.

Monsters and other beings (except orcs & bandits): Skeletons are very common so collecting bones to sell to necros is also a common trade here. You will see wandering pixie tricksters and faeries. I've even seen a fae a couple of times. The faeries are often a big problem for some people since there are some faerie royal guards and faerie nobles wandering around who could kill you (if you're KOS to them obviously) even though you're in an otherwise safe area (such as meditating in a party on orc hill).

Bandits: There's a single camp of bandits near Kelethin, can't really offer much advice there since they are amiable to me so I don't kill them.

Orcs: Crushbone orcs are the real reason people come to Greater Faydark unless they're there to trade. The orcs give good faction (if you kill enough of them) and decent experience. There are pawns all over and centurions as you get away from the cities. The centurions get tougher as you get closer to Crushbone (to the north) and you'll see the two caster classes (oracle and shaman) more often. The two places where orcs are hunted are Orc Hill (which is between Kelethin and Crushbone) and the entrance to the Crushbone zone. I must note: YOU WILL NOT FIND CRUSHBONE BELTS IN GREATER FAYDARK. You must go to crushbone itself.

People: gfay is the busiest zone I've seen. There's a wizard spire and druid ring so people can easily teleport in and since it's a city zone you can be bound at the entrances to the nearby zones (crushbone, lesser faydark and butcherblock). As a result, there are regularly over 100 people in the zone and trading is the main activity. If you want to buy or sell something with another player, Greater Faydark is the place to go. Evil races can trade here as well because of the aforementioned wizard spire which is up the road from Felwithe but not so close as to ever attract a guard.

Guards: I must comment on the guards. They're your friend, right? Maybe yes, maybe no. They're not your enemy but in my experience they're the laziest guards in Norrath. One only needs to spend a little while at the orc lift (see a map) before a newbie being chased by an orc centurion comes running and goes right between the guards and around them in circles while getting pounded. Eventually the guards attack, but often it's too late. My point? Don't rely on the guards TOO much.

this place is great for druids and other casting classes.most of the monsters I've seen here never resist my snare or grasping roots,and you can just kite everything in sight to death.

The stonehenge area is a good hunting ground for levels 1 and 2. It gives good xp and loot for those levels, is close to Kelethin, and is rarely crowded (on Torvonnilous at least). There are mostly bats, decaying skeletons, and giant wasp drones there. There are usually about 3-4 wasps there at any one time, and will gang up on you (works good at level three though). Decaying skeletons gang up on you also, but there are rarely more than two there, and since they are fairly weak, sometimes (even at level one) you can attack one, run to one or two more, and then fight for real. Occasionally there are widow hatchlings and pixie tricksters, which are good for level 3's to hunt, and rarely there are orc pawns. You probably are past the level where this area is good hunting, but for those who can benefit from it... it is a great place.

To get there : you may have been here already, but from the newbie lift (if you dont know which one this is, just ask those around it... it is the one that does not have the Priest Of Discord near it, and has a path leading from it to the one with the Priest), go straight out. What I mean by that is, face the way you would face to walk down the ramp from the lift to the ground, and go forward. Just walk over the hill and it is forward and a bit to the left.

I hope this helps everyone!

This is one of the best areas to hunt from level 5 to 10 or so. Many people form a group and just stay on the hill, hunting the large camp below it. I personally prefer to solo this area at this level. You get more xp and coin in a shorter period of time if you do it right. As a bard with selo's you can pretty much hunt the entire orc spawn area, just picking off the wandering ones and taking the camps other people don't want. Remember to frequently check the camp West of the hill, since that one is far enough off the beaten track that many people forget it is there, and you can often find 3 orcs sitting there for the taking. Also, many people don't realize that orcs spawn even further west of there in the woods, and can be found wandering quite far away from the main camps. The triple orc spawn on each side of Crushbone is also a nice area to hunt, but it is often being camped. My basic strategy in this area is to run around and not sit in one spot. I have found that I can keep up a steady stream of kills this way even when there is a crowd of players in the area.