The Spirit Realm

82 paladin returning after a year. I remember my molo attempts only lasted till merc ran out of mana healing, any advice on a good solo or molo spot?

Illsallin IIRC until about 87-88ish (i'd also get a massive amount of AA too). After that, Frostcrypt until about 91-92 (also get a bunch of AA). To get to 95 i'd suggest forming groups in VoA T3+ zones.

Illsalin rocks til 86 (after which point it turns green). Get TONS of AA here. Then FC rocks til 90 (not sure when it turns green). Some people have posted that Hills of Shade blackwater/fishign village camp is good 91-94.

Original post got butchered somehow, I meant Ruins of Illisain is where my merc burns through mana and then I die. Was hoping to find something a little easier.

Once you figure out Ilsalin, in my personal view it is easier than both nest and dirwind. As a paladin cleric merc really do not complement us that well, best solo xp is to be gain when you kill stuff by yourself.

I'd say stick with Ilsalin and learn the place, make at least fair number of aa before go beyond 85, your choice of area to solo xp shrink gradually as you level. Ilsalin is easy enough you should rip through the place with all the cheap bazaar stuff available now days at level 80 above.

Nest got some stupid drakes that will do a massive stat debuff, that is annoying as hell, mob hit similar with RoI. Mobs are space very far apart in Nest as well which does not help when you trying to do lesson burn. I remember moving from nest to RoI and kicking myself for not doing so earlier. The xp is fairly good even for single pull at level 80, at 85, you have to do swarm to get decent xp.

Direwind takes significant longer to travel to and mob hit about same or slightly higher compare to RoI I belive. In RoI just stick to spiders and do not touch annoying the shiliskin dudes until you ready to handle them.

Another thing about RoI is that travelling is really really simple, pop a guild portal, take you less than 1 minute to go from guild hall to where you start xp.

What are bolster mobs and yes my AA are sorely lacking. Think I have around 600, should I be focusing on CA/CS before anything else?

Any aa suggestions to help survive the South Ro fight for 2.0 where we have to solo the 4 waves of orcs? Everytime I try it, waves spawn faster than i can kill and usually die on wave 3 or 4. I have tried all sorts of buff combinations and damage shields with no luck.

Helpful suggestions would be more likely if folks knew what you're starting with. Perhaps link the paladin's magelo?

Don't have a Magelo, will link EQ Players page once login server is up.

Here is I am assuming others besides me can view aa tab of my character.

I did the that wave part at 70, so it must be fairly easy at 82 with the bazaar gear from tier 1 HoT. I remember just pile up the damage shield and drag all four orcs onto yourself, they more or less will kill themself. At the time if you kill them one by one, you will run out of time. Make sure you got least one level of improved LoH as well, that helps a lot. Also use all that available to you, ward of tunare, deflection, mantle line etc. At the time the event was done for most of us, most of modern abilities are not available.

I did a lot of AA in The Nest. I found it much easier than Illsallin until I got some gear, level, and AA under my belt.

It is not the most efficient place from a min-max standpoint, but it was comfortable for me as I improved myself. When I was 80, I was actually 2-boxing PAL/SHM there. Can't remember when it became easy to truly solo. The debuffing mobs are a PITA, and watch for the healer types that CH and the other casters that gate. But they are relatively low HP mobs, and you should be able to single pull them until you feel comfortable tanking multiples.

Anyway, don't be afraid of The Nest. Once you feel comfortable there, try Illsalin again.

My 2 cents, your mileage will vary.