I have been thinking about a little side project lately. After leveling over half a dozen characters to 40+ over the last 10 years of "on again, off again" game play, I find that most of my leveling time has been spent in just a few dozen zones out of the hundreds that EQ has to offer. In most cases I don't mind the lack of variety since most outdoors zones are all more or less the same, at least as far as I am concerned. Dungeons, however, are a different story since they often have "character" and I don't like the fact that I missed most of them during leveling.
So, with that in mind, I have decided to create a "dungeon crawler" character who will level almost exclusively in the dungeons that I missed or underutilized in the past. The character will be a SK since they have snare and FD, two key tools for dungeon crawling, and they can solo (and/or "molo") reasonably well. I never played an SK past level 20, but I played a Monk to 65, so I am familiar with using FD to solo in dungeons. I thought about creating a dual box setup, but I find dual boxing to be too much like work these days. Besides, I am in no hurry and I expect that having a Cleric mercenary will slow the XP down just enough to hit most of the zones that I plan to visit.
Anyway, I don't expect to linger in zones that I don't enjoy, so I'd like to have a zone or two in reserve in case I don't like my first choice. Here are the 1-40 zones that I have considered hitting on the way up:
*Tutorial: Get the charm and do the first few levels there to get a feel for the cleric mercenary. It's not like there are outstanding dungeons for levels 1-5 anyway.
*Crushbone: Skip since my SK will be an Ogre and I don't want to offend the Neriak gang. Besides, I spent a fair amount of time there in 1999-2000 and I don't think I miss it much. (Darn those kill stealers at the SBS hill!!)
*Blackburrow: I plan to go there around level 7 and see what the famous BB trains look like. I never visited BB when I was low enough to agro anything there, well, except when it was a high level zone last year. I'll probably stay there until level 10-11 unless I can think of a better place to go to. Suggestions welcome!
*The Warrens: Skip since I PL'd entirely too many characters there. Besides, the insane respawn rate and the critters' propensity to run mean that I will likely get overwhelmed without high level backup.
*Befallen: I went there at level 40 once and I don't think I liked the atmosphere much. Too many necros and other unfriendly critters. Maybe I should pay it a visit just to see what it feels like at level 10.
*Upper Guk: Go there after BB (level 10-11) and stay until 14-15? I have run through it a few times on my way to Lower Guk and I guess it could be a fun place to hunt in, although it looked like mobs quickly went up in level from 8 to 30ish.
*Kurn's Tower: A very nice zone, but I leveled many characters there in the early 2000s and its XP bonus means that I would do it very quickly, which is not my intent. I guess it will be my fallback position if I find that I am not enjoying any of my other options around level 10.
*Unrest: I loved the zone back in 1999 and enjoyed it again a couple of years ago when I leveled my Bard/Cleric dual box there. Death Beetles start around level 13-14, so I could stay there from 14 and through my mid-20s if I so choose.
*Paludal Caverns: No, thanks. Again, too many PL'd characters in my not so distant past.
*Najena: I went there once around level 19 and fought at the entrance a bit, but I'd like to explore the whole thing. Low-to-mid 20s would be adequate, I assume?
*Dalnir: One time I walked in at level 23-25, got nuked into oblivion and didn't come back until I had 20-30 levels on the locals. I wonder if it may be more viable with better resists on lowbie gear these days? Nah, probably not
*Netherbian Lair: I did a few laps of the zone on level appropriate characters back in the day and it was OK, but nothing special. Another fallback position, I guess.
*Runnyeye: Never fought there, need to go pay it a visit around level 20-25.
*Mistmoore: I have heard good things about it, but every time I zone in, I become bugged. It literally takes 10-15 seconds to cast a spell there, so the zone is unplayable for me. Perhaps I should delete the zone file and re-run the patcher. After all, it's a classic zone and skipping it would be a shame. Level 20ish-30ish, I assume?
*Permafrost: I have only been there on high level characters, but may give it a shot around level 20-25.
*Sol A: I did some hunting there back in the day and it was pleasant. I think I'll try it around 25-30 this time.
*Crystal Caverns: A great zone from around 28 through the mid-40s, but after leveling 6 characters there, I am rather tired of it.
[edit:]*Tower of Frozen Shadow: A fun place except for the irritating first floor. I'll give it a try some time in my 30s and come back again in the 40s.
*Kaesora: I planned to skip this zone since I think it will kill my Ogre's Outpost faction and I want to keep it intact until after I get the OT hammer *and* until after I get high enough not to have to worry about the guards/skellies. However, I hear that you can get the hammer using the Enchanter shroud these days. If true, I may hunt in Kaesora a bit and see how it goes. I recall it as a decent zone or so it seemed when my Monk was around 40.
*Stone Hive: Never been there, but plan to visit around level 35 and see how it goes.
*Kedge Keep: I killed that Epic guy at the bottom of the maze entirely too many times, but I never hunted for XP there. I'll give it a shot around 35-40, but I doubt I will enjoy underwater fighting.
*City of Mist: I am not particularly fond of this zone's models after the revamp, but I should probably hunt at the entrance (at 35+?) a bit since I have only done CoM at 50+ when we were doing Epics.
*Lower Guk: Ah yes, this is where my friend Raster lives! I should really hunt the rest of the zone too, so I will come here around level 40 and see how it goes.
*SolB: I have done Naggy, the Efreeti and a little XP hunting here, but I'd like to spend a couple of levels just crawling the place at my own pace starting in the high 30s.
*The Hole: I did quite a few Epic raids there in the early 2000s, but little XP hunting. Probably something to remedy between my 40s and the low 70s. I assume that Harmshield will let me jump into the Hole safely when I am high enough to fight deeper in, right?
*Nurga: I have very limited experience with this zone, mostly just a few kills on my way to Droga. I plan to spend a few levels there in my 40s.
Any other fun level 1-40 zones that I am missing?
Edits: Added Tower of Frozen Shadow and fixed spelling/grammar.
