Almar's Guides: Almar's Everquest Leveling Guide: The Ruins of Old Paineel (The Hole) (Part 1)

The Ruins of Old Paineel, aka, The Hole is located right off the zone of Paineel (Go figure). In order to get into The Hole you will need to head to Paineel. The fastest way there is from the Paineel stone in PoK. Once you arrive in Toxxulia Forest you will want to run through Paineel and over to The Hole's entrance. From here you can click on a rock which will grant you access to The Hole. If you still need assistance in getting to The Hole follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page.

NOTE: You no longer need Shrink Potions or a key to move the rocks. All you need is to click it. (Changed with the Underfoot Expansion)

NOTE 2: The hole in Paineel that leads down into The Hole will no longer kill you when you fall down it. (Changed with the Underfoot Expansion)

NOTE 3: There is now a portal in The Hole that will take you to Brell's Rest. This means in order to leave The Hole you can now take a portal instead of using a Gate Potion for dying. Another side note, If you do not own the Underfoot Expansion the portal will take you to the entrance of The Hole instead of Brell's Rest.

At the very entrance of The Hole you'll find some really low level crappy mobs. However the further you go in, the higher level mobs you will find and the better XP you will get. After you pass the big room with the giants is when you'll come out into the actual "hole" zone, pun intended. This is where your adventure in The Hole will begin. Don't worry about getting lost in this zone, you're pretty much guaranteed to at one time or another. That is the essence of this zone. Below you can find a map of this zone and a rant about the map of this zone by me.

Alright, so let me start with this map. You can see where we came in, in the upper right and the core of the zone is in the center. You don't need a PHD to figure that out. The temple in the far upper left is for the higher levels, right around 71/72. As for trying to navigate through this zone, unless you know it, forget it. Whatever retard made this map used pretty much exactly the same color for the lines as the background. They deserve to have their eyes torn out of their skull and shoved into a paper shredder for making this PoS map.

Anyway you'll have a ton of fun in this zone. All the mobs are very easy to kill, have low HP and don't hit hard at all. You'll be able to handle quite a few at a time especially when you get some AAs to start. During your adventure through The Hole you will run into a few different nameds. Below is a list of each of the nameds you will encounter in the first part of the zone.

Elemental Striker
Lost Spirit
Obliterated Construct
Dented Construct
Rocksoul
Keeper of the Tombs
High Scale Kirn
Protector of the Ruins

During the lower levels in The Hole your best bet is to take it slow through the city and just kill anything you come across. As you get more AAs and learn the zone a little bit more then you should become much more comfortable with your surroundings. If you're the one taking the beating then I recommend using a Damage Shield or bringing Damage Shield potions. That way the more mobs you pull the faster the XP. Below is a list of some of the loot you will find in this zone.

Items You Will Find In The Hole:

Diamonds