Everquest Rain of Fear Leveling Guide
It's a common trend in Everquest during the later expansions for people who are just starting out to be overwhelmed by all of the changes in the game and how much progress they have to make in order to catch up. Luckily though it doesn't take nearly as long for you to do the lower levels anymore and with the addition of Mercenaries and Defiant gear you'll breeze through these levels really quickly.
You can also drastically increase the speed of which you level by making sure your account is gold (meaning you're subscribed to the game) and also by playing more than 1 account at a time; something commonly refered to as boxing. Boxing can be a rather controversial topic in Everquest since many people dislike that it gives you an advantage over other players. It's just like every other hobby - the more time and money you're willing to invest into it the more you'll get out of it.
I strongly feel that boxing is the best way to enjoy Everquest. If this is something that interests you please check out my guide for getting started as a new boxer. Regardless of your decision to box or not the following guide assumes that you're just a solo player with a Journeyman Tank Mercenary.
Although my guide assumes you aren't Free to Play you can still use them if you are. Just instead of leaving each level location at the levels I suggest you may want to stay there a level or two longer since your merc is weaker. With the release of The Serpents Spine most players start out in Crescent Reach, which is where this new leveling guide will start us.
Follow the link below to be taken to a more indepth guide about each location for that level range.
(Fastest) Crescent Reach
(Easiest) Crushbone
(Most Money) Paludal Caverns
15 - 35 Blightfire Moors // Gorukar Mesa
15 - 25 Paludal Caverns (Most Money)
10 - 30 Unrest (Weakest Mobs)
20 - 35 Castle Mistmoore
35 - 50 City of Mist
30 - 45 Gorukar Mesa
30 - 50 Lower Guk
45 - 55 Nagafen's Lair
46 - 60 Old Sebilis
46 - 60 Chardok
35 - 55 Ocean of Tears (Weakest Mobs)
45 - 55 Dulak's Harbor
That just about covers it for all the locations 1 - 50! The next batch of locations are going to be a bit tougher for you and you should check The Bazaar for any gear that's available for you to use as well as turn on your Auto Grant AAs which you can find in the AA window in the top right. All of these locations should be easily possible as 1 character and a Mercenary.
If you can't Autogrant AAs along the way you'll need to stop and grind them otherwise progression will get really hard later. Levels being more important than AAs "always" is complete nonsense at this point in the game, without at least the most important AAs for your class you'll end up getting rolled. Luckily though, as far as I understand it, autogrant AAs should always be a part of Everquest now even on Special Ruleset servers.
Rain of Fear Leveling Guide 50 - 80
The next few locations are mostly going to be focused on providing you with a decent amount of platinum from both vendor loot as well as raw plat drops. You should have been able to hodge-podge together a set of Defiant gear from mob drops by this point.. but we're going to need more.
Gearing your character is going to become extremely important over these next 10 - 20 levels. I want you to understand that getting platinum for gear and to pay for your Mercenary is just as important as getting experience for levels at this point. We're not going to be able to depend entirely on our Tank merc anymore so it's important that your character can start holding their own.
50 - 60 Old Sebilis
50 - 60 Chardok
55 - 70 Crypt of Decay (Boxer/Group; Undead Enemies)
50 - 60 Veksar (Harder Difficulty; Undead Enemies)
55 - 60 Howling Stones (Boxer/Group Only)
50 - 65 Grieg's End
50 - 63 Acrylia Caverns (Best EXP/Worst Money)
50 - 60 Siren's Grotto (Best Money/Slightly Annoying Zone)
60 - 70 Plane of Fire
65 - 70 Wall of Slaughter
60 - 70 Crypt of Decay (Boxer/Group; Social)
60 - 65 Siren's Grotto (Best Money/Lowest EXP)
60 - 65 Dragon Necropolis (Boxer/Group; Decent Vendor Trash; Antisocial)
70 - 80 Dragonscale Hills
70 - 80 Riftseeker's Sanctum (Boxer/Group)
70 - 80 Muramite Proving Grounds (Boxer/Group)
70 - 80 Icefall Glacier
70 - 80 Direwind Cliffs
Rain of Fear Leveling Guide 80 - 95
Now is when it starts to get much tougher! You'll need to value gear just as much as you value experience from now on. Hopefully I don't have to go into massive detail and explain how important gear is in EQ to you - but basically if you keep running around in defiant at this point you're not going to get anywhere.
Heroic Stats come into play from now on and play a large role in the future progression of your character. Armor class is still extremely important and if you're someone whose taking hits from enemies at all you should put some focus into increasing yours with each gear upgrade.
Once you reach level 70 you'll be able to group with players who are level 100, the current max level. The equation to tell if you can group with another player is half your level + 1; with a maximum difference of 30 levels. During the Rain of Fear expansion with level 100 being the new cap it's important you start remembering the 30 level maximum limit between group members.
80-85 Oceangreen Hills (If Solo) // Loping Plains Worgs (If Boxer/LFG)
80 - 90 Old Commonlands (Antisocial)
80 - 85 Field of Scale
80 - 85 Oceangreen Village
80 - 85 Katta Castrum (Relatively Weak enemies)
80 - 90 Fortress Mechanotus
80 - 90 Gyrospire Beza
80 - 90 Gyrospire Zeka
85 - 95 House of Thule, Lower Floors // The Grounds
85 - 90 Toskirakk
85 - 95 Kaesora Library
85 - 90 Korascian Warrens
90 - 100 Valley of Lunanyn
90 - 100 Beast's Domain
85 - 95 Rathe Council Chambers
RoF Leveling Guide 95 - 100
Depending on what class you are, how good your gear is, how many AAs you have and whether or not you're boxing determines where you should go to level up at next. If you're not boxing or able to group with other players from here on out things are going to start getting pretty tough for you.
If you haven't already now is one of the best times for you to gear up through The Bazaar. Unless your server is extremely low population you should be able to get at least half a set of VoA/RoF gear which will greatly assist you in the levels to come.
One thing Solo players will want to keep in mind is there's an NPC in PoK nearby the Guild Lobby entrance named Franklin Teek. This guy offers daily quests which require you to do some killing in Hotzones which'll give you a nice break from all of your daily grinds for EXP.
Shard's Landing (Solo/Boxer) Extremely Social - This is the best spot for under geared characters to hunt. There are a bunch of Relatively Weak enemies in Shard's Landing which can be found around the mountains of the large central dome area. There's an occasional regular mob mixed in with them so you'll need to be careful if you can't handle a regular enemy.
The Grounds (Solo/Boxer/Group) Social Zone - The Grounds is a fantastic zone which tons of mobs to kill and enough room for 5 or more groups! This is usually my go-to zone when leveling alts that aren't geared the best. When RoF hits and you can get a mixture of the level 92 RoF gear on your characters from T1 - you'll tear this zone up.
Valley of Lunanyn (Solo/Boxer/Group) Moderately Social - This zone is a pretty popular one during the VoA era. It's split into two parts, the top half is Tier 1 enemies which are pretty easy to kill and the bottom half of the zone has Tier 2 which gets a bit more tough. The zone has enough spaced out enemies for you to pull mobs to safety and even kite if you'd like.
Beast's Domain (Kiting/Boxer/Group) Antisocial - This zone is connected to Evantil, The Vile Oak which you'll probably want to attune to while you're in the area. There are tons of different camps in this zone since the zone is so HUGE; you're unlikely to bump into another group if anyone is here. You'll also have the room to kite just about anywhere as long as what you're pulling doesn't summon.
Erillion, City of Bronze (Kiting/Boxer/Group) Antisocial - In order to reach Shard's Landing on foot you'll have to pass through this absolutely massive zone. The City of Bronze is broken up into two sections, the inner sanctum/city which you'll most definitely need a group for and the outskirts of the city where you'll find many different roamers which you can safely pull to the walls for solo kills.
Grelleth's Palace (Field Killing) Semi-social - This is a decent spot for EXP just like the Field camp in Evantil. The thing that makes this camp a little bit worse though is the named, Stitches. He has an extremely annoying knockback mechanic that will send your group flying around the entire zone. Unlike Evantil though at this camp in Grelleth you'll also be getting Befouled Silk which is a huge money maker. Other loot you can expect to get here is Planar Energy Shards, Planar Goo, Dreadmotes.
Evantil, The Vile Oak (Field Killing) Semi-social - This zone is also a wide open field with one large tree in the middle which houses some alarans and ants. The main area to hunt in this zone is the large field surrounding the central tree. There are occasional safe spots to pull mobs to along the walls which is where you'll be camping; your location depends on the named(s) you're pulling. Aside from the first floor of the tree, the top of the tree offers a decent hunting location with a unique named, Ruaabri. The common loot you'll get while hunting in Evantil is Planar Energy Shards, Planar Goo, Befouled Silk, Dreadmotes.
Valley of King Xorbb (Field Killing/Dungeon Crawl) - This zone is another huge one with many different options for you. You can stay topside and find a camp pulling all different kinds of enemies or travel down into the sewers and fight enemies there. I recommend you stay away from the underground tunnels, the sewers are ok but the tunnels have some tricky enemies that mind control and fear.
Chelsith Reborn (Field Killing) Semi-social - On the same beach you zone in at in Chelsith Reborn you'll find one of the best camps in the zone. On the far end of the beach where Floppy Flick is located you'll be able to pull turtles, crocodiles and shissar enemies. The common loot you'll get while hunting in Chelsith is Planar Energy Shards, Planar Goo, Befouled Silk, Dreadmotes.
Plane of Shadow (Field Killing/Dungeon Crawl) - Much like the other RoF zones Plane of Shadow has a location for players of all types. There are a few wide open fields in the southern portion of the zone as well as a ton of monsters to kill in the huge castle which makes up a majority of the zone.
Heart of Fear - Candle of Hollowed Souls (Dungeon Crawl) Antisocial - This camp is extremely out of the way and is very dangerous to get to unless your group has both normal Invisibility and Invisibility to Undead; IV and IVU as they're known. Though once you get here there are plenty of safe spots in the area to pull to and since this camp is so out of the way you'll barely ever get bothered here. The mob you're going to be farming is Soulhollow. Aside from Soulhollow you'll also be able to kill another named at this camp quite often, A Vision of Fear. The main item we're here for is, Candle of Hollowed Souls and other loot worth saving here is all the Dreadmotes you get from nameds as well as Planar Energy Shards.
Heart of Fear - Herald's Glyph (Dungeon Crawl) Antisocial - This camp is extremely out of the way and is very dangerous to get to unless your group has both normal Invisibility and Invisibility to Undead; IV and IVU as they're known. There is one or two nearby safe locations but they don't give much wiggle room at the camp. There are actually two other nameds nearby this location too you could pull if you have a good enough group. The main item we're here for is, Herald's Glyph and other loot worth saving here is all the Dreadmotes you get from nameds as well as Planar Energy Shards.
Leveling Locations Added During CoTF
These locations are only available once Call of the Forsaken becomes active on your server.
The Dead Hills (Field Killing) Antisocial - Aside from Heroic Adventures players can hunt "behind the scenes" so to speak in Dead Hills. In the northern section of the zone there are mobs that spawn that are frequented for their XP. No nameds spawn up here and the loot isn't the best but the XP can be good enough to draw a crowd. Since there are no nameds up here it makes it pretty easy for those who are under geared, leveled or AA'd. Loot worth keeping an eye out for at this location includes, Ethernere Essence.
The Dead Hills Gribble HAs (Dungeon Crawl) Group or Boxer - The famed Gribbles HA of Dead Hills and really the whole X-pac of CoTF. These are probably the most run Heroic Adventures just because of how easy they are in the entire game. You can farm all three in under an hour if you get quick at it with friends or a boxed group of your own. The loot is good from them and so is the XP - another bonus is there are almost always people LFG for them either in the area or in general chat channels. If you're looking to make friends, this could be it! Loot worth keeping an eye out for at this location includes, Ethernere Essence.
Ethernere West Karana (Field Killing) Antisocial - In the far eastern end of Ethernere - West Karana there lies a mobs that has a name that is impossibly hard to spell without double checking three or four times you did it right. This is a frequented location and mentioned by many when suggesting places to check out and hunt in early CoTF. The XP here is decent and the loot isn't that bad either but if you stick here past 103 expect it to slow down a lot. Loot worth keeping an eye out for at this location includes, Ethernere Essence.
Neriak Fourth Gate - (Dungeon Crawl) Semi Social - In Neriak Fourth Gate one of the better camps is Entrance R`ker. The reason she stands out so much here is because she drops a non prestige augmentation. Non prestige augs are extremely rare so if you're the kind of person who likes letting their boxes go Silver grabbing an aug from here will be a big upgrade over having nothing at all. This named is fairly easy except for the fact that she can mez you, that of course is a total nightmare. Loot worth keeping an eye out for at this location includes, Ethernere Essence.
Argin Hiz - (Field Killing) Antisocial - In Argin Hiz one of the most difficult but best camps is Master Sage Lowenn who drops Sage's Light, one of the better AC/HDex augs in the game. This named is no push over though, he summons a lot of adds that all pack quite a punch. The best strategy I have for him is burning him down as quickly as possible. If you are a group with good DPS make sure all your burns are up before pulling him then you should be able to lay waste to him. Loot worth keeping an eye out for at this location includes, a collectible set that drops off the Blood elves here as well as Ethernere Essence.