The Serpent's Spine Leveling Guide
Once The Serpent's Spine is released on your server, every races noob zone will be changed to Crescent Reach for now and forever more. When you start your character you are capable of picking your old starting city if your account is Gold, Free to Play and Silver accounts though must always start in CR.
For the first 5 - 10 levels Crescent Reach is about the same difficulty as all the other noob zones in the game but once you hit level 10 and move up to the undead area or to Blightfire Moors you'll notice the difficulty to start picking up and being greater than old world zones.
This is the biggest thing that you need to remember for leveling up, while The Serpent's Spine is the first expansion in awhile that offers you all different options to level 1 - 50, the zones in this expansion will be significantly harder than the old school zones like Misty Thicket, Nektulos Forest, Unrest, Castle Mistmoore etc etc.
What that means is if you're reading this and you find the TSS zones to be too difficult, try hunting in one of the earlier zones from Classic - Kunark instead. Build up your levels and buy some better gear then you'll be able to handle the TSS zones!
1 - 15 Crescent Reach
10 - 25 Paludal Caverns
10 - 30 Unrest (Weakest Mobs)
20 - 35 Castle Mistmoore
15 - 25 OoT Undead (most antisocial; also extremely easy)
20 - 25 Marus Seru
20 - 25 Netherbian Lair
25 - 35 The Overthere
20 - 45 Blightfire Moors
30 - 35 Rathe Mountains
25 - 35 Crypt of Dalnir
30 - 37 Dreadlands
25 - 35 Castle Mistmoore
25 - 35 Lavastorm Basilisks (most antisocial)
TSS Leveling Guide 35 - 55
Depending on how well your character is geared and if you're a boxer or not determines the next place(s) you should level up at. You should take into account what expansion the zone was added that you want to level up in. Level 30 - 35 monsters during Classic Everquest for example won't hit nearly as hard or have as much HP as level 30 - 35 Luclin enemies.
You could also consider hunting Rathe Hill Giants for a bit to afford some gear while you're LFG. You'll still get some EXP if you're still in your 30s while you're here and you'll definitely get some plat for gear which will make soloing significantly easier in the future.
35 - 45 City of Mist
35 - 45 Crypt of Dalnir
35 - 50 Lower Guk
35 - 45 OoT Cyclops Islands (Weakest enemies)
35 - 45 Karnor's Castle
35 - 45 Dreadlands (Great for Kiting)
35 - 45 Velketor's Labyrinth
45 - 55 Old Sebilis
45 - 55 Chardok
45 - 55 Burning Woods
45 - 60 The Hole
45 - 55 Velketor's Labyrinth
45 - 60 Acrylia Caverns (Best EXP Least Money)
50 - 55 Siren's Grotto
45 - 55 Dragon Necropolis
45 - 60 Corathus Creep
Before progressing ahead in levels too far I also recommend you stop and grind out some of the more essential AAs for your class. If you're someone who takes melee damage from enemies whatsoever you're going to want Combat Agility and Stability before reaching 70+ if you hope to solo anything.
Also do not forget you can check The Bazaar from anywhere in the game now with /baz! I strongly recommend you check multiple times a day for new gear, especially during prime time hours. 50 - 70 opens up a lot of different options with gear that has Recommended or Required levels on it. These pieces of gear are usually rather good and quite cheap due to the restrictions.
TSS Leveling Guide 55 - 65
This next bracket of leveling locations is where things will start to get really tough in The Serpent's Spine content. If you've been mostly hunting in TSS zones you'll find that without good gear and all your AAs you won't be able to hunt here anymore. At level 50 The Steppes, Blackfeather Roost, Goru`Kar Mesa and all the other TSS zones take a big jump in difficulty.
Those of you reading this who hit that wall and find that they can't do much hunting in TSS zones, I highly recommend that you stick to Classic - Luclin zones instead. Maybe do some PoP zones if you can find a group or put together a group yourself. Now more than ever it's extremely important that you buy whatever gear you can in The Bazaar when it's available.
55 - 65 Grieg's End
55 - 65 Plane of Nightmare (Kiting + Group Locations)
55 - 65 Umbral Plains (Groups - Good Droppable Loot)
55 - 65 Dragon Necropolis (Group/Boxer - Antisocial Location)
55 - 65 The Steppes
55 - 65 Acrylia Caverns (Very high ZEM & Very Good Named Loot)
55 - 65 Riwwi, Coliseum of Games
60 - 65 Crypt of Decay (Group/Boxer - Decent Loot very good EXP
60 - 65 Bastion of Thunder
60 - 65 Plane of Valor
60 - 65 Drunder, Fortress of Zek
60 - 65 Plane of Fire
60 - 65 Ferubi, Forgotten Temple of Taelosia
55 - 65 The Undershore
TSS Leveling Guide 65 - 75
As you probably already know Omens of War added another 5 levels and a bunch more AAs for you to grind. If you aren't level 65 in at least PoP group gear the OoW zones are going to pose a real issue to you without a solid group to assist you. The Serpent's Spine zones will be even more difficult.
The upside is, you have a ton of different options available to you at this point in time. Almost the entire Depths of Darkhollow expansion will get you EXP in this level range as will the Prophecy of Ro zones. Add them all together with the TSS zones that were added in and you have over two dozen different locations to hunt!
If you can't find a group or are in extremely poor gear and need to solo I recommend you stick to PoP zones. Places like Crypt of Decay, Plane of Fire, Halls of Honor, Plane of Valor etc can still take you to level 75, it'll just be really slow going.
Wall of Slaughter (Field Killing/Dungeon Crawl) Solo/Group/Boxer - Wall of Slaughter, arguably the most famous OoW zone! If you don't know this zone already it has about 8 different camps all of which are pretty darn good. You can camp the southern wall and pull a multitude of different nameds down there, as well as the Undead Murkgliders and the northern wall with a slew of other nameds.
Muramite Proving Grounds (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - This zone offers a decent dungeon crawl experience to smaller groups and/or boxers. There are a decent amount of nameds in this zone for you to kill - as far as I know there aren't too many great camp areas... There aren't enough mobs nearby for you to really stay in one spot for long. If you come here expect to me moving more often than not.
Riftseekers Sanctum (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - This is probably the most difficult zone in OoW and one you'll definitely need at least a group for. A well geared one too!
Dreadspire Keep (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - Dreadspire Keep is the hardest zone in the Depths of Darkhollow expansion and is a total pain the butt to reach. This place is only recommended to boxers or full groups that know what they're doing. If you're looking for a place to hunt and aren't well geared or higher level this should not be your first pick.
Ruins of Illsalin (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - Paladins/Clerics or any class out there with Slay Undead capabilities will find this zone to be a hotspot for them. You'll find a buttload of undead in the theater like building in the southern portion of the zone. Levitation is recommended to navigate this zone.
Stoneroot Falls (Dungeon Crawl) Solo/Group/Boxer - Huge zone with different options for everyone. Soloers can pick off enemies that are hanging out by themselves throughout the zone and groups can choose a multitude of different camps throughout. This zone has an abnormally high amount of enemies in each of the 'city' locations.
Arcstone, Isle of Spirits (Field Killing) Solo/Group/Boxer - Easy access to this zone from the Guild Hall, it's filled with all sorts of undead enemies (Paladins, celebrate!) as well as many different elemental enemies. Good zone for soloers since it's easy to pick off singles.
Relic, the Artifact City (Dungeon Crawl) Small Group/Boxer - Just off Arcstone you'll find this zone, it's got two floors, but the second floor has three raid bosses on it so you'll probably want to ignore that. The first floor has a lot of enemies that roam around it and a few different nameds. Small groups sound be able to handle this zone fairly well.
The Devastation (Field Killing) Solo/Group/Boxer - Here you'll find a mix of group locations & soloing/duoing locations. There's plenty of open room for you to kite enemies around and also plenty of camps for groups to take out.
Sverag, Stronghold of Rage (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - This place is jam packed with undead enemies and will be difficult for anyone but a full group to hunt here. Even a full group, unless they're very well geared, will likely struggle at this location.
Direwind Cliffs (Field Killing, Dungeon Crawl) Solo/Group/Boxer - The southern portion of Direwind Cliffs has the lower level enemies/easier to solo enemies in the zone. The further north you go the harder things will usually get. Since this zone drops Attuneable Gear, it's one of the better money making choices for leveling up.
Icefall Glacier (Field Killing/Kiting) Solo/Small Boxer - **Kiting Hotspot** While there are opportunities in Icefall Glacier for full groups, what makes this zone really unique is that it's one of the best locations for people looking to solo that kite enemies. Kiters will be able to hunt the animals in the southern portion of the zone with ease.
Valdeholm (Field Killing/Dungeon Crawl) Solo/Group/Boxer - Much like Icefall Glacier, in the southern portion of this zone you'll find enemies in the pit that you can kite around. The rest of this zone is extremely difficult though, the further north you go the harder it'll get!
Frostcrypt (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - Frostcrypt is one of the two endgame dungeons added in The Serpent's Spine expansion pack. You'll find a lot of undead giants throughout this zone and it's only recommended boxers or full groups come here. It'll be tough if you don't have all your AAs and good gear.
Ashengate (Dungeon Crawl) Group/Boxer - The main end game dungeon of TSS. There are three different wings to this zone and each of them have a couple nameds in them each. Much like Frostcrypt, you'll want a full group to hunt here and if you don't have all your AAs and good gear you probably won't be able to handle it.
Everquest Farming & Endgame Guide