Levelling:
If you have been levelling on the moon, level 25 is a natural break in the zone design for level ranges (see this . Basically you can live off the fumes of Shadeweavers and Netherbian Lair if you want (or need to) for a few more levels, but the closer you get to 30 the less effective that will be.
Marus Seru is ideal for the 20s (especially as a hotzone) well towards 30s. While it is listed as going to 45 I think that is long past the ideal range for it. Because it is a hotzone, it is probably the best zone for catching up a single character with a merc in this range as well.
We talked strat for these zones in the 1-25 thread I will keep it short here, instead looking to new places:
Hollowshade Moor is the intended Vah Shir levelling path for this level range. Various quests out of Shar Vahl have drops in the zone. In the 20s you can really start to hunt here. Sonic Wolves, Grimlings and Owlbears are the main prey, and as a result there is bane weapons geared for this. The devs spent a lot of time doing stuff for this zone, but you have to truly engage the content to even know it (see quests below).
Echo Caverns is listed as 20-45, but this zone is less forgiving to the unprepared. It also has a hard side and an easy side. I remember killing the mosquitoes in a part group in the late 20s. In Luclin-era gear it will be interesting to see when/how we are effective here.
I remember Dawnshroud Peaks being a popular levelling spot years later. Smiths liked the drops here iirc. Most people camped near a zoneline as it is an easy place to get adds. Enchanters used to really like charming a pet in here... Since it is a hotzone it will be hard to beat for xp across this entire level range.
Grimling Forest is 25-50. At level this is a tricky place. I'm curious to see how we handle it. It's been subject to some dev love over the years to fix bugs with the event/war... which is probably not doable in era gear at level 50.
Twilight Sea is a bit different in the Luclin zone mix in that it is a huge quest hub, but not that great of an xp zone if you aren't doing a camp at the sweet spot for it. However, it is one of the better loot zones in this level range.
Scarlett Desert is a good zone if you can handle adds. They changed the drop rules in this zone... you get all the quest loots for the twilight armor quests off a given mob rather than just 1. Handy if you know what you want, a lot of looking up stuff if you don't. My memory is that killing one type of alien makes the others like you. Apparently they added a high level (75+) alien so watch for that. One of my all-time favourite weapons used drop here: sunflower thorn but I haven't seen one in years, and couldn't manage to get the named to spawn last few times I bothered to try.
Katta Castellum is a great designed city (maybe not the one path up) that you can faction with or choose to kill.
Mons Letalis and Tenebrous Mountains have mobs in the 35-40 range, but are probably best left for the 40+ seasons.
Quests:
The Hollowshade War is one of the best scripted non-raids in EQ. I've done the war many times (years ago) and all 3 variations actually work. Living on the Moon (as we are) the drops are going to be useful. It's not going to be easy in Luclin-era gear, but totally worth it on an EQ-bucket list thing.
progressive cloak quests that seem to be mostly for Vah Shir (some have more large race options). Hollowshade also extends nearly every tradeskill quest out of Shar Vahl.
In Echo Caverns some will want to do this quest for priest clicky before having the real fun and killing the mutants.
Also in Echo, but early for this level range is quest for enduring breath item but it is worth being aware of in case you get the drops.
Dawnshroud has a variety of weapon quests, many of which no one has said a thing about in years. ogrebane armor is noteworthy as it is aimed at small races (who get shafted in Shar Vahl area) and uses the annoying lightcrawlers. A fair number of Twilight Sea quests need drops from Dawnshroud as well.
Twilight Sea has 196 known quests starting in it... armor for every class (maybe not berserker...) and connections to the rival cities of Sanctus Seru and Katta Castellum for a few good items like a sword .
Katta Castellum likes you: foraging machete , Vamp killer , enduring breath are ones that are probably doable 26-40. There's some other important stuff tied to this zone: like earring waaaay beyond the casual little group . NOTE that some quests in Sanctus Seru lower faction here... Jewelled Quiver is worth doing before building up faction with Katta Castellum in my view (for example).
Edited, Oct 13th 2013 9:39pm by snailish