Medievia Mudslinger

February 13, 2000

"WHERE SHOULD I XP?" -- By Catriona

This is the one of the most common questions that I have seen come from a player on Medievia. This article is written in an attempt to help answer that question. I have aimed the article mostly at single class characters who are in the middle levels (teens-twenties), as well as higher level singles and low level multies, although the advice is (hopefully) useful to characters of any level. Note: this is not a guide to zones for formed players, but people who cannot find a form, or wish to solo.

There is no "one" good answer for this question. Which zone is going to be good experience for the character in question depends not only on the level of that character, but on many other factors, including class, alignment, equipment, connection, even which spells or skills the character has practiced.

As a general rule, there are three types of zones. Limited player kill zones, neutral play kill zones, and chaotic player kill zones. This article does not deal with CPK zones, since they are not appropriate places for a single to gain experience (unless it is the experience of LOSING xp points and gold). It is true that it is illegal for a Hero to CPK a single class character, but not all CPKers are Heroes.

LPK Zones:

LPK are nice safe zones, in which the other thing that is going to be doing damage to you are mobs. Unfortunately, this security comes at a price. LPK zones do not give as good experience as other types of zones.

The basic LPK zone is the clantown. There are LOTS of clantowns around, and they are very easy to find. Just find a portal (always at recall, except in Trellor (out the west gate) and Medievia (south and east of recall)), and enter whichever clantown you wish to go to. You can either enter the number of the clantown (same as the number of the clan leading the town) or part of the leading clan name. The 'showtown' command will show what levels all the clantowns currently are (they change levels roughly once a week), and you can decide which one is best for you. If you are solo, it is *probably* best to choose a clantown that is a couple of levels below your level - if that is too easy, you can always move to a higher levelled clantown.

Clantowns are very convenient places to xp, not only because of the portals but also because of the banks, post offices, altars, lockers, etc. Use the ' guide' command to find them in any clantown. The fact that all clantowns have a recall is useful for a quick word/transport escape if a fight is going badly. You must remember also that in clantowns, you will not find anything on the corpses except potions and orbs.

If a clantown is not what you're looking for, there are many other LPK zones. For not so tough LPK xpers, the following zones might be worth a look:

For the more seasoned LPK xper, there are slightly harder LPK zones, such as:

NPK ZONES - Lower levels

NPK zones have slightly better xp per mob than an LPK zone would, to balance up the risk you take of being pked by another player. Make sure you keep an eye on WHERE and WHO -Z for potential pkers, and avoid zones if they are too crowded. A crowded zone which has run out of mobs is always going to generate a few pk problems (any pk zone is likely to have pkers, however, a crowded zone encourages potential pkers to pk). Having some -ss gear ready is not always a bad idea, as it reduces your chance of being dispelled/blinded/ cursed, etc.

Riverton Mines (near clantown 16/51) was always one of my favourites. There is a key just south of recall, and for evil players, there is a constant supply of heavy oak staves. There's also the added convenience of the bank/post office/locker, etc. The only difference between Riverton and a clantown is that there isn't a portal (pk yourself and recall for a quick way back to med) and you have to actually find the bank, etc without the aid of the guide command. This is one of the favourite hangouts of pkers, though, so be careful. Riverton Mines also has conveniently placed guilds in the class areas of the mines.

The Warrens of Moshata (near clantown 54) is quite good experience, if you're lower level, avoid the Talpidaes and Mudmen, and focus mostly on the Mudvoles and Earthworms. Some of the equipment here is worth EQ points, so loot it all, and stay invis because these mobs are aggro. There is one room of CPK in this zone, but the mobs on the other side of it are a tad hard, so probably worth avoiding. This is a fairly popular zone, so make sure it doens't get too crowded, and keep an eye out for pkers.

The ants section of the Catacombs of Toshi (near clantown 19) is quite good experience for lower levelled characters, although, once again, watch out for those pkers. Stay invis, cause the guard ants are aggro, and hit very hard. Try to avoid fighting them if you can.

Lyryranoth (near clantown 14) is good for evil aligned players, or people who want to be evil aligned. It has a bank, lockers, post office and more. Avoid the law enforcers, and watch out because some of these mobs are aggro. Not all the people on Where and Who -z are necessarily here for xp, check if they are high levels and Heroes from the same clan/town. If so, they're probably here for EQ, not xp. The fountain in Lyryranoth is also a recall point, useful for a quick escape. This zone provides quite decent xp for a range of levels.

Higher Levels

For higher levelled characters looking for xp zones, Horneg's Keep (near clantown 16) is absolutely wonderful xp, especially for backstabbers and spellcasters. There isn't room for too many people here, though, because the mobs run out fairly fast. Make sure you stay invisible, and watch out if there's lots of mobs in one room. Also, if you're lucky, you might find some elemental stones. This zone has a few secrets, so keep an eye out.

What you must keep in mind while trying out various xp zones is that almost no zone will yield good experience from the start. To get a decent rate of xp from almost any zone, you need to know it fairly well. Knowing where to move

Another tip for xping is to always carry wands and potions, no matter what class you are. Evil and neutral non spellcasters should always have a decent supply of oak staves (these are a lvl 20 room harm spell, don't use on the undead, since the Harm spell actually heals undead mobs), from Riverton or New Genesia and platinum wands (lvl 31 magic missile) from Karlisna if good. Oaks are very useful for wounding multiple mobs (since it's a room harm spell) and the plats are good for individual mobs (since it's only a normal magic missle). Unfortunately, good players are restricted to the platinum wands.

Green potions (found on corpses and in the Labyrinth Apothecary) are invaluable, even to clerics (especially when they're out of mana). Cloudy potions (invis) from Trellor are great if you don't want to always be wearing a shadow cloak or amethyst band, plus they have the added bonus of the strength spell, so you can carry even more potions. If you just want the strength spell, effervescent potions from Gdangus are good. Magenta potions from the Mage's Workshop in Med Castle aid in protecting yourself from mobs ( armor, -30ac), and lucky rabbit's feet from Trellor will ensure you're always blessed. Flasks of Holy Water from the monks in the graveyard cathedral are very useful for a quick heal/sanc, especially in the middle of a fight, when you would otherwise not be able to cast these spells.

Hopefully, this article goes partway to getting decent experience for you. The rest of the work is up to you - putting in the time to learn the zones, and run them. For additional help, MedWeb (Areas in the Game) has LOTS of useful information and suggested levels for zones, and there are a few more zones listed under "help suggested zones", although I think these zones are more aimed at people wishing to form, rather than solo.


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