Old school newbie zones 1-25

[Maelga]

So, most people will tell you to do the tutorial, and Crescent Reach, and those are good, and will pay you well. I like to travel, though Take your money and buy yourself some cheap defiant armor, some jewelry from the guy in the Plane of Knowledge, or whatever you can afford, and put on your traveling shoes! Bring some spells with ya. You can buy most of your spells up to level 20 in PoK, and most of the rest in Abysmal Sea.

Around level 5, you can head to Blackburrow, near Qeynos. It's full of gnolls, and they will mob you, but with a set of cheap defiant armor you can take 'em. Watch out for guards on the way, if you are more evil, rather than less evil such as Drakkin or gnomes ;p The gnoll teeth are for a pretty good quest in Qeynos or Halas, if you are working your faction. Explore everywhere, there are many twists and turns in this dungeon, and you can stay here until 15 or so. Don't let those runners get away! There is a bug I noticed, that sometimes a gnoll will run at 50 percent life even if it's yellow con or red and still has friends you are fighting, so be sure to keep them all snared.

Around level 8 or 9, you can go to Befallen, close to Freeport. This is a keyed dungeon, and there will be camping, so be warned. It took me 3 spawn cycles to get the last key, so it wasn't too bad. I still find the map at EQAtlas.com to be the best. It's full of undead, rats, shadowknights, and your fellow necromancers. Slaughter them all! Once again you will get mobbed, but with today's gear, you don't care. This is the zone where trains were invented, and has the old school aggro where mobs come through the walls. Be sure to keep them snared! Keep cure disease memmed, you will get diseased a lot. This place is good to level 20 at least.

Kurn's Tower--who doesn't love it? It's close to Cabilis. You can start here at 7-8 if you are well-geared, but I find it fairly comfortable at level 9. What I do is just start at the POK book at level 2 and work my way across the zone, through the Arena, and into the tower. Again, look on EQAtlas, and camp yourself in the secret room. When you outlevel the first floor, go upstairs, up up up, and when you outlevel that, head to the basement. The Burynai will run, so be sure to keep them snared. I believe I stayed here until level 25.

[Lashden]

Much <3 for Kurns tower. I think I've done at least some leveling there on all of my characters.

Another place I used to like for low levels was Paludal Caverns (until about 15-20) then Netherbian Lair for a few more levels.

Of course, (not revamped) Unrest is fun too for those levels if you don't mind the run.

Thanks for the info

[Hanavas]

Around level 8 or 9, you can go to Befallen, close to Freeport. This is a keyed dungeon, and there will be camping, so be warned.

This could be misleading to some people. There are locked doors but the dungeon itself is not keyed. You can also bypass getting all the keys (think you might need 1 to get there) by jumping down the well. It's been a long time since I've been to the zone but jumping down the well might put you in the middle of a bunch of mobs so becareful. Also, if the class you are playing is not a gating class, bring gate pots otherwise you will need keys to get out. Rogues and Bards can pick the locks. There might be 1 lock that is unpickable if I remember correctly. This zone also happens to be a great place to work the pick lock skill at the first locked door on the left side of the main room.

Kurns is awsome! Great exp from lvls 10-about 20ish and you can net a huge supply of bonechips that can last you for a very long time.

[Felicite]

Are The Warrens still the same? We used to do those before Paludal. In fact, OOCly, the Belbold'Oloth family was born there one night while camping Foodmaster Rargnar and his friend. Good times. Although Kurns is likely better, the Warrens are a touchstone memory for me.

Paludal felt like cheating XP, even then. We had a progression of camps. Two shrooms, the ring of death. We usually avoided the overcamped bandit areas. Prior to moving from Bristlebane to FV, my friends were huge altaholics. I think we did the 1-30ish levels 3 or 4 times in those months. I was the shocking overachiever, I got a Cleric to 42. You can add me to the list of people that would do it again. If only.

Enjoy, Norrath is such a rich tapestry.

[Nirruden]

I did the warrens when I was first starting out, though at level 6-8 you tended to get swarmed by repops and wanderers and social agro in the entrance area if you were soloing. Later on, moving into the middle areas and cherry picking named mobs is good practice for necromancer dungeon soloing.

Please note - I haven't checked since I came back to see if this has been revamped, so add salt and shake well.

[Maelga]

So I did the Warrens tonight Felicite and Nirruden will be glad to know it's the same! Very very easy to get overswarmed here. You can start at level 5 but I had to zone out numerous times due to snare being resisted (kobolds are extremely fast and have many friends). I'd probably come here solo about level 10, and you can stay here until level 20 or 21. Don't leave without seeing the Muglwump! He's about level 25 but was very easy to me at level 20. I use the EQAtlas map for this zone also.

Unrest is one of my top 5 zones of all time. You can start there about level 8 or 9, and stay until the early 30s. None of the mobs run, as I recall, except the ghouls, werewolves, and tentacle terrors. This zone has some of the best mobs in the early game, such as the Hand, and the Ghost. Who of you oldies doesn't still thrill to the cry of "Hag to the zone!" or remember pulling a train by jumping off the porch roof? Just like with Kurn's Tower, start on the ground floor, work your way up, and then go in the basement.

Crushbone is also a great zone to have fun in. You can start there about level 5 and stay until level 20 or so, although it gets slow at the upper levels. There are a few interesting quests you can do here. Watch out for D'Vinn!

[Maelga]

Today I did Najena, also a dungeon that requires keys. It's not really a good experience dungeon, as the mobs' levels are too mixed up and you have too many grays mixed with blues (or too many reds mixed with blues, depending on your level, hehe). You can start here in your early teens but you can't get too far in. It'd be great if you could get a good group, though. I came here at 25 and didn't have too much trouble killing everything up to Najena, and got all the keys with the first spawns, but did not [edit: DID FINALLY] get the Flowing Black Robe (/cry). You will need water breathing, FYI. If a magician's pet runs off, it's easier to FD them off than chase the durned things. Mobs have a big aggro range and many of the non-undead seem to see through invis, so if you are lower level and actually in danger, med in safe spots. Be sure to kill some tentacle terrors, as (1) they are fun and (2) it's pretty cool to give your pet a lifetap whip. The spawn time is about 10 minutes now.

[Maelga]

If you have never done Paludal Caverns, it's pretty fun. Most people just go to the bandit camps and they have no idea how big this zone is. I'd suggest starting here about level 5 from the Shar Vahl side, and working your way through, although it might behoove you to not fight the fiends until you get cure disease, or bring some cure disease potions with you. You can go from 5 to 25-27 here, and it's just a really cool zone, with owlbears, mushrooms, giant beetles, greattt biiggg bugs, and bandits of many races. The mushrooms sometimes drop eyes that cast see invis, as I recall, which I found pretty useful on my old cleric.

[Arkaron]

Paludal and Kurn's may be a bit busier during Free To Play, but I discovered an old favorite while hunting with my newbie Necromancer on Fippy: Sister Island in Ocean of Tears. I went to visit at 14 and had a blast.

ETA: I do agree with other posters that the level range on the Sisters is kind of wide, so it's worth it below 14 as well.