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Levels 1-10: Grinding Guide
As you know, there are now four (4) starting cities, and four (4) newbie areas:
FOR THE HUMANS: Inn of the Eagle and Etherblade
FOR THE UNTAMED: The Northern Pass and City of the Lost
FOR THE WINGED ELVES: Battlemark Village and City of the Plume
FOR THE TIDEBORN: Dragonfang Village and City of Raging Tides
These four areas are your best friends right now. You will spend a large majority of your first few levels in, at, or around these general areas. It's actually a good idea to STAY in those areas for now, until you reach double digits. (Being 10.)
No matter what, even if you're an eager McBeaver and I know you are... stay where you first spawn, and start grinding. Get used to the battle system. Stay near your beginning areas. I suggest smacking around monsters until you're at LEAST level 4, maybe even 5 if you feel like it. This makes leveling easier, and some of the quests you'll be given a lot easier depending on which race/class you are, since you have a tiny level boost above the monsters you'll probably have to kill.
In addition to killing monsters, you should also gather any items that they drop on death. Even things like arrows (which, if you're not using a bow, is pretty useless,) count for a little something on the NPC market. Lime Stone and other items like Rough Pelts, or things like that, are also common drops that can easily stack some coin in your inventory in the first ten levels. This amount of moolah is also useful if you're feeling like leveling up every single one of your abilities. In the times to come, cash can get a little scarce, especially if you like to spend money in NPC shops.
Level 10-20
Congratulations, you just made it over the first hump. Now that you're level 10, make sure you open up that Supply Crate for some goodies. Usually they will allow you to get a powerful weapon for your class during this time. Make sure you turn it into the Mailbox, or you will miss out on a really great gift!
You should have picked up some quests on the way here. Help for these quests can be found in the Level 1-19 Quests Guide. As stated before, you should keep near the areas where your quests take you. Usually, there is a small town or city which you will have to report your findings to. (IE: For the Winged Elves, there's the Southern Stronghold which you have to visit.) Keep near that area as much as you can for easy trips back and forth. If you have to travel further away from that area for another quest, try and find another town/city that is closer to your location for quick inventory dumps. (Where you sell all your useless things for cash.)
THIS IS THE POINT IN TIME WHERE YOU REALLY HAVE TO KNOW WHAT STATS YOUR CLASS USES!
It's really important that you know which stats your class uses. If you're a tank class, and you think you're going to use a lot of magic...I hate to tell you this, you're wrong. It's a good idea to get BALANCE! Check your class on the main page of the Wiki and make sure you're not screwing up! Those stat points are going to either make you or break you if you are not cautious.
IF YOU ARE A WINGED ELF: Grind at the Plume Lake Shore, Bamboo Village, or for those of you 16+ the Southern Stronghold and surrounding areas.
IF YOU ARE A HUMAN: Outside of Etherblade, Haunted Path, and the Hill of the Swarm is where you should head. (NOTE: DO NOT HEAD TOO FAR EAST! Once you pass the Hill of the Swarm, don't go any further! If you pass the Everflow, you're going to run smack dab into Shattered Jade Shore, which I promise you is not going to let you get out alive.)
IF YOU ARE UNTAMED: Wolf Totem Valley, Courage Path, and Silk Ridge are your destinations of choice. (NOTE: BEWARE OF GOING TOO FAR WEST! You'll run right into some nasty 50+ monsters if you go too far in the direction of the Gate of Delirium.)
IF YOU ARE TIDEBORN: The entire island is your playground at this point. Whatever you do, DON'T SWIM OFF THE ISLAND! Even if you make it, you'll probably head into Dreamwaver Port, which is the closest landmass...and those monsters will eat you alive. If you are going to go off island, once you get to the City of the Raging Tides, you can teleport to any of the other main cities with a quest the Elder gives you. You can then essentially go to the other race's previously stated grinding areas.
Most of the monsters in these areas will start dropping some items which you can equip. A large majority of them might have half their durability (or less) BUT, it's free, and that's cash you don't have to pay for the same item in an NPC store. Better yet, a huge quantity of these dropped monster items have additional effects and added sockets (if you're lucky) which you can use to help improve yourself. DON'T FORGET that if you get any of these items, and there's an ability that has yet to be identified, go to an Elder and get that item identified! Chances are, there's another useful ability that item has that makes the price go up!
Levels 20-30
This is the part where you have to prepare yourself for facing other players in the world of PvP to come. A large majority of players are not going to take pity on you, so start getting ready to face them.
You should have learned at least ONE skill during the first two humps of your journey. If so, you can begin to explore areas with materials you will soon be needing once you hit level 30. This is also the time where most players learn some of their important skills, and are introduced to FB's. (Chinese word: "Fuben" meaning "dungeon". FB is just so much easier to say...) These are heavy grinding areas, however don't get too cocky with them. Just because people say "FB 29" does not mean that when you're level 29 you can just waltz right in there and start smoking people. Trust me..
PLACES TO GRIND:
Thousand Wood Ridge, Broken Bow Bluff, Stairway to Heaven, The Great Lake, Flag Hill, Outer Archosaur, and the Shining Tidewood
Note that these areas are available to all races once they hit around level 20.
Most of your quests will be in this general area. LOVE YOUR QUESTS PEOPLE: THEY ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS. Why?
* They give you extra EXP, SPIRIT POINTS, and COIN
o Some Quests give you useful items. (Like the Ladywraith quest, whose special item can give you 1% more EXP!)
* The items the mobs will drop are worth some cash!
o You will probably need the extra cash anyway! Level 20 is where you'll be in Arch, where you'll see a lot of things you just might want!
Level 30-40
Welcome to the harrowing, harsh, and incredible cruel world of PvPing! During this phase (especially if you're a low level in this range) you will be beaten, kicked down, and generally bullied on. Higher levels LOVE when people turn level 30. They're prime targets for them to hit on, and easy kills when they're caught off guard.
If you haven't turned on the "show monster" feature on your mini-map, now is the time to do it. This makes identifying monsters and players easier. Simply go to your options, click on system settings, and go to the Map area. You should be able to select the option to show monsters (which will appear as white dots) on your map. As a default, players should show as green dots. Using this mini-map, you should be able to tell if a potential PvPing player is nearby. For those of us with low vitality builds, this is very needed while questing to make sure you're not attacked by a player from behind while doing something important. (This is called "Creeping", and it's cowardly.)
PLACES TO GRIND:
* Valley of the Hidden Orchid
* Tomb of Heroes: (NOTE: despite the rumor that "If you PvP in a dungeon, you'll get banned" there are still people who go in there anyway. If you're going to grind in the dungeon, be wary of other players, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM BIG CLANS, and ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH RED NAMES. More than likely, you're next.)(See note regarding BH 29)
* Scorpion Valley
* Shattered Jade Shore (This is mostly for higher levels in this group.)(See TIP)
* Widow's Coast
* Lake of the Plume
* Volcanic Purgatory
NOTE: BH 29--
BH 29, known as the Tomb of Heroes (Or Secret Passage) is an area with levels that, despite the name, are NOT LEVEL 29! They are not even close. Most of the monsters in this dungeon are about 35, and I believe that's the lowest level. If you're going to grind here, you also, as stated before, have to look out for PvPers. Go with a squad to this dungeon, if possible, and keep yourself armed with some HP potions. A lot of the monsters in this area cast the POISON effect, which deals wood damage over time. Now if you're a mage class, this shouldn't hurt QUITE as much because of arcane armor. Other classes however may have a hard time with this. Be wary about the POISON effect when grinding here.
TIP: THE SHINING TIDEWOOD--
A peaceful and somewhat remote area for grinding at the Tidewood is a small piece of shore nearest to the Everflow. This small bit of beach is perfect for grinding, since there are small armies worth of Bloodthirsty Hexweb Kings, Sage Tombstones, and other easy-to-kill-when-prepared mobs. You can also retreat back to the Walled Stronghold to the west if you ever need some time to dump inventory, or buy up new items. There are also quite a bit of materials near the Shattered Jade Shore, to include this small section of land, and with level 1 materials nearby at the Hill of the Swarm and Etherblade, farming these should be simple. (I make a small mention that this is the point in time where level 2 materials are available for gathering! Bon appetit!)
HERE IS WHERE QUESTS GET A LITTLE SCARCE, AND GRINDING IS A COMMON THING!
That's right. Here is about the time where quests start loosing a bit of their former magic. You get fewer and fewer of them (and they get harder, naturally) and they also seem to give less goodies. Once you hit 40, these problems should lift because of the 10 level bump in the road you just passed.
Levels 40-50
Here, PvPing should get a little easier if you happen to have yourself prepared. Sure, the mages classes might still get jumped every once in a while and die...but that tends to happen to us a lot either way you slice it. At this point, level 3 materials are available, so those of you indulging in a skill can further your capabilities. However, the mobs guarding these materials are hardly going to let you just walk up and get them, so take care when you're farming!
PLACES TO GRIND:
* Dragon Wilderness
* Shattered Jade shore (only bits and pieces of it though)
* Valley of Seven Deaths
* Skull Mountain
* Sundown Highland
* Windswept Grasslands
* Broken Plain
Levels 50-60
This is the point in time where the game becomes much easier. Sure, yeah, you still have these huge quests you have to do. They're usually really hard. But hey, now you can do all the things you really wanted to do at level 20, like PK a bunch of people beneath your level, kick some behind in Territory Wars, and generally solo a majority of the Bounty Hunters. (BH) The drops on these monsters are really great, and they should allow you to get almost anything you need for your journeys. This is why at this point, many players quit the game at this time. Oh well. I guess they're just missing out!
PLACES TO GRIND:
* Skull Mountain
* Rook's Valley
* King's Feast
* Dragon's End
* Tai Chi Shore
* Sumor Camp
Levels 60-70
You're pretty much down pact with the game by now right? WRONG! You don't have all the really cool glowing, sparkly stuff yet. Gathering items for your ultimate weapons start about now, in the Twilight Temple (TT). A further detailed explanation about gathering materials for Ultimate Weapons and Armors, as well as items and other things, can be found on this page: Twilight Temple
If you're not into getting some really cool shiny glowing sparkly gear, and quests just aren't cutting it, here are some great spots to grind:
PLACES TO GRIND:
* Black Mountain
* Endless Sea
* Valley of Disaster
* Hill of the Old King
For the most part, a large majority of your monsters are found at Black Mountain and the Valley of Disaster. Other than that, the rest of the areas are either too high, or too low for you. You can pretty much smoke anybody at a lower level during PvPing and such from this point on, provided what class you are and how you've customized your character.
Levels 70-80
At this point, you're facing a lot of tough enemies. Most of these are other players. A huge majority of people this level are out smacking around pathetic mobs to help out faction members, going into Territory Wars to smoke some other clans, and so on and so forth. Most of the time, they're out doing FB's or BH's and sometimes you can catch them at the Twilight Temple.
PLACES TO GRIND:
* Endless Sea
* Wraithgate
* Forest of Haze
* Swamp of the Wraith
* Cave of Sadistic Glee
* Peach Blossom Grove
* Fragrant Hills
* Areas near Dreamweaver Port
(Note: Mostly, for those starting at level 70, your grinding monsters are located in the Forest of Haze. Thankfully, there aren't a whole group of people who actually decide to take a visit, BUT you should still watch your back. There's nothing a jerk of a PvPer loves more than a high level target fighting high level mob.)
Levels 80-90
Wow. That's what most players are going to think of you. Wow. You're bound to be strong, any way you slice it. You'll be able to grease right through dungeons and bounty hunter missions that most people would cringe at. Quingzi isn't even a threat to you anymore... not even close. Twilight Temple could make you shudder a little, but only on the harder difficulties, and even then, if you have your stats right, you would only shudder if your party didn't have a Cleric. For the most part, you should hardly have difficulties if you're properly prepared for your missions. Smooth sailing mates!
PLACES TO GRIND:
* City of a Thousand Streams
* Boundless Grasslands
* Cave of Sadistic Glee
* Plain of Farewells
* Land of Burning Heart
Levels 90-100
...You scare me. You scare me a lot.
PLACES TO GRIND:
* The Harshlands
* Valley of the Gods
* Avalanche Canyon
* Eden
* Brimstone Pit
* Boundless Grasslands
* Celestial World
* Abaddon
* Seat of Torment
Levels 100-105
...And now I'm going to go cry myself to sleep, you're so strong.
PLACES TO GRIND:
* Deserted Sea
* Land of Buried Bones
* Sandstorm Valley
* Celestial World
* Avalanche Canyon
* Abaddon
