EverQuest put a wonderful patch in this week that not only changed the old (tired, dated) hotzones, but also revamped hero’s forge armor into a new sleek look. If you happen to prefer the old bulky look you can continue to use it. To switch over to the new look just right click the piece of gear in an inventory slot. Robes are not included in this change, but I’m still happy for it. The bust of my female characters always looked a bit.. off.
I’ve been playing my new paladin lately. I’ve got little to no experience playing a tank class, even though I do have a 53 shadowknight I haven’t touched the character in a number of years. I’ve always wanted to play a paladin, so I decided why not. When I created the high elf paladin Crescent Reach was the hotzone (and had been for a number of years) and I managed to level to 17 without too much trouble. This time I decided to try out the new hot zones, which was Marus Seru for level 25.
The zone was completely empty. Not exactly unheard of on a Thursday evening, but a bit odd. Oger took on a shroud and joined me and our mercs in beating up many Stonegrabbers and Rockhoppers, ah Luclin how I have missed you.
If you’re curious about what the new hotzones are, here’s the list:
— Level 20 – Warslik’s Wood
— Level 25 – Marus Seru
— Level 30 – Frontier Mountains
— Level 35 – The Dawnshroud Peaks
— Level 40 – Jaggedpine Forest
— Level 45 – Burning Woods
— Level 50 – Corathus Creep
— Level 55 – The Bloodfields
— Level 60 – Undershore
— Level 65 – Plane of Air (AKA Eryslai, the Kingdom of Wind)
— Level 70 – Wall of Slaughter
— Level 75 – Oceangreen Hills
— Level 80 – Hills of Shade
— Level 85 – Old Bloodfields
— Level 90 – Valley of Lunanyn
— Level 90 – The Grounds
It looks like I’m off to Frontier Mountains next, as the paladin is closing in on 30 after my adventures last night. I picked up my new spells, and a few pieces of new defiant gear. I gave a brief glance through my alternate advancement and noticed that one of my level 85 includes a levitating unicorn.
O. M. G.
If there was ever a reason to play a class, that’s it.
That’s a fantastic set of Hot Zones – about a million times better than the last lot. It tempts me really quite strongly to log in and level up a few more of my two dozen or more languishing characters.
Oh man… this brings back so many memories. I spent what felt like years in Marus Seru leveling my cleric. The rocks were ideal for the root/nuke play-style of my little Dwarven cleric. Around the release of Luclin I re-rolled on Xegony, and got the benefit of some of those great zones to level through because it was new and shiny content. I know I also spent a ton of time killing the fungoids in the nexus :)