Whelp, I've spent a week in LoY running around and I have to say, it has a lot more to offer than I thought it would, especially for the low-end guilds and single groups. If you are wearing mid-range to low high end gear you'll want to check the events out in Torgidan Mines. You just might find a ring, belt or glove to your liking. The zones are not without their well publicized problems. The charms, though pretty easy to get, aren't all that spectacular. Also, the XP all across LoY zones sucks. So, what does that leave you? Well, if you are adventurous, you can solo yourself a FT1 item that is tradable -- i.e.. Sell it and buy some badlly needed spells. You can also single group your way through some pretty cool triggered events. Lastly, since the XP sucks so much, and since everyone is scrambling for loot in PoP, you'll probably find many of these events open for the taking. By the way, if you're in a VoX, Naggy, Gore type guild these events are perfect for you. If you are in a NToV or better guild, you can single group at least the one event I tried. Yes, the expansion is fairly small. I expect you can finish it in less than a month or two if you tried hard. Looking for something different, fairly quiet, visually refreshing uniquely attainable? Well, this is a great place to go.

~Loth

At 48 I started soloing in Dulak in an attempt to get my 44 heal spell.

Although I have been there for several days and only have 1 of the needed quest items, I am now 50 and a couple thousand plat richer (gems, plat and drops). My alts have also aquired some baby twink items as a result.

With KEI, the action was so fast that I didn't even notice that I was leveling. It was extremely enjoyable. At 50, I find the xp slowing in the area I was camping for quest items, so I'll likely need to move on...a boat perhaps :)

In any case, I found the zone enjoyable and refreshing. The new mob graphics are also quite nice. The way the pirate sashes sway as the mob staggers...kinda cool. Folks in the zone were generally friendly and pleasant.

If you haven't tried the zones, certainly give it a whirl.

I still don't know the names of the zones at all..my sense of adventure is not what is used to be.

The few times I've been to hates fury it's been pretty fun. Not great xp (some light blues), but fun.

You know Batou, sometimes fun is enough for me. :) Once you reach the not another minute in PoP break point, places like Hates Fury look pretty good. And, it's a dungeon, which is reason enough for me to explore it. :)

I must admit I have enjoyed LoY as well. I've mainly used it to help plvl some alts and friends through their upper 40s, but I intend to finish up one of the ring quests (may even do the other "evil" race version) with my main and may even try some to bring a group back for some stuff in Nadox and HF. The loot is the main draw, with BDs and other gems dropping at a decent rate (seems about like Seb to me in some spots, but haven't kept stats). The zones are well-designed and the mobs are fun to keeel. All in all, if LoY had preceeded PoP, I think I would have loved it. It's still a nice mini-expansion that is a good place to go if you're 40-55.

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While the EXP is not all that great, the cash drops in Dulak are certainly worth it for me. I have made over 10k since LoY went live (granted it's been 500p here....200p there kinda stuff but it all adds up in the end).

I think a lot more people would visit the zones if the EXP were a more accurate reflection of the mob HPs or vice versa.

At what level is is safe to start exploring in some of the zones? I have yet to buy it but I was thinking about it so I could dye my armor (jeez, almost said outfit =/ ).

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>you can solo yourself a FT1 item that is tradable [/quote]

um - any way you could post some details?

From what I have seen, the Loy zones are nicely designed but the ZEMs need to be upped big time.

There's a rare spawn luggald that drops an FT 1 hybrid only belt.

You can start hunting in Gunthak in mid-30's or so. I think my Shaman and his wizard partner duo'ed there at 33 or 34.

There's almost always someone in gunthak looking for a port or sow or lev so go /role or /anon :-) and if you take a cleric, I suggest the same as there is almost always someone looking for a rez as well.

Most of the deaths seem to result from broken invis or running by an undead with invis up and getting your invis broken.

Bring a group of friends around 44 with an enchanter and turn in the fingerbones you got on the beach to start a ring event that just might result in a druid/monk/bst tunic with perm enduring breath. The two times we've done it, we've gotten an okay 2hs sword for the level. Enchanter with aoe mez is pretty much necessary or the healer is going to get swarmed and killed (if you go at 44). There are differeing levels of the event depending upon what kind of fingerbones you turn in.

There are TONS of decent int and wis caster items in Nadox and a decent amount on Dulak as well. (well...decent for a 45th level.... Just as an example...The Coral Ring from Nadox is an awesome little ring and a fairly common drop. My group got 3 of them in about 2 to 2.5 hours.

Coral Ring
LORE ITEM MAGIC ITEM
AC: +6 Agi: +7 Wis: +7 Magic Resist: +7 Fire Resist: +7 HP: +40 Mana: +40
Weight: 0.3
Classes: Shaman Druid Cleric
Races: All Races
Inventory Slot: Finger

For 30s and low 40s, I actually found the experience to be quite good in Gulf of Gunthak, and easy to hunt. I was getting about 3 percent of a level per kill in the 30s with my rogue, and single pulls were easy.

Ive found my fastest xp at 56 in Nadox, the spot is probably about the safest hunting spot that I know of in eq, and within one day I can make 1k+ and 1 yellow with the chance of a named that will drop a charm. While there are some nice things about LoY the one thing I can honestly say is Gunthak sucks. I went to Mines and tried to solo a few mobs but finding myself going to 20m root/dot kiting with epic and kei. Havent been to HF yet so no opinion see above on GUnthak. and like I said about Nadox is probably one of the safest xp hunting zones in eq as well as awsome xp. It's not PoP, but there im not LF REZZ like I always seem to be in PoP.

Kalest MoonGlade
56th preserver of tunare

61 Druid here.

I like Nadox. I like Nadox a LOT. I can charm a pig and go to town on the trolls and get great experience. Torgiran is fun, but mobs are higher level than *most* those in Nadox. Hate's Fury is a great zone, but hard to get to unless you fight your way there. Undead Trolls can be so unaccommodating at times....

>>the spot is probably about the safest hunting spot that I know of the spot is probably about the safest hunting spot that I know of <<

Care to elaborate on this? :)

Not to try to discover your sweet spot, but aside from the bruisers over by the egress point I always seem to get aggro.

Since my sweet spot is lt blue to me now (the small warehouse over by the archtect) I am looking for an alternative.

I've been spending more and more time in LoY lately. The zones, MoBs, and atmosphere are fantastic. It's the best expansion to date in terms of overall quality, IMO. It's a fantastic crawl for a single group, and it's basically empty on Veeshan.

a group of 60's can get as much xp in LoY as a tier 1 plane no problem.

same group..30 minutes=500-700pp to split.

you dont need trhe holy trinity to group there either. Dru heals more than enough. necro undead mez/slow etc.. so none "perfect" groups will work.

LOY is the first time in EQ that I haven't even been much interested in keeping my ear open about. In all the other expansions I liked to collect bits of story, learn what mobs were around, and see all the zones I could. For some reason, I haven't had that interest with LOY even though there is a hint of some sort of lore about it.

It is perhaps because whenever I go there I have to go alone and the greenies there beat this level 64 melee type to near death then run away.

I really don't know what exactly it is that has put me off from it. Though there are two things I'd like to see there. Hates Fury captain event is one. I hear he dies in a cool way. The second is also in Hate's Fury. Someone mentioned a whacked out ocean view I'd like to see.

I have been hunting in Hatesfury the last while and having a good time. Really well done zone from a look and layout point of view with interesting rooms and mobs. I noticed with all the castars and especially shaman around that dispelling the mobs can make a huge difference. Gets rid of damage shields and more importantly haste when your group doesn't have slows.

A lot of people don't really appreciate LoY for what it is because of PoP. It's all about UBER XP now!

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr> A lot of people don't really appreciate LoY for what it is because of PoP. It's all about UBER XP now![/quote]

You are so right. We spent a lot of time looking around LoY zones, they are certainly some of the best designed in the game and a lot more interesting to explore than the square outdoor zones of PoP. Of course you constantly hear from people saying what are you doing there the XP/loot sucks. (Actually it is not really that bad in either case, but hey)

So many people are of the mind set now that if they are not grinding out over 2AAs an hour they are just wasting their time. That is fine for them I suppose, but they might enjoy the game a little more if they got out and explored some.

Considering if one is patient and hunts the zones,you find a LOT of good stuff.

Heck, Dulak's is full of good stuff for a Wis caster. And anyone else that isn't twinked,for that matter. Even some that are.

One of my toons got his haste item (Golden Tooth) from Dulak's, ditto a nice Wisdom ring and earring from there too. There's plenty of loot,if you learn where to look and what to hunt.