Getting Started

Leveling 1–20

Where to go and what to kill for the first twenty levels. The foundational band.

Leveling 1-20 is the foundational band. Your character is finding its feet, your gear is nothing special, and your spell or discipline book is bare. The goal is to learn pull mechanics, get to 20, and graduate to real dungeons.

Most of this band is solo or small-group play. Pickup groups start forming around level 5, but they're loose. Your real group XP starts at 15+.

At a glance

Level band	Where	Group?
1-5	Newbie yard outside your starting city	Solo
5-10	Yard-adjacent zone	Solo or duo
10-15	First dungeon (Crushbone Keep, Blackburrow, Field of Bone, etc.)	Group
15-20	Real XP zones (Paludal, Unrest, Najena, Ocean of Tears)	Group

Levels 1-5 — Your newbie yard

Stay close to your starting city. Kill the lowest-con mobs in the immediate outskirts — rats, bats, snakes, skeletons. Build your weapon skill up to 100 (the cap for your level). Cast your starting spells to keep Magic skill and Meditation skill climbing.

Most starting cities have a newbie armor quest — a sequence of low-level mob kills that rewards a starter set of race-cultural armor. Ask in /ooc "where's the newbie armor quest?" and someone will point you. Wood Elves get cured silk; Iksar get scaled leather; Dwarves get banded mail. Starter armor closes the gear gap with low-effort drops.

Exit criteria for 5: you can fight two mobs at once without dying, and your bind is set in your starting city.

Levels 5-10 — Extended newbie yard

Move out to the yard-adjacent zone. Wood Elves push deeper into Greater Faydark; Humans into Qeynos Hills; Dwarves into Butcherblock; Iksar into Field of Bone. Start pulling singles from small camps.

Group option: pickup groups start appearing around level 5. If you're a Cleric, Enchanter, or Warrior, you'll be invited to most groups you ask about in /ooc. Casters have an easier time soloing this band — DoT classes especially.

Levels 10-15 — First dungeons

Graduate to the first dungeon that matches your race-continent:

Faydwer (Wood Elf, High Elf, Dwarf, Gnome): Crushbone Keep — the iconic original. Orcs, easy pulls, faction-friendly.
Antonica (Human, Halfling, Barbarian, Dark Elf): Blackburrow (gnolls) or Befallen (undead).
Odus (Erudite): Toxxulia Forest (extended), then The Hole for Paineel.
Kunark (Iksar): Field of Bone to Kurn's Tower.
Luclin (Vah Shir): Hollowshade Moor, then Paludal Caverns.

Dungeon groups teach pull mechanics, camp-holding, and train-safety. Every level past 15 is easier if you've camped a real dungeon.

Level-15 milestones

Wood Elves — start the Hand of Tunare belt quest in Greater Faydark. The HoT belt is one of the best stat belts in the band.
Tanks — your guild's culture-vendor finally sells fine plate at 15. It's still the best plate-slot armor for your level until you hit Mistmoore drops at 30.
Casters — your level 12 spells finally land. The first real damage spells (Burn, Shock of Frost) and CC (Mesmerize, Root) come online.
Hybrids — Paladin/Ranger/SK/Bard get their first real class-defining spells at 9-13. By 15 your kit is complete.

Levels 15-20 — Real XP zones

Move into the second tier of dungeons or start the Commonlands / Oasis outdoor crush:

Paludal Caverns (Luclin, 15-25) — many consider it the best 15-25 XP zone in the game. Getting there requires a Nexus port or a boat from Shadeweaver's.
Unrest (Faydwer) — undead manor, great for Paladins.
Najena (Antonica) — djinn and clockworks.
Ocean of Tears — outdoor, boat hub, high level variance.

Exit criteria for 20: you've pulled and camped in at least one dungeon, you've learned what training means (and how to avoid it), and you have a class-appropriate weapon or spell set for your role.

Travel options

Until you reach the Plane of Knowledge, travel is slow and on-foot. The exceptions:

Druid and Wizard ports. Ask in /ooc — most porters do it free. Common ports: Greater Faydark (Wood Elf zone), Surefall Glade (Qeynos), Lavastorm (Sol A/B access), West Karana, Misty Thicket.
Boats. Free, scheduled, slow. Boats run between Butcherblock ↔ Ocean of Tears ↔ Freeport, and Ocean of Tears ↔ Erud's Crossing ↔ Erudin. Once you reach OoT, you can hop almost anywhere.
PoK book. Once you've reached PoK once (via Druid port or your starting-city stone book), every PoK stone-book in the world becomes a one-way ticket to PoK. From PoK you can portal to most outdoor zones via the stone circles.

Cross-class tips

Caster — always keep a full mana bar before engaging. Meditate between pulls. Spell scrolls go in your bank, not the vendor.
Melee — keep weapon skill capped for your level. Swing at easy mobs to level slow skills like Defense and Offense.
Tank — learn the Taunt skill's limits. Taunt is not enough past level 25; you'll need gear aggro too. Practice your bash/kick interrupt timing.
Healer — don't overheal. A tank who's hit once needs to keep aggro; topping them off every pull steals hate from them.
Pet class — feed your pet (Magician/Necromancer pets need food in their inventory) or it dies between pulls.

Common dangers (for new players especially)

Trains — players kiting mobs through your camp. Run perpendicular to a zone-line, not back to your group.
Gravity — falling damage on The Last Camp is real. Levitate a low-level character before any leap.
Faction — orcs in Crushbone Keep make you hated by Crushbone orc faction. Half-Orc Pawns in Greater Faydark also drop you. If you plan to do Crushbone-related quests later (e.g., faction recovery), take pause kills.
Aggro radius — even green mobs aggro. Yellow mobs aggro from twice the visible radius. Plan your route around named camps.
Keepers in your starting city. Talk to them; they hand out free entry-level gear and bind. Don't attack them.

What NOT to do at 1-20

Don't bind in the Plane of Knowledge. PoK binds don't help with corpse runs — you lose your gear inventory on the floor of The Last Camp, not near PoK.
Don't solo to 20 if you're a Warrior, Monk, or Rogue. These classes need group XP at this range; solo XP is painfully slow.
Don't buy end-game gear from vendors at these levels. Save your plat for real spells and weapons.
Don't venture too far from a safe zone. Dying without a corpse run plan loses gear.

Common mistakes

Buying spells you already have on a vendor scroll. Guild merchants and looted scrolls overlap; check your spell book before paying.
Not setting a bind by 5. Death sends you to your race default — usually a long walk.
Skipping the newbie armor quest. Free gear, just for showing up.
Charging a yellow con as a melee at level 8. You will die. Light blue and below.
Ignoring your guild trainer. Skill caps lift only after the trainer raises them.
Skipping /loc checks in unfamiliar zones. When you fall off a cliff or get jumped, knowing where you were is the difference between recovery and lost gear.

At 20, you're ready for the 20-30 band. See Leveling 20-35.